Nokia 'EOS' PureView Windows Phone in hot rumour action

Nokia's next top mobile will be a proper PureView -- a Windows Phone with all the impressive camera gubbins of the ludicrous Nokia 808, according to the Verge.

Codenamed 'EOS' -- surely a nod to Canon's range of high-end dSLR cameras, and I wonder how the Japanese company will feel about that -- the new PureView will have a "similar sensor" to the 41-megapixel monster bursting out of last year's 808.

The rumoured new camera phone will be encased in chilly aluminium, like the iPhone 5, rather than the cheery coloured plastic of Nokia's current Lumia range. That tallies with previous rumours of the Lumia 920's successor, codenamed Catwalk.

Nokia boasted at its launch that the Lumia 920 (pictured above) had the best camera of any smart phone ever, but was forced to apologise for faking a promotional video. Ostensibly shot with the colourful blower from the back of a bike, a truck with a professional camera crew was clearly visible in a reflection.

As it turned out, the 920's snapper wasn't all that anyway. In our extensive tests we found it failed to match its principal rivals the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5, except in low light, when it was superb. Nokia will be desperate for the new PureView to blow 2013's phones out of the picturesque water.

It's shaping up to be an ultra-competitive year for high-end phone makers, with every man and his dog making a quad-core, 5-inch 1080p leviathan. Sony has the Xperia Z, LG has the Optimus G Pro and Samsung will have the Galaxy S4, sure as eggs is eggs.

I doubt, frankly, that very many people put 'compact-quality camera' at the very top of their mobile feature wish list, ahead of say 'brilliant screen', 'good value for money' or 'great selection of apps'. Nevertheless, I'm delighted Nokia is carrying on, ploughing its own furrow, determinedly offering something a little different.

Is this the camera phone you've been waiting for? Give me a snapshot of your thoughts down in the comments, or over on our photogenic Facebook page.