Nokia 808 PureView in-depth photo gallery

Take a look at our in-depth photos of the Nokia 808 PureView's insane 41-megapixel camera.

Richard Trenholm

Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.

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Richard Trenholm

March 2, 2012 9:15 a.m. PT

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Say cheese! It's time for a closer look at the Nokia 808 PureView, the phone with the frankly daft 41-megapixel camera.

The Nokia 808 is a showcase for the Finnish company's new PureView camera technology. You probably don't need 41 megapixels, but it shows just how powerful the technology is.

A 41-megapixel photo takes a lot of processing power to handle, but I tried it and the 808 takes these enormous snaps instantly, and is super-fast and responsive to look through photos, edit them, and zoom in on the smallest details.

The 808 has a 1/1.2-inch sensor, which is substantially larger than the average camera phone sensor. Each pixel measures 40 microns. The Carl Zeiss lens has an aperture of f2.4, and there's a 6x zoom -- although it's not an optical zoom.

Although it's technically got 41 megapixels on the sensor, the 808 shoots pictures up to 38 megapixels, in 4:3. Or you can go 16:9 at 34 megapixels. The file size for these full-blown snaps is around 10MB, according to Nokia.

You can also snap at a more level-headed 3, 5 or 8 megapixels.

Click through our photos above to see the Nokia 808 PureView in action, or hit play on our video below to see my first impressions of the phone.

PureView has been in development for a few years, which explains why Nokia hasn't put it into a more advanced Windows Phone. Non-camera features, like the usual phone features and some more advanced apps, are powered by Nokia's much-maligned Symbian software.

If the last time you saw Symbian was on on one of Nokia's woefully dated feature phones, you may be pleasantly surprised: the current version of Symbian, known as Symbian Belle, is actually quite slick and easy on the eye.

It's a candy-coloured version of a smart phone, with playful rounded icons for your apps including basic stuff such as a calendar and address book, and proper apps like Shazam, YouTube and Adobe Reader.

The Maps app is particularly good, including glossy and responsive 3D views, a night view that switches the map to darkness, and a terrain view.

I'm certainly excited about the 808 PureView. 41 megapixels may be a headline-grabbing marketing exercise, but there's plenty of cool stuff also included here that I'd love to see in more cameras. I've even chosen the 808 as my favourite phone of MWC -- although my colleagues have their own thoughts on that subject.

Do you agree? Tell me your thoughts on the 808 in the comments or on our Facebook page. For more mobile news, head to mwc.cnet.co.uk.

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The bulge of the Carl Zeiss lens is pleasingly subtle. The button on the left snaps a picture, or you can tap on the screen. The volume keys zoom in and out of a picture, or you can slide your finger up and down on the screen.

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When you fire up the camera, the photographic options appear on the left.

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Tap an option, such as neutral density filter, and scroll up and down the menu that appears in the sidebar.

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Here's exposure compensation. Scrolling is quick and liquid-smooth.

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Flash modes include red-eye reduction.

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Full-resolution shots capture 38-megapixel snaps.

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There are three custom options that let you store your favourite combinations of settings, so you can quickly set the camera up in future without having to change each one.

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You can adjust image settings with these handy sliders. Once again the scrolling is slick and smooth, as you'd expect from a smart phone -- as opposed to a Symbian phone.

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Scene modes include sports mode, landscape, portrait and macro mode for close-ups.

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The scene mode appears as an icon in the bottom left. Tap the cog above for access to more settings.

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Video also has three custom settings. You can change the resolution and frame rate of video.

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And you can alter the same image settings as photos.

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At the top is an HDMI connection to play back 1080p video on a high-definition telly.

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The gallery of pictures you've taken. This only appears in portrait mode, and doesn't adjust to landscape when you flip the phone sideways.

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Once you've snapped a picture, you can crop and edit with a range of tools. Zap red-eye, adjust the levels or hit the one-touch contrast fix.

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To edit values such as the colour levels, slide icons from side to side until you get the desired results.

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Here we see the 1/1.2-inch PureView sensor on the top left. It's substantially larger than the high-end smart phone sensor in the middle and typical-sized phone sensor on the right.