Nokia is not going through the best time of theirs. But Nokia isn’t taking that as an excuse to not bring great devices to the market. Nokia was once a game changer. They did have some great devices in the market that were first of its kind. I remember the time when I was so thrilled to try out the twist and turn 3250 or the Nokia N93. Those were the good times. Looks like Nokia is bringing back the best again. And they’ve started off with the Nokia Pureview 808.
We all know that Nokia Pureview 808 is not just another Symbian device. Infact, its the kind of Symbian phone we all have been waiting for a while now. So what makes this gorgeous phone so special ?? Let’s find out. First, lets take a quick run down through the specification. The Nokia Pureview 808 comes with 4 inch ClearBlack Display, a 1.3Ghz ARM 11 processor, 512MB RAM, a 41MP Carl Zeiss Camera, 16GB internal memory, MicroSD card, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and 1400mAh battery.
The Box Package:
The Nokia Pureview box package contains the following items:
- Nokia 808 PureView
- Nokia AC-50 MicroUSB Charger
- Nokia Charging and Data Cable CA-190CD
- Nokia stereo Headset WH-209
- NFC info card
- Nokia Wrist Strap Black
- Quick Guide, User Guide and Product information leaflet
The Nokia Pureview 808 comes in a very slim package. The included earphones is the in-ear type. I’m not a big fan of it but, most people prefer it over conventional type of earphones. And of course you’ll find plenty of manuals about phone, many Nokia services like Nokia Music, Nokia Maps, tips and tricks etc. The wrist strap is also a handy included accessory in the box especially for girls.
I’ve left Symbian years back for iOS. And I never cared to look back again. Not that I had everything I wanted on iOS, but it gave me good software/hardware performance with little or no performance hiccups. Lets face it, every one of us who’ve used Symbian has confronted irresponsive touchscreen while quickly switching through multiple tasks or services. And remember when you had to tap and tap on and on to get something working on the phone ?? Annoying, right ?? That was the case then. But now its changed. A lot. When I first got the 808, I was only excited for the camera as it was the main highlight of the device. But it looks like its just more than that. The phone has not only improved in terms of the camera but in terms of the overall performance as well. Back in 2011, if I’m not wrong, I got the Nokia N8. No, I didn’t buy it as I was using my iPhone 4 then. But I won it through the Nokia Pocket Dance competition. And oh boy !! The camera was amazing. I had this feeling that I had the best camera touch phone then(iPhone 4). But Nokia N8 blew my mind. Long story shot, later after a few days of use I realised that even if the device had a great camera, the hardware wasn’t powerful enough to give the best performance. And the software wasn’t well optimised either. Remember, it was immediately after the N8 launched. So it was running one of the early versions of the N8 firmware. I found the gallery very laggy and annoying. It was a shame to have to wait for the photos to load on the same device with which it was taken. While the images were really crisp and sharp, the device gave me a bad experience that really affected my overall experience with the device. And in 2-3 months, that phone found a new owner. End of story.
Since then I promised not to go back again to Symbian again. And we all would agree that someone at Nokia was really against the idea of more RAM in a phone at that time. But then I saw the Pureview 808 being announced and I decided to give a shot when I saw that the hardware has been improved very well to perform quite well the amazing features that the phone is packed with.
To start, the Nokia Pureview 808 comes with 4 inch ClearBlack display with 360×640 resolution. Although screen size is just perfect, we’re not a big fan of that tiny resolution considering the standard resolution that comes in other smartphones of the same budget. Nokia has also added Corning Gorilla Glass which will help you keep your phone scratch free to some extent. There’s also a 1.3Ghz processor and 512MB RAM combo that really makes a difference in performance from its predecessors. On the Pureview browsing was a pure bliss. The gallery was almost instant and browsing through photos was a breeze. Pureview’s overall performance and the camera of course really impressed me well. Besides, Nokia has been continuously updating the software to give the best performance. I’m not much of a camera expert but I was still excited about the camera on the phone.
The camera on Pureview has 41MP sensor and it uses Pureview technology to create stunning images with far less the usual size of the photos with same clarity. In simple words, the camera captures a large amount of image data using this high quality lens and it keeps the resolution down to 5MP or 8MP depending on what you’ve set. This results in creation of photos with stunning clarity and weight. So, that helps you share these photos via email or social networks to your friends and family without taking a big hit to your data usage. This is some impressive work from Nokia. I think this is pure innovation with Camera. Although it sounds a lot technical, there’s nothing users have to worry about. All you need to do is snap photos and rest the phone takes care of. I’m sure you’ll be dying to see some pictures taken with this camera. Like I said, I’m no camera expert, but here are a few shots I took with the phone. You can also head over to Flickr to see more photos from experts.[nggallery id=18]
The photos looked really good. And the details are just amazing. There were pictures into which I zoomed up to 8x and still could read the name boards that were in it. That shows the level of accuracy in details of the pictures it takes. Oh and if you’re camera enthusiast, then there are probably a lot of things you may wanna know about the camera. The camera menu has a lot of settings from simple tweaking exposures and focus levels to complex options. I may not be an expert to talk about them all, so I recorded a video from MWC 2012 where a Nokia expert itself walks you through the entire camera details. Here, take a look at the video embedded below.
Apart from camera, Pureview also has great other features like the Nokia Music and Nokia Maps. These are some of the stand out Nokia services that you get to enjoy when you either buy this phone or any other eligible Nokia device. Nokia Music boasts over 5 million tracks on their music online store that covers a wide variety of genres in different languages. When you buy a qualifying device, your phone gets registered to the service for a year and you can download unlimited music for the same period. The unit we trialled unfortunately had issues in getting the service activated. However, we’ve tried this service on many other models and they’ve worked well. So wherever you go, no matter what you can download latest music anytime. Another stunning service from Nokia that really caught our attention is the Nokia Maps. Nokia Maps lets you move to any place with their amazing data powered by Navteq. Nokia Maps also provides turn by turn voice navigation making it easier to use while driving. You can also download maps to certain locations using WiFi at your house and save on data costs while using it outside. Nokia Maps also provides walking directions and public transit lines in certain countries along with live traffic details. The service is just amazing. We couldn’t possibly think of a better maps app than this. Nokia continuously develops the app adding more and more features periodically.
When you have a lot of music and pictures, its natural that you will have an urge to share them with your friends. Although, we’re familiar with social sharing like posting to Facebook or Twitter or even email for that matter. Nokia Pureview also has something else. Its DLNA support. This isn’t a new technology and it has been here for a while. But with our big screen TVs and home theatre systems getting WiFi functionality, people are starting to look for this feature in their phones. So what’s DLNA ?? Well, if you’ve heard of Apple’s Airplay feature, then this is going to be easy for you. Airplay is DLNA in disguise. Meaning, DLNA does exactly what Airplay does. So, Yes, you can share your music, videos and photos to your big screen wirelessly from your device. This feature is so great that I recorded a video demo for you. Check it out below.
With a great camera, amazing music service and mind blowing maps app the Nokia Pureview 808 is a stunning device. The only downside here is that it runs Symbian. However, its good to see Symbian still being developed and the latest update Belle does bring Nokia Pureview 808 to the forefront with its new enhanced UI and other features. Its also good to see the improved processor and RAM that really adds up to the performance. Some developers still continue to develop for Symbian actively which is an indication that this platform is still up and strong. If you’re planning on buying this device then you may don’t wanna miss the Swiss Army knife of social apps- Gravity app. Some of you may be so tied up to the Symbian UI that you may don’t wanna consider a switch to other platforms. If so, then this is one of the best choices you have on this platform. And for Camera enthusiasts, think no more. The Nokia Pureview 808 retails for Rs 33,899/- on their online store. Offline retails store prices may vary.