Making the Nokia 808 PureView – exclusive video documentary

Published by Ian Delaney on May 21, 2012

TAMPERE, Finland – For this exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary, our team travelled to Finland to meet with the inventors of the Nokia 808 PureView, Eero Salmelin and Juha Alakarhu. We also talk to some of the collaborators in video, audio, algorithm and interface design it took to turn an amazing idea sketched on a napkin into a fully-fledged product.

Need another reminder of the phone’s still-image capability? A new set has been posted to the official flickr account for your viewing pleasure.

poppies in crete

old house in Crete

waves in Crete

The whole film was shot using the phone, so if you want to see exactly what it’s capable of, settle back and enjoy the show. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Comments

  • http://www.facebook.com/pierre.gros.73 Pierre Gros

    Pricetag and availability details in Western Europe would be nice!
    Teasing is nice, using is better!
     

    • Anonymous

       agreed where’s the announcement for the uk… i’ve got my pre-order in but i’d like to be certain on a price

    • Anonymous

       agreed where’s the announcement for the uk… i’ve got my pre-order in but i’d like to be certain on a price

  • Anonymous

    Agreed! Nokia should bring the handset to the European market at last!

  • NMo9

    Nokia, please release the phone in all your markets. There is no competing Lumia phones (unlike N9) and so wouldn’t eat into their sales. People interested in photography would like to check this device and also Nokia N8 (or N86N82) would want to upgrade to this device. You can drop this device when the Lumia PureView device comes to the market.

    • Anonymous

      competing Phone?

      Nokia has no other product compareable to the Nokia N9.

      • NMo9

        The N9 was taken as competing with Lumia 800 because of its similar size, camera spec & competing segment.

        • Anonymous

          You can’t classify a device only because of similar size and camera. The Software and OS makes the difference.

          The Nokia N9 is in the top smartphone segment with all the features enabled the most geeks are demanding at this price point whilst the Lumia 800 is only a more common Windows Phone.
           
          They have a totally different audience and hence a different market segment.

          Or would you say Lamborgini and GM are delivering to a competing segment?

          • NMo9

            I’m not saying that, Nokia is..

            I personally think N9 is the most unique phone out there and have 2 N9s – a black 16GB one and a white 64GB one(imported directly from Finland costing over €800 in total since Nokia decided not to sell that in my country).

  • http://twitter.com/TomPoole007 Tom Poole

    Is there any way to plug in an external microphone. great pictures need great sound!

    • steelicon

      I think you can do that with a special adapter in the 3.5″ AV out.

    • steelicon

      I think you can do that with a special adapter in the 3.5″ AV out.

    • steelicon

      I think you can do that with a special adapter in the 3.5″ AV out.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WF5RDUGP22TCVJZLOWFIKFE3FQ Alin

       808 PureView uses a very good micro and Nokia Reach Recording, it is better than many resonable price external microphone.

    • Anonymous

      you could use the USB-OTG and certainly the 3.5mm jack to connect one

      • Anonymous

        I’m really not sure that’s correct at all. Any proof please?

        • Anonymous

           just google nokia usb-otg microphone you’ll get a plethora of  demos and nokia statements stating this

        • Anonymous

           google it
          nokia usb otg power microphone

        • Samarth Singh

          Via Its very much possible. Even Audio+video input is possible. And not only with 808, its possible with N8 too.

          Remember the TV Input DVB-H accessory, given by Nokia which when attached to USB-OTG, inputs TV with audio?

          The bigger question is: Will the video recording happen from the external microphone?

      • Anonymous

        I’m really not sure that’s correct at all. Any proof please?

    • Anonymous

      you could use the USB-OTG and certainly the 3.5mm jack to connect one

  • Anonymous

    This camera with the superior Software from the Nokia N9 would rock!
    But running Symbian it is still a great phone. Well done, Nokia. :)

    • Anonymous

       Symbian belle and upcoming carla, are better than WP7 or Meego really. Hope Elop recognize this

  • steelicon

    :( Stop teasing and start shipping and selling!!! :))

  • steelicon

    :( Stop teasing and start shipping and selling!!! :))

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WF5RDUGP22TCVJZLOWFIKFE3FQ Alin

    Will Nokia be able to do such great innovation on windows phone??? I think not, because the OS is not developed by Nokia. Nokia will lose its pedigree with windows phone and its customers in the end!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WF5RDUGP22TCVJZLOWFIKFE3FQ Alin

    Will Nokia be able to do such great innovation on windows phone??? I think not, because the OS is not developed by Nokia. Nokia will lose its pedigree with windows phone and its customers in the end!

    • Anonymous

       windowsphone 7.5 is NOT supported firmware for this new innovation, but symbian is capable. Moreover, windowsphones are also manufactured by ZTE and low price manufacturers of China. So, why by Nokia WP7 if you have a better low price alternative from a chinese manufcaterer with same OS?  Nokia must keep supporting symbian, or die.

      • Anonymous

        The Lumia 800 (and probably Lumia 900 too) are build by Compal. Compal is an ODM of computing products. It is the 2nd largest manufacturer of laptops. Its Compal Communications (CCI) daughter is the largest ODM manufacturer of phones. It’s biggest client was Motorola (and nowadays presumably Nokia).

        • Anonymous

           that explains why motorola went out of business and why the lumias have had their own issues compal sucks perhaps even worse than foxconn

        • Anonymous

           that explains why motorola went out of business and why the lumias have had their own issues compal sucks perhaps even worse than foxconn

        • Jack Wang

          I think Compal is responsible for the 710 and maybe 610. 800 and 900 is Nokia’s. Anyway, Compal is terrible indeed, they made the first batch of Acer-quality HP notebooks that overheated. Nokia is stuck with them because other OEMs are booked.

      • Anonymous

        The Lumia 800 (and probably Lumia 900 too) are build by Compal. Compal is an ODM of computing products. It is the 2nd largest manufacturer of laptops. Its Compal Communications (CCI) daughter is the largest ODM manufacturer of phones. It’s biggest client was Motorola (and nowadays presumably Nokia).

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WF5RDUGP22TCVJZLOWFIKFE3FQ Alin

    Will Nokia be able to do such great innovation on windows phone??? I think not, because the OS is not developed by Nokia. Nokia will lose its pedigree with windows phone and its customers in the end!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WF5RDUGP22TCVJZLOWFIKFE3FQ Alin

    Will Nokia be able to do such great innovation on windows phone??? I think not, because the OS is not developed by Nokia. Nokia will lose its pedigree with windows phone and its customers in the end!

  • http://www.facebook.com/Hippie.Thomas Thomas Verbraken

    I have been waiting for this phone for months now… And I’ve heard it is coming to Belgium and The Netherlands only in July or late June? You are losing many potential customers by waiting this long for releasing this phone… 

  • http://conversations.nokia.com/ Adam Fraser

    I love the Waves in Crete photo above. The long exposure time has given the waves an almost eerie look. Great photos and great video, too.

    • Marie-Jo Jones

      Rather looks like the shooter was homesick and missing Finnish ice..

  • Anonymous

    Nokia 808 PureView running symbian belle, will be for sure a success worldwide for Nokia.  Please Nokia release it WORLDWIDE, all countries. So i update my old 5800 phone, to this one. I love symbian which is a very stable OS. Hope Elop promote this phone instead of low sales windowsphones.

  • http://www.vkvraju.com vkvraju

    Why still no samples of photos taken in the night/dark?

  • Anonymous

    Why in the first picture of those Wild Flowers the left portion of the frame is much darker than the right portion?

    And also please stop teasing us. We cannot stand it any more.

  • Anonymous

    Why in the first picture of those Wild Flowers the left portion of the frame is much darker than the right portion?

    And also please stop teasing us. We cannot stand it any more.

    • Anonymous

      All I can say is that the flowers are all pointing to the sun which seems fairly low in the sky on that side.

      • Anonymous

        If that was true, then only the sky would be darker. Look more carefully at the flowers at the right. They are darker then the center one as well, even though there’s enough light there.

        It’s not only the sky that’s darker at the left portion of the image. It’s all much darker than the rest of the frame.

        This is utterly strange. Unless they’ve artificially lit the center flower, that’s due to some optical issue.

        The first samples from prototype units already showed this issue. I was worried back then, and I am still worried about that now. I would like to here something from Nokia regarding this issue.

        • Anonymous

          I see, the flowers on the far left are darker than the photos on the far right, though that could be because of something else.  I saw what you were talking about in one/some(?) of the prototype photos.  Will wait and see the final results!  At least the long sea exposure is brighter on the left :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-IamTiger-Lee/1226295331 Anthony IamTiger Lee

    Preview tech on WP8… I can’t wait…

  • http://twitter.com/Hdrules Hradayesh Nimavat

    Great documentary…..and i hope some where in parallel universe N9 successor with Pureview technology  is dominating smartphone market.

    • Prasenjit Bist

      come on man linux is so passe…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1224743977 Danijel Lučić

    Amazing, breathtaking, awesome!!!

  • Ki-Chan Jo

    we need manual exposure time.

    at least several seconds.

  • Pingback: 41 megapiksel kameralı Nokia 808 PureView’ın geliştirme yolculuğu videoyla anlatıldı – Video

  • http://www.facebook.com/Abu.Serrieh Mohammed Abu Serriyah

    Breathtaking !!!…
    You can almost feel the Love & Passion in these guys Eyes ,, especially Mr. Eero and Juha…
    and here You go… the ((Magical Result)) of the hard work of +300 dedicated passionates ..
    .
    NOKIA all the way…

  • Pingback: » Ideea telefonului cu camera de 41 MP a pornit de la 4 beri si o schita pe un servetel

  • http://www.facebook.com/gmiguel83 Jorge Miguel

    AWESOME!!! Congratulations to the team that put all of their effort into this project. Wish it all the success in the world. PureView is KING :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/gmiguel83 Jorge Miguel

    AWESOME!!! Congratulations to the team that put all of their effort into this project. Wish it all the success in the world. PureView is KING :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/gmiguel83 Jorge Miguel

    AWESOME!!! Congratulations to the team that put all of their effort into this project. Wish it all the success in the world. PureView is KING :)

  • http://twitter.com/PLaHay Paul La’Hay

    very impressive … wife wants to update from lumia 800 when seen… unfortunately Nokia AU are misguided to potential of 808 (just as they were not going to give us Belle update)… so will need to order by other means :(

  • Vitor Santos

    Purely Amazing!

    Congratulations at all development members of Nokia 808 Pureview!

  • Anonymous

    The video is in 25fps… it could look better if it was uploaded in its proper 30fps looks like someone had a slight oversight with the editing software

  • Anonymous

    The video is in 25fps… it could look better if it was uploaded in its proper 30fps looks like someone had a slight oversight with the editing software

  • birju_22

    is this the end of symbian? can someone make me understand why there are
    news that nokia has canceld all plans for Carla or Donna? will Symbian ever support HD (720p) screens? what is the future of Symbian? where is it going and what are we expecting as consumers? are we waiting for Carla and Donna?

  • Anonymous

    …took 5 years to develop it. Hmm…you might well advertise it as “5 years ahead of a competion” as another company once did…

  • Anonymous

    …took 5 years to develop it. Hmm…you might well advertise it as “5 years ahead of a competion” as another company once did…

  • http://www.facebook.com/code565472 陳政文

    Is there any chance for “308 Pure View” using Series 40? And please don’t remove flashlight.

  • http://www.facebook.com/code565472 陳政文

    Is there any chance for “308 Pure View” using Series 40? And please don’t remove flashlight.

    • Jack Wang

      Pureview is a castle in the sky.

      Everything else Nokia puts out camera-wise these days is an embarrassment to their legacy. The HTC One X with its Samsung module and HTC algorithms beats the Lumia cameras. Even Paul Thurrott says the Lumia 900 camera is worse.

      Who cares if you can only sell one expensive flagship when everything else is EDoF or noisy crap like the 700′s 5MP? Nokia doesn’t want to face the fact that it cannot do mid-range better than the next guy, hence the overcompensation with 41MP. It cannot make a significantly better 8MP sensor, so it goes to 41MP and hope no one asks about low light. The line between niche and self-marginalization is thin.

      If Nokia puts the 12MP N8 module upgraded with BSI into every midrange phone today, I’ll stop calling them a company of evasive bluff and fluff.

  • Anonymous

    Really sad that Nokia can’t seem to see the light and release a Symbian phone with top notch specifications for Processor, GPU, RAM and screen in addition to the PureView camera. ARM 11, regardless of clock speed is close to obsolete and does not cut it when fast rendering of WEB pages is the goal. Screen resolution of competing devices are considerably higher etc.

  • Anonymous

    nokia please, just tell the world that the phone is going out an specific day =( im dying to get it!!!