Nokia 808 PureView
A True Elite Super Phone!
This is the finest phone I have ever handled. The construction is top shelf. The phone is a sweet talker, with a battery that lasts all day long. I feel like I want to protect it from prying eyes, due to its rarity in a crowd of iPhones, BlackBerries and Android look-alikes. I get my e-mail, tweet, Facebook and news events without fanfare. It has ample storage space and I use Spotify for my music library. Now...that amazing camera...
This camera is in a different league, straight out of an alternate universe, where dream-shots are common place and excellence in photography is expected from a mobile phone. For photo-lovers, it is the only choice...why...because it exists. Doing without the PureView is now a choice to remain in the past. There is a new standard now and I am so glad that I ignored the US carriers and kept up with technology. There simply is no software app in the AppStore, AppWorld or PlayStore that can compensate for the outdated cameras on those devices. I am still learning how to wield the power and flexibility of the PureView camera, but judging from some photos I took in darkness last night, it will be a rewarding and successful journey indeed. Do I miss iPhone 4s apps? No.
Amazing Camera; Decent Phone
I've been using the Pureview 808 for about six weeks. In that time I've taken over a 1300 exposures. Here is what I love and what I don't love.
1 - Incredible customization available. Everything from saturation to sharpness has a slider that does make a difference.
2 - Bracketing - Three or five images with four different ranges (-0.3/+0.3 to -2.0/+2.0)
3 - Two different aspect ratios. (4:3 and 16:9)
What I like less
1 - Needs a lens shade. It produces perfectly circular highlights in seemingly friendly lighting conditions.
2 - Camera Menu system is a puzzle solver's delight. I have a hard time finding some settings. One setting, focus preference, I've only been able to bring up three times. (v 113.010.1507.225.01)
3 - The flash tends to blow out the highlights in some shots. Granted there are other shots where fill flash is better than I deserve.
4 - Noise in low light photos is more than I'd like but less than with the N8 or my Olympus E-P2.
I took a ten day shooting vacation. This camera made me a better photographer. It offers the ability to quickly adjust so many parameters; to instantly see the difference those adjustments wrought. In those ten days there is a marked improvement not only in technical areas but also my composition improved.
The phone stuff -
1 - Signal is good, as good as the C7 and the N8, better than the N900.
2 - Voice quality is excellent both through the ear piece and the very loud speaker phone.
3 - Bluetooth music to the car radio was incredible. This totally blew away my idea of audio quality broadcast from a phone.
4 - Why can't Nokia code a decent browser for Symbian?
5 - Build quality is amazing. This is a rigid device and you can change batteries.
6 - Wish it had the 2mm charge port along with the USB charge port ala the N8-00.
7 - Display is large, bright and smooth.
8 - NFC is erratic when used with a C7.00.1, fast when it works.
What a way to end the Symbian era!
