To suggest that you could radically improve the camera in the Nokia 808 Pureview with the addition of a few apps would be pure folly.

After all, Digital Photography Review, a publication that normally looks at digital SLR cameras rather than mere camera phones, has just given it a highly prized Gold Award.

However, by installing a few apps from the Nokia Store, you can explore some creative, social and downright quirky tools that you can use with the 808 PureView’s camera.

Here are five apps that will add an extra dimension to Nokia’s world-beating camera phone.

App for lenses: Camera Lover Pack, £1.50

The Camera Lover Pack is an app created by imaging specialists, Scalado, a company from which Nokia has recently acquired technology and developers for future products.

There are five different lenses to play with:

• PhotoRama: Stitch three shots together to create panorama
• PhotoTwister: Apply a host of different and adjustable psychedelic effects
• PhotoFusion: Fuse two photos together with 12 templates to choose from
• Retromatic: Apply a retro, sepia-tinged look to your photos
• Multimatic: Take a burst of several shots in a set sequence 

What’s really impressive about the Camera Lover Pack is how easy the different lenses are to use. It’s all done ‘live’ on the camera display so you can see the image/effect before committing to take the picture. If you don’t like it what you’re seeing on the screen, just start again or adjust the settings.

Especially useful for the Nokia 808 PureView is that you can change the size of the image you’re taking (3264×2448, 2592×1944 or 1600×1200), so you can really make the most of that super sensor. 

App for photo sharing: MOLOME, FREE

If the Polaroid camera was all about taking photos instantly, then the camera phone is all about sharing photos instantly.

MOLOME is a fully featured app that lets you apply fun effects to your photos before sharing them on your favourite social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Weibo or even the cloud storage service, Dropbox.

After installing the app, you need to register a MOLOME account and you can then link this account with your existing social networks.

You can take a new photo from within the app or select an existing one from your gallery, and then you select a desired effect, such as Cartoon, Vintage, Charcoal or Tilt Shift.

Once you are happy with how the photo looks you have the option of adding a caption before uploading to as many of your social networks as you wish. For example, you can upload to Twitter but not to Facebook, or you can upload to both simultaneously.

 App for video animations – Stoppola, FREE

We already know that the Nokia 808 PureView is a fantastic HD video recording device and earlier this week, we wrote about the benefits of using it for capturing concerts.

Stoppola is a free app that lets you create beautiful stop-motion animations and time-lapse videos with your 808 PureView.

 Watch this funky video, which was filmed on an 808 PureView using Stoppola.

Even though it’s just a free app, Stoppola certainly has enough features to let your imagination run riot. You can cut and paste frame by frame and add an audio soundtrack either from an existing MP3 or by recording a new track with your 808 PureView.

Once you’ve finished you can share your masterpiece with the world by uploading the video to YouTube, directly within Stoppola.

App for photo effects  – Photorim, FREE

After you’ve taken a photo, or had photos synced to your phone, you may well want to edit them. 

Your 808 PureView actually has pretty nifty photo editing software already. When you are looking at any photo within the gallery, tap the screen and you’ll notice buttons appear along the bottom. Press the bottom right for more options and you’ll get a choice of Edit, Send and Share. 

Selecting Edit allows you to crop, rotate, flip, resize, adjust the colour and add effects, clip art or frames around the image.

Photorim takes adding effects to your photos to the extreme and justifiably prides itself on being simple to use.

You view how your photo looks in each visual effect from the thumbnail gallery (and there are dozens to choose from) and you just select the one you like.

Get it right and your finished image will look like a professional graphic artist has painstakingly worked their magic for you. 

App for quirky photos: Thermal Camera, FREE

Let’s finish with something completely different. Transform your 808 PureView into a thermal camera with the touch of a button.

It’s a good way of illustrating that just because the 808 PureView is a very serious camera phone, does not mean that it can’t be fun at the same time.

However, if thermal imaging is not your thing, then how about 3D Photo Camera, which is in the Nokia Store for £1.50? 

Have you been using any of these apps on your Nokia 808 PureView or another Nokia camera phone? Let us know how you’ve been getting on.