Skip to main content



Damian Dinning

BARCELONA, Spain – We’ve had a lot of questions from our readers about the technology in Nokia 808 PureView. We asked our favourite camera expert, Damian Dinning, to provide some answers.

Q: How much full HD video can you record with a full battery without having to recharge? Does it matter whether the phone is offline/online?


A: We have not yet finalised battery performance measurements but our expectation that the amount of shots and video you can record in relation to battery life will be similar to the Nokia N8

Q: What is the longest video clip you can record on a 32Gb memory card with the best possible picture and sound quality?

A: The maximum length single video clip you can record in 1080p @30fps is approximately 27minutes depending on the recorded content. This equates to approximately 150mb per minute of video recorded.

Q: How fast is it to swap memory cards?

A: Swapping memory cards requires removal of the back cover and battery

Q: Can you explain this “oversampling” idea in layman’s terms? How can seven pixels make one?

A: Please see the white paper on the topic. We capture the information you want to keep from the 7 pixels, the detail and filter the information you don’t want, the noise. The results in significantly less noise (in many situations no visual noise at all) whilst retaining industry leading amounts of detail.

Q. Does the camera interface remember your settings from one use to the next? Having to re-set the settings can be annoying.

A. If you are using creative it always returns to exactly where you were as standard.

Q. Why was this introduced in a Symbian phone and not a Lumia?

A. The technology behind the 808 was a five-year development project. We wanted to bring this technology to the market as soon as we could to start delighting people with a passion for high quality pictures and videos.

Q. Will PureView appear in other products, such as Nokia Asha or Nokia Lumia phones in the future?

A. Aspects of this technology will be used in future products yes.

Q. Will it be possible to add a raw format?

A. RAW  in a digital camera is easier to handle as typically images have to pass through a PC, whereas RAW on a smartphone brings a whole host of end to end experience challenges, which result in some kind of compromise in the experience somewhere. We do however provide full resolution images that correspond to the aspect ratio in use as well as a reduced compression setting.

Q. How did you manage to get a phone to do so much processing that it can process 34 megapixels into 1080p/720p/nHD up to 30 times per second?

A. Please see the white paper.

Q. Why does the camera bulge out so much from the back of the phone?

A. This is due to the extremely large sensor and the optics required to match the resolving capability of the super high resolution sensor.

Q. What is the battery capacity on this? If you’re out all day taking photos using this camera, doesn’t it drain the battery?

A. We have not yet finalised battery performance measurements but our expectation that the amount of shots and video you can record in relation to battery life will be similar to the Nokia N8

Q. Is there any Nokia made equipment, tripods etc. that will help make make this phone a perfect filming device?

A. There is a tripod adaptor allowing you to mount the 808 to any tripod, portable USB charger and a dedicated case with a removable cap to protect the camera.

Q. Is the phone made out of polycarbonate?

A. Yes, but with a ceramic-like finish. Other materials used include stainless steel for the buttons and switches and camera bezel and Gorilla glass for lens protection and for the display.

Nokia-808-PureView