The Nokia 9 PureView has five cameras and a lot to prove

HMD Global has a new flagship product from Nokia, and this is perhaps the most ambitious phone to date: the Nokia 9 PureView, with an impressive camera consisting of five digital cameras and five digital cameras. Who officially wins the top cameras never put on a phone.

This is perhaps the most important game of HMD to have invoked the old Nokia, even before he bought and resurrected his brand. And although the Nokia 9 PureView may not have the impressive number of megapixels that have made Nokia phones famous, it's certainly a product designed to evoke those days of glory.

There is a lot to say about the Nokia 9 PureView. Unlike other multi-camera phones, such as the LG V40 or the all-new Samsung Galaxy S10, the Nokia 9 PureView uses the same key specifications for all five cameras: each has a 12-megapixel sensor and an f / 1.8 lens. But only two of these five cameras are in color – the other three are monochrome.

Each time you press the shutter release button, the five cameras simultaneously take different exposures, which are then merged into one ultra-detailed photo. Depending on the composition of the scene, Nokia says that each camera can even take multiple exposures by itself to add even more data to the final image. The result – at least in theory – is a smartphone camera with new levels of detail and color.

As could be expected when seeing a camera with so many cameras, Nokia has partnered with Light (the manufacturer of the 16-camera L16), making it the first phone to which the camera company contributed. Nokia is currently using Light's Lux Capacitor camera control chip to handle all five cameras because the Snapdragon 845 is uniquely designed to support up to three default lenses (although the company has also collaborated with Qualcomm to optimize the cameras). possible with the 845).

I personally tested the Nokia 9 PureView cameras. Even on a pre-production unit, the phone already offered quite impressive details, despite the rather gloomy lighting. We will have to wait for the final version of the software and hardware before making a decision, but this is not a bad start.

Nokia 9 PureView examples of photos (taken on pre-production material)

Although the details of the photo are impressive, I can not help being a little disappointed by the fact that the phone does not offer more versatility with its range of devices Photo. The exciting promise of the original L16 camera and subsequent multi-purpose phones, such as the V40, was the idea that you could have different types of lenses on one device, allowing you to carry a complete kit button. The Nokia 9 PureView offers only one focal length.

The treatment time is another problem. This is not quite definitive, but shooting in RAW DNG format with all depth mapping functions is quite slow. During my tests, it took about 10 seconds to process a photo once it was taken, then a few extra seconds to fully load the final result in full resolution in the Photos application. Nokia now says that these features will be disabled by default and that ordinary JPEG files should be saved faster. But if you buy the Nokia 9 PureView, it is likely that you want to take full advantage of all these cameras.

Nokia is also partnering with Adobe for the Nokia 9. Lightroom will be preinstalled on the device and both companies are developing Lightroom presets specifically tailored to Nokia 9 PureView lenses.

Although the camera is obviously the star of the series here, the rest of the Nokia 9 PureView is still close to a modern Android flagship product. Its design and specifications resemble those of last year's Pixel 3 and Galaxy S9 – it uses the slightly older Snapdragon 845 processor, for example – unlike the announced 2019 flash phones.

However, compared to Nokia's previous flagship product, HMD, the Nokia 9 PureView is HMD's most up-to-date phone to date. The screen itself is a 5.99-inch 2K OLED panel and a 3320 mAh battery (but no headphone jack – sorry, friends). The phone has a Gorilla glass on the front and back, allowing you to place an aluminum side sandwich.

HMD Mobile has announced that the Nokia 9 PureView will be available from March. The price will depend on the market, but it will be sold in the US for $ 699.