#mwc12 – Nokia reveals smartphone with 41-megapixel camera

28 Feb 2012

The Nokia 808 PureView

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Nokia yesterday revealed a whole new dimension for not only digital photography but smartphone photography, with a new device that comes with a 41-megapixel camera. Say hello to the Nokia 808 PureView.

In case you thought your eyes were lying to you, yes, that is 41 megapixels. While it boggles the mind what exactly one would do with 41 megapixels – bear in mind most top-end smartphones have cameras that range between 5 megapixels and 8 megapixels – it is nonetheless a remarkable feat.

The key factor here is zoom. As Nokia points out, even at 8 megapixels, zooming in to take a photo inevitably results in the loss of several pixels of information because the sensor is condensing into one pixel for sharper images.

At 38 megapixels, digital photographers will be able to take a picture then zoom into any part of that image without losing pixel quality and show hitherto levels of detail.

The images, once cropped, can then be condensed down to be sent by email, MMS or posted on social networks without frying your nearby cellular network.

But that’s not all. The 808 PureView includes 1080p HD recording and playback with lossless zoom and a new Rich Recording feature enables broadcast-quality recording at a level that previously would have required an external microphone. It also includes Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound.

The company also unveiled its Lumia 610 Windows Phone 7.5 device which will be priced at €189, in keeping with Microsoft’s objective of bringing out sub-€200 smartphones for youth and emerging markets.

Read more on the Mobile World Congress 2012:

#mwc12 – Facebook reveals one ‘Ringmark’ to unite them all on mobile

#mwc12 – Microsoft working on sub-US$200 price point for Windows Phones

#mwc12 – Wireless sharing tech to debut alongside HTC One in April

#mwc12 – Telefónica and Mozilla pioneer smartphones built on HTML 5

#mwc12 – Sony unveils new Android UI with Xperia P and U smartphones

#mwc12 – Telefónica shows off download speeds of 100Mbps via LTE

#mwc12 – Samsung unveils new Galaxy Beam and Tab 2 series

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com