It’s no secret that Nokia has some potent technology in its hands with the insanely-large 41MP Symbian-powered 808 PureView device. But because it is running Symbian, it will never likely get the distribution, nor the credit, it deserves.
But Nokia knows a good thing when it sees it, and since it has been working on the technology for nearly five years, it would be pointless to waste it on a dying operating system. To that end, Nokia’s SVP Jo Harlow said it “will not take very long” for PureView to come to Windows Phones. The technology is quite amazing, taking a multitude of pixels and, using interpolation techniques, creating a much smaller file with exponentially greater detail. PureView provides a lossless digital zoom, grain-free photos (in good light) and a generally superior camera-phone experience.
Windows Phone would be a willing recipient of PureView, and Nokia would likely reap the rewards. The OS is built around quick camera access with its mandated shutter button on each phone and minimum 5MP sensor. Lately, the HTC Titan II launched in the US (and maybe Canada) with LTE and a crazy 16-megapixel camera. Nokia is already the world’s most popular Windows Phone distributor according to the latest statistics, and when we played with the Lumia 800 we understood why.
Though any phone with the PureView technology would be significantly thicker, at least at first, than a regular device, we’d imagine there would be enough of a demand from the photography community to make it feasible. And not every device will need to have a 41MP sensor — some will probably come with half- or quarter-sized sensors and merely use the existing software technology for improved picture quality.
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