Great joy for Nokia fans, the next PureView phone is finally officially announced! The Nokia 9 PureView was unveiled at MWC in Barcelona, and professional and enthusiast photographers should have a really interesting talking point.
But before we get into the details of the PureView's camera, let's see what the whole phone is capable of.
Well, it's made of glass, dual-glass to be precise, and framed by a metal frame that holds them together. We're living in the era of glass smartphones, so it's not too much of a surprise that HMD chose to stick with a timeless design offered by the glass body. The Nokia 9 is also IP67 rated for protection against dust and water.
There's a 5.99-inch P-OLED display on the front, compatible with HDR10, with a resolution of 2,880 x 1,440 pixels or QHD+. A glass of Gorilla Glass 5 keeps this OLED screen protected from major cracks and scratches.
Nokia has opted for an under-display fingerprint reader, which is the latest trend, but you can also use AI-focused Face Unlock if you're a fan of this unlocking method.
Strangely, HMD has gone with the Snapdragon 845 chipset for the Nokia 9, which is a bit outdated, as the Snapdragon 855 is now the most used chipset in flagship phones. Our opinion is that Nokia has worked hard for a long time to optimize the camera algorithms, which use all the essentials of the processor - CPU, GPU, ISP, DSP - and it would probably have been impossible to pass this technology to the Snapdragon 855, when it it became available late last year. Plus, the Nokia 9 PureView isn't overly expensive either, so that could be a reason as well.
Nokia 9 PureView will be available in one color – Midnight Blue – and in one version – 6GB RAM and 128GB expandable memory.
And now, let's see what's interesting about the new PureView camera.
There are five 12MP cameras on the back, all located behind the f / 1.8 Zeiss lens. Two of these are RGB and the other three are monochrome. There's also a sixth camera – a ToF one – for additional depth information. A dual-tone LED flash is the last thing you'll see on the back.
All five camera lenses have the same fixed focal length of 28mm. You won't find any wide-angle or zoom cameras, and the Nokia 9 doesn't boast any fancy shooting modes. The PureView was never intended to be the world's most versatile smartphone camera, just to deliver exceptional image quality on par with an expensive traditional camera.
The phone combines images from all five 12MP cameras, sometimes even multiple frames from each of them, into a single image with a spectacular dynamic range – up to 12.4 stops of difference in light, which is as much as a sensor from a large camera. Overall, Nokia PureView promises deep scene detection and spectacular dynamic range.
The Nokia 9 has also been optimized for those who like to customize their RAW photos in post-processing – such as opening up shadows, bringing backlights to the fore, and applying a precise amount of sharpening. The developers have collaborated with Adobe to fully support editing RAW data from images captured on the phone. This can be done in the free mobile version of Adobe Lightroom.
Nokia has also worked with Google so that the Photos app naturally understands how to support photos taken with the five Nokia devices. Google Photos will be able to adjust the focal point after taking the photo, adjust the amount of bokeh, and will be able to display full-size RAW files – which are DNG.
The Nokia 9 phone is smart enough to use different camera apertures, such as when held on a tripod, or when used with hands. It also supports full manual control, so all professional and enthusiast photographers can adjust the settings to their liking.
The video recording side of the camera isn't as exciting – up to 4K HDR video at 30fps.
Nokia 9 also has a 20 MP front camera with f / 1.8. It supports Tetracell pixel binning, so in low-light situations it can combine four adjacent pixels into a single image that produces 5MP images with low noise.
Nokia 9 will come with Android One (Pie version) from the factory, so you can be sure to get fast and timely updates.
Finally, the last aspect of the Nokia 9 is the 3,320 mAh battery. It supports fast wired charging (QC3 and USB PD) as well as 10W wireless charging. Surprisingly, there is no audio jack on the Nokia 9 phone.
And now let's talk about the price. The Nokia 9 doesn't have the latest Snapdragon 855, probably due to the complexity of the camera and the time it took to build it, but HMD seems to have taken that into account – the Nokia 9 PureView is priced at $699 – considerably more cheaper than the latest top models from the competition.
However, take into account the fact that the Nokia 9 will have a limited production run. Once stock runs out – that's it. Nokia may stop making any more devices. However, the company did not reveal exactly how many units it will produce.
Maybe we'll see a Nokia 9.1 with a Snapdragon 855 chip before the year is out, or maybe not. That would probably depend on the success of this PureView, which will surely prove to be the phone capable of truly exceptional photos.
Tagurimwc 2019 Nokia Nokia 9 PureView