Nokia 808 PureView camera vs. Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. iPhone 4S (pictures)

Published on July 11 2012 by Nadia

The Nokia 808 PureView's fame comes down to its camera, which can capture up to 41 megapixels of digital information and output incredibly detailed images at 5, 8, and yes, even 41 megapixels if that's what you really want.

The secret to the camera's performance is the extra-large sensor, which is physically much larger than usual 5-megapixel and 8-megapixel sensors (see the difference here.) Still, the camera's software has to render the image correctly as well.

I added my own shootout to CNET Asia's excellent photo test, to see how well the camera performed in a variety of settings against the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S3, two of the best camera phones on the market (the HTC One X also has a cracking-good shooter as well.)

Why didn't I use the One X too, then? I prefer the GS3's camera (see this shootout to see why), and wanted to use three phones to make the photos easier to compare on your computer or mobile screen.

This is also the part where I explain my methodology. The 808 PureView has some really wonderful settings that you can customize and apply for taking those artistic shots, like its celebrated 5-megapixel PureView mode with the highly detailed zoom. There are also presets for certain situations, like landscape mode (which evens out the foreground and background), lighting scenarios, and various scenes.

However, I took the majority of photos using the PureView's automatic mode, not the PureView mode. Photos usually look their best when you take the time to adjust the settings, but I wanted to see how well the camera performed without the careful setup that's a luxury you can't always afford when it comes to capturing the moment. Some photos are extreme close-ups to take a look at the camera's performance on a micro scale and some are full frames resized, which is how you'd be most likely to use them in a photo album or in a Facebook upload.

Heirloom

Samsung Galaxy S IIISamsung Galaxy S3

(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

iPhone 4SNokia 808 PureView

(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

Nokia 808 PureViewiPhone 4S

(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

For this photo, I cropped and resized the image to fit this post. The GS3 came out the darkest of the trio, but also did the best job capturing text. Of the three, I prefer the PureView's color reproduction.

Nokia 808 PureViewNokia PureView 808

(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

Above is the original image on the PureView 808, resized from 2,150x1,209 pixels to 610x349 pixels.

Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-57465430-85/nokia-808-pureview-camera-vs-samsung-galaxy-s3-vs-iphone-4s-pictures/#ixzz20I6ztxV2

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