Overall, the images taken with the Nokia Pureview 808's camera are impressive, especially in the mobile phone arena.
However, with no mobile operators in the UK wanting to offer the phone on contract, and Nokia wobbling over US plans for the phone, any potential customers will need to buy the handset at its full price on a SIM-free deal.
Considering this is currently around £500/$700, we can't see too many people rushing out to snap up the cameraphone. For that kind of price, you can of course get a very highly specced compact camera that includes full manual control, optical zoom and in some cases the ability to shoot in raw format.
That said, it's a very interesting concept, and it certainly suggests more technological developments will come from other mobile phone manufacturers around the world, while camera (especially compact camera) manufacturers will surely be taking notice of the developments.
We liked
The amount of manual control available is pretty impressive for a mobile phone, enabling you to get a bit more creative than the traditional point and shoot devices currently on the market.
We disliked
It's a shame there's not even more manual control, since parameters such as shutter speed and aperture would surely have been appreciated by more serious enthusiasts.
Final verdict
Nokia had the opportunity to provide something really exciting with the Nokia Pureview 808. However, it seems clear from the reluctance of the phone networks that, attention-grabbing headlines aside, the Nokia Pureview 808 isn't about to capture anybody's imagination.
If Nokia had put a bit more thought and enthusiasm into the design and functionality of its onboard camera - perhaps by offering more creative control and fun extras such as digital filters - then we could have been witnessing a real game changer here.
As it is, we're left a little flat.
