Steve's first in-depth test of 'PureView phase 2'

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As a longstanding proponent of Nokia's camera flagships, I've been very keen to try out the Lumia 920, with Nokia are calling 'PureView phase 2' on board - essentially optical image stabilisation, though with a standard sized lens and sensor. Now, I know the Lumia 920 runs Windows Phone 8 and this is All About Symbian, but I still thought you'd be interested in my 920 camera review here, along with initial thoughts on how it compares to the cameras in the N8 and 808. Some quotes and links below...

From the Lumia 920 camera review:

We've also published a preliminary camera comparison between the Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia 808 PureView, Nokia Lumia 900, and HTC One X, with particular emphasis on low light shots, and not surprisingly the Lumia 920 came in ahead of its 1/3"-sensored rival, the One X. Notably, though, it couldn't displace the 808 PureView, despite the weighting of the tests in the Windows Phone's favour.

At which point I'd like to dispense with the elephant in the room, in order that we can get on with the rest of the review. Across all lighting conditions and use cases, the cameras in the Symbian-powered Nokia N8 and 808 PureView are superior, by quite a way, to that in the Lumia 920. Which isn't surprising - both have much larger sensors (1/1.8" and 1/1.2" respectively) and have the huge advantage of a real (Xenon) camera flash for indoor shots and freezing moving subjects. I'll have a direct comparison here shortly on All About Symbian, for those interested. But, with the best will in the world, Symbian as an OS isn't going to win many hearts and minds in the phone world in 2013, so I'll overlook these other two 'outlying' devices here.

But that said, my test photos for the comparisons were taken by me, with an experienced, steady hand. The removal of camera shake in the Lumia 920 is likely to be of much higher benefit to the new, novice user. So yes, it's 'PureView', as in high technical effort has been applied to try and create better imaging, but the benefits here aren't for the hardened camera phone fan, they're for the newcomer, the less experienced. 

For interest, here are a couple of the test photos from the Lumia 920, see the full piece for the whole set. Click each to download the original JPG:

Lumia 920 sample photoLumia 920 sample photo 

There's no doubting that the Lumia 920's camera has areas of superiority (low to medium light, static subjects), but I also took photos with the N8 and 808 for almost every single test shot in my 920 review - watch this space for a three way detailed head to head very soon. 

Source / Credit: All About Windows Phone