Nokia 808 PureView vs Apple iPhone 4S
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Still, is it worth to consider the Nokia 808 PureView if you are rocking, or intend to get Apple's finest – the iPhone 4S – with its steel and glass design and more than half a million apps army behinds its back? Read on our quick comparison to find out...
Design:
You'd have to be a total function-before-form kind of guy to call the Nokia 808 PureView design good compared with the svelte iPhone 4S made of premium materials like glass and steel. The 808 PureView looks like Quasimodo in comparison, and we are not only talking about the hump on the back here, but also the front with its physical navigational keys bar, and the rough plastic used for the chassis, which make it look like a Symbian phone from a few years ago.
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The Nokia 808 PureView (left) and the Apple iPhone 4S (right) | ||
Granted, the chubby 14mm device with a big 41MP PureView camera sensor hump feels very solid in the hand, and the heft is not nearly as we would expect from one with such a monster camera. It is also pretty easy to use with one hand, not only because of the 4” screen, whose size is good for one-handed usage, but also because the hump on the back makes it easier to hold.
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Left | Right | Top | Bottom edges |
The sides of the Nokia 808 PureView (top) and the Apple iPhone 4S (bottom) | |||
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Backs | Rear cameras | |
The Nokia 808 PureView (left) and the Apple iPhone 4S (right) | ||
Display:
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What the AMOLED screen has going for it is the stellar antireflective coating that comes with Nokia's ClearBlack layer, making for the brightest AMOLED screen we've seen to date, helping tremendously for good visibility when shooting outside under direct sunlight. The iPhone 4S also has a very bright 500 nits screen, and, since it is IPS-LCD, viewing angles are very wide, just like on the 808 PureView.
The other difference between the two, besides the pixel density, is the color representation – the Nokia 808 PureView AMOLED display exhibits the typical for the technology oversaturated, to the point of gaudy here colors, while the Retina Display covers a more narrow gamut, making its colors appear natural in comparison.
Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone. Double click or press keyboard Space to zoom in/out
Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone. Double click or press keyboard Space to zoom in/out
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30 Comments
1. -box- posted on 15 1
A nice balanced and concise comparison. Thank you!
I'd have the 808. No amount of OS gimmickry would take me away from the functionality and capability of the 808. Yes, it lags, and there aren't as many apps for it, but it exceeds my needs, and until the next Symbians arrive (if ever) or PureView makes its way to Windows Phone, this is my most coveted device
2. bobfreking55 posted on 10 3
this is okay, but seriously? the iPhone again? why not with the n8?
don't blame them if they go calling you iPhoneArena again.
anyway, i believe that Symbian still packs a punch against iOS 6. lol. and I like the Pureview's design better, though thick.
17. sithman posted on 2 1
Phone arenas job is to compare the top devices against each other. If I'm not mistaking based on sales, reviews, performance, and rankings from both the consumers, and experts the 4S is still one of the top 3 phones on the market.
3. OptimusOne posted on 13 1
Thank you for not making the iphones camera sound better than the pureview camera!
14. Nathan_ingx posted on 0 0
Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of having a 41megs of Pureveiw tech on 808??? ...if it comes to the conclusion that "iCamera" is better??
7. arturmeireles posted on 3 0
I have both phones and its hard to choose one.
I love both phones in different ways.
I take them both with me all the time.
All I can say is that the Nokia 808 exceed my expectations.
8. sbr999 posted on 6 0
This single core, 512mb RAM Symbian smartphone is faster than a quad core Android... or just as fast, or uhm, almost iPhone 4s smooth. I'm simply amazed by Symbian's memory management. Too bad developers don't create cool and/or useful apps for it.
9. picka_vi_materina posted on 6 0
If you think that PowerVR is much more powerful than the Broadcom 2763 ticking inside the 808, think again. 808's lack on the CPU front is offloaded by its software optimizations and extremely powerful GPU.
10. Extraneus posted on 6 0
Fair article, but...
Your take on the design of the two devices...!!!
Design is a subjective matter...
You love the glass and metal of the iPhone? Fine. I love the exquisite slight curve of the Nokia N9, Lumia 800 and now 808, and find the flat (fragile non-gorilla glass, by the way!) screen of the iPhone unimpressive. The rough plastic you so despise do wonders to the tactile sense and reduces the chance of you actually dropping the device! In terms of comfort, the smooth edges of the 808 certainly beat the crap out of the sharp edges of the iPhone. Physical navigation keys is actually a plus in many peoples' books, perhaps not from a design point of view, but as a practical measure... At the very least, one can argue that it sets the phone apart from all the screen-only clones on the market.
As I said, design is subjective, and I'm not bashing your opinion about the iPhone being leaps ahead on this point; I'm merely pointing out that a statement like:
"You'd have to be a total function-before-form kind of guy to call the Nokia 808 PureView design good compared with the svelte iPhone 4S"
...is ridiculously presumptive!
11. bbblader posted on 2 0
I like the symbian belle interface more than the iphone's
on iphone its apps that beat the 808
the 808 I think that has better grip because of the curved edges unlike the iphone's sharp ones
the UI i think is betten on the 808 because the only menu type UI i've liked is the N9's
the iphone one isn't what I want atleast
the browsing is better than symbian's at one point of view but the flash lite on symbian makes me think that the symbian browser is the better one even though the pixel density is less on symbian
here I like the fact that the apps count is worth meaning something
yes even the 60k apps on nokia store are too much when I only used 25 since I have the c6-01
and 30 on the SGS
so I don't care about how many million apps there are
and last but not least most wp7 symbian and android fans will agree with me when I say that the symbian 808 PW is better than iphone 4s
12. Andrewtst posted on 1 8
Great and fair review.
This is what in my mine as well.
Nokia 808PV is only great in Camera. That it.
Old and ugly design, outdated OS, bad OS.
Crap screen resolution.
16. -RVM- posted on 3 0
And also in customizability of OS, landscape UI support, connectivity options, openness, multimedia, free offline navigation etc.
20. bbblader posted on 3 0
lol if symbian is an outdated os idk what ios 6 is
having just now got the ''new'' remind me later button
even if symbian doesn't support flash
it still supports flash lite 4.0
your god iphone doesnt even support that
+ that iSight camera you have needs glasses compared to the 808
and one more thing tell me how can I download a song on an iphone when its not jailbroken? pay for it? yeah right
23. bayusuputra posted on 0 0
really? the only downside of the 808PV is the number of apps available and the not-so-great screen..
can the iPhone support 41MP camera with single core? No..
does the iPhone have options other than zoom/HDR/flash toggles in its camera? No..
Symbian is one of the most stable and capable OS (if not the most) out there.. Yes, even compared to Android, it is more capable.. forget about iOS..
It's just that not many developers develop apps for it anymore..
The iPhone wins in the eye candy category hands down.. but PureView is another league of its own.. THE cameraphone..
13. 234Real posted on 2 2
This comparison is so bias and dosen't worth it. Make comparison objectively without making statement like "Since Nokia Belle FP1 is quite the frugal mobile OS, and the screen pixel density is so low, Nokia's handset performs pretty well in the battery life department, too". Why not say a high pixel density is a battery guzzler. Gsmarena does the balancing better.
15. Nathan_ingx posted on 2 0
Imagine iPhone with the pureview bump!! That would be ugly!!!
The curves does add to the charm to the 808!!
As i look back, Nokia has always been about curves! :)
