Nokia 9 PureView

An ambitious camera beast with middling features

Nokia 9 PureView
Image credit: TechRadar
(Image: © TechRadar)

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Image credit: TechRadar

Image credit: TechRadar (Image credit: TechRadar)

 Camera 

 With no further ado – the cameras.

Yes, this is the make-or-break reason to buy a Nokia 9 PureView. If you want the short verdict: no, the phone’s unique five-lens setup does not vastly outpace the cameras on top-tier flagships. But it does outperform mid-range phones, and given the ability to export its photos in the RAW-derived DNG format, allows the pro shooter to tinker with shots in post-production.

But for casual photographer, the phone is a good, though not dominant, choice. 

A bit of context: only two of the phone’s five rear 12MP f/1.8 cameras are in color (the center-center and center-lower one), while the three in the top, bottom-right and bottom-left are all monochrome lenses positioned just so to combine photos taken simultaneously with every lens. This is intended to capture greater ranges of color and depth, which it does, to varying degrees.

In practice, and without editing, the Nokia 9’s photos tend to look darker and less vibrant than those taken with other phones. They have more detail in the shadows – think stubble under a bearded jaw or the underside of a bridge – but streaks of bright light can lead to blown out patches. Daytime shots often have a color range more reflective of reality (i.e. less vivid) than other phones, but their lighting can vary from shot to shot, making it a good (if frustrating) idea to take multiple pictures.

What’s wild, and a bit annoying, is that you won’t see this mutedness unless you closely compare shots between phones...on a separate monitor. The Nokia 9’s more-vibrant-by-default display can make photos look brighter than they end up being.

Predictably, the phone’s camera does well with shots in interstitial areas: if you’re in a tunnel mouth, say, it will do a respectable job capturing the interior foreground and exterior background, outcompeting some flagships. Unfortunately, we found these images to have a gauzy quality, lacking sharp focus as the lenses adapt to the differing light levels. 

The phone also seems to outclass flagships in black-and-white shots, putting its monochrome lenses to work capturing more shadow detail than competing flagships’ B&W filters. Just expect, yes, these images to be dark and require a bit of tweaking to make figures visible.

Image credit: TechRadar

Image credit: TechRadar (Image credit: TechRadar)

The front-facing 20MP camera falls into the opposite problem: sharpness, but poor ability to handle multi-level lighting. Bright backgrounds are easily blown out.

David Lumb

David is now a mobile reporter at Cnet. Formerly Mobile Editor, US for TechRadar, he covered phones, tablets, and wearables. He still thinks the iPhone 4 is the best-looking smartphone ever made. He's most interested in technology, gaming and culture – and where they overlap and change our lives. His current beat explores how our on-the-go existence is affected by new gadgets, carrier coverage expansions, and corporate strategy shifts.