Nokia N9 camera: sample images and video

Our first encounter with Nokia’s N9 could have been eleven other kinds of awesome, but we knew it was an insignificant scratch of the high-grade polycarbonate surface. One of the most core pieces of functionality we didn’t get the opportunity to handle back then was the camera, and after Nokia decided to toot that horn recently — saying, among other things, that it is the ” fastest image-capturing phone ” yet — we decided we needed to return for a second go-around.

With regards to performance, Nokia’s camera application definitely lives as much as the company’s own hype, with nearly instant captures and an equally brisk return to a state of readiness for more image-taking. When shooting video, we noted that audio recording starts slightly later than the video, leaving the primary half second or so without sound. This is not an uncommon issue (we have seen it on other phones and tablets) and will be seen in our video sample after the break. Now could be a great time to also mention that the N9s we tested with today were all prototype units, so don’t prejudge Nokia’s final hardware at the basis of what you spot here. Unless your premature judgment is positive, we doubt Nokia would mind that.

So anyhow, we took a walk across the company’s offices, escorted by a set of unarmed but surely lethal Finnish ninjas, taking shots of the encircling cityscape as we went. The consequences show the N9 picking up a ton of detail and controlling noise admirably, while a couple of impromptu ThinkPad hands-on photos convinced us it could do a beautiful stellar job with 0 closeups 0 in addition. With a reputation like N9, however, it was obvious which phone we would have liked to check Nokia’s 1 lone wolf 1 MeeGo handset to, so out came our trusty N8 with its world-beating 12 megapixel sensor. Alas, despite having an F2.2 aperture at the N9, Nokia hasn’t managed to copy the heroics of its earlier device: the N8 shows its advantage in consistently making a choice on better color balance and in also being sharper within the frame. It makes the N9′s images look like they were shot through a haze, though we hasten to feature that this could be considered a strength of the older phone in preference to a significant failure of the recent one. Additionally, the N9 suffers from the typically narrow dynamic range of smartphone camera sensors, that is the reason for the consistently blown-out sky in our gallery images. Still, considering the short software operation and consistently detailed imagery on offer from the N9, we’d say Nokia is directly to a winner here.

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This post is tagged: camera application, first encounter, grade polycarbonate, megapixel sensor, prototype units