Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia has posted a teaser on its blog for an important announcement to follow next month. The post, which reads "41 million reasons", hints at Nokia's long-awaited 41MP Windows 8 camera phone.
The official press event, named "zoom reinvented", will be held in New York, on 11 July.
Bulking up
Nokia first introduced a 41MP camera with the 808 PureView, which runs on the Symbian Belle platform. The device has a four-inch screen and is powered by a 1.3GHz single-core processor.
The 808 was criticised for being too bulky as a result of the lens and optical zoom, which is a characteristic that might be pulled through to the 41MP Windows camera phone.
While no images of the Windows 8 Nokia have yet made their way onto the Web, Samsung has revealed a 16MP version of the Galaxy S4 with 10x optical zoom and it's a bulky device.
While questions have been raised about the need for a 41MP camera phone, the purpose is to allow high levels of zoom, without compromising the resolution of the image. It also enables the camera to take images in low-light surroundings without the use of a flash.
This also suggests Windows might have to adjust its mobile operating system to accommodate the high resolution.
Focused on imaging
The Finnish vendor has placed a lot of emphasis on the photographic and imaging capabilities of its smartphones. But World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says to date Nokia hasn't done enough to set itself apart from its competitors.
"Photographic capabilities is the potential deal-breaker for many, as the camera is one of the three most used functions on a smartphone in SA - along with FM radio and games," he adds.
Last month, Nokia announced the latest addition to the Lumia range, the 925, which is the first Lumia to have a metal casing. The company also heavily punted the device's imaging capabilities, which closely resembled features on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4.
Goldstuck says this is not surprising as it's become less a matter of copying as keeping up with the rest. "It is quite astonishing to see how many of the same advanced photographic functions appear on all the flagship phones. You have to be in that game or you're, well, out of it."
He adds that the Smart Camera feature is a software upgrade available for other Nokia Windows 8 phones and shows it's about the apps and not the hardware. "But low-light swings it for Nokia. On the other hand, as with the HTC One, absence of a microSD slot counts heavily against it, especially as high camera functionality translates into high storage demands. Nokia has designed this for cloud-rich environments, and will need to address storage more aggressively when it comes up with its next range."
Nokia has not commented on the reports or the event.
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