"Real life" review of 9PV from Russia

madbilly · July 8

Hi all,

I'm sure many of you have already seen and read the review of the 9PV by Alexander Bobovnikov from Russia: https://vk.com/@bobovnikov-nokia-pureview-9-9-years-of-innovation

It's very interesting, though certainly quite obvious he is a long-time fan of Nokias and therefore his opinions may be a little bit biased (yes, like mine would be too!). Some of the most interesting things I read were:

The use of Google Live Wallpapers to show images on the glance screen - nice! Can this be done with any non-live wallpapers?
The Snapdragon 845 in the 9PV is a special version unique to the 9PV - really? I'm quite surprised about this
To power 5 cameras, the ToF sensor and the flash at the same time a special power supply circuit was created - I would like to know more about this
There are actually four microphones for recording OZO audio in videos, not just three. This means the phone should be capable of full 1080 degree sound recording, not only 360. Do any of you know if this is case?
I'm also surprised that there is some wind noise in the video demoing OZO audio, because I thought that OZO audio was supposed to remove wind noise
The SD845 can do EIS in 4K - can it? It's true that the video capabilities of the 9PV seem to have been forgotten compared to the camera, so if possible this could be added (along with monochrome filming)
Front camera uses the original PureView algorithms to combine info from multiple pixels into one! Personally I think this is not true, because the front camera uses a Quad-Bayer filter doesn't it? Quad-Bayer is like a "lite" version of the original PureView.
OZO audio can be used when recording with the front camera too?!
You can capture "live photos" (used to be called "living images" by Nokia) - is that right? I didn't spot that when I tried a 9PV
What is the photo mode he describes which "brightens" the photo "Here is an example of how this function works: 1-auto mode, 2-with function"?
The 9PV runs cooler and faster than the Nokia 8! Despite the fact that the 8 should run cooler because of it's aluminium body. I presume this means the SD845 processor design and manufacturing is just more power efficient than the SD835.
HMD have patented the multi-camera technology used on the 9PV? I thought Light had patented this, and HMD were licensing it?

What do you think? Is the review fair, accurate? Which cool features and irritating shortcomings has he missed out?

Cheers

juholemmetyinen · July 24

I have a lot to comment about this, but can't be bothered to write everything. I think the review takes a few shortcuts here and there though. I mean for example the front facing Pureview algorithm thing. The resulting output is 20.1 MP, shouldn't real pixel binning (4 pixels to 1 in this case) make for a lower MP photo? @madbilly

madbilly · July 29

Hi @juholemmetyinen, you're right, I don't think the front-facing camera uses PureView algorithms, it's a quad-bayer device so whilst it's similar it's not as good.

What were the other things you noticed? There were quite a few things that made me think "really?"!

Cheers

juholemmetyinen · July 31

I think the special version of the snapdragon is referring to to extra processor made by light. I don't recall any other info regarding the speciality of the 845, other than the tight integration work they did together with Qualcomm.

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4K EIS is to my experience nonexistent or it's not that good. I've been shooting 1080p because the stabilization is better and I'm not too enthusiastic about video anyway. I think you can somewhat stabilize videos after the fact in google photos?

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I don't know a lot about the audio capture, but it's quite good. I recently compared this to the rich recording of a Lumia 620 and the Lumia fared better that alright, I think it sounded even better.. Both filter out loud noises well, but the rich recording doesn't make the sound flat, but keeps the thumping bass etc. somewhat intact.

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You can capture live photos, but then you can't do depth mode or RAW, so not a huge feature to have imo, honestly I never have liked that, neither in Lumias or iPhones.

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Regarding performance, I never had any problem with the Nokia 8 and certainly I haven't had any with the Nokia 9 either. Shooting with all bells and whistles on the 9 heats up a lot around the cameras, but the heat quickly dissipates after a few moments. And this is only when you take ~tens of photos in quick succession.

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Yeah I think Nokia was the exclusive partner for a little while, I think even Sony is developing something like this with Light, or do I have wrong/outdated info?

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I read some rumours about a possible Nokia 9.1, I might be tempted to get that phone, but there's one thing putting me off - the naming. How am I supposed to hashtag 9.1 in twitter/instagram

@madbilly

Cheers

Xioness · July 31

juholemmetyinen said:

Yeah I think Nokia was the exclusive partner for a little while, I think even Sony is developing something like this with Light, or do I have wrong/outdated info?

If i have it correctly in my mind then it is sony and xiaomi. I think LG also got something kinda like that but nokia is nothing special anymore with that

madbilly · July 31

Hi @juholemmetyinen,

Thanks for your thoughts, much of it is what I was thinking myself.

"Special version of the 845" - I agree, I thought it was just the additional Light co-processor.

4K EIS, I agree it's non-existent, EIS only works at lower resolutions.

Audio capture - that's interesting, especially your comparison with the Lumia 620! If you had said the 920, 925, 930 etc were better then I would not have been surprised, but the 620?! Wow, that really shows that HMD cut some corners (and why I'm right to say that the 9PV is still not a replacement for the old N-series).

Live photos, I never used on Lumia, but I am interested to know this is possible on the 9PV. The absence of depth or RAW doesn't surprise me though, since this would make the size of the photos huge. I imagine that the overall detail in the live photos is poor compared to a still image as well.

"Heating up" is how I would describe my only experience with the 9PV in Barcelona - I could feel my fingers getting hot as I took the photos, good to hear your feedback that this is only when you're really hammering the shutter button!

I think you and @Xioness are right. LG showed some sort of array-camera on the back of a phone last year I think but it wasn't clear if it was related to Light. Sony are partnering with Light relating to sensors, there's no indication that this will appear on Sony smartphones. I don't recall anything about Xiaomi working with Light but I read recently that Xiaomi will open an office in Tampere where the old Nokia imaging team was based.

You will have to write #Nokia9dot1!

Cheers

Xioness · July 31

madbilly said:

I think you and @Xioness are right. LG showed some sort of array-camera on the back of a phone last year I think but it wasn't clear if it was related to Light. Sony are partnering with Light relating to sensors, there's no indication that this will appear on Sony smartphones. I don't recall anything about Xiaomi working with Light but I read recently that Xiaomi will open an office in Tampere where the old Nokia imaging team was based.
You will have to write #Nokia9dot1!
Cheers

If I'm not wrong then i was reading that the sony xperia 3? Will have a light setup with 6-8 cameras.

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"Real life" review of 9PV from Russia

"Real life" review of 9PV from Russia

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"Real life" review of 9PV from Russia

"Real life" review of 9PV from Russia

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