Nokia’s newest flagship, the Lumia 925, has certainly made a positive impression since the company announced it just under two months ago, with broad praise from journalists and reviewers across the world. When I reviewed the handset last month, I said that it’s “not just the best Windows Phone by far; it’s also one of the best smartphones available today”.
One of the key strengths of the device is its 8.7MP PureView camera, and in my review, I said that it “offers the best all-round camera experience of any smartphone I’ve tested”. A few weeks on, I’ve had the opportunity to test that camera further in a variety of conditions, and I’m pleased to say that my opinion hasn’t changed.
Nokia is understandably proud of the 925’s camera. In a video released this week, the company shared an ‘exploded’ view of the complex architecture of its imaging hardware, revealing the six ZEISS lenses, each no bigger than a pin, that sit inside the device.
ZEISS – named after the company’s eponymous founder, Carl Zeiss – has become synonymous with Nokia imaging, but the company does much more than just make smartphone camera lenses. They"ve been world leaders in microscope and optical technology for decades, with many notable achievements to their name.
In 1886, the company developed the apochromatic lens, which eliminated colour distortion in magnification. In subsequent decades, they created the metallographic microscope and the stereo microscope, and developed new lithography technology employed in microchip production.
The parade offered a great chance to try out the camera’s video capture capabilities, and I chose the ‘Everybody Dance Now’ troupe as the subjects – mostly because there were two very, very short people standing in front of me at the time, making it easy for me to record over their heads.
The video was captured at 1080p resolution. The OIS features helped to stabilise the video recording here, particularly useful after having chugged back a load of Prosecco earlier that morning. Hey, don’t judge – my body clock was on London time… or something.
The video capture is generally pretty good, and despite my clumsy paws completely failing to keep the phone still, the camera did a competent job of ensuring that that didn’t utterly ruin the video. It’s worth noting that the colours and contrasts in the video aren’t quite as impressive as those seen in the still images.
During a brief pause in the parade, I also got an opportunity to test the 925’s 1.2MP forward-facing camera with my friend Hamish. The rich, vibrant colours here are certainly worth noting, but the overall results aren"t entirely impressive; indeed, it almost appears as though a filter has been added to the image, with some over-saturation in parts of the shot, along with a general lack of definition in many of the details of the image.
The front cam lacks much of the PureView magic and trickery that Nokia has baked into the 8.7MP rear camera, although its performance is generally decent. While the image above isn’t the best, I’ve certainly seen far, far worse pics taken in daylight with front-facing cameras, which many manufacturers have traditionally viewed as an afterthought, judging by the poor quality images that they frequently produce. The Windows Phone 8X by HTC, and the Android-based HTC One, generally offer superior performance from their front cams, compared with the Lumia 925, in my experience.
After using the Lumia 925 as my primary device for several weeks now, and having had plenty more time to use its camera on a day-to-day basis, I"m pleased to say that my opinions of it haven’t really changed since my review was published a few weeks ago.
Like any smartphone camera, the 925’s shooter isn"t perfect and won’t produce the results that you expect 100% of the time – but it does come pretty close. The sheer volume of photos that I"ve taken with the device – now well over 1200 – means that, naturally, I"ve seen a higher number of weaker images than I saw during the period of my initial review. And while I"ve chosen to highlight a couple of these examples above, it’s important to bear in mind that that number remains incredibly low when put into the context of how many photos I"ve taken overall.
I maintain that the Lumia 925 doesn"t really capture “more than your eyes can see”, as Nokia claims, but while it’s not completely flawless, I stand by my assessment that it’s the best smartphone camera that I"ve tested, and offers the strongest all-round camera experience of any smartphone available.
I may have to revisit that statement after July 11, however, when Nokia finally launches its long-awaited ‘EOS’ Windows Phone, packing a mighty 41MP PureView camera.
After seeing what Nokia has been able to achieve with the camera in the Lumia 925, I have a feeling that it"s going to be worth the wait.
Images 2 and 3 via Nokia
More coverage of the Nokia Lumia 925 on Neowin
> Review: Nokia Lumia 925
> Side by side: Nokia"s Lumia 925 vs Lumia 920
> Analysts praise Nokia"s new Lumia 925
> Nokia"s Lumia 925 ad features scary-looking folks with serious red-eye
> New video from Nokia takes a closer look at the Lumia 925 camera
> The weight is over: Nokia announces thin and light Lumia 925