We asked the question yesterday…is the Nokia Lumia 920 worth 600 Euro and picked up a few comments from Nokia PR in Europe. At first I thought they were suggesting the RRP (recommended retail price) would come in at under 600 Euro but a further message suggested that we should make a full test before making a decision about value for money. Fair enough but there are people waiting in line you know! Today we get confirmation that the price isn’t coming in under 600 Euro.

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Update: Nokia PR Europe say they think it’s too early for this question. I can only interpret that in one way; There’s a possibility that the official MRRP for the Lumia 920 is lower than the price we’re discussing here. True, distributors may have been given indicative pricing and launch pricing could be lower. For those wanting to pre-order though, the question is valid.

Update2: Nokia PR Europe also suggest to me that one should test a device before evaluating. True if you have that luxury and clearly the sensible choice would be to wait until launch or retail-package reviews. We’ll certainly put another opinion forward when we’ve tested further!

Pre-order for the Nokia Lumia 920 is now available in Europe with most retailers settling on 599 Euros after tax. That puts it up there as one of the most expensive phones you can buy. More expensive than a Galaxy S3, iPhone 4S, Galaxy Note and the HTC Windows 8 Phone. It’s more expensive than the Nokia 808 PureView was at launch. Prices will start to drop as more retailers jostle for position but don’t expect too much. The PureView, a device that has seen some discounting, is still only 50 –70 Euro cheaper than at launch. Is it worth it?

The value-for-money equation is one that can only be completed by you so you’ll have to decide but for me, I’m a little worried that it’s over priced. I certainly don’t see myself handing over 600 Euros for the Lumia 920.

Let’s look at some of the features…

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We’ve got a few more details on the Nokia Lumia 920 for you including more specs on the camera which is an F2.0 device that can take in “five times more light” than competing smartphones. Impressive!

The floating lens is effectively a camera unit (not lens) mounted on springs which we assume dampened in some way. Update: This is an active system driven from data obtained by a gyroscope.

Here’s a demo that Nokia was showing at the press event. The images are designed to show the difference between the image you’ll get from a standard smartphone and the image you’ll get from a Nokia Lumia 920 with PureView and the floating lens.

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I’ve just watched the introduction of Windows 8 Lenses – part of the camera in Windows 8 phones. IN essence is allows an application (either built-in or 3rd party) to both integrate with the viewfinder (by adding functionality), control the camera and tag images with an application so that the application remains associated with the image. Combined with sharing in Windows 8 it looks like this takes WIndows 8 Phione forward as potentially (it depends 100% on developers) the most creative cameraphone platform out there. Very smart!

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I posted just half an hour ago on Google Plus…

“Stabilisation is a huge challenge for cameraphones because there’s not enough processing power to do it well enough in software and no room for optical stabilisation.”

Nokia may have solved the problem with “Floating Lens Technology” on the Nokia Lumia 920.

Technical details are unavailable right now but I’m excited to see that as it will a) allow slower shutter speeds (more light) b) reduce the need for xenon flash to freeze motion c) allow for longer zoom d) reduce video bitrates.

Update: Specifications and details are here.

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It arrived just as IFA was starting yesterday but in between frantic posting over at Ultrabooknews I’ve had at least a few hours with the Nokia 808. I even took a rare early morning ride out on the bike to do some testing today.

Ever since that ride I’ve been mulling over the 808 and its target audience. Talk about niche device, the 808 isn’t even priced as accessible right now so for anyone looking at connected photography, it’s quite an out-there choice. As the Symbian fan-base dwindles, I think we need to be honest and say that the 808 is unlikely to be as popular as the N8.

I won’t talk much about Symbian, the operating system, here. It beats most camera operating systems for usability and features but in comparison with phones that are half the price it’s less than dynamic. It does, I agree, do a great job with the basics. The phone is high quality, the MP3 player is great, build quality seems good and the screen is bright. The built-in free navigation and maps are still, in my opinion, better for in-car use than most other on-phone solutions.

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The Nokia 808 Pure View arrived to mess up my plans for the day. Thanks Nokia!

It’s out of the box and doing updates as I type. I haven’t even set the clock or taken a picture yet – how frustrating!

As I took it out of the box there was one overbearing first impression that I really hope doesn’t affect the way I use the Nokia 808  – it’s big and heavy, although it rests nicely in the hands. It’s plastic too but that helps even more to ensure the phone stays put in the hands. The bigger screen and lower pixel density over the N8 (remember I’m coming off nearly 2 years of ‘testing’ the N8) lends itself to thumb typing in landscape quite well and the slight speed-up over the N8 is immediately noticeable. The Micro-SIM requirement was annoying but we’re nearly up and running.

The Nokia 808 PureView is here for long-term testing so you’ll see occasional posts and videos from me about various features. Obviously I’ll be looking closely at the photography aspect and comparing it to other cameras I have around here.

The N8 is powered down and sits next to my Nokia N82 – four years of Nokia cameraphone usage. I wonder if the 808 will bring that to six years of usage?

Thanks to Nokia UK I’ll be kicking off the re-launch of HiBlue with a long-term test of the Nokia 808 PureView, a device that has many connected camera fans excited.

I took in the Nokia N8 for testing nearly two years ago and before that I was a Nokia N82 owner for two years. I’ve had a short term ownership of the Omnia Pro and Experia X10 during the last two years too. All excellent cameraphones. I’m excited to be testing the PureView.

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