Year 2014 to come. The best cameraphone is model from 2010 or 2012? You decide...

I would try to rank most used options in mobile cameras between this mobile camera giants  Nokia N8 2010 model and Nokia 808 PureView 2012 model.

Picture quality: (1-10)                            
Resolution (details)  N8:8 N808:10 (*maybe is more realistic to give less points to N8 but N8 has unofficial mods for camera with jpeg quality of 97% even 100% giving better quality, less compression and bigger file size)
Noise N8:7 N808:9
Dynamic range/contrast N8:8 N808:10
Color reproduction N8:10 N808:7
Cant save photos in smaller resolution (12mpix) or file size (<5mb) without losing quality, PV mode isnt good enough as full resolution*: N808 -2pts
*photos become soft, too blurry, cant compare to photos of N8
Software related to camera (1-5)
UI: N8:3 N808:4
Users friendly: N8:4 N808:3
Builtin photo editor: N8:4 N808:3 (you can add filters to selected image parts and you could do nice effects)

DRAW RESULT: N8 44 vs N808 44  You decide what is the most important for you in the terms of picture quality. I prefer natural colors and dynamic range rather than details. 

This is N8's photo. 12mpix 4:3

This is N808's photo. 33mpix 16:9

N8 vs compact digital cameras

N8 with its 1/83" sensor size, 12 mpx resolution, two-way shutter key, autofocus, HD video mode is still competitive with most of compact digital cameras, even from top manufacturers as Canon and Nikon. 

(Nokia N8, Delight Rom v6.3, HyperX camera mod with 97% jpeg quality, file size 5.33mb, exposure 1/233s., ISO-100)

Looking at the photo samples of compacts all over the net i am more than suprised with the quality of N8's photos. I've found, now old, Canon SX110IS photos are closest in the therms of details and color reproduction (optical zoom,normally, excluded). Fuji S2940 has artifacts similar to Xperia T or Xperia S, which are seen when we zoom or crop photos. It's resolution of 14 mpix simply could not follow sensor of 1/2.3". Optical zoom is fantastic, same as macro photos, but personally i think we only have need those time to time but not everyday.

How to compare: use this photo above, or take similar photo of some town or city because of variety of colors, different surfaces and shadows, use similar relation between landscape and sky to check if there are normal dynamic range or to check if photo overexposed in some parts.

Search google for this therms:
<name of digital compact camera> sample photo city or
<name of digital compact camera> picture samples landscape
or something like that
Download photo where weather conditions are similar to those on your photo.
Also it is important to download photo with the same or nearly the same resolution as your photo.

Use some photo editor as IrfanView, AcdSee. Crop your photo, for example some area of 500 x 500 px or 300 x 300 px. Leave the window (program) open.
Do it all the same with downloaded photo. Leave also the window open.
Change multiple time windows to check if there are similarities and differences and where exactly. 

And now, focus on camera

Years have passed since battle in this area, area of mobile phone cameras between Sony's Cyber-shot, Nokia's Carl Zeiss optics and Samsung's Pixon.

Then, Android came. Suddenly, everyone forgot about this very important function of mobile phone and interest moved in other direction. Nokia has played the game a little more, until crash. Other players remained on the bench. 

Serious mobile phone photographers igrnored megapixel race. Putting unnecessary high resolution of 8 or 13 mpix to a small sensor size 1/3" led to great expectations and big disappointments.  

 

(HTC One X 8mpix cropped, left - Sony Xperia S 12mpix cropped, right)

Resizing to 5 mpix only makes sense. There are lot of artifacts, noise there. Sensor size could not handle passing too much light and making high resolution photos is absolutely unnecessary.

Year 2013 brought fresh players on the court.  

Manufacturers have finally started thinking in the right direction. Sony Z1 brings bigger sensor size and resolution, Galaxy Zoom brings first optical zoom. Good and noticed effort from Apple's 5S and HTC One.

Let the battle begin!

Galaxy S4 Zoom. Heawyweight

Heavyweighter in both ways, Samsung came with decent camera w. optical zoom and sure it is in top league shooters, but unfortunately its weight exceed famous limit of 170 gr which must not be crossed if we going to put that phone in pocket and still be unnoticeable, considering that lot of compact digital cameras from top companies Canon or Nikon have less weight than S4 Zoom. 

Couple of reviews show photos of S4 Zoom to be too post-processed as photos from S3 or S4. Colors are vivid, pleasant but not natural, borders of objects are emphasized by software and photos looks very nice if you going to make usual "family size" photos for 15 cm x 10 cm frame. Try to crop or zoom more than 200% and you will see the stuff i have mentioned before.

Is there a good reason to buy? If you search for OS with unlimited possibilities and you need an optical zoom. Then yes. 

Sony Z1. Finally, decent camera from so called "camera brand"

So many times, disappointed, from this brand in the therms of camera quality. I have used many models (Xperia Arc, Arc S, S, T,...) reading articles about superb camera but everytime the same story. Lots of artifacts, overexposed, bad color reproduction, even on newer models with camera of 13mpix.  Lens size was unchanged and i dont see any point except marketing one, putting higher of 5mpix resolution with some senzor of 1/3.2" size.

Sony Z1 finally brings bigger sensor size in the same, slim housing, which is great improvement.

                                       camera quality *       phone thickness and weight       total

Nokia N8                                 8                              8 13mm 135gr                        16 

Nokia 808 Pureview             10                             6 14mm 169gr                        16

Lumia 1020                             9                             9  11mm 158gr                        18 

Sony Z1                                   8                              9    8mm  170gr                       17 

* sensor size, UI, HDR, quality of photos, etc.

From this point of view Sony is in second place after Nokia (Microsoft) Lumia 1020

Amateur photographers, seriously consider this model!

Year 2013: Nokia N8 still the best. Why?

What is stopping me to make a transition to Android OS or Windows? Because i have everything i need in this phone... It is one of the most completed phones ever.

Any android phone including most of the 2013 models has not (not even close) all of the functions required by demanding users. N8 has.

1. Great and persistant aluminum housing that will last longer than every iPhone or Android phone on the market. Android phone usually made of plastic, polycarbonate, glass. N8 may have straches but interior, even with large drops, stays untouched. 

2. Small size (in 2010 medium size) 3,5" AMOLED screen has great sunlight legibility. One of the best. Sure, can be compared to newest Android models. Resolution isnt great but acceptable for this screen size. Nokia 808 on the other hand had to be improved. For 4" screen size resolution of 360x640 is, can be said, thinly. Screen is much more responsible than previous Nokia models.

3. 680 mhz processor done an excellent job in practice. No lags between processes. With custom Delight v.6.3 ROM (BELLE OS), you will forget to ask about the processor speed.  It is flawless in the transitions between home screens, menus etc.  

4. Android has great market with lot of free applications but almost everything you need Symbian Belle already has. With couple of additional $ you can buy rest of. Looks funny, operating system Belle Refresh OS not far behind Android. Think about that. You have more than one home/today screen, you have lots of widgets, with different size. Belle OS has Divx/Xvid player with support of subtitles, great music player, FM radio, N8 also has FM transmitter, thats great stuff, gallery is not perfect but you have great and cheep PhotoBook program on Nokia's shop, also builtin gallery has great editor but there are plenty of other good photo editors. SpbTV is good for live tv streaming. For business users i reccomend using widgets like calendar (QooCalendar recommended for 1$), weather (builtin or QooWeather), rss reader (QooRss), favourite contacts and couple of shortcuts and maybe email widget with list of read/unread emails. Very handy. N8 has three or four good office editors and viewers, QuickOffice is very good one.

5. World's top 1 camera. Great optics produce outstanding photos for one pocket size mobile phone. Carl Zeiss 12mpix 4000x3000 and HD video, Xenon flash etc. Photos are natural looking, as i say "what you see is what you get", shutter speed is great and there is shutter key.

6. Beside fantastic optics and very big 1/1.83" lens, this mobile has compact size and fits in every pocket.

7. Audio quality is great, both speakerphone and loudspeaker are loud and clear. Great improvement from previous models as N97 for example.

8. There are free map application with great maps and GPS works perfectly. You can download maps for free for almost all of the coutries in the world. GPS application works very fast, stable and you have 3D and satellite view, too. Even famous buildings, monuments etc. covered. Absolutely great!

9. HDMI port. You will be able to watch movies or other stuff from your phone on the TV.  Supported resolution is HD, not only basic one. 

10. Design, ok it is subjective relation to something. I like business look, classic models. Anyway, you have to admit there are no differences between design of android models except Sony and Oppo stand out a little bit. Nokia designers paid attention to design of all three models announced in that time, N8, E7 and X7. N8 feels great in your hands, there are also lot of keys, for volume, lock and two way shutter from the side. There are curves on the aluminum body and colors of housing are great, too. Personally, i like dark colors for example dark grey.

11. Built in memory of 16GB and additional slot for extra microSD card gives you space to save your work with no need to sync your photos every day.

Advantages of N8 in regard of other phone models and OSes                   Nokia---BB---Android mid range---Android top class---iPhone---Windows
Size            +            +                ~                                 ~                         +            - (usual heavy big size)
Screen       +            ~(usual.small)  ~(bad sunl.legib)            ++                      ++               +
Apps          ~             -                ++                                ++                       ++              +
Camera     ++           ~                 -                                   ~ to +                  +                +
Sound        ++           ++               +                                  +  to ++               +               ~ to +   
GPS           ++           ~                ~ to +                         ~ to +                   ~              ~ to +
Speed        +             ++                +                                  ++                      ++                ++

+ great ~overall ++the best -not so good 0-N/A

Advantages/disadvantages in regard to 808 PV
(more points for camera functions, less points for other functions)

MARKS 1-5 (Camera) 1-3 (Other)
                                                   N8        808                N8     808 Camera details (resolution)                    +                   4        5
Colors reproduced                    +                                  5        4
Absorbing light/scenery/exsposure/noise*        +                  4         5
Close-up (macro)                      +                                  3        4

Depth of field                                             +                  3        5
Viewfinder                                                  +                  2        3
Possibility of HDR                                    +                   1         2
Night shoots (flash)                                                         5        5 
Camera updates (unofficial mods/quality im + provements)                           1         0  


Size                                             +                                  3        1
Weight                                         +                                  3       1
Build quality                                 +                                  3        1


n8 28+9=37 808 33 + 3=36