MWC 2019: Nokia 9 PureView brings 5 rear camera setup to the masses

In terms of novelty, HMD Global has the upper hand now in the smartphone space. It has this new five-camera setup at the back that reminds us of spider eyes. It looks like there are seven lenses but the one spot is for the flash, while the other is for a time-of-flight sensor for depth mapping. The five cameras we do get include three 12-megapixel monochrome cameras and two 12-megapixel RGB sensors, all f/1.8, 28mm lenses. 

These extra sensors aren't meant to be used for extra zoom levels. Instead, these are designed to capture a big amount of data for HDR and depth-based photography. It'll allow you to edit depth after the fact, even when using Google Photos' depth editing feature.

According to CNET, the depth map on photos taken with the Nokia 9 is 12 megapixels with 1,200 layers of depth data. The phone will take a minimum of five exposures, and capture around 60 to 240 megapixels of data. The Nokia 9 will then reduce this back to a 12-megapixel photo. Photos can be taken in RAW DNG format with varying file size of 30MB.

The Nokia 9's cameras are also designed to produce better HDR shots than the competition as well as offer multiple focal points in bokeh shots

HMD partnered with Adobe to have Lightroom built in, letting you edit the DNG photos right from the phone. Adobe is also working on lens profiles "tuned specifically" for the Nokia 9.

As for the other specs of the phone, you get last-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, which is optimized to process the photos taken by this phone. It's paired with a dedicated Light Camera Lux Capacitor processor.  

The Nokia 9 is an Android One phone so it'll receive two years of Android upgrades and regular security updates. HMD has consistently updated its devices to the latest version of Android so you can expect this to get the same treatment. It also has a 5.99-inch 2K pOLED display (sans notch), under-the-screen fingerprint reader, face unlock via the 20-megapixel front-facing camera, wireless charging, and IP67 water resistance.

HMD is calling this a "limited edition" device with a limited run. If you are interested, though, it retails for €599 (around CA$900).