MWC 2019: Nokia Annual Press Conference at Mobile World Congress (3pm UTC)
by Anton Shilov on February 24, 2019 9:55 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Nokia
- Live Blog
- MWC 2019
09:58AM EST - We are at HMD Global’s annual press conference at Mobile World Congress where the company shares information about its success in the past year and introduces new flagship models. Today we expect the company to launch its new flagship model, the Nokia 9, with a never-before-seen camera.
10:03AM EST - Like all press events from Nokia, this one starts with the Nokia Tune.
10:05AM EST - CEO of Nokia kicks off the press conference. First and foremost, he thanks Nokia fans and HMD's staff for a strong 2018
10:05AM EST - CEO of Nokia kicks off the press conference. First and foremost, he thanks Nokia fans and HMD's staff for a strong 2018
10:08AM EST - Nokia tripled its smartphone sales in 2018 vs 2017
10:09AM EST - The head of Nokia thanks fans and the HMD staff for this success
10:10AM EST - He mentions that Nokia innovates not only in the high end category, but also in the mainstream.
10:10AM EST - He mentions that Nokia innovates not only in the high end category, but also in the mainstream.
10:12AM EST - One important thing about the Nokia phones, he recalls, is that all of the company's phones receive Android updates at a very fast pace, ahead of other brands.
10:14AM EST - Nokia stresses that with constant updates its phones keep getting better over time.
10:15AM EST - Chief product officer is on stage, now we are talking products.
10:16AM EST - He recalls the 2018 lineup first - from bottom to top. Nokia for Everyone!
10:16AM EST - Nokia has product announcements across all categories. They are starting with feature phones
10:18AM EST - Nokia 2.10. HMD's most affordable Internet connected phone today
10:19AM EST - It takes pictures, plays Snake, browses the Internet, and does other essential operations.
10:19AM EST - It is set to cost $35
10:20AM EST - Moving on to Nokia 1.
10:22AM EST - Nokia 1 Plus is bigger, has more storage, longer battery life, etc.
10:23AM EST - It has a 5.45-inch display, 8MP main camera, improved imaging software. Of course, Android 9 Pie Go Edition
10:24AM EST - Set to be available in three colors at $99.
10:25AM EST - Time to talk about mass market smartphones.
10:25AM EST - Nokia 4, to be more precise
10:26AM EST - The Nokia 4.2 comes a large display with a small notch, a dual camera, the Snapdragon 439.
10:28AM EST - Moving a bit down the ladder. The new Nokia 3.
10:30AM EST - Nokia 3.2. An essential smartphone with a large display, Snapdragon 429, high-capacity battery, a dedicated Google Assistant button.
10:35AM EST - Both Nokia 3.2 and Nokia 4.2 will feature face unlock capability.
10:36AM EST - Obviously, imaging software and hardware is migrating to mass market devices. Both phones will feature depth sensor for bbokeh effect and other capabbilities
10:37AM EST - Nokia 3 starts at $139, whereas Nokia 4 will cost $169.
10:37AM EST - Finally! The Nokia 9 PureView!
10:39AM EST - Five 12 MP cameras (two RGB and two B&W sensors), controlled by a special ASIC.
10:40AM EST - To process images captured by the sensors, Nokia uses a custom ASIC developed by Light, Qualcomm CPU cores, Qualcomm DSP, and Qualcomm ISP.
10:42AM EST - Obviously, the camera also supports a 12MP depth map
10:44AM EST - New software supports 10 second exposure.
10:45AM EST - A professional photographer praises the Nokia 9
10:46AM EST - The Nokia 9 also supports capturing RAW files and process them using a pre-installed Adobe Lightroom app.
10:48AM EST - The phone has an aluminum chassis with Gorilla Glass 5 on two sides.
10:50AM EST - Set to be available in late March, the Nokia 9 PureView will cost 699 dollars.
10:50AM EST - That's it, time for some hands on!
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
14 Comments
View All Comments
coolhardware - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
Nokia seems to be covering all the bases here. I love that they start at ~$99 for a decent Android phone and work their way up from there :-)The Nokia 9 looks sweet. So far the limited photos they have released look better (to my eye) than the S10(+) photos that have been released.
The Pixel 3 has been a good phone for me, but I think the Nokia 9 looks like the most compelling upgrade out there right now for a USA* GSM user.
*Huawei stuff looks cool but it seems that USA + Huawei is not going to be a good match.
Anyone else have thoughts on Nokia's lineup?
Netmsm - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
The Nokia 9 has impressive features and awesome design. I'm glad to see Nokia is back :)halcyon - Monday, February 25, 2019 - link
Nokia (the company) is not back and never went away. This is HMD Global doing custom designs on Foxconn platform as a boint venture with a Foxconn subsidiaryRuimanalmeida - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
Where is Nokia 6.2?Laxaa - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
The Nokia 9 looks cool, and the samples seem, for the most part, impressive.However, it is disappointing that Nokia has opted for last years SoC, even though the difference in day-to-day usage might not be as significant as the spec sheet suggests. The 10+ seconds of processing time on the image files is a bit concerning, though, and hopefully Nokia can speed things up in software.
All said, I'm looking forward to the reviews.
levizx - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
It took 5 lenses to get "impressive" samples, I wouldn't say it's any better than Pixel 3 XL, Mate 20 Pro or Galaxy S10+. Especially when the latter 2 has multiple focal lengths.Laxaa - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
I would say it’s better than the S10. Samsungs agressive noise reduction kills any fine detail.levizx - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
What exactly can you do with 5 lenses (with the same focal length) that 1 or 2 bigger ones can't? Depth map? TOF camera is way better. HDR? IMX607 will obliterate this, even dual IMX586 would beat it easily.nikon133 - Sunday, February 24, 2019 - link
It could get dynamic range that is in DSLR zone... at least DX/APS-c DSLR zone.IMX607 sounds good but 38MP on 10mm diagonal sensor... I don't know. I have been using RX100 G1 and checking out all the later updates of that camera, and while there are improvements in DR, they are more evolutionary than revolutionary... and that is 1" sensor with 20MP, much bigger pixels. I hope IMX607 will be the next big thing, but I'll believe it only when I see it. Until then, it is just marketing.
DOF control should be exceptional on Nokia 9, they are promising more than 1000 levels between 0 (well as close as camera will focus) and 40m distance.
It will really be down to how smart this multi-image "mixing" ends up. Having all 5 cameras shooting at once should be much better than multi-shot with one or 2 lenses... and all cameras being the same in terms of res and FOV should allow for much more natural combining of these shots... compared to trying to improve DR pf one camera by (somehow) crossing it with output from camera with different FOV and even res. Plus, BW sensors have bigger pixels - since they are not split into colour subpixels - so their capability to capture light should be much better than color camera in the same package. Add to that color info from two identical RGB cameras - that is a lot of info to be used from single snap.
Funny that you have mentioned IMX607 - Sony is claiming exclusive deal with Light company, the same one (rumored) to have co-operated with Nokia of DOF sensor in Nokia 9. If Sony wants to jump into those phone-camera waters, I think they are well poised - with all the technology and know-how they already have in both cameras and phones. I wouldn't be surprised if IMX607 doesn't show first in their own phones, before being licensed to other OEMs.
We'll see.
levizx - Monday, February 25, 2019 - link
You do realize IMX586 can do HDR in one shot, right? 1*IMX586+1*BW/IMX586 can give you 4 levels of exposures all in one shot, and stitching 2 images together is far more energy efficient and faster than 5. This configuration would give you amazing night shot as well, without using much post-processing.DOF is another topic, you can't have both good DOF and good HDR with Nokia 9, but you can do that with 2*IMX586+TOF.
Stitching pictures together gets trickier the more stitching you have to do, and it can never compete with actual big sensor. Personally I don't trust HMD's algorithm to be that good. Those 5 cameras will soon to be forgotten.
Now onto IMX 607, SONY never claimed exclusivity with Light Company, on the contrary, rumours are it's exclusive to Huawei just like IMX 600. As for your reservations, just look at what Huawei had done with IMX 600, their algorithm is way behind Google, but the end result is phenomenon. (Which also goes back to HMD is nowhere near Huawei in terms of algorithms, therefore less likely to actually do anything good with the 5 camera)