Forty-one megapixels. 41. Forty-one freaking megapixels.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Nokia 808 Pureview's biggest feature (literally) is its gargantuan camera, pummelling other smartphone shooters into fine (and it's pretty fine) dust.

Indeed, when compared to the likes of the HTC One X and Galaxy SIII, there's no contest, Nokia's new handset is the new king of smartphone cameras, toppling the N8.

At 41 megapixels, we expected to see an unparallelled level of detail and clarity when looking at photos taken with the device. And for the most part, our expectations were fulfilled.

Limited to 38 megapixels, the 808's full-sized snaps were wonderfully crisp, with file sizes of around 10MBs. Measuring 7152x5368, the pictures are pretty huge, but of course, it won't make a difference if all you're gonna do is upload them to Facebook.

That's where the PureView mode comes into play, which sees up to seven pixels combined into one to deliver even more detail, a process called oversampling. So what's the advantage to doing this, then?

The result is that we've got eight, five and three megapixel photos featuring loads of clarity and detail when zooming in. And yes, these photos handily beat other smartphone snaps too.

Oh yeah, the 808's camera doesn't make use of traditional zoom either, with the sensor being so large that the zoom is essentially a cropped picture.

The zoom controls are fine-tuned too, with users sliding their finger up or down and then releasing it for the zoom. It's far from juddery compared to other handsets, making it probably the best zoom method we've seen on a smartphone.

Then there's the video recording functionality, with lossless 1080p video recording and some great audio being picked up. In fact, I took the phone to a concert on Saturday night and was mightily impressed with the results.

There are a couple of downsides to the camera though, such as the inability to zoom at the full 38MP setting and the lack of options compared to phones such as the One X.

But despite these minor disadvantages, amateur and professional photographers alike will definitely want to take a look at this 41-megapixel monster.

The Symbian problem...

There is a catch to the 808 though - it's still running Nokia's old-hat Symbian operating system.

Even back when the Nokia N8 was launched in 2010, Symbian was considered outdated, and our opinion hasn't changed since, even with the latest Belle update on the 808.

Sure, there are some cool touches, like the Android-inspired dropdown bar and the quick-launch camera functionality thanks to the hardware shutter button. But as soon as you've accumulated a few gigabytes of files, navigating between menus becomes a rather stuttery experience, for lack of a better word.

Even the dropdown bar lacks good design principles, not showing up when in an app, for one.

Then there's the software keyboard, being one of the less responsive ones around - and I've spent loads of time with a resistive touchscreen before. I quickly changed to a T9 keyboard, mimicking feature-phones.

The phone does come with plenty of extras though, such as WiFi hotspot functionality, a flight assistant, music-recognition software, VLingo voice assistant, anti-virus protection and more.

As for the social side of things, the device doesn't come close to the slick Facebook and Twitter integration offered by Nokia's N9. However, Nokia's Social tool does a decent job anyway, collating updates and photos in a neat manner.

The phone also makes use of Nokia's critically acclaimed Maps and Drive service, delivering superb voice-guided navigation, quick route recalculations and an intuitive interface. 

Of course, the other feather in its cap is the ability to download maps for completely offline navigation. It truly puts Google's effort to shame, something that Nokia can be proud of.

The hardware

The 808 PureView is one hefty smartphone - it's the first thing most friends noticed when holding the handset. Being heavier than the One X and the Galaxy SIII, the one upside to this is that it feels more rugged as a result.

It's pretty thick too, which doesn't represent too much of a problem as long as you're not wearing skinny jeans. However, even with regular jeans, you'll be hard-pressed to comfortably fit anything else in the same pocket.

The other thing you'll notice about the phone is just how big the camera hump is, being bigger than the Nokia N8's hump too. In fact, when putting the 808 down on a table, it's clear that the phone is slanted slightly, owing to the camera housing.

The display is another sore point for the 808, especially in light of the fantastic camera snaps, being a 640x360 screen instead of a 720p or even 480p display. Despite the presence of plainly visible pixels, the screen is vivid anyway, with bright colours and deep blacks.

A quick look at the rest of the hardware reveals an earphone jack, HDMI port, micro-USB port, volume buttons, an unlock switch and the all-important camera shutter button.

Remove the back cover and battery and you're greeted by a micro-SIM slot and, yes, a microSD slot, a must in light of the camera. Still, with 16GBs of internal storage, it'll take you a while to fill up.

Our verdict

The 808 PureView is another Frankenstein phone from the Finnish giant, delivering one feature that puts other smartphone manufacturers to shame. It's just a pity that it's still running Symbian instead of MeeGo or Windows Phone, a symptom of its long development cycle.

Still, we salute Nokia's dedication to trying something new instead of simply ticking the boxes. Now we wait for the PureView-equipped Windows Phones...

Score: 7 out of 10

To view a range of photos taken with the 808, click here.