Nokia 808 PureView packs a 41-megapixel camera

At this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia announced the 808 PureView, a smartphone with an astounding 41-megapixel image sensor. The Nokia 808 will be the first smartphone by Nokia to include its new PureView imaging technology, which combines a high-resolution sensor with Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia-developed algorithms.

Typically you might want a high megapixel camera in order to take photos that can be printed larger - what makes the Nokia 808 PureView special, however, it what it does with those pixels. The 808 uses a new pixel oversampling technology, that captures seven pixels of information and then condenses those into one single pixel. This reportedly results in an exceptionally sharp photo, and the ability to zoom in on any portion of a 5-megapixel picture without losing clarity in the image.

The technology also works on video, so you can shoot a full HD video at 30fps and 4x zoom. Nokia has made some untouched images taken with the camera available online (as a sizable download) so you can get a feel for the quality.

In addition to offering a decent lens and large image sensor, the camera also has a few other notable features. It can capture photos quickly (in less than a second), has a Xenon flash as well as an LED video light for shooting in dark places, and offers integration with services such as GetMe Rated (for having other people rate your photos) and Vimeo, for sharing your videos with the world. Nokia claims the phone can capture audio at CD-like quality, and the handset is also the first smartphone with built-in Dolby Headphone technology, so you can listen to tunes (or your videos) in Dolby Surround sound using any set of stereo headphones.

Besides the camera and sound, the rest of the specs for the handset are actually on the low end of things. The Nokia Belle phone has a 4-inch screen with a 640 x 360 resolution, a 1.3Ghz single-core processor, and 512Mb of RAM. The handset comes with 16GB of storage space, but supports microSD expansion up to 32GB.

The Nokia 808 PureView is expected to roll out in May for around US$605.

Source: Nokia

SolarKindle promises three months of unplugged reading time

What if you could read on your Kindle for three months straight? SolarFocus will be showing off a Kindle case at CES this week designed to do just that. Called SolarKindle, the case can provide you with months of reading time and over 50 hours of reading lamp use on a single charge.

The case has a solar panel built into its front, that allows you to charge your Kindle (and the case) poolside, or while you're involved in other outdoor activities. The battery in the cover can be charged using the solar panel, as well as USB - so if you've been cooped up indoors for a while you still have a charging option available.

In addition to powering your Kindle the case also has a built-in reading light that is powered entirely from the case's battery rather than your Kindle. The built-in reading lamp in the case is expected to last for 50 continuous hours on a charge.

The SolarKindle, of course, isn't the first solar-powered gadget case/charger we've seen. The Solar Surge, for instance, is a solar case and charger for your iPhone.

The SolarKindle was a 2012 International CES Innovations Design & Engineering Awards Honoree, and will be available starting on January 15 for US$79.99.