Nokia Developing Aluminum PureView Phone for its Lumia Line

Last summer, Nokia released its 808 PureView handset. Although the 41-megapixel camera captured outstanding photos, reviewers noted that the interface on the handset made the phone difficult to use.

Now, Nokia is reportedly working on another top-of-the-line camera phone for its Lumia series. The phone should launch on AT&T in the last half of 2013.

According to sources, the new PureView phone will be made from aluminum instead of polycarbonate, which should enable Nokia to manufacture a lighter, thinner device. It will also sport a new design, as will several Lumia phones under development this year.

Nokia’s flagship phone, the Lumia 920, contains a PureView camera system with a fixed f/2.0 aperture and an illuminated sensor on the back. After tweaking its PureView algorithm with Microsoft’s help, Nokia developed a camera that removes visual noise while creating a sharper picture, particularly in low-light situations.

Image via nokia.com

The 808 PureView phone will officially be the last of Nokia’s phones to utilize the Symbian operating system, according to a report from Engadget. All future phones, presumably, will operate on the latest Microsoft operating systems (OS).

The 808 has many nice features that will hopefully make their way into the new Lumia PureView phones. In addition to the 41-megapixel sensor and its Carl Zeiss lens, the 808 features HD video, shot sharing with DLMA and HDMI output and built-in near field communication (NFC) technology.

The Lumia 920 features a PureView camera as well as HD video. Thanks to the Microsoft partnership, the 920 features not only Windows 8, but also full versions of Microsoft Office and Outlook.

In addition to working on Windows 8 smartphones, Nokia is also reported to be developing a tablet that will utilize the Windows 8 OS. So far, the company hasn’t given a name for its new smartphone, but refers to it by the codename “EOS.”