Nokia Lumia 920 camera fuzziness getting fixed in PR1.1 update
We're not going to lie. After spending some quality time with several Lumia 920 prototypes in Finland last September, we came away extremely impressed with the PureView-branded camera aboard Nokia's Windows Phone 8 flagship.
Context & Ripple Effects
Nokia had made PureView imaging a central Windows Phone strategy as early as March, then promoted the Lumia range's camera innovation in September. The Lumia 920's camera claims had already faced heightened scrutiny through a controversial early camera test and Nokia's accompanying public apology.
PR1.1 makes the flagship's camera performance a software-support issue as well as a hardware promise. That matters because Nokia and Microsoft are relying on close smartphone cooperation while competing against iPhone and Android devices.
First-order effects
- Lumia 920 owners affected by camera fuzziness receive a direct remedy, allowing Nokia to align shipped devices more closely with the PureView positioning used to sell the handset.
- Nokia's flagship camera proposition becomes less exposed to a visible product-quality complaint at a time when reviewers otherwise described the Lumia 920 as high quality but heavy.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 offering benefits if Nokia's flagship removes a prominent camera flaw, since the Lumia 920 is part of the partners' shared response to iPhone and Android rivals.
- Nokia's camera team must treat imaging quality as an ongoing software-maintenance responsibility, not solely a launch-time hardware differentiator.
Third-order effects
- If flagship camera features increasingly depend on firmware refinement, smartphone makers' durable advantage shifts toward the ability to maintain image quality after sale as well as to advertise sensors and optics at launch.
The trend: Mobile-camera competition is moving toward combined hardware and software execution, with post-launch updates protecting the credibility of flagship imaging brands.