HMD Global gets Nokia's PureView trademark from Microsoft
Back in 2014, Microsoft acquired Nokia's Devices and Services division for $7.5 billion. This deal also included the PureView camera technology that Nokia used on its smartphones including the Nokia 808, among other high-end Lumia devices. And now, HMD Global, Nokia's brand licensee, has obtained the trademark of PureView from Microsoft, perhaps with an aim to resurrect the camera technology in its upcoming smartphones.
The PureView camera technology, which debuted with the Nokia 808 PureView, was later introduced to other high-end devices such as Lumia 1020 and Lumia 950. The technology offered high-resolution photos along with lossless digital zoom and supported Dolby audio software for louder and clearer sound. Moreover, PureView came with macro focus, face detection and touch focus - all features now common on smartphones.
Ever since licensing the Nokia brand, HMD Global has re-introduced the classic Nokia 3310 and Nokia 8110 4G - the banana-shaped feature phone. Now, with the PureView brand name under its belt, HMD Global may look to refine the camera technology, possibly infuse some Artificial Intelligence and pair it up with ZEISS optics, considering the last year's collaboration between the two companies.
Launched last month, the Sony IMX586 is a 48-megapixel sensor and is claimed to be the world's highest-resolution phone-camera image sensor currently available. "The new product achieved a world-first ultra-compact pixel size of 0.8 µm, making it possible to pack 48 effective megapixels onto a 1/2-type (8.0 mm diagonal) unit, thereby supporting enhanced imaging on smartphone cameras," the company said in a blog post.
