UK Networks Won’t Carry Nokia PureView

41 megapixel cameraphone launches this weekend, but only without a contract it seems

The Nokia PureView 808 will launch in the UK on 30 June, but interested parties must be prepared to pay a significant premium as it appears as though none of the major UK networks will be offering it on their price plans.

The PureView 808’s main feature is its 41 megapixel camera and though it won awards at  was unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February, this has not been enough to stir up interest among operators.

One of the possible reasons could be that it runs Symbian, an operating system that Nokia has indicated it is abandoning as it turns its attention to Windows Phone, more than one year after it signed a strategic partnership with Microsoft to produce phones for the platform.

Nokia PureView: expensive camera

Nokia told TechWeekEurope that the PureView would be available to ship from Amazon this Saturday. The online retailer is currently stocking the device SIM-free for £499.98, a not unremarkable figure for phones that are not subsidised by a contract.

However both Orange and T-Mobile have told us they have no plans to stock it, while Three also said that it had nothing to announce.

“We’re always looking to bring the best of new handsets to our customers, however I can confirm that we don’t stock the Nokia 808 Pure View at the moment and have no plans to do so in the immediate future,” said a Virgin Media spokesperson.

The Pureview boasts Carl Zeiss optics and pixel oversampling technology, whle it claims that its “superior” low-light performance means it’s possible for anyone to take professional looking photos.

The phone has 16GB of internal memory, which is expandable to 48GB with a MicroSD card, a 4-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen protected by Gorilla Glass, Near Field Communication technology, Bluetooth and GPS.

It comes in red, blue and white varieties and although it has failed to impress operators, did enough to be named the best new mobile handset, device or tablet at MWC 2012.

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