QUOTE(Xirality @ Mar 27 2013, 08:32 PM)
how bout Nokia Pureview? Gimmick too?
Nokia Pureview not a gimmick. At least when referring to Pureview 808.
Pureview 808's concept makes more sense in the way that it has enough details and has enough performance when needed.
What I mean is... When you need tonnes of details, go for 38MP mode. It gives you exceptional details. When you need better noise performance, just take your pictures in 8MP mode. It downsample from 38MP to 8MP by combining information from few pixels into a single pixel which normally means better noise performance.
Btw... The sensor in that Pureview 808 is A LOT larger in area than those in iPhone 5, Galaxy S3 etc. It cramps 41MP in an area few times larger (1/1.2") than a normal sized sensor (1/3.2"). The size of each pixel is still 1.4um, which is the same as a 8MP 1/3.2" sensor but smaller than that of 2um in HTC One. So... Each pixel still receives same amount of light as that of one in iP5 or GS3. But oversampling turns few pixels into 1 pixel, cramping information from a number of pixels into one. That means less noise/cleaner picture.
There's one technique in photography that stacks a number of picture taken in succession to reduce noise (I know this is in Sony DSLR/DSLT, not sure about other brands). Similar concept there