In the last few days we’ve been bringing you news on an upcoming smartphone that seems set to bring a whole new realm to the world of mobile photography. So much so that in fact the Nokia 808 PureView 41MP phone could kill the compact camera as there will simply be no need to carry both devices with you.

The tech world is agog with news about the 808 PureView. Although the specs are decent they are nothing to write home about but the crucial star of the show on this handset is a 41-megapixel camera. We keep repeating ourselves here as we know how many readers will be thinking that’s a misprint but the 808 PureView really does have a 41-megapixel shooter with Carl Zeiss lens. The other specs include a 1.3GHz single-core processor, Symbian Belle OS, 4-inch LCD ClearBlack touchscreen, 512MB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, expandable with microSD card.

This doesn’t mean though that all stills will be at 41-megapixels. Standard resolutions of 3, 5 and 8-megapixels will be used for most shooting modes while at high-resolution of 38-megapixels an image can be taken, then zoomed, reframed, cropped and altered in size later to show optimum detail. The Nokia 808 PureView is also capable of shooting in low-light conditions and can capture five times more light than that of typical optical zoom cameras and it can record video in full 1080p HD at 30fps. The sensor is almost three times that of standard compact cameras and the really clever part of this phone is the way the pixel count is used.

This article gives comprehensive detail on exactly how this works, complete with diagrams so if you really want all the nitty-gritty check it out at the link but this is certainly a major move forward in the capabilities of camera phone photography. The total weight of the Nokia 808 PureView with battery is 169g and considering what it can do this is a convenient size. If you want to see more on the 808 PureView head to the Nokia Blog here and you can also view an introductory video below this story.

With this step forward in camera phone technology it’s only a matter of time before more and more smartphones step up their photography capabilities. With this in mind we’re wondering how many people will still want to tote two devices and if it comes down to choosing just one device the smartphone with camera will surely win against the compact camera. Do you think this will be the end of the compact camera market eventually? How good will smartphone cameras have to be before you ditch your compact camera completely? Why not let us hear your thoughts on this.