As much as I love the N9, I'll have to admit that the 5 MP shooter on the n900 gave better pictures.

8 MP cameras on other handsets are leagues ahead. The iPhone 4S, specifically, beats the N9 camera on most fronts.

PR 1.2 does have some camera updates, so we can expect camera performance to improve. Here's hoping it's a software thing and will be tuned in the next update.