Nokia Lumia 1020 hands-on: First look
The Nokia 808 PureView finally has a worthy successor - the Nokia Lumia 1020 is the culmination of Nokia's continuous efforts to redefine smartphone photography. The company was the first to launch a massive 41MP image sensor, do optical stabilization in a phone and use high-dynamic range mics and the Lumia 1020 has it all under one roof.
Let's go back in time. The Finns put proper zoom on a camera in the distant 2006 - the old N93 had 3x optical zoom. Years later the 808 PureView came around and did 3x lossless zoom without the complex optics. It did this with its huge (for a phone) 1/1.2" sensor. It also brought high-quality stereo sound capture by adding HAAC mics.
Those crusty Symbians gave way to the Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia 920, which was the first phone with optical image stabilization. The OIS offers huge advantages for low-light photography, but the sensor was small and of relatively low 8.7MP resolution. There was no xenon flash either.
The Nokia Lumia 1020 makes them all proud - it has the big sensor (even if, at 1/1.5", it's slightly smaller than the one inside the 808 PureView) the OIS and a proper flash, all garnished with a modern-looking smartphone OS.
Nokia Lumia 1020 at a glance
General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz; HSDPA 42.2 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps; LTE bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 LTE Cat 3 100Mbps down, 50Mbps up
Form factor: Touchscreen bar
Dimensions: 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4; 158 g
Display: 4.5" 16M-color WXGA (768 x 1280 pixels) ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen; PureMotion HD+, 2.5D sculpted Gorilla glass 3; Super sensitive touch
Chipset: 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor, Adreno 225 GPU, 2GB of RAM
OS: Windows Phone 8
Memory: 32 GB of built-in storage;
Still camera: 41 megapixel camera with 6-lens ZEISS optics, OIS, 3x zoom, xenon and LED flashes
Video camera: 1080p video recording at 30fps with 2 Rich Recording mics; 1.2MP front-facing camera with 720p video
Connectivity: dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, stereo Bluetooth 3.0, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, HERE Drive+ free worldwide navigation, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
Battery: 2,000mAh
Misc: Exclusive Pro Camera app, FM Radio, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor; available in Yellow, White or Black
Accessories: Grip with built-in 1,020mAh battery and tripod mount, Qi wireless charging cover
Microsoft and Nokia have been putting a great deal of effort to help Windows Phone mount a serious challenge to Android and iOS and make the smartphone game a three-horse race. And hero devices like the Lumia 1020 is what can really draw in the crowds, as they are getting stuff that's not available elsewhere.
