• Michael
• On November 1, 2013

Review Overview

Design

7

Display

9

Camera

10

Performance

9

88%

Superb

Pros: solid construction, windows phone 8 smoothness, great camera, smooth HD video capture Cons: quiet loud speaker

Introduction

With the emergence of Nokia Lumia 1020 we have enough reasons to say that the Finnish manufacturer is becoming the market leader when it comes to camera phones. It is the first smartphone with 41MP camera and contemporary software. There was only one other, Nokia Pureview 808, but it runs the outdated Simbian platform. From the next rows you will understand why Lumia 1020 is the best choice for photographers and people who are not indifferent to quality photographs.

Design and Features

The Lumia 1020 looks pretty much like Lumia 920. The only thing which makes it different is the round lens of the back of the handset. Its measurements are 130×74 mm. The device has a body made by polycarbonate as the surface is a matt, but not glossy. It is lighter than Lumia 920 (185 g) and 10.4mm thick. Obviously heavier than the other brands` competitors, the handset stays quite solid in hand and you have an impression for a very quality manufacture. It is available in black, white, and yellow as the buttons, camera housing and screen surround are black. In terms of features, it is up to date. It possesses GPS, 4G, and NFC. There is no memory card slot and the device comes with either 32 or 64 GB internal storage.

Screen

Its 4.5-inch screen is not as big as the ones of the competitors, especially Android`s ones, but it beats them by many characteristics. The Lumia 1020 AMOLED display has 1280×768 resolution with a pixel density of 334ppi. In comparison, the IPhone has a pixel density of 326ppi. In terms of deep blacks, outdoor visibility, viewing angles, and color vibrancy the phone beats devices such as HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 due to its Nokia’s Clearblack Display technology. Lumia 1020 shows incredible color reproduction and excellent contrast.

Software and Performance

The Lumia 1020 features a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor which compared to the competition is not something special, but in fact, thanks to the optimized and light operating system the device shows better performance than the Android phones. It runs Windows Phone 8 and there are no additional customizations by Nokia regarding the interface as they are not allowed. What is interesting here is that there is almost no difference in the performance and the speed between Lumia 1020 and low-end Lumias. They run equally smoothly and without any slowing. With dual-core 1.5GHz and 2 GB RAM for camera processing, Lumia 1020 manages to handle with day-to-day tasks better than the Android phones` competition and shows similar results to IPhone.

When it comes to the apps, Windows Phone Store still lacks many of the apps available in App Store and Google Play, but almost all of the basic and popular apps are already available there. In addition, there is a handful of Nokia (mapping, GPS, etc.) apps which are very useful and are not presented in the other stores. Another advantage is the presence of a fully functional Microsoft Office package.

Camera

Without doubt the key feature of Lumia 1020 is the camera. Its camera is 41-megapixel with quite large 1/1.5-inch sensor, optical image stabilization and excellent dual LED/Xenon flash. It has Carl Zeiss optics and automatic and manual focus. The Lumia 1020 camera can take photos in 5MP, 34MP and 38MP modes. As a performance and results it beats the all competitors, such as Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, Samsung Galaxy S4, and iPhone 5S.

Firstly, the daylight images are much more detailed. This is thanks to the Nokia’s Superpixel technology, which captures the oversample pixels in high resolution shots, compressed afterwards to a Superpixel image. Thus, the images taken with Lumia 1020 are breezier, detailed, and gain better colors. Secondly, in the night shots Lumia 1020 leaves its competition far behind. The only devices which are close to Lumia 1020 are Lumia 920 and Lumia 925. In almost pitch black surroundings the images taken are very natural and without hidden details. That is thanks to the stunning Xenon and LED flashes. In comparison, the images taken with Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5S do not have those excellent colors and instead of details they show only dark surroundings.

In addition to the camera capabilities there are excellent camera apps provided by Nokia. The Lumia 1020 comes preloaded with Nokia’s Smart Camera and Nokia’s Pro Camera, as well as Cinemagraph lens and Panorama lens. Nokia’s Pro Camera is perfect for professional photographs and enthusiasts that like dealing with quality images. It enables users to use things like white balance, shutter speed and ISO setting.

Summary

All in all, the Lumia 1020 is the perfect device for those who love Windows Phone 8 and photography. There is no other device on the mobile market which offers camera capabilities like these ones. We can point out as a disadvantage that there is no a big improvement from the previous models of the Finnish OEM besides the camera. For example, the only differences between this device and Lumia 920 is the camera. Nevertheless, it is a stunning device as even the following Nokia`s handsets do not offer such camera capabilities.