Nokia Lumia 1020 – an incredible 41 megapixel camera with Windows 8 phone [Review]

Mobile phone cameras have increasingly become better over the past few years. So much so that many folks now use the camera in their mobile phone as their primary camera and those old SLR’s are collecting dust in their closets. Nokia raised plenty of eyebrows when it announced the Lumia 1020 – a Windows 8 phone with a whopping 41, yes, forty-one megapixel camera.

Like the Nokia devices of old, build quality has always been great on the Lumia series of phones. Nokia uses a plastic shell that encloses the 4.5-inch scratch resistant screen. This shell is available in yellow, black and white. The phone feels great to hold in the hands. One caveat though is that huge camera lens tends to stick out on the back of the phone. This means that the phone doesn’t like flat on a surface. Continuing in the style of other Lumia phones, there are no hardware buttons on the front of the phone. The volume rocker, power button and the camera button are all on the side.

The Technical Stuff

The Lumia 1020 features a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor alongside 2GB RAM that ensures all the apps run smoothly and you can multi-task without any problems. The phone comes with 32GB of storage space out of which 29.12 GB is available for the user. We wish there was expandable storage on the phone as it captures images with a very large resolution. The Nokia Lumia 1020 comes with a 4.5-inch (768×1280 pixels) Clear Black AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and a pixel density of 334 pixels per inch. The screen looks fantastic and the clarity and sharpness on the screen is top-notch. The screen comes with Nokia’s super sensitive touch technology which means that the touchscreen can be operated even while wearing gloves or by using a pen as a stylus.

Camera

The 41MP camera is the star attraction on this phone. The phone clicks photos in either a 38MP or 34MP resolution in addition to a standard 5MP resolution. You can’t see the 34 or 38MP images on the phone though, which was very disappointing; you’re limited to the 5MP image. The Nokia Pro Cam is the default camera app on the phone and allows users to adjust exposure, shutter speed, ISO, white balance and, of course, focus as per their needs. Photos in full-auto mode don’t really live up to the hype – you need to be able to understand a bit of photography to make full use of the camera. If adjusting shutter speed, exposure settings is up your alley, then the Lumia 1020 might just retire your mid-range DSLR! Low light photography is great thanks in no small part to the Xenon flash. The phone also records full-HD videos at 30 frames per second. These videos are of great quality and capture crystal clear audio. The front camera is quite good too.

Performance

The super fast processor ensures that multi-tasking is a breeze. All the apps run smoothly and the Windows 8 interface isn’t really too shabby. The phone performs quite well when it comes to the standard phone stuff such as emails, call quality and general use. The battery life is quite good and would last an entire day for most users. Unfortunately, Windows doesn’t really compete with Android or iOS on the App level and the lack of the same might be a turn off for some.

Summary

In general, the USP of this phone is its camera. If you need a phone with a great camera – this might just be the one for you. However, be warned about the lack of apps on the Windows operating system if transitioning from Android or iOS.