To review the Nokia Lumia camera is like trying to review a standard DLSR full-frame camera. This awesome camera phone literally has a 41 Mega Pixel Camera attached to it back. Yup, you heard me, that wasn’t a typo; the Lumia 1020 really has a 41 mega pixel camera, thereby making it the highest mega pixel camera in the world in terms of resolution.
The phone is a masterpiece, running on Windows phone 8 operating system, and literally offering a modernize stereo microphone for very high quality audio recording in case you’re the video freaky type, it also offers a Full HD video interface inclusively for your HD video needs.
It’s also imbibed with 4G Network capability with support for WCDMA, LTE and integrates properly with NFS – can be used as a credit card to for things in NFS verified places. Cool right?
Now, let’s zoom a little bit into the features.
Looking exactly at the front of the Lumia 1020, you’ll find a standard 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 touchscreen display with and a gorilla glass 3 protecting the phone screen from possible scratch. At the lower 3 part of the screen, there you’ll see a beautiful and customized light button which actually isn’t protruding outside like most phones.
Look exactly at the left part, you’ll notice that there’s no button there, but on the right side there are precisely 3 buttons, volume equalizer, a power/standby button, with the longest being a dedicated snap button, I’m guessing with that integration, Nokia really wants you to stop using your DLSR full-frame camera and start using a Lumia. Diagonally, the Nokia Lumia is 0.41 inch (precisely 10.4mm) thick and the whole device weighs a somewhat impressive 5.57 ounces compared to the Lumia 920 – their first attempt at a 41MP phone – it’s outweighs the 920 with a little bit in ounces; Lumia 920 weighs (6.53 ounces) while Lumia 1020 weighs just 5.57, a little significant different of o.96 ounces.
However, truth be told, I guess you’re seriously waiting for me to list the Nokia Lumia 1020 camera specs already since it’s one of the most fantastic piece which have made this Windows phone a popular sensation.
Well, below are the features of the camera –
- 41-megapixel 1/1.5-inch backside-illuminated sensor
- 2.7x down sampling digital zoom
- F2.2 lens
- Optical image stabilization
- Panorama mode
- 25mm equivalent focal length in 16:9, 27mm in 4:3
- Manual shutter speed, focus, and ISO control
- Xenon flash
- 1080p 30fps video recording
- 1.2MP F2.4 front camera
- Nokia Pro Cam mode
- Nokia Smart Camera mode
Let me break down the workings of the camera area in great detail.
But first of all, I’ll have you know that the Lumia 1020 camera doesn’t really give you 41MP pictures outrightly.
What it does is that when you use the Nokia Pro Cam – which snaps only high resolution – to snap anything, you’ll immediately be presented with a 5 Mega Pixel picture and 31-41 Mega Pixel. So Nokia Pro Cam literally snaps one picture in two places, one would be a 5MP picture while the other would be a higher resolution 31 Mega pixel picture.
Of course, you can be able to upload the 5MP version through the phone to the internet, but to leverage the 31-41 Mega Pixel versions, you’ll have to transfer it to a computer, edit and maybe upload online.
Another thing I noticed about the almighty Xenon flash camera positioned at back of the Lumia 1020 has the ability to snap without the flash and yet still produce a very clear picture in the darkness where there’s a little bit illumination in the place. This of course is a thing other phone cameras can’t do. You don’t believe me? Ok try snapping a picture with your Blackberry’s 5MP in an area with very low illumination.
With that said, I’ll be listing finally the Nokia Lumia 1020 complete phone specs below –
Processor
- 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor
- Windows Phone 8 OS
- 4.5-inch 1280×768 (334 ppi) AMOLED display
Display and User Interface
- Processor type: Dual-core 1.5 GHz
- User data storage: In device, SkyDrive cloud storage
- 2 GB RAM
- Mass memory – 32 GB
- Free cloud storage – 7 GB
- Display size: 4.5 inch
- Display resolution: WXGA (1280 x 768)
- Display features: PureMotion HD+, Brightness control, High brightness mode, Refresh rate 60 Hz, Sculpted glass, Easy to clean, Nokia Glance screen, Lumia Color profile, Wide viewing angle, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Sunlight readability enhancements
- Display colors: TrueColor (24-bit/16M)
- Aspect ratio: 15:9
- Pixel density: 334.0 ppi
- Display technology: ClearBlack, AMOLED
- Touch screen technology: Super sensitive touch
- Sensors: Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyroscope, Proximity sensor, Magnetometer
Keys and Input Methods
- User Input: Touch
- Operating keys: Volume keys, Camera key, Power/Lock key
- Form factor
- Form factor: Monoblock touch
- Hardware
- Connectivity
- SIM card type: Micro SIM
- Charging connectors: Charging Pads, Micro-USB
- AV connectors: 3.5 mm audio connector
- System connectors: Micro-USB-B
- USB: USB 2.0
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0
- Bluetooth profiles: Object Push profile (OPP) 1.1, Hands-free profile (HFP) 1.5, Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) 1.2, Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) 1.4, Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) 1.1
- Wi-Fi: WLAN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n
- Wi-Fi security modes: WPA2 (AES/TKIP), WPA, WPA-Personal, WEP, WPA2-Personal, WPA-Enterprise, WPA2-Enterprise, PEAP-MSCHAPv2, EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA
- NFC: Secure NFC for payment, Sharing, Pairing, Tagging
Battery
- Battery model: BV-5XW
- Battery capacity: 2000.0 mAh
- Battery voltage: 3.8 V
- Removable battery: No
- Maximum standby time: 16.0 days
- Maximum talk time (2G): 8.2 h
- Maximum talk time (3G): 12.5 h
- Maximum music playback time: 53.0 Hour(s)
- Video playback time: 6.8 h
- Maximum Wi-Fi network browsing time: 6.7 Hour[s]
Phone price – $299 (AT&T (a big seller of Lumia 1020) slashed their own price to $199)
So like I once said; the Nokia Lumia 1020 is actually not something I’ll ever consider as a mere phone; since to me it’s literally a camera that has a phone attached to it. An elegant design from Nokia, especially since it’s comes in white (comes in 3 colours actually, red, blue and white).
To conclude this review, I’d like to know your candid opinion as to whether a phone is actually suppose to have a camera of 41MP?
Is it a logical thing to put such a gigantic functionality inside a phone? What’s your opinion on this? Let’s meet in the comment section below.
Thanks for reading.