Gadgetory

when is your smartphone not just a smartphone when it's also a 41 megapixel camera I'm Jessica developer with cnet and this is the nokia lumia 1020 sold exclusively with AT&T the 1020 packed on an enormous 41 megapixel camera a larger-than-average sensor size a xenon flash and an app that lets shutter bugs adjust everything from white balance to exposure with convenience slider controls Nokia's default pro cam app actually saves two images the 5 megapixel photo that you can easily upload and share and another 34 or thirty eight megapixel shot that lets you crop or zoom in to see more detail without losing much resolution for creative types the pro cam app has the slider controls that let you adjust everything from white balance to shutter speed to iso and brightness you can achieve some pretty cool effects this way and the built-in tutorial goes a long way to helping out novices if you don't want to use the default app there's also the native camera lens and other apps that you can easily load to capture panoramic shots and other creative scenes image quality is really good if you know what you're doing and pretty good if you're just playing around I'm not even close to being an expert but I still manage to tease out some fun shots from the advanced settings other shots were just average since the phone is saving two images instead of one it takes about six seconds until the camera is ready for another shot that means unfortunately that you could be missing some really great photo ops when you're using the pro cam app the video camera takes advantage of the 1020's lossless zoom during filming in addition it boosts audio during 1080p HD recording so that subject sound louder than usual and that is a very good thing although the 1020's camera module does stick out a good half inch above the phone's face the phone is a lot slimmer than it could be and it didn't feel too bulbous or bulky in my pocket or in my hand in fact it's about the same shape as a lot of other Nokia Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8 as its operating system this Lumia has 4g LTE and NFC in addition to the usual smartphone capabilities the enormous honking camera is what really makes it stand out now nokia lumia 1020 isn't for everyone avid mobile photographers really like the opportunity to try to in one device but i think that more casual shooters will probably be happy with other high-end smartphones that sell for about one hundred dollars less than eighteen t selling this one for it's going to cost three hundred dollars on contract at the full retail price so there you have it the nokia lumia 1020 and it's very large 41 megapixel camera i'm jessica Valcourt for cnet make sure you read my full review at cnet com