Gadgetory

there were two devices released in 2013 that redefined the term camera phone a pair of smartphones that placed photography above all else on the spec sheet they hail from different manufacturers and they take completely different approaches to delivering outstanding optical quality but they're both on store shelves this holiday season so let's see how they fare in a head-to-head challenge I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is Nokia Lumia 1020 vs. samsung galaxy s4 zoom we've already reviewed both of these devices separately at pocket now if you're not already subscribed here on the tube and following us on social media take care of that so you don't miss future reviews it takes a grand total of maybe three seconds to see what the hardware differences are here in one corner nokia has taken the chassis of a Lumia 900 inflated it a little and added a silver dollar sized camera module containing an optically stabilized 41 megapixel PureView sensor the result is a smartphone that we nicknamed the warthog in our full review thanks to its somewhat awkward feel in hand and interesting appearance but awkward would be a generous word for the galaxy s4 zoom it's less a smart phone than a camera really a hardware stabilized 16 megapixel sensor made it to an optical zoom lens and put in a casing that doesn't just resemble a point-and-shoot it is one and using it as a phone feels exactly as ridiculous as it sound you might think that disparity means the Samsung phone has the better camera software but that's not necessarily the case if anything the viewfinders here are tied even though they're quite different with the 1020 you're getting the same suite of camera apps you'll find on the rest of the high-end Lumia line allowing for everything from manual focus exposure and shutter speed to fun features like moving object removal and action shot as well as the new Nokia refocus app which lets you select your focal point after a photo is taken the galaxy s4 zoom viewfinder contains more quick and dirty shooting modes and it's actually a little easier to use as a result the manual controls are here if you want them but they're not quite as it forward as Nokia's sliders the end result is that you're probably going to be using the mode select more often which is a more enjoyable experience anyway elsewhere of course there are a bevy of differences between the Android powered Samsung and Nokia's Windows Phone 8 software we've covered those differences in any number of videos and editorials for a better idea of how these devices operate as smartphones check out the full review of each unit what you're really here for after all is the camera comparison how does the 16 megapixel zoom stack up against the 41 megapixel PureView well once you get the cameras launched which is much easier on the Lumia by the way thanks to the OneTouch unlock feature of its shutter button you quickly get the sense that these are both really really excellent smartphone cameras picture quality in broad daylight is quite stunning the galaxy s4 zoom sensor isn't fully utilized out of the box defaulting to 12 megapixels to preserve a widescreen aspect ratio and the Lumias 41 megapixel sensor is also reined in by the pure view pixel sampling producing more manageable 5 megapixel shot this reduction in resolution doesn't do anything to hurt the performance in either case the cameras producing photos rich in color and sharpness the Lumia tends to favor higher saturation and contrast and most outdoor settings while indoors under various forms of artificial lighting results are a little less consistent zoom performance is where these devices vary most notably which should be no surprise considering one of the phones is called zoom and yes indeed it's the Samsung phone that wins the day here the galaxy s4 zoom makes up for the absurdity of its gargantuan lens with 10 times optical magnification beating out the lossless digital zoom of the Lumia 1020 it's really quite stunning to have this kind of MAG ability on something called a smart phone no matter how much of a wink and a nudge that term comes with in this case the galaxy s4 zoom might be something of a one-trick pony but that trick is a very impressive one indeed back in Nokia's traditional stronghold night shooting the Lumia manages to extract more light from photos but that's not always a good thing shots are also considerably more noisy with Nokia's camera compared to Samsung's now keep in mind these examples were shot with essentially out of box settings on the Lumia and a simple night mode option on the zoom any degree of tweaking with the manual settings could help these out so it's interesting to see how aggressively the 1020 tries to pull light from a scene even in automatic mode and the Samsung phone zoom is no less impressive at night time shooting low-light video with each at a concert the zoom managed to pull a bit more light from the scene and obviously was the preferred choice for magnification audio output was also higher on the Samsung phone probably due to Nokia's special acoustic filters meant to even out the sound of live events just like these in every other department these devices behave exactly as their forms suggest in areas like voice calls messaging browsing gaming and so on the Lumia 1020 mostly outperforms the zoom that's primarily thanks to its superior responsiveness the Zoom is kind of a dog when it comes to software but it shouldn't come as a surprise this is a case where you can definitely judge a book by its cover and in that sense the 1020 is the smartphone the zoom is just a camera that happens to act like a phone ironically the thing we discussed the least in this comparison is going to be the factor that matters most the platform because Android or Windows Phone is the question you're going to have to answer first on the bright side there are plenty of comparisons at PocketNow and elsewhere to help you answer that question and either way you go you'll be getting the very best optical performance the ecosystem has to offer if that's your primary concern we think you'd be pretty happy with both of these products and we hope you enjoy whichever one you pick up if you want to see more in these phones folks we've got it full reviews of each as I mentioned before and a recent review rebuttal featuring the s4 zoom as well as a lot of comparisons recently featuring the 1020 still everyone's favorite Windows Phone super camera phone toss us a like if you enjoyed the video before you go anywhere leave us a comment down below let us know which one you picked up which one you would advocate picking up as we go into the holiday season but most importantly thank you very much for watching it's been Michael Fisher with PocketNow we'll see you soon