Gadgetory

a 41 megapixel camera glued to the back of a flagship Windows Phone if that sounds like an exciting combination to you you're in the right place but how well does this monster live up to its PureView promise let's find out I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is our video review of the Nokia Lumia 1020 we've already exhaustively covered the 1020 as it compares to its predecessor the 920 and its Android contemporaries the samsung galaxy s4 and the HTC One you can find those comparison videos on our channel page and follow PocketNow and all the usual online watering holes so you don't miss future ones but now it's time to let the Lumia 1020 take the stage by itself as we examine the ins and outs of its hardware software and it's one-of-a-kind camera as well as a few test notes let's get to it given the Lumia 1020 s model number it should come as no surprise that it's built closely resembles that of its predecessor the 920 but like a sweet 80s mullet the 1020 is business in the front party in the back the PureView camera module is made of aluminum like the phone's few physical buttons and it rises like an Oreo sized pimple from the surrounding polycarbonate ringed by a gentle slope that tells your hands it's there before you can smudge up the 41 megapixel sensor lens with a fingertip it makes the 1020 pretty awkward to hold but it also reminds you of the principal reason for the phone's existence every time you pick it up and it does that without resorting to the more absurd Hardware design of say something like the galaxy s4 zoom because remember from the front it's hard to tell it apart from the 920 and it's surprisingly light and thin given all the camera mechanicals packed inside available colors at launch are black white and our eye catching yellow here all of them made of matte polycarbonate that feels smooth and futuristic in the hand counterbalancing the smooth and glossy Gorilla Glass 3 protecting the display that screen is a 4.5 inch panel delivering WXGA resolution about 334 pixels per inch and vibrant rich colors paired with stunningly dark blacks it's a wonderful display outside of the camera the rest of the internals don't do much to rise above the pack now that's par for the course with Windows Phones which have never been demons on the spec sheet though the 1020 does ship with double the RAM of most other windows phones and a barometer as part of its sensor package otherwise the dual-core Snapdragon s4 processor at 1.5 gigahertz and the 32 gigs of non expandable storage shouldn't surprise you nor should the fact that neither the storage nor the 2000 milliamp hour battery are user accessible we're used to embedded batteries at this point after all you can always carry around an external charger but the lack of either microSD expansion or a 64 gig storage option means you'll have to stay very chummy with your SkyDrive account if you're going to be taking lots of photos with this phone but which you will and more on that in a second Windows Phones software experience is very consistent across almost all hardware makes and models and we're happy to report that the 1020 runs the OS just as smoothly and reliably as its predecessors with all the hallmarks of the platform like live tiles the modern UI design language and Nokia's special suite of apps that really do a nice job of completing the Windows Phone experience we should also note here that the Windows Store now sports over a hundred and sixty thousand available titles meaning you're more likely than ever to be able to find the apps you're looking for on the world's third-largest mobile platform more interestingly the 1020 is one of the first units to ship with the combination of Microsoft's GDR 2 and Nokia's amber software updates meaning the 1020 offers some of the enhancements we showed you in our Lumia 925 review namely glance mode is available if you want a persistent clock on your standby screen or if you want you can trigger it with a hand wave and the promised DoubleTap to unlock is here as well you've also got the option to adjust the temperature and saturation of your display GDR 2 also brings a variety of minor enhancements to the overall Windows Phone experience sharpening up media streaming in the browser enabling the phone's FM radio and turning on data sets the sadly carriers still have to enable that feature meaning it's nowhere to be found on our AT&T Lumia 1020 here finally the platform's deep SkyDrive integration is as robust as ever and you're going to need all the cloud storage you can get if you're planning to use the 1020's camera to its full extent the 41 megapixel shooter is a monster it features a new motor-driven optical image stabilization system a six element lens and a xenon flash alongside the LED focus light in its out of box shooting mode it produces two photos for every snapshot you take a raw 34 megapixel shot usually around 10 megabytes and a more manageable 5 megapixel photo which is around 10 times smaller in terms of file size because of that more petite footprint the 5 megapixel version of the photo is the one you're going to share with friends and social media over the network even at the reduced size the 1020 s photos pack much more quality than a typical 5 megapixel photo because of over sampling which means that each pixel in the 5 megapixel image has been created using data from up to 7 surrounding pixels so rather than being just a publicity stunt the Lumias huge 41 megapixel sensor is actually being utilized effectively to create wonderful pictures the results speak for themselves but there's more to of the PureView experience so we'll talk about that as you soak in the imagery the 1020 also continues Nokia's excellence in the field of low-light photography using a combination of longer exposure time and the optical image stabilization to brighten dim photos without overdoing it the Nokia pro camera software does this automatically in the default shooting mode but if you want you can also manually control the usual ISO exposure and white balance levels as well as settings most smartphones don't give you access to like manual focus adjustment and shutter speed that's a serious suite of customizations and if you're just a casual user they might seem a little intimidating at first to be honest we're still honing our technique after almost a week but thankfully there's a helpful tutorial at nearly every turn and once you know what you're doing you'll be able to capture some outstanding photos with the pro cam application of course Nokia's smart cam app is here as well offering useful effects like action shots photo bomber removal motion blur and so on in the usual catalog of lenses is available as well while we like these features we wish smart cam and other lenses like cinemagraph could somehow have been bundled into the program to streamline the experience as it stands now you have to plan your shots ahead if you want to use the smart cam features and in any case you need to factor in the added time for the camera to open all that hardware and software takes a few beats to wake up and it takes a few seconds to save photos between shots as well video performance is excellent as well in full 1080p mode with crisp imagery and rich color outside though we were a bit surprised at how much the image seemed to bounce even on a simple walk down the sidewalk or up or down some stairs Nokia's rich recording means audio capture is extremely clear even in noisy environments we didn't have tickets to a concert during the review period so we sampled the sound suppression at a local subway station in three recording modes this is talking at normal volume with and no audio filters at all again volume approaching train no audio filter this is train arriving with audio filter set train arriving an audio filter is set to the strong audio filter turn 200 kilohertz setting the audio filter is set to strong as the centerpiece of the Lumia 1020 experience Nokia's newest PureView camera is exemplary it's not always going to give you the perfect shot every time but it definitely outclasses every other smartphone shooter on the US market while it's not quite as simple to use as most other phone cameras that's because it's capable of so much more if you're like us carrying the 10 20 will make you want to be a better photographer just so you can live up to the potential of the device we tested the Lumia 1020 over the course of five days in and around the Greater Boston area outside the camera experience it was a lot like using a Lumia 920 network speeds were excellent over LTE and serviceable on 3G voice performance was adequate on both ends of phone calls and the speakerphone provided just enough oomph to blast our Spotify Tunes or loudspeaker calls across a room of course we always wish speakers were louder and that holds true here as well we're glad the Lumia 1020 ships with two gigs of RAM but it's an open question as to whether that's enough for the pro cam app it typically runs fairly well but we've run into a few stammers and stutters here and there and on one occasion the app crashed the phone requiring a soft restart that's not a great sign and we've seen the issue crop up on other sites reviews as well so we hope it's one nokia addresses quickly because I nobody got time for that we'd be lying if we said we didn't miss wireless charging we do the 10 20s USB port is especially hard to find in the dark for some reason and we're not keen on adding even more bulk to the 10 20s frame with a wireless charging case fortunately battery life seems about average given our testing so far see our full review at pocket now for more specific endurance figures but in a depletion test we were able to get to 11 hours of moderate to heavy use before the low battery warning came up the more you use that beast of a camera the faster your power will drain so shoot sparingly the Lumia 1020 exists as a smartphone vehicle for its 41 megapixel camera that feature is the centerpiece of the phone's entire experience and the device's success or failure in the US will ride on how well it's accepted by consumers that's a tough thing to predict given the relatively low impact of the Nokia and Windows Phone brands in America and the phone's high price point of to $99.99 on contract exclusively with AT&T but being able to say you've got a 41 megapixel phone appeals to a specific set of folks and being able to back up the talk with walk appeals to nearly everyone Nokia's latest achieves what it sets out to do that is to say it's camera demolishes the competition if you're someone who prioritizes camera performance above all else when shopping for a new smartphone the 1020 should be at the very top of your list and it deserves a very long look even if it might require jumping platforms or carriers to pick it up we give the Nokia Lumia 1020 an eight point nine out of ten folks that's going to do it for our Lumia 1020 video review stay tuned for our written review which will be available on July 26th at pocketnow.com visit us there for that but before you go check out our other videos here on YouTube including comparisons with the Lumia 920 the galaxy s4 and the HTC One as well as a camera tour some other 1020 videos coming up we are far from done with this device toss us a like if you did enjoy the video leave us a comment down below if you have something to say and thank you as always for watching we'll see you next time