Gadgetory

well this is David with the verge and this is the Nokia Lumia 1020 this phone really comes from last year the 808 PureView which was a fantastic 41 megapixel camera basically soldered on to a cell phone from 2003 the 1020 takes roughly the same camera but this time graphs it on to a smart phone that actually belongs in 2013 it's roughly the same size as the Lumia 920 which is to say it's thick and heavy and generally large even though it's slightly thinner than the Lumia 920 its rounded in unibody and really well made except for the huge bump in the back where the camera lens is the lens is so big that it keeps the phone from sitting flat on a table so it wobbles around a little bit when you put it down it also makes the phone kind of awkward to hold since there's no place really comfortable for your fingers to rest on the back all the way down the spec sheet the Lumia 1020 is just like the Lumia 920 it's 4.5 inch 1280 by 768 display is every bit as good with great colors and smooth animations and thanks to some of Nokia's proprietary technology it works even if you're wearing gloves and even mercifully outdoors it's a really good display despite a few issues with colors and viewing angles the 1020 even has the same processor as the 920 though it does have twice the RAM even the button layout is the same with power volume and camera shutter controls all inside the only button that even feels different is the shutter which is much more sensitive and responsive than it used to be it makes half pressing to focus actually achievable where it was kind of clumsy before and that's not the only great thing about the 1020 s camera either pretty much everything is great it shoots 3438 megapixel images and they look incredible from the colors to the dynamic range to just the sheer size it's almost hard to believe these pictures come from a cell phone it's the best smartphone camera I've ever seen and even better than a lot of pointing shoes it's not great in low-light there's a lot of processing which makes pictures look really noisy and soft even though they're impressively bright but it's still far better than any other phone practically speaking you don't need to use 34 megapixel images unless you're printing billboards but taking such big pictures lets you manipulate them after Nokia likes to say it reinvented zoom but basically all it's done is give you huge images with which to make slightly smaller images within the Nokia pro cam app itself you can crop rotate and save pictures after you take them it'll save a smaller edited version alongside the full-size shot you can only get at the full size images by connecting your phone to the computer which is a shame I'd love to upload the biggest twit pics ever but I can't program also controls everything about your shot from the white balance and I so to focus and the flash it's a xenon flash by the way which means that instead of basically turning on a light it actually flashes which is great propane is really fast really simple and really smart you can see every change you're making in real time so you'll never get a shot that's too dark unless you want to and everything's colored exactly as it looks video looks great as well you can shoot in 1080p and thanks to improved image stabilization and a surprisingly good microphone it's a great tool for just whipping out of your pocket and filming the pro cam app is pretty intense and it can slow down the phone a bit but for the most part the 1020 is really fast and smooth scrolling multitasking even playing games and watching movies Windows Phone 8 devices tend to be pretty fast no matter their hardware and thanks to a Snapdragon s4 processor that 10:20 has pretty solid hardware better than if it's good to the phone so big it has a pretty hefty battery inside and it easily lasts a day and a half I got two days using the optional $79 camera grip which adds battery a grip a tripod mount and an even better shutter button if you want to take a lot of pictures you should definitely get the grip unfortunately what the Lumia 1020 doesn't have is a lot of apps beyond Nokia's pro cam and a handful of its other apps the ecosystem situation is getting better and better here but it's still a long way behind Android and iOS and there are a lot of key photography apps in particular from snapchat to Instagram to Google+ that are really noticeably absent what good is taking great pictures if you can't do anything with them I'll just say it I wish the Lumia 1020 was running Android it has more apps and a better sharing platform which give you something to actually do with your photos other than drag and drop them onto your computer but Nokia made its bed with Windows Phone 8 and at this point all it can really do is wait for the apps to show up luckily for Nokia and for Windows Phone 8 users the Lumia 1020 is one of the best Windows handsets ever it's big certainly but the cameras are really really good reason to buy this phone even at $299 plus a two-year 80 contract on the other hand it adds a new viable option in the Windows Phone 8 race next to the gorgeous Lumia 925 there are more good Windows Phones than ever and that's a really good thing but until good phones lead to good software I'm still gonna find myself wishing Nokia had picked Android