Unpacking my Nokia Lumia 1020
Let’s face it, Nokia is a dying OEM when it comes to smartphone brands as Samsung, HTC, and Apple dominate the current market. I guess, I wasn’t the only one who realized the fact that Nokia had to come out with something extraordinary to be able to boost up their sales as the Lumia 1020 manages to do just that. Sure, the 1020 doesn’t really use the power of iOS or Android but even then the sheer power of its hardware just might be enough to give Nokia the boost it was looking for. Now, before you decide that the Lumia 1020 phone is everything you’re looking for with a 41 megapixel camera, do read the well detailed review from a guy who managed to grab a copy of the smartphone.
Hardware:
At a glance, the Lumia 1020 is not really a bad phone to look at, if you manage to ignore the bulk circular camera poking out from the back side. However, even that isn’t really enough to scare customers of as it has a certain kind of charm with the aluminum camera part. The rest of the body is plastic and Gorilla Glass 3, which in its own right is quite stable. For those of you who aren’t aware, Gorilla Glass 3 is at the moment one of the sturdiest smartphone touch screen glass available in the market, so yea that’s not really bad. Oh and the elegant black or white color don’t really hurt to look at it either. But before you go hating on the yellow colored variant of the phone, trust me you’ll be pleasantly surprised and I ought to know as my copy of the phone was a yellow one. To be honest, it really feels good to hold a phone that isn’t the common white and black (however, we do suggest that you avoid getting the “notice me I’m unique” yellow if you live in a sketchy neighborhood where smartphones are snatched on a daily basis).
Moving on from the first glance, the phone felt lighter in my hands than I expected it to. I mean it had a 41 MP camera, it should have had some weight but to my astonishment it was quite manageable if you mean to hold the phone for a short amount of time. That being said, the phone also felt a bit uncomfortable to hold as the bulging camera made the whole procedure somewhat awkward but then again, I guess with time one does get used to it.
Now it’s time we look at what makes the Lumia 1020 tick. Apart from the faulty and clucky Windows OS, the phone does contain hardware specs that manage to slightly impress anyone who knows anything about smartphones. The phone apart from containing all the necessary sensors that a smartphone must contains a full HD Amoled display screen with a pixel density of 334 pi which is powered by a 1.5 GHz dual core processor on a Snapdragon S4 board. The phone contains 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB built in storage.
Before you ask, yes the pixel density of the phone is lower than any of the flagships by Samsung and HTC or Apple for that matter but one must remember that those phones were after all released after the introduction of the Lumia 1020. Also, a dual core processor is somewhat laughable compared to the quadracore processors being utilized now a days, however one must remember that the dual core processor is more than enough to handle all applications that developers might come up with for a smartphone for quite some time. Oh and one thing that most people don’t realize that most phones often don’t even utilize their octa or quadra cores properly as quite often the cores are dedicated to a particular purpose, making the other cores somewhat redundant if their specific purpose is not being run on the phone.
Camera:
This is the part you all were waiting for, the camera of the phone is what makes the whole phone unique and to be honest is its only redeeming factor. With a 41 MP rear camera, the Nokia Lumia 1020 does manage to deliver the strongest smartphone camera available in the market by a longshot but then again one can’t help but express their disappointment at the 3 MP front camera.
Anyhow, the rear camera does manage to give great shots in all lighting conditions as expected which is something that should be considered greatly as most flagships phones now a days only manage to produce quality photos in specific light settings. The Xenon flash for still images does help somewhat but as a photographing enthusiast, it is still somewhat lacking when compared to that of a DSLR or a bridge camera.
Oh and before you go and read most reviews that go about bashing the Lumia 1020 camera, do remember that most of those people snapped the pictures in the default camera app. The thing to remember with the Lumia 1020 is that you must use the Nokia Pro Camera app (which in its own right is the best camera app I have ever used on any platform) to really get the 41 MP results you desire. With the ability to manual focus, set shutter speed, change ISO settings, lighting settings etc. the camera really manages to deliver everything you would expect from a normal point and click camera. While the optical zoom of the camera is less (for obvious reasons as it is after all attached to a phone) the digital zoom isn’t quite bad and does manage to impress if used correctly.
Of course the camera did manage to grab a few shots that made me frown when on the auto mode but then again if you’re going to buy this phone to snap pictures in the automatic mode then dear sir/madam, shame on you. The camera of the Lumia 1020 is made to be used manually with the settings that you think will make the picture worthwhile and that is exactly what the phone does. Frankly, I haven’t seen many of these detailed settings in most cameras in flagship devices I have come across. Yes, I’m looking at you Apple.
While I’m not really into making videos from a phone, the Lumia 1020 did manage to impress me with its video features as well. The one thing that really stuck out was that how even while recording a 1080p video, the camera managed to be smooth and even managed to be that what when subjected to normal shake of hands etc.
Battery Timing:
The phone packs a 2000 mAh battery, which is enough for most power users. Now, before you go about insulting the battery power of the phone and comparing it to other phones, do remember that the one thing Window phones are good at it is preserving battery life. While the whole OS may suffer from many bugs that I personally can’t bear to stand (along with its big and seriously awkward UI) this is something that Windows phones are good at and they need to be acknowledged for it.
Conclusion:
All in all the Nokia Lumia 1020 is not really a bad phone. With a Snapdragon S4 CPU and Adreno GPU backing it up, it certainly does have the power you need but one really can’t help be downed a bit by the hefty price tag that comes attached with the device. I mean surely you can find better phones for that price range (and hopefully with a better OS such as Android). That being said, if you’re a person who knows something about cameras and just loves to snap pictures, this phone will manage to be the perfect travel companion as it is not always that you’re carrying your DSLR or bridge camera along with you and the thought of carrying a phone and a point and click camera is just foolish as the time it will take you to take out your camera and boot it on, the moment you wanted to click would have had flown away forever. The only other reason I would recommend you think about getting this phone is to be unique as let’s face it, everyone owns an iPhone or Samsung now a days, so just the thought of having a phone with a 41 MP can be something that will make you standout in a crowd.
