Nokia today officially announced the Lumia 1020 in India. The front of the Lumia 1020 may resemble with the rest of the Lumia range but it’s the back that is special on the device. The big, protruding circle at the back houses the 41MP PureView camera sensor that was only found on Nokia’s aging PureView 808 Symbian phone. We managed to play with Nokia’s latest and greatest Windows Phone 8 device and here are our first impressions.
As we mentioned before, the design of the Lumia 1020 is uninteresting from the front but the non-removable back with a big black circle is the phone’s USP. The bulge may look a bit too much but in fact, it’s manageable. The front side of the device sports a glossy 4.5-inch AMOLED WXGA (1280×768) display while the back and the sides boast a matte finish that gives a good grip in the hands. The port and the physical key placements remain the same – right side with the power/lock, volume keys and camera button; bottom with the loudspeakers and the microUSB port; and top with the SIM card slot, mic and 3.5mm headphone port.
The brief encounter with the device didn’t show any signs of lag, which shows the 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB RAM are capable enough for most tasks.
The camera is by far the most important part of the device and to enhance the overall functionality, Nokia pre-loads two camera-specific apps in the Lumia 1020. First is the Smart Cam lens that is seen in most Nokia devices and the Pro Cam that brings features to harness the full potential of the camera. Long pressing the camera button will start the Pro Cam app interface where user has the control to select camera’s focus from macro to infinity, ISO sensitivity, exposure, white balance. Best thing about the app is intuitive slider interface that makes adjusting these settings a breeze. Users can also select the option to save two copies of the same image – one with a high-res 34MP and another one with 5MP resolution for quicker sharing.
The Smart Cam has to be activated through the lens interface that clicks a series of photos and allows users to select best photo, remove moving objects, add motion focus, change faces and action shot.
Both apps do their job really well but it would have been nicer if both apps could come up as a single app. Apparently, Nokia is aware of it and is already working to club them as Nokia Camera.
All said and done, there’s no doubt Lumia 1020 is a great camera phone. However, the absence of a non-expandable memory and a 2,000mAh battery – for a device that you’ll use to click a lot of pictures – is disappointing.
Check out the gallery at the Flickr link below with some sample shots (at 5MP) of the Lumia 1020.
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