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Nokia’s newly launched Windows Phone 8 flagship Lumia 1020 has gotten a lot of attention over the course of the last week. The handset feature a massive 41-megapixel sensor, ZEISS optics with six lenses and Optical Image Stabilization, which allow to zooms into the details of every shot making your photographs sharper, clearer and better than ever before. Well, Nokia is now posting a list of 41 reasons to want the device.

#1 – The 41-megapixel sensor
Following in the footsteps of the Nokia 808 PureView, the Nokia Lumia 1020 comes armed with a massive 41MP sensor that let’s you do some really amazing things never before possible with a smartphone.

#2 – Zoom, reinvented
Forget about getting closer to your subject when taking photos; stand back and let the lossless zooming of the Nokia Lumia 1020 do all the work. You can discover details in photos you never thought existed.

#3 – Digital Vs. optical zoom
The Nokia Lumia 1020 takes snaps at a huge initial resolution, so you don’t lose any details when up close. It can also beat most optical zooms – which feature a smaller aperture setting the closer you get – letting in a constant amount of light, providing brighter and sharper images.

#4 – Reframe your photos
Thanks to ‘dual capture’ on the Nokia Lumia 1020, you have the freedom to reframe all of your photos. This means that you can go back to photos you’ve already taken, zoom in, zoom out, or rotate to create new memories from different perspectives.



#5 – Six lenses
Nokia worked with optics manufacturer ZEISS to introduce six lenses for the Nokia Lumia 1020, with rivals offering four or five. The additional lens helps to produce sharper images, directing light crisply and cleanly towards the 41MP sensor.

#6 – Glass is better
Five of the lenses on the Nokia Lumia 1020 are molded from high-performance plastic, but Nokia has gone the extra mile with the sixth, manufacturing it from high-precision glass. It’s tougher, will stay scratch-free for longer, and help you to shoot even better photos.

#7 – Largest BSI on smartphone, ever!
Because the Nokia Lumia 1020 has a bigger sensor, it can accommodate more pixels, producing sharper details. Nokia used a Back Side Illuminated sensor (BSI) with a design that significantly reduces the amount of visible noise in your photos.

#8 – Optical Image Stabilization
The Nokia Lumia 1020 gets a completely new image stabilization technology, keeping your photos free from blur when you’re shooting in testy conditions.  The Optical Image Stabilization will automatically counterbalance unwanted camera shake, keeping your snaps pin-sharp.

#9 – Floating Lens
While competing systems usually just move one lens to counteract handshake, the Optical Image Stabilization in the Nokia Lumia 1020 uses tiny magnetic motors to move all of the optics. Even shaky hands can produce super-sharp images.

#10 – Clever engineering you can hear
The lens system is being kept in place by small ball bearings and actively moved to counteract unwanted camera movement. If you lightly wobble the Nokia Lumia 1020 you can actually hear the system at work, absorbing the shaking of your hand.

#11 – Excellent low-light performance
The Nokia Lumia 1020 uses a design where a much larger amount of light can reach the image sensor, and the Optical Image Stabilization allows for exposure times 3-5 times longer compared to traditional mobile cameras. In short: you can take amazing images in a dark room or at night.

#12 – Two flashes give the right light in any situation
The Nokia Lumia 1020 is one of the only smartphones with two flashes. The LED video light illuminates your videos and Xenon flash captures motion for the perfect still photo, every time.

#13 – ZEISS optics
Nokia is the only mobile phone maker that sports a ZEISS lens for true-to-life images and video. The Nokia Lumia 1020 features not just one but six ZEISS lenses!

#14 – Shoot blur-free Full HD video
Sure, most smartphones can shoot HD video. But the Nokia Lumia 1020 shuns blurry HD videos and captures your memories without making viewers seasick.



#15 – Silent zoom on video
Because zooming while capturing video on the Nokia Lumia 1020 is done with no mechanical parts, it’s silent, smooth and intuitive.

#16 – Rich recording with stereo sound
The Nokia Lumia 1020 features dual high-range mics and Nokia Rich Recording for high quality, distortion free audio to accompany your Full HD videos.

#17 – Freelancer grip
With the Nokia Lumia 1020 combined with the Pro Camera Grip, you can charge your phone while snapping away with the 1,000 mAh battery in the grip.

#18 – Pro Camera App makes you an instant expert
The Nokia Lumia 1020 comes with the Nokia Pro Camera app, making anyone a photography expert and capable of composing the perfect shot, every time.

#19 – Exposure Value (EV)
Exposure Value (EV) influences the brightness of a photograph, and the ability to change EV settings using the Nokia Lumia 1020 is great when you’re shooting an object in the shade. It’s also ideal for creating artistic-looking photos.

#20 – ISO
The Nokia Lumia 1020 offers manual controls traditionally associated with high-end cameras. The ability to adjust ISO is one option, letting you amplify light from the sensor. A higher ISO makes a huge difference in low-light conditions, or shooting fast-moving objects.

#21 – Focal length
It’s easy to get pin-sharp photos with the Nokia Lumia 1020, thanks to the ability to set a focal length manually between 15cm to infinity.

#22 – Nokia Smart Camera app
Not only does the Nokia Lumia 1020 come loaded with Nokia Pro Camera, you also receive the Nokia Smart Camera app. With it, you capture 10 rapid-fire photos, which can be used to create unique, mind-blowing masterpieces with different effects.

#23 – Best Shot
One of the unique features of the Nokia Smart Camera app is the ability to pick the best photo out of 10. Rather than taking photo after photo to capture the best snap on the Nokia Lumia 1020, Best Shot delivers a truly great image to you – first time.

#24 – Remove Moving Objects
There will be times when you want to take a photo of something and somebody photobombs your shot. Remove Moving Objects in Nokia Smart Camera is so clever, that it can have that person deleted from the frame, leaving no trace of them.

#25 – Action Shot
Action Shot is part of the Nokia Smart Camera app and with it you can capture moving objects in a non-static way. Rather than capturing just one photo of your subject, Action Shot overlays several images into one frame to give you a trail of movement.

#26 – Bye bye motion blur
With its ultra-fast PureMotion HD+ screen, the Nokia Lumia 1020 eliminates motion blur in quick moving apps such as games and when making screen transition between screens.

#27 – Pocket to post in seconds
The Nokia Lumia 1020 has quick posting abilities via the Share menu, so you can share your latest photo masterpiece to social networks, messaging or email quickly and easily.

#28 – Easily Share Files with NFC / Tap+Send
Using the Tap+Send feature on your Nokia Lumia 1020, you can (almost-instantly) share files, such as your favorite photos, with another device running Windows Phone 8, as well as tablets or PCs running on Windows 8.

#29 – Dual capture saves the day
Because the Nokia Lumia 1020 saves every image it captures in 5mp and 38mp file sizes, you can pick the perfect file size for the situation. If you’re posting to a social network, use the 5mp file and if you want to hang the print on the wall, you’re set with the 38mp version!

#30 – All the cloud storage you need
For all those stunning images you’ll capture on your Nokia Lumia 1020, store them in the cloud with either SkyDrive or AT&T Locker!

#31 – Images big enough for large format printing
The Nokia Lumia 1020 can shoot images that are suited for large prints. Shoot away and see which photos you want to put on your wall!

#32 – Windows Phone OS – putting people-first design
Windows Phone offers a truly personalized experience for everyone that uses it, making it the ideal platform for the Nokia Lumia 1020. Keep your favorite photos on your Start screen, and quickly share with your social networks.

#33 – Robust and Growing Windows Phone App Ecosystem
There are more than 160,000 apps & games in the Windows Phone store, with great new titles from brand names and up-and-coming indie developers being released every day, including incredible imaging apps that make the most of the Nokia Lumia 1020.

#34 – Exclusive Hipstamatic Oggl PRO App
During the launch for the Nokia Lumia 1020, Hipstamatic showcased Oggl PRO, an exclusive imaging app that offers the most advanced smartphone camera controls to anyone with a flair for the creative.

#35 – Apps to take imaging to new heights
Given the imaging capabilities of the Nokia Lumia 1020, it’s no surprise that there are amazing apps to bring your photos and videos to the next level. Look for new apps from coming soon from Flipboard, Path, Vine, Vyclone, Yelp, and many more.

#36 – Never be lost again with HERE Maps and HERE Drive+
Summer road trips can get derailed with a bad set of directions. Find your way with our amazing HERE navigation apps that are on every Lumia, including the Nokia Lumia 1020.

#37 – Free yourself with wireless charging
With the wireless charging cover for the Nokia Lumia 1020, you can use our many wireless charging accessories to keep your battery topped up throughout the day.

#38 – Dive in to mobile photography
When it comes to learning how to become a photo master with your Nokia Lumia 1020, we bring you the best tips and tricks, updated constantly!

#39 – Display and Gorilla Glass 3
The Nokia Lumia 1020’s high-resolution AMOLED screen features the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 3 technology. It’s incredibly resilient, proving damage resistance under most conditions, and it’s ideal for showing off your photo without details being lost under scuffs and scratches.

 #40 – Adds color to your life
Are you more traditional or do you like to stand out from the crowd? Nokia Lumia 1020 comes in black, white and yellow for the more adventurous types.

#41 – Priced to impress
When compared to Digital SLR and even point and shoot cameras, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is more handsomely equipped and is a better value. When you #Switch to Lumia, take advantage of our trade up program to get cash for your old smartphone.

Nokia has unveiled the Lumia 1020 smartphone in India though it is yet to announce the price tag. The manufacturer showed off many of the camera features and technologies that go into the phone at a media event on Thursday, but refused to divulge the price. While potential customers will be able to buy the smartphone on October 11, we got to spend some time with it at the event. Here are our first impressions of the Nokia Lumia 1020:

The latest top-end Lumia phone in India has a 41MP camera at the back. While its megapixel count is huge, the design is not as absurd as that of Galaxy S4 zoom (16MP rear camera). However, the phone's design does not have the understated elegance of Sony Xperia Z1 (20.7MP camera). At 158gram, Nokia Lumia 1020 is still heavy and you can feel the weight in your hands as soon as you hold it.

The Nokia device has a big bump off the back, where the camera sensor is located, but despite the odd design, this phone looks good. Moreover, the positioning of the bump is such that you are unlikely to encounter any problems while working with the Lumia 1020 with one hand. It looks similar to last year's Lumia 920 rather than the newer Lumia 925, with edges on top and curves on the sides.

But let's go straight to the most exciting part of Lumia 1020 - the 41MP camera. It has all the makings of a great snapper, from high-end PureView image processing technology to terrificzooming (for a smartphone). Its backlit sensor design allows the camera to get more light for better lowlight imaging, which we witnessed ourselves during our time with the device. The photos are actually shot at 38MP (4:3 aspect ratio) or 34MP (16:9 aspect ratio).

However, we noticed a slight lag during image processing in both 5MP and 38MP resolution settings. Saving the image takes a little time at both resolutions. In our view, unless one knows enough about camera settings, the settings in Lumia 1020 should not be fiddled with, else the images can end up being over- or underexposed.

The default camera app in Lumia 1020 captures images at just 5MP resolution and you have to remember to use the Pro Camera app in order to take the higher resolution photos.

The photos we clicked with the phone had excellent colours and contrast, and with the right settings, you get amazing photos with a lot of details. In fact, the phone allows users to take photos, then zoom in and crop certain portions without losing any clarity. The zoomed-in photos show no pixilation and look very good.

Here is a shot we have taken with the Nokia Lumia 1020:



Here is the zoomed-in and cropped version of the same photo:



While Nokia has done a good job with the phone's zooming capabilities, Lumia 1020 is not blessed with optical zoom even though rivals like Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom and Sony Xperia Z1 both have it. With a full review, we will be able to determine whether Lumia 1020's lossless zoom is just as good as optical zoom, and we keep our judgement reserved till then.

That notwithstanding, Lumia 1020 has gotten us quite excited about the camera, though we feel most of its features will be used occasionally.

Lumia 1020 has decent hardware, but nothing that would put the competition on the edge. In fact, it shares the screen size and quality, chipset, software features and connectivity suite with the Lumia 925. The only difference - apart from camera, of course - is twice the RAM and internal storage. (2GB and 32GB respectively).

Lumia 1020 may be a great option for anyone looking for a camera they can carry around. But if the best smartphone is your priority, Lumia 1020 is probably not the ideal choice. Of course, we cannot be sure of the value-for-money aspect unless Nokia announces the price tag of this smartphone.

A niche device, the Lumia 1020 is pricier than most high-end smartphones that will make some salivate.

Nokia's new Lumia 1020 is the company's most significant device yet. Announced only a few weeks ago, the handset's biggest selling point is easily its 41-megapixel camera sensor, which Nokia paraded around as the best mobile camera the industry has ever seen.

Having seen the gadget in action, it's easy to see why Nokia is so confident.

But even with such an enormous sensor, how does it stack up against the competition?

Apple's iPhone is currently the most widely used camera in the world (data is available for Flickr only) — that's an accomplishment in and of itself. And while it doesn't have the highest megapixel count, or even the most robust feature set, the iPhone 5's camera is still more than capable of producing excellent results. Apple says its cameras are so popular because the company focuses on more than just megapixel count.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone's camera captures extremely high-resolution images with fine detail, and puts creative controls at your fingertips.

A niche device, due to its extreme focus on its camera, the Lumia 1020 is USD 100 pricier than most high-end smartphones. Having said that, for the aficionados there are relevant high points, but for the general user, the lens makes it a little bulky while multiple camera apps are confusing. It lacks manual f-stop control and presets for common shooting scenarios.

Lumia 1020 high-octane shooter, along with camera app, defines this marquee Windows 8-based smartphone. What will make photographers salivate is that 1020 pushes the smartphone camera envelope with a combination of raw image-capturing prowess and close-cropping capability that makes it one of the most artistically-enabled smartphone cameras that we've tested.

Casual users may not venture from automatic settings and may not notice much difference in image quality unless they frequently crop photos tightly.

Another similar device is the 16-megapixel Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. Of course, the S4 Zoom's optical zoom element could give the 1020 a run for its money.

Design and build

The first thing you're probably asking yourself is if owning the Lumia 1020 is like carrying a bulky point-and-shoot camera in your pocket. Blessedly, it is not.

Compared with the chunky Galaxy S4 Zoom and bulbous Nokia 808 PureView (the company's first attempt at a 41-megapixel phone), the Lumia 1020 seems only slightly thicker than the Lumia 920 and 928, both of which it physically resembles.

Dimensions of 5.1 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide are pretty standard, and the 1020 measures 0.4 inch thick throughout most of its body. It's that large camera module on the back (about 1.75 inches in diameter) that protrudes a full 0.51 inch from the phone's face.

That means the phone won't lie flat on its back, which is surprisingly sometimes helpful when the face tilts toward you as if on a stand.

Keeping the phone this slim was quite the design feat, especially when you compare the 1020 with the chunky S4 Zoom, which is shaped more like a point-and-shoot device with a smartphone attached.

At 5.6 ounces, the matte yellow, white, or black 1020 is hefty, sturdy, and undeniably solid.

Like all the Lumia 920-series phones, the 1020's 4.5-inch display features a 1,280x768-pixel resolution (WXGA) and pixel density of 334ppi. Its AMOLED screen is also supersensitive, which means you can operate it with fingernails or gloved fingertips. Gorilla Glass 3 helps resist cracks, though smash any screen hard enough or often enough and it'll break.

In keeping with the Lumia design philosophy, you'll find oblong volume, power/lock, and camera shutter buttons on the right spine, and the headset jack and micro-SIM card slot up top. In addition to the front-facing camera there are three capacitive navigation buttons on the front, and the Micro-USB charging port is down on the bottom edge. On the back, the massive camera module includes a wide xenon flash and a six-lens Carl Zeiss lens, plus an LED sidekick that's mainly used for focus.

A completely sealed unibody device, the Lumia 1020 doesn't have a removable battery or microSD card storage, which may make avid photographers jittery about storage limits, especially with large photo files.

Buy?

Avid mobile photographers will love the Nokia Lumia 1020's exact controls, but casual users should stick to cheaper camera phones.
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