The Camera Phone to End All Camera Phones
Nokia Lumia 1020
In many ways, Nokia’s new Lumia 1020 is just a Lumia 920 with the camera from an 808 PureView wedged into the back of it. That’s not a bad thing though, as the 808 PureView was a fantastic camera; it just wasn’t a very good phone.
The Lumia 1020 looks just like the old Lumia 920 with almost identical dimensions and the same unabashedly sharp top and bottom edges. While Nokia tried a monochrome polycarbonate/ aluminum combo build for its Lumia 925, the Lumia 1020 brings the Lumia range back to its colorful, full polycarbonate roots and is available in white, black or yellow. Each color has a silky smooth, matte finish, which is highly resistant to both fingerprints and smudges.
On paper, the Lumia 1020 is actually 0.3mm thinner than the Lumia 920, but Nokia doesn’t include the Lumia 1020’s huge camera bump in that particular measurement. The side edges are slightly more rounded, which makes it a bit comfier to hold in hand, and it’s also noticeably lighter, weighing some 30g less at 158g. Still, the Lumia 1020 is not what we would call sleek and, at 10.4mm thick, it looks downright chunky compared to some other flagship smartphones.
As expected, build quality is top-notch, and the phone feels sturdy and solid. Like the Lumia 920, the power button, volume rocker and camera shutter button are all located on the right edge, with the Micro-USB port on the bottom. On top, you’ll find the headphone port and Micro-SIM tray. Like previous Lumia phones, there’s no Micro-SD card slot, which is a pity considering the phone’s imaging capabilities and the fact that the 808 PureView did include one.
The Lumia 1020 uses a 4.5-inch, 1280 x 768 pixel resolution, AMOLED display - an upgrade over the IPS LCD display found on the Lumia 920. Colors are vibrant, with super- deep blacks and superb contrast. In fact, the blacks are so deep, they’re virtually indistinguishable from the screen bezel, which makes the display feel a bit more expansive than its 4.5 inches. The screen is also very bright and easily legible even under bright sunlight. Viewing angles are also quite generous.
While the display isn’t Full HD (Windows Phone 8 still doesn’t support that resolution at the moment), its 332 ppi pixel density is more than sufficient and puts it on par with the iPhone 5 (326 ppi) for clarity. Of course, the star attraction of the Lumia 1020 is its 41-megapixel PureView rear camera. Just for clarity, the Lumia 1020 camera module isn’t actually ripped straight from the 808 PureView, as there are some changes in this iteration of Nokia’s PureView technology. The 1020 has a slightly smaller sensor at 1/1.5-inch compared