Oct 20, 2013 04:31 PM
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First off, this phone is amazing. It's lightning quick, never hangs on any tasks and consistently gets the best benchmark when I test it on any of the benchmark apps available. Oh, and the camera is otherworldly, I will never need to bring my digital camera with me again...
All that being said, if you don't currently have a WP 7.8 or WP 8 device, by all means go for the 1020, it's a wonderful device and Windows Phone 8 will make you smile at every turn, the Lumia 1020 has 2GB of ram, that is 4 times more than what the ultra-efficient Windows Phone 8 needs to work.
This means that there really isn't anything that the 1020 can't handle, and background apps and tasks wont slow the device down. The Lumia 1020 comes with a 1500mhz Dual Core processor which is more than enough, but you won't get the satisfaction of saying "I've got a quad-core" like some of those snobby android phone owners, but when they go head to head I have no doubt in my mind the 1020 will be faster than any android device you pit it against. That is the magic of windows os; Windows Phone is slim and professional, while most Android offerings are bloated and slow. The Lumia 1020 has a 4.5-inch, 1, 280x768-pixel display, and 4G connectivity.
Design and build:-
There's absolutely no question that the 1020 is part of Nokia's Lumia line. Its body is a one-piece polycarbonate design in the same shape as the Lumia 920. My model came in white color, but they're also available in black or yellow.
It's physically extremely similar to the 920. It has the same 4.5-inch screen size, with the buttons on the side, and the ports and the speakers in the same place. It's slightly slimmer and at 158g, it's a bit lighter too. The 1020's enormous camera unit on the back makes it easy to distinguish it from the 920.
The black disc that makes up the camera pokes out of the phone's body by about 3mm. At first I though it might get in the way, but I didn't find it any more difficult to slide into my pocket than the 920 and it was perfectly comfortable to hold.
The one-piece polycarbonate body makes the phone feel strong -- there are no loose back panels or loose edging to damage here. There's little flexibility in the body and the solid materials should easily be able to put up with a few good knocks. The buttons too have a satisfying click to them, so the 1020 feels like an extremely well built piece.
Around the edges you will find volume and power buttons as well as a dedicated camera shutter button. There's a micro USB port on the bottom and a 3.5mm headphone jack on top. The standard model has 32GB of storage, but there is also a 64gb model but unfortunately Nokia will not be releasing that in India. There's no expandable storage option though, so you'll want to transfer your pics to a computer asap if you are a shutterbug.
Camera-
Now this is the main selling point of this device.41 megapixels of pure delight . It comes with the Nokia Pro cam app -- you can set this as the app that loads when you hit the shutter button. Pro cam gives manual control over shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus -- although sadly not aperture -- using on-screen rings. It's pretty simple to do, but the small icons aren't easy to tap in a hurry -- make sure you're not snapping away urgently.
It's quite a neat way to learn the mechanics of manual photography. You can keep all sliders on automatic, only changing one at a time to see how it alters the image. Lower the shutter speed, for example, to take those long-exposure shots of car headlight trails at night.
The Smart Cam app is on board too. This takes multiple images of a scene in order to select the best shot, change faces of individuals in a group so everyone looks their best, remove moving objects or combine pictures into one of those cool action sequence photos. Unlike Samsung's Galaxy S4 Zoom, there's no optical zoom on the 1020, only digital zoom. Digital zoom is effectively cropping into the photo, which on most phones will result in very low quality photos. The benefit of the high resolution sensor on the 1020 though is that you can zoom in to a scene without ruining the shot.
Battery-
The battery is around 2000mah so I believe you will get a decent 13 hours of talk time but expect that to drop drastically if you are going click crazy. I use it during the daytime and leave it in charge when I go to sleep at night. I heard there is a wireless charging case also available but I don't have it so cant comment about it.
Conclusion:-
As a camera, the Lumia 1020 is able to capture absolutely excellent images that you'd typically expect to see from a decent compact digital camera, thanks to its large sensor and manual controls. Since the images are of very large size, each image takes about 3 to 4 sec to save. Its Windows Phone 8 software still suffers from a big lack of apps though and its internal specs won't impress dedicated tech nerds.
If your primary concern from a phone is image quality and you're not fussed about having the latest apps, the Lumia 1020 will suit you well. If you're looking for more of a compromise, then a high-end Android phone will probably be more suitable. I got it for around 44k from Sharjah but here it costs Rs48000 and that is iPhone territory so think hard before you decide to take the plunge CHEERS!!!!
