Nokia Lumia 1020 hands-on: First look

Introduction

The Nokia 808 PureView finally has a worthy successor - the Nokia Lumia 1020 is the culmination of Nokia's continuous efforts to redefine smartphone photography. The company was the first to launch a massive 41MP image sensor, do optical stabilization in a phone and use high-dynamic range mics and the Lumia 1020 has it all under one roof.

Let's go back in time. The Finns put proper zoom on a camera in the distant 2006 - the old N93 had 3x optical zoom. Years later the 808 PureView came around and did 3x lossless zoom without the complex optics. It did this with its huge (for a phone) 1/1.2" sensor. It also brought high-quality stereo sound capture by adding HAAC mics.

A trip down memory lane

Those crusty Symbians gave way to the Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia 920, which was the first phone with optical image stabilization. The OIS offers huge advantages for low-light photography, but the sensor was small and of relatively low 8.7MP resolution. There was no xenon flash either.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 makes them all proud - it has the big sensor (even if, at 1/1.5", it's slightly smaller than the one inside the 808 PureView) the OIS and a proper flash, all garnished with a modern-looking smartphone OS. Here's the gist.

Nokia Lumia 1020 at a glance

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz; HSDPA 42.2 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps; LTE bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 LTE Cat 3 100Mbps down, 50Mbps up
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar
• Dimensions: 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4; 158 g
• Display: 4.5" 16M-color WXGA (768 x 1280 pixels) ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen; PureMotion HD+, 2.5D sculpted Gorilla glass 3; Super sensitive touch
• Chipset: 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor, Adreno 225 GPU, 2GB of RAM
• OS: Windows Phone 8
• Memory: 32 GB of built-in storage;
• Still camera: 41 megapixel camera with 6-lens ZEISS optics, OIS, 3x zoom, xenon and LED flashes
• Video camera: 1080p video recording at 30fps with 2 Rich Recording mics; 1.2MP front-facing camera with 720p video
• Connectivity: dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, stereo Bluetooth 3.0, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, HERE Drive+ free worldwide navigation, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
• Battery: 2,000mAh
• Misc: Exclusive Pro Camera app, FM Radio, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor; available in Yellow, White or Black
• Accessories: Grip with built-in 1,020mAh battery and tripod mount, Qi wireless charging cover

Microsoft and Nokia have been putting a great deal of effort to help Windows Phone mount a serious challenge to Android and iOS and make the smartphone game a three-horse race. And hero devices like the Lumia 1020 is what can really draw in the crowds, as they are getting stuff that's not available elsewhere.

While we wish the Lumia 1020 came out sooner, we're glad it's here and we are going to waste no time getting to know it better. The event is now over but we're working on a hands-on video, which we'll post later on.