The good: The Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone's camera captures extremely high-resolution images with fine detail, and puts creative controls at your fingertips.
The bad: A
niche device, the Lumia 1020 is $100 pricier than most high-end
smartphones. The lens makes it a little bulky. Multiple camera apps are
confusing. It lacks manual f-stop control and presets for common
shooting scenarios.
The bottom line: Avid
mobile photographers will love the Nokia Lumia 1020's exact controls,
but casual users should stick to cheaper camera phones.
You can sum up the Nokia Lumia 1020 in three words: 41, megapixel, camera.
It's
the Lumia 1020's high-octane shooter -- along with Nokia's custom
camera app -- that defines this next marquee Windows 8 phone, and that
gives mobile photographers a reason to salivate. In the 1020, Nokia
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 able smartphone cameras we've tested.
Would
we ditch our point-and-shoot cameras and rely on the Lumia 1020
instead? For day-to-day and weekend events, absolutely; the 1020 is the
ultimate in convenience and approaches point-and-shoot quality. However,
based on our tests so far, Nokia still has a ways to go before it can
completely supplant the need for a higher-level standalone camera. We'd
take it away for the weekend, but wouldn't use it to shoot our kid's
first birthday.
