Could Nokia's new 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 be the best smartphone for
shutterbugs? People usually use smartphone for most of my picture taking needs
nowadays. But to be perfectly honest they are often disappointed in the images.
Unless it's an immaculately sunny day, with excellent conditions for taking
photos, the shots from my Galaxy S3 often look blurry or overexposed. This is
why Nokia's new 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 sounds so appealing. But is the device
really worth the hype? And more importantly, is it worth ditching Apple iOS or
Google Android for Microsoft Windows Phone or leaving your existing carrier for
AT&T to get your hands on the device? Owning a big digital SLR is nice for
getting some terrific photos. But it's bulky and heavy. And It is found left at
home more often than lugging it along in my daily life. Having a smaller point-and-shoot camera, but even
carrying that around is not as convenient as just using my smartphone to take
quick snapshots. My guess is that most people are like me. And that's why
smartphones have definitely become the camera of choice for lots. But as you
point out, and as Nokia CEO Stephen Elop noted yesterday during the Lumia 1020
press conference, smartphone photography doesn't always produce the best images.
The Nokia Lumia 1020 is no doubt an impressive device with a camera sporting a
41-megapixel sensor. And it's definitely worth putting on your list to
consider, if camera quality is at the top of your must-have list for a new
smartphone. But I'm going to be honest with you, it's hard to say for certain
how the device's camera stacks up against other smartphone cameras, since it
hasn't been fully reviewed yet. The Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S4, and HTC
One have all been praised for their strong camera chops. Then there's the new
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, a spin-off of the original GS4, which has an optical
lens that actually zooms out of the camera. It's a bit bulkier than other
smartphones, but it's definitely a device to be considered if the camera is
really a deal-breaker in your quest for a new smartphone or phamera (as i like
to say it) The 41-megapixel camera and the technology behind it are an
enhancement to a previous Nokia device called the PureView 808, which was based
on Nokia's old operating system, Symbian. There are three main things that make
the Lumia 1020's technology unique: the oversampling technology, which allows
for very detailed images and cropping of photos; improved sensor and flash for
low-light picture taking; and manual settings that allow you to adjust settings
such as white balance, ISO (100-3200), exposure compensation, shutter speed (4
seconds to 1/16,000 second), and focus. The big question, of course, is whether
all this whiz-bang technology is really worth it. And how useful is it to the
average shutterbug 41 megapixels is overkill for just about any camera. And
indeed it might be. the 41 megapixel sensor, which actually captures raw images
at 38 megapixels or 39 megapixels depending on the aspect ratio, is really
about giving people the opportunity to be able to zoom in much closer on images
and not lose details. Nokia's algorithms collect data from multiple pixels to
create what it calls a superpixel. These superpixels deliver a more accurate
representation of the subject while also helping eliminate image noise in
low-light conditions and make noise virtually nonexistent when shooting in good
lighting. The end result is some really good 5-megapixel photos. More
importantly, the pixel oversampling gives the 1020 a better digital zoom.
Basically, as you zoom in, the amount of oversampling reduces until you've
reached the limit of the actual resolution. In other words, if you are shooting
at 5 megapixels, you can continue to zoom until it's no longer oversampling and
simply using a 5-megapixel area of the sensor. There is no upscaling or
interpolation, it's just a 5-megapixel photo. At that resolution, it will give
you about a 3x digital zoom for photos and a 4x zoom for movies shot in 1080p
or 6x recording at 720p. This is all
well and good, but that storing 38 or 39 megapixel images takes up a lot space,
particularly if you're a prolific photographer. In fact, that's why the Lumia
1020 also stores the same image at 5 megapixels. This allows for easy sharing
of pictures on social-media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. These
supersize photo files are also why the Lumia 1020 comes with 32GB of on-device
storage. While 32GB sounds like a lot of storage, the big question is whether
that's really enough with such large image files. with this amount of memory,
users could store up to 1,700 pictures at the full resolution. Of course, it
will likely be able to store far fewer images at these resolutions if you're
also storing a lot of apps, videos, and/or music on your device. There's no
separate slot for off-device storage, such as a mini USB card. To help
alleviate this issue, Lumia 1020 users can also automatically store images to
AT&T's cloud-based locker service or the SkyDrive service offered by
Microsoft. AT&T's service offers up to 50GB of storage, while Microsoft's
SkyDrive offers 7GB for free. The device can be set up to automatically upload
pictures to these storage services either over the carrier network or when
users are in Wi-Fi mode. Some might just have a device that works just like a
point-and-shoot camera with a simple button you push that lets you autofocus by
pushing halfway down and then snapping the picture. A grip and case can be
added to the device to provide a more cameralike experience, but you have to
pay an additional $70 for it. Sarah also said the advanced settings, which
require a lot of fiddling with the screen, could be greatly simplified. Of
course, this is just one photographer's opinion. And when it comes to
smartphones, the devices are phones first and cameras second. So some of the
issues she had with making the device more simple could be more a function of
the fact that this is a phone and not a regular point-and-shoot camera. Still,
I think her gut feeling about this device is worth noting, especially in light
of the fact that you'd have to give up the Google Android ecosystem in order to
get this device with the fancy camera features. As you noted in your question,
the Lumia 1020 is a Windows Phone device. It runs Microsoft's Windows Phone 8
operating system. In some ways, I think I prefer the look and feel of Windows
Phone to either Google's Android or Apple's iOS. But picking one platform over
another is often less about the user interface of the software and more about
the apps and service integration with those devices. As many people before me
have pointed out, the app ecosystem on Windows Phone is not as advanced as
those on the other two big mobile ecosystems, Android and iOS. And for some
people this might not matter much, given that most people tend to use only a
small number of apps. If you can access the apps you actually use, then the
total number of apps in any given app store shouldn't matter much. But where
Windows Phone 8 is handicapped compared with Android, especially, is in its
integration of Google services. Our lives are not only lived on mobile devices,
but people use other Internet-based devices too to run their lives. As such,
many people use Google for e-mail, search, online calendars, synced contacts,
maps, storage, and more. Microsoft has managed to add integration into Windows
Phone 8 for some of these services. But the integration is sometimes clunky.
The reality is that Microsoft really wants people using its own search, e-mail,
storage, and other services on their mobile devices instead of Google's services.
The result is that accessing all these Google services, if you use Google to
organize and run your life, is much easier on an Android device than it is on a
Windows Phone handset. While it's true that you can access some of the Google
services on Windows Phone 8, it's not going to be as smooth and it will likely
take some work on your part to get it to work the way you want it. By contrast,
on an Android device, accessing these services is as easy as signing in to your
account, which you must do to activate your phone. Of course, this isn't an
issue for people who are already using Microsoft services or who are new to
smartphones and cloud-based services and are willing to invest themselves in
Microsoft's ecosystem. It sounds from your question like you may already be
heavily invested in Google and Android. With that in mind, you have to ask
yourself what's more important: a superior camera with a lot of fancy
technology? or a device that's already compatible with all the services you
currently use to run your life? Only you can answer that question for yourself.
The ultimate deal-breaker for you and
many others who'd like to consider the Lumia 1020 may be the fact that the
phone will be available only on AT&T. Yesterday, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop
said during the press conference that AT&T would be the "first"
carrier to offer the Lumia 1020. But then AT&T's head of mobile, Ralph de
la Vega, took the stage and said the phone would be "exclusive" to
AT&T. I asked Nokia's Matt Rothschild to clarify whether consumers could
expect a Lumia 1020 to come to other carriers in the future. And he very
solidly said that no other U.S. carrier will get the Lumia 1020. He said the
company is satisfied with its current strategy of building phones that are
exclusive to certain carriers. He pointed to the fact that the company recently
launched the Lumia 925 exclusively on Verizon. And that T-Mobile has its own
version, the Lumia 928. He also said that the Lumia 1020 will not be sold
unlocked in the U.S. So even consumers willing to buy the device at full price
in the U.S. will still have to use it on AT&T, unless they're able to
unlock it themselves. Personally, I think this strategy is a mistake for Nokia.
The company should be trying to get this device in the hands of as many
potential customers as possible. The three hottest handsets on the market today
are the Apple iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S4, and the HTC One. These companies
have made the exact same device available on almost every major carrier.
(Verizon is still waiting to get the HTC One.) What this means for consumers is
that they're not limited in the handsets they can buy because they're on a
certain carrier. It opens up the market to a lot more potential customers. But
Nokia's Elop told in an interview that the exclusive handset deals are part of
a bigger strategy for the company. He said lackluster sales of earlier Lumia
products that were exclusive to AT&T were not AT&T's problem but
Nokia's and Microsoft's problems. He seemed to imply that it could be different
this time around. The real reason Nokia is likely still selling devices
exclusively by carrier is because it can't afford to market its devices on its
own. It needs AT&T and Microsoft to help split the cost of the hefty
marketing needed to get this device even modest sales. The reality is that
wireless carriers, which still think exclusive handset deals lure consumers to
their networks, are more likely to contribute money, shelf space, and people
power to marketing these devices if they can say they're the only ones offering
them. So what does all this mean for you? Unless you're willing to switch to
AT&T, you won't be able to get this device anyway. But let's say you're
willing to switch carriers. I'd recommend reading formal reviews of the device
before you buy it. It's not expected to launch on AT&T until July 26, so
there's time to get more information on the device. If the camera quality is
truly superior to that of other devices out there, then I'd say consider the
Lumia 1020. Keep in mind it's about $100 more expensive, even with a two-year
AT&T service contract, than the other top-selling smartphones. But if getting
the best camera on a smartphone is what's most important to you, then this
device could be the one. Good luck with your decision on a new device
