Nokia Lumia 1020

PureView Pro camera

PureView Pro is an imaging technology combining a 1/1.5-inch 41 MP image sensor with Carl Zeiss optics. The large sensor enables pixel oversampling, combining many sensor pixels into one image pixel for high image quality, lossless zoom, and improved low light performance. It dispenses with the usual digital zoom interpolation, providing 4× lossless zoom in 1080p video and 6× for 720p video. Optical image stabilization nullifies hand shake and allows more light to enter the sensor.

The adjustable shutter speed reaches up to 1/16,000 s. Some reviewers noted lens flare and minor white balance issues under certain conditions.

The camera takes 6.1 seconds to start up, 3.6 seconds between 5 MP shots, and 4.2 seconds between 38 MP shots. It uses a Xenon flash, like the Nokia 808, N8, and N82. The sensor is a 41.3-megapixel BSI CMOS with 7712 × 5360 total pixels, pixel size 1.12 μm, and crop factor 3.93×.

Maximum image size at 4:3 is 7136 × 5360 pixels (38.2 MP); at 16:9 it is 7712 × 4352 pixels (33.6 MP). The 35 mm equivalent focal length is 25 mm for 16:9 and 27 mm for 4:3. The lens has six elements in one group, all aspherical, with one high refractive index low-dispersion glass mould lens.

Nokia Pro Camera software

The Lumia 1020 ships with Nokia's Pro Camera application, offering greater control than the standard Windows Phone camera and can be set as the default imaging app. It provides swipe-able dials in a concentric ring display for adjusting exposure, white balance, shutter speed, and ISO on the fly, with changes visualized before shooting. For video, manual focus and white balance controls are available, and frame rate can be set to 24, 25, or 30 fps for 720p and 1080p. The HAAC high pass filter corner frequency for audio can be selected as 200 Hz, 100 Hz, or none.

Reception

Reception was mainly positive, though some reviewers noted the market for the Lumia 1020 is limited. Kamalahasan from KnowYourGadget called it a great improvement over the Nokia 808, with a superb camera. Brian Klug from Anandtech said Nokia set the bar for smartphone imaging in hardware and software. Erin Lodi of Digital Photography Review noted the 1020 outperformed rivals in lower lighting, with better fine detail and cleaner images due to the large sensor and downscaling.

David Pierce from The Verge described it as a remarkable phone hampered by its operating system. Dan Nosowitz from Popular Science said the hardware was amazing but the software lagged behind. Charles Arthur from The Guardian noted missing native apps for Instagram, Vine, and Snapchat. Jim Fisher and Sascha Segan from PC Magazine wrote that the step forward was incomplete, needing a faster CPU and image processor, and that Windows Phone's creative app gaps needed filling.

Did You Know?

• A prototype codenamed McLaren (previously leaked as Goldfinger) was planned as the successor but was cancelled before official launch.
• The Lumia 1020 received the Lumia Denim software update without new features or system firmware updates due to the phone's age.
• Some users reported rapid battery drain, overheating, random reboots, poor voice call quality, and Wi-Fi dropouts.