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Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper
- ing33k 13y agoI am a huge fan of android , but using wp since the past 3 months, I hope that people who comment badly about wp will use it once before complaining about it.
- untog 13y agoI used Windows Phone 7. The UI was fantastic. The platform innovation was poor. The Maps app (including the Nokia one) was poor- and utterly terrible at interpreting addresses. Any IM experience outside of the built-in (and not extendable) native options was awful. I want to like WP, but in many ways it was a mercy when MS decided that my (few month-old) phone wasn't going to get any updates any more and persuaded me to head back to Android.
- Livven 13y agoWhy is this being downvoted? I use an HTC 8X as my main phone but the points mentioned in this comment are perfectly true. For comparison I also own a Galaxy Nexus and 4th-gen iPod touch. Searching in both the stock and Nokia Map apps doesn't seem to do any intelligent keyword parsing/correction as even the web version of Bing Maps does, push notifications tend to be unreliable compared to iOS and Android, live tiles simply don't consitute a notification center, and abandoning Windows Phone 7 meant that some phones barely got a year of updates.
- probably_wrong 13y agoI'm using WP 7, I think. In no particular order, * Entering text beyond 5 lines is a nightmare, as lag increases wich each keypress * No Skype unless I unlock it * In that venue: locked phone, requires a substantial amount of money to develop on it * Taking a picture has a 5% chance of hanging the whole camera, requiring a restart. Also: no timer for the camera * No connection under Linux, as the USB upgrade was not backported to my version of WP, and it doesn't plug as a regular USB drive. I'm guessing support for my phone is gone, which should also be added to the list. * Can't remove the USB card (explicitly forbidden in the manual). Uploading media requires the installation of Zune. Yep, you read that right, Zune * No way of changing the default search engine * Cannot edit playlists for music, which BTW must be created with Zune while plugged onto my PC I'm glad you are glad with your WP, but implying that anyone who complains about it is doing it just for the sake of it is, IMHO, a bit misleading.
- untog 13y agoAs someone who takes a lot of photos with my phone, this interests me a lot. Though as someone who has previously used Windows Phone, I'm very skeptical about going back to it. This is the first device that makes me wonder about Nokia's WP-exclusive decision. They didn't go with Android to avoid becoming "yet another" Android manufacturer, and I agree with that sentiment (look at how few are turning a profit). However, there are no Android devices that really excel at stuff like photography- I think that Nokia could have carved out an interesting niche in solidly built, feature-focused devices. But oh well.
- psbp 13y agoI switch between iOS and Android, but the Lumia phones do seem attractive to me despite WP. They could have really differentiated in the android market, or at least forced Samsung to make some better hardware choices.
- mtgx 13y agoAnd that's the problem with Nokia and their phones. People are buying them for the hardware, despite the OS. They could sell so much more with Android. I'd say they could even beat Samsung in sales eventually (again). But right now I can't even extrapolate how much time it would take them to ever do that, if even possible.
- jcarney 13y agoI am glad that there's more competition in the marketplace rather than just Apple and Android and that there are companies looking beyond earnings in their next quarter. Apple could have probably made more money over the years by selling Macs with Windows and retiring their own OS. Competition is good, for example see the flat look and concentration on typography that both Android and iOS borrowed from Windows Phone. That's why I don't get all the deriding of Firefox OS and Ubuntu Phone. Android has plenty hardware OEMs behind it.
- vermontdevil 13y ago
- edent 13y agoSo, two years later Windows Phone has finally caught up with Symbian! Is it because WP couldn't handle the camera - or were Microsoft actively crippling Nokia's technical advantages over the other OEMs?
- logofdoom 13y agoNo. If you engaged two neurons you will realise it took as long to turn the assembly from the giant jut out hump to the slight rise it is on the lumia.
- dntrkv 13y agoOh yes, because Symbian was such a great OS! I really don't understand all you Symbian lovers / WP haters. Symbian was the shittiest mobile OS that I have ever used. I would use Windows Mobile before Symbian. I remember when all the Nokia lovers were raging about the N97, so I decided to pick one up for something like $700 because it seemed like a great phone (and it had great specs for the time). It was the worst phone experience I ever had. Even after doing all the updates and mods that everyone suggested, it was still extremely buggy and slow.
- slantyyz 13y agoI've never used Symbian, but if it's worse than Windows Mobile 5, then it's got to be really bad. If you didn't quit the camera app on WM5, it would stay running in the background and kill the battery without you knowing it. I also had lots of hangs that prevented me from answering calls.
- Maakuth 13y agoEven with this kind of device, it is still very doubtful if Nokia is going to get any kind of success with Windows Phone. Their market share drop has been nothing short of catastrophic everywhere but in the US, where they never had significant market share. Even their feature phones have stopped selling as well as they used to. It will be interesting to see if they can get back on track with current strategy or with any strategy at all.
- martingordon 13y agoThis is a niche device, IMHO, which may be the way to go for Nokia (as long as the software can keep up). It starts at $299, which is $100 more than the entry price of the iPhone 5 (even though it's the same price as the 32 GB iPhone, you can get an iPhone for cheaper if you wanted to). It won't necessarily appeal to people for whom iPhone/GS4 quality photos are good enough (and who only share on Instagram anyway) but it definitely takes the place of a point and shoot. It seems much more appealing than the Galaxy Camera or Galaxy S4 Zoom.
- psbp 13y agoThis seems more like a halo device than an assumed success. This certainly makes owning a Lumia more attractive to me even though I'm not interested in WP whatsoever.
- moheeb 13y agoI think your memory is a bit off. Seems to me that nearly everyone in the US had a Nokia phone at one point.
- mtgx 13y agoMaybe this would've had a chance with Android, but with WP8? It's a niche offering within a niche OS market. It's like offering Battlefield 4 for Linux only.
- rgulati 13y agoIf everyone had an attitude like that, no one would ever take a risk to fight the incumbents in any of the markets. Offering Battlefield 4 for only Linux would do wonders for Linux adoption. Linux on the desktop needs something like that to push it.
- rgulati 13y agoThe whitepaper on an older version of the technology is here. http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/849564/data/2/-/Download1.pdf http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/849564/data/2/-/Download1.pdf The Xenon flash eliminates the blur in standard flash. Comparison pictures against the S4 and iPhone 5. http://i.imgur.com/fUe8rLC.png http://i.imgur.com/fUe8rLC.png The optical image stabilization is cool, with ball bearings replacing the coils on the Lumia 920. Sample video comparison against the S4(Edit: S3, my bad). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuLlAa4zDbU&t=0m55s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuLlAa4zDbU&t=0m55s More details here. http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/07/11/nokia-lumia-1020-the-smartphone-camera-revolution-begins/ http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/07/11/nokia-lumia-1020-t...
- vanderZwan 13y ago> Sample video comparison against the S4. Ahem, S3. I'm sure the 920 will still perform favourably against an S4 in this regard, but still.
- chenster 13y agoMy first impression is, does more mpegapixel instantly make the Nokia Lumia 1020 a better phone? If you truly want to take good photos, use a real camera, like a DSLR. Admittedly, 41-megapixel is quite a wow factor, but based on the hardware specs it seems it's more of a camera than a phone. The other questions is, do people want to every photo to be 20MB+?
- untog 13y agoThe article does a really bad job of explaining what's going on here- the resulting photos won't be 41megapixels. It uses that huge amount as a means to "smooth out" the noise/oddities in the photo, and save it as a more reasonable 5MP or 8MP image.
- rgulati 13y agoThat's still incomplete info. It takes both a 38MP photo and a derived 8mp photo. The 8MP photo is for easier storage and sharing, while the 38MP is for zooming in. http://c699379.r79.cf3.rackcdn.com/Nokia%20808%20Pureview%20-%20sensor%20explanation.jpg http://c699379.r79.cf3.rackcdn.com/Nokia%20808%20Pureview%20... http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/849564/data/2/-/Download1.pdf http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/849564/data/2/-/Download1.pdf
- chenster 13y agoAn incremental change to an existing product perhaps gets us excited for a few weeks then it dies down. The real question is would you want to use this phone because merely for its camera? A smart phone is more than just a nice camera and a touch screen. IT'S EVERYTHING. If the user interface and experience are still sluggish, even a 100Megapixel camera phone wouldn't do you any good.
- Osmium 13y agoPresumably the individual pixel size is smaller though? So where's the true advantage here vs having fewer larger pixels which would presumably have less noise anyway.
- 13y ago
- ebbv 13y agoThey ruined the design of the old Lumia for the benefit of a better camera. Who's really clamoring for that? And who's willing to pay $299.99 with 2 year contract for it? Nokia really doesn't know what they're doing.
- mmanfrin 13y agoIt's not about the camera, it's about presenting Nokia as a producer of a premium phone, so that other versions of Nokia look better in comparison. No one cares about Windows Phone, but when Nokia makes headlines for 41-megapixels, the general populace that doesn't really get that they don't need 41-megapixels will nevertheless notice, and think 'wow, that is a lot, does my iPhone have that?'. 99.9% of people who will buy this phone will never have a need for 41 megapixels. But they'll buy it just the same.
- jcarney 13y ago>99.9% of people who will buy this phone will never have a need for 41 megapixels. But they'll buy it just the same. The tech does make normal pictures look better because of the oversampling. Not to mention optical image stabilization for reducing blur and shake in both image and video. http://i.imgur.com/fUe8rLC.png http://i.imgur.com/fUe8rLC.png
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- slantyyz 13y ago>> 99.9% of people who will buy this phone will never have a need for 41 megapixels. Nokia's really screwing up the messaging on this, as people are fixating on the megapixel count -- they are missing the forest for the trees. The best images you will get out of this phone will actually be the oversampled images, which have significantly fewer megapixels.
- meerita 13y ago
- JimmaDaRustla 13y agoI really wish this would rattle Android market share (I know it won't), because I would never in a hundred years have guessed that the camera in my Nexus 4 is as terrible as it is. My Samsung Focus had a better camera =( I always mock my GF for having an iPhone (she buys stuff for looks), but if we need to take a picture, hand me that baby because I chose Nexus 4 over the Lumia 928.
- yread 13y agoThis video makes a good job demonstrating how the 41 MPs work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUMNm9-dgJ0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUMNm9-dgJ0 My only complaint is that it is a bit slower than my compact..
- tambourine_man 13y agothat's how we reinvented Zoom It's called cropping, and it's been around forever. Does it save RAW? If not, it's useless to me.
- slantyyz 13y ago>> Does it save RAW? If not, it's useless to me. So is just about every other phone with a camera.
- dave1010uk 13y agoIn case anyone's looking for a phone with a camera that saves RAW, the Nokia N900 does. http://fcam.garage.maemo.org/fcamera.html http://fcam.garage.maemo.org/fcamera.html
- voltagex_ 13y agoI've still got one, sitting in a drawer...
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- superuser2 13y agoPast a point, more megapixels does not mean more quality. I'd like to see better optics before we pour R&D into sensors.
- UnoriginalGuy 13y agoI see this copy/paste a lot. And while MP doesn't mean better dynamic range, lower noise, faster shutter speeds, or higher ISO performance saying that it isn't "higher quality" is nonsense. Higher megapixels literally mean more information about a scene stored by the sensor. Now that information might not be more accurate than a camera with lower MP, but even with that being the case it does better allow you to sub-divide the picture (crop it) and generate new scenes/images without noticeable pixelation. I shoot with an SLR. I've read this "MP is meaningless" stuff a million and one times. But the people spouting it are almost wrong. Yes, there is FAR too much focus given on MP over more interesting things (e.g. dynamic range) but people take a basic truth too far. After going from 10 MP to 16 MP, sorry, but it did make a difference. In particular the freedom it gave me in post.
- sukuriant 13y agoThe issue I have with super-high megapixel cameras isn't that number, it's the sensor density. At certain densities, light begins to behave different because of the shape of the sensor and it doesn't capture the image correctly anymore. This is part of the reason why a 16MP SLR and a 16MP point-and-shoot have vastly different image qualities. As for your SLR, 16MP, even around 20MP is still well within the "light behaves well" range. 16MP in the point and shoot range? 40MP in the camera phone sensor range? Now we're getting in a bad place.
- slantyyz 13y agoBut, the Nokia has a 1/1.2" sensor. That's huge -- almost 5.5x times the surface area of the iPhone 5's sensor. It's almost as large as the sensor in a Nikon 1 or Sony RX100 series camera. Yes, the pixels are small at ~1.44 microns (I think most experts consider 6 microns to be the "ideal" size) so I would think the pixel density is actually lower than most cameraphones (the iPhone 5 is around ~1.39 microns).
- davidcollantes 13y ago41 megapixel camera, how big are those photos, and how much space will the phone come with?
- barista 13y agoComes with 32 GB I think and the photos are 5MB I think.
- davidcollantes 13y ago5 MB only? Wow. My 12 megapixel Canon D30 used to take raw photos that were 20-24 MB in size. The 32 GB will get reduced by the OS, I am sure.
- dhbanes 13y agoSurely this phone does not store raw images.
- blackcoffeee 13y agoI would buy it.
- auctiontheory 13y agoIn my experience, 99% of people don't know the first thing about taking a good photograph. They will not be helped by a 41-megapixel or even 41-gigapixel camera. Beyond a point, all the pixel density does is dramatically increase their storage requirements - on the camera, on the computer they sync with their camera, and on their backup device. 41 megapixels is well into the realm of negative marginal returns.
- russellsprouts 13y agoIt does not take 41 megapixel pictures, only 5 megapixel pictures. It used a 41 megapixel sensor, then down-samples it. This results in a higher quality picture.
- ChuckMcM 13y agoIn a weird way, if you can capture enough of the light field over time (an insane amount of data by the way) you can "go back" and get whatever picture you want. Which has the potential of allowing complete novices to grab the raw data with some local sensor, and to out source the 'picture taking' to someone who can look at it and return the picture that they should have taken. I know, its crazy talk and off the wall, but my friends in computational circles say that its no more crazy to them than a 1TB hard drive possibility was to me back in 2000.
- akruckus 13y ago"Another neat trick: the Lumia 1020 actually creates two images every time you press the camera button in Nokia Pro Camera—a super high-res version for editing and archiving, and an oversampled 5-megapixel copy for easy sharing via email or social networks such as Twitter and Facebook."
- owaislone 13y agoNokia are never gonna learn. Megapixels and Gigahertz don't matter any more. What matters is the experience. Jolla are doing this perfectly right. Focusing on the software to deliver an amazing and unique experience.
- GR8K 13y agoLumia 1020 sample images: http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/07/11/nokia-lumia-1020-picture-gallery-zoom-in/ http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/07/11/nokia-lumia-1020-p...
- yread 13y agoSome more http://www.flickr.com/photos/87544844%40N00/sets/72157634597356196/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/87544844%40N00/sets/72157634597...
- ck2 13y agoImagine the array dimensions on the next generation drones. They will be able to capture large swaths of a city with just a few drones.
- missing_cipher 13y agoAlready here, check it out: http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/1/3940898/darpa-gigapixel-drone-surveillance-camera-revealed http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/1/3940898/darpa-gigapixel-dro...
- Demiurge 13y agoBut why?? It's not possible make use of more than 10mp unless you're printing a billboard? And that is if you get whole 10mp of sharpness. The best DSLR/Hasselblad images are limited by the cameras optics. There are other vital properties of a camera, like dynamic range and color accuracy. Going to extreme in one spec is absolutely pointless without improving all other aspects of the system.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- ctdonath 13y agoAnyone wanna comment on what one is supposed to do with a 41-megapixel picture taken under the optical limits of a camera crammed in just a few cubic millimeters? We're talking resolutions way beyond what's needed for most prints, and laughable on any electronic display. Even a stunning near-futuristic 4K display is just 9MP; need to reach 8K to start being useful. Flip side, anything needing that level of resolution is going to demand some darned good (i.e.: big) glass in front of it. I appreciate the view that "what could you possibly need X for?" often has good answers, but there are outer limits of human perception. Only use I see is digital zoom (a la cropping), and that better prove stunning.
- hbharadwaj 13y agoOversampling of images - super pixels. You are not taking 41 MP images.
- limejuice 13y agoKey Specs • 41MP 1/1.5" BSI sensor (capable of 34MP and 38MP output images depending on aspect ratio) • Mechanical shutter • Zeiss F2.2 27mm equivalent (for 4:3 still images) six-element lens • Xenon flash • LED light for video • Windows Phone 8 OS • 4.5" AMOLED WXGA (1280x768) display • 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor • Front facing 1.2MP camera • 2 GB RAM, 32 GB internal memory source: http://connect.dpreview.com/post/6384275680/nokia-lumia-1020-preview http://connect.dpreview.com/post/6384275680/nokia-lumia-1020...
- mililani 13y agoIt seems to me that they went backwards on the sensor size--which, I think, is probably the most important thing for cameras next to the lens. The Nokia 808 had a 1/1.2" sensor. I was hoping the next iteration of the Nokia would have a 1" sensor.
- malkia 13y ago41 megapixel camera would make quite big images, even compressed.
- ceautery 13y agoThat's pretty good. In a few more years digital resolution might be comparable to film.