After weeks of leaks, Nokia is making its Lumia 1020 handset official on Thursday. The Finnish smartphone maker has just unveiled its latest flagship Windows Phone on stage at an event in New York. The Lumia 1020 is a big upgrade over Nokia's previous Windows Phone efforts for one reason alone: a 41-megapixel camera. Nokia is taking its PureView 808 sensor from its Symbian days and adding a number of enhancements to bring it to Windows Phone.

The 41-megapixel Pureview sensor includes optical image stabilization, 6-lens Zeiss optics, and a xenon flash, making it the centerpiece for the rear of the phone. It can shoot still images at 38-megapixel in 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. At the same time as it captures the high-resolution images, it also takes an oversampled 5-megapixel image using the sensor that can then be easily shared thanks to its smaller file size. The Lumia 1020 supports 1080p video capture, complete with 4x zoom and up to 6x at 720p. Nokia is releasing a Pro Camera app with the Lumia 1020 to take advantage of the sensor and manually adjust flash, focus, ISO, white balance, shutter speed, and exposure. It also includes a number of editing functions to crop and alter photos. Nokia is bundling a leather wrist strap with the Lumia 1020, making it even more point-and-shoot-like, but a optional Camera Grip accessory provides a casing for the device with extra battery, a shutter button, and even a tripod mount.

Camera aside, the Lumia 1020 is largely unchanged from the specifications of Nokia's Lumia 920 and 925. Nokia is adding 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB, and it's opting for a 4.5-inch AMOLED display like the Lumia 925. There's some microphone improvements, but the device will run the same 1.5 Ghz dual-core S4 processor as the 920 and 925. One change is the dimensions. The camera is obviously rather large on the rear, but Nokia has managed to keep the device thinner and lighter than the 920. It's not as slimline as the 925, but it's 10.4 mm thick and weighs 158g.

Nokia's Lumia 1020 will debut exclusively on AT&T in the US for $299.99 on a two-year contract. AT&T will start taking preorders on July 16th revealed, with a full launch on July 26th. The Lumia 1020 will be available in matte black, white, and yellow at www.att.com/Lumia1020. Nokia will also bring the Lumia 1020 to China and select European markets this quarter, with an exclusive version for Telefonica.

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