At 11PM last Friday night, Yankee Stadium exploded.
I had been in section 209 for about two hours when Justin Timberlake started the first verse of Frank Sinatraâs âNew York, New York.â The crowd roared, and then when Jay Z walked down the stairs rapping âEmpire State of Mind,â the crowd went bonkers. It felt like every person in the stadium screamed, then thrust their hands into their pockets to grab their phone. I have to send this to somebody!
I was way ahead of the game. Iâm already slightly obsessive about taking pictures at concerts, but that night I had a real advantage: I was holding the Lumia 1020, Nokiaâs new 41-megapixel cameraphone. Itâs an LTE-enabled, high-definition Windows Phone 8 device available on AT&T for $299 on contract, but itâs mostly a camera. An insanely high-res camera created to vanquish all smartphones and point-and-shoots in its path.
The last time Nokia made an incredible cameraphone, it neglected the phone. 2011âs 808 PureView, had a 41-megapixel camera, but strapped it to a Symbian Belle-powered cellphone that wouldâve barely been great in 2009. This time itâs different: from the first moment I picked up the Lumia 1020, swiped through the Windows Phone 8 interface and booted up the camera, it felt like the future.
After a long period of resetting with Windows Phone, Nokia’s getting good, and fast. The 1020 is one of its best devices yet, and certainly the easiest to sell — if you really love cameras, you’ll really love the Lumia 1020. But a great camera wasn’t enough to sustain the 808 PureView, and even though Windows Phone 8 is a huge leap forward from Symbian it’s still a long way behind. There are plenty of compelling Windows Phone 8 options, from the gorgeous 925 to the feature-packed 1020, but they can’t change the fact that Windows Phone 8 itself just isn’t that compelling.
Throughout my entire time with the device, I kept coming back to Stephen Elop. He told the Guardian that Nokia picked Windows Phone because it feared Samsung would come to dominate the Android market, and that Nokia wouldn’t be able to compete. I disagree. The 1020, plus all the sharing options and apps that Google’s OS brings, could be a ridiculously compelling phone. I’d happily carry a big phone that gave me a perfect camera, but right now with the 1020 I’m carrying a big phone running a third-place OS just for the imaging prowess. For Nokia’s sake, I hope Windows Phone 8 gets the apps it needs before HTC, Apple, or Samsung wakes up and builds a killer cameraphone to go with a killer ecosystem. But either way, I hope it happens soon – I hear Justin Timberlake’s coming back to New York this fall.
Comments
Keep up the good work, Nokia! :D
By EA575 on 07.24.13 12:04am
Yes good work Nokia, now I can sell my Canon 7D that just sits around collecting dust. Who cares about Instagram anyway, there are plenty of goods apps on WP to be getting on with. How many apps that you don’t use do you need anyway…
By Neville on 07.24.13 10:07am
I had a Windows Phone for a while and enjoyed it, but not only am I one who cares about Instagram… the lack of Google services was a deal breaker for me. Even on the iPhone I was able to use Google + and Maps as well as a consistent chat client.
By tahpics on 08.10.13 11:43pm
the other thing about the camera is the manual stuff you can do like altering the focus and exposure time… I was expecting more review-talk about the exposure time stuff… prepare for loads of those cool floating light pictures.
the review seemed a bit harsh on WP I thought…
By wacka on 09.10.13 7:34am
Nice to see the camera was really good after all. Wish WP8 would get some more apps though. And no, non official apps do not count They are usually horrible and gimped. It is a nice OS. ALSO. at least it isn’t a monstrosity like that GAlaxy camera
By SlimShadyMJDroid on 07.24.13 12:06am
I still don’t understand how the design got just 7? I understand the ecosystem score but design wise I think Lumia 920/1020 design right up there with the iphone 5 and HTC ONE.
By avarma on 07.24.13 12:24am
Probably that lovely lady lump.
By kweazy on 07.24.13 12:34am
Because David Pierce thinks it’s a 7/10. Pretty good, not the best he’s ever seen.
Don’t overthink review scores, they’re not canon.
By GambaKufu on 07.24.13 1:58am
David says that it’s awkward to hold and use, because of the hump. This is obviously his personal opinion, but i think it’s a valid point and having an industrial design that has users trying to figure out how to hold the phone is not a very good design.
By Gechi on 07.24.13 3:39am
Though having an industrial design that has “wrong ways” to hold it, is also not very good design. :p
By kashtrey on 07.24.13 7:45am
Who said anything about the iPhone 4?
By uberamd on 07.24.13 10:59am
No one. I was just making a joke because that’s the first thing that popped in my head. I would be curious to see what an iPhone 4 got in terms of design which should’ve been dropped at least half a point after antenagate.
By kashtrey on 07.25.13 4:40am
In any case: They’ll be holding it wrong.
By Systembolaget on 07.24.13 8:05am
The idea is that this phone has a unique camera in the smartphone world,all the talking about design,processor etc is pure BS,It comes down to this:do you want a 41 MP camera or not?
By Adi2 on 07.24.13 11:54am
He mention that it’s difficult because if interferes with your fingers on the back. When I hold a phone my fingers are along the side just as his was when he was holding it. I think he makes this shit up as he goes. Additionally, there are plenty of insta-gram compatible apps on WP8 alone with the other that he mentioned. Yet he still acted as if all you could do nothing with your pictures but copy to you computer. To me he just over plays everything. I would love to see a review where he doesn’t force his personal preferences on you by simply saying what he does and don’t like and not tell me what HE wishes would have happened.
Once again, I think David’s reviews of windows products are pure bullshit.
By uxo22 on 07.24.13 12:28pm
I don’t read any reviews on the Verge anymore. Simply put, I don’t care what THEY think of the phone, I want to know about THE PHONE.
I do however come over for the heated comment sections!
By VoxMediaUser612671 on 07.25.13 1:35pm
That is why I primarily rely on Anandtech’s reviews. The Verge focuses more on opinion while Anandtech focusing more on objective stuff.
By thattechkid on 07.30.13 2:14am
Fair enough, but I’d argue that he went easy on the software side.
By terantek on 07.24.13 5:13am
That would be the crux of the matter right there. You think that, obviously David Peirce doesn’t.
By VoxMediaUser1053461 on 07.24.13 7:58am
Because the design hasn’t really changed much at all since the Lumia 900…
By KFW on 07.24.13 9:15am
Probably because it’s the same we’ve seen for the last year or two, and it’s getting boring.
By FeneticFenix on 07.24.13 5:20pm
you mean like the always changing iphone design?
By uxo22 on 07.25.13 2:06pm
No one fucking mentioned the iPhone. And still, I’d say there’s a bigger design difference from the i4 to 5 then the 800 to the 1020
By FeneticFenix on 07.25.13 10:35pm
RELAX, besides, there is not that much of a design change form iphone 4 to iphone 5. That all for the most part look the same.
By uxo22 on 07.26.13 5:30pm
He brought up a valid point. The iPhone gets high praises for design (after you filter out trolls of course) and it hasn’t shifted too much. Good design doesn’t need to change every year. That is inefficient and stupid. Good design lasts. I don’t think he was trying to call out bias (ok for iPhone, but not for Lumia). He could have, but I think he was saying what I said.
By thattechkid on 07.30.13 2:18am