In its New York press event today, Nokia has confirmed the Lumia 1020. Being touted as the next chapter of smartphone photography, the new smartphone features a 41-megapixel camera and promises to choose how you shoot and how you create photos.
Design-wise, it features a unibody design where the “back” of the phone with the camera lens is the front. It is still considerably chunky, being only 10.4mm thick – with the camera bump (I remain sceptical).
Inside the camera will be six Zeiss lenses, similar to the Lumia 925, and has a backside illuminated sensor is apparently the largest on any consumer device. It can capture a full-resolution image up to 38-megapixels used for endless zooming, and a 5-megpixel over-sampled image (similar to the PureView 808) photo also produced for sharing on social media.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nRj9pv0y9M
Optical image stabilisation technology has been improved with the use of ball-bearings to help stabilisation. Nokia is also promising that they have reinvented zoom, letting you get closer while still retaining detail. In order to take advantage of the new technology, Nokia has developed their own Pro Camera app. The app will let you change settings such as exposure and focus in real-time.
Nokia will also release to developers a new SDK to go on top of the native Windows Phone camera API to create new applications for the Nokia Lumia 1020 and allows people to share high resolution images. Partners include Hipstamatic, CNN, Path, Yelp and Foursquare. The SDK is out today.
The hardware specs include a 4.5-inch AMOLED screen with PureMotion HD+ technology and Gorilla Glass 3; a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor; 2GB of RAM; 32GB of intenral memory and a front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera.
The phone, however, does not include wireless charging inside. You will need to buy an additional charging cover. When asked about it in the Q&A, Nokia said that they remained committed to wireless charging but it was removed because they had to keep the phone’s thickness down. Other ccessories include a camera grip with a tripod mount.
In the United States, AT&T will have exclusivity. It will come out on July 26 for $299 with a two-year contract. Following that, key European markets and China will get the phone this quarter. No word on Australian availability, but possibly in the end of the year.