Review Nokia Lumia 1020 Smartphone

Our first hands-on experience concluded with an unusual thought: Batman would be proud to call this smartphone his own. The device with its black matte finish offers supreme build quality and sturdiness - no creaking, no uneven clearances, no sharp edges and perfect torsion-resistance. The smartphone is incredibly comfortable to hold and even the metal bulge of the lens doesn't change this first impression. It does, however, wobble a lot when being placed on an even surface such as a table.

Our test device measures 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm. It would have been a lot thinner and lighter (it weighs 158 grams) if it weren't for the enormous bulge. When compared to the Lumia 925, the Lumia 1020 comes out as the larger of the two, despite its identical screen sizes of 4.5-inches. Apart from our black version, the camera smartphone can be had in white and yellow as well.

Communication & GPS 

The Lumia 1020 comes with a broad range of communication modules, ranging from an LTE modem with a maximum download speed of 100 Mbit/s to a Wi-Fi module in accordance with the 802.11 a/b/g/n standard (which comes with great reception and a great range) as well as Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC (near field communication) for shorter ranges. There is also an optional accessory for inductive charging.

In order to use navigation software (such as Google Maps), an aGPS module has been built into the device. As we are used to with Nokia smartphones, the module works flawlessly, even indoors. We haven't had any unexpected discontinuances during our tests.

Telephone Functions & Speech Quality

We have tried to find faults with the speech quality in a number of test calls: None could be detected. Our partner at the other end could always be heard clearly and loudly. The distortion filter works wonders too, reducing background noise and improving our overall impression. Even the speakerphone works rather well, although we wouldn't recommend using it with high ambient noise levels. A good in-ear headset might be a superior option under these circumstances.

The "Nokia Smart Cam" allows the user to choose from a number of different editing modes which apply to a series of pictures shot by the camera in short bursts.

One possibility is to simply select the "best photo". "Action mode" emphasizes moving objects while "movement focus" only depicts moving objects sharply. It is also possible to "remove moving objects". All of these features work as advertised, yielding good results. Unfortunately, all photos made with the "Nokia Smart Cam" app can only be saved with 5 megapixels.

The capacitive touchscreen reacts quickly and precisely. Navigating the colorful (and by now well-known) Modern UI of Windows Phone 8 feels fast, smooth and intuitive. It shouldn't prove to be a major hurdle for beginners. A virtual keyboard is used for text input, requiring 70% of the screen real estate when used in landscape mode although this does get better in portrait mode.

Unfortunately, the 4.5-inch display comes with one major disadvantage: A resolution of just 1280x768 pixels is a lot less than the Full HD displays most of the high-end competitors of the Nokia Lumia 1020 have to offer. The average brightness of the OLED panel has been measured at 287.9 cd/m². Due to the Windows Phone system settings, only three distinct brightness values can be chosen manually - this is far less comfortable than for Android or iOS devices. Subjectively, 88% brightness homogeneity is more than enough (although much more than 90% is required for perfect marks in this section). Since the black levels are close to zero, the contrast ratio is basically infinite to 1. This, of course, couldn't be any better.

The Lumia 1020 ships with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 SoC which has been used in a number of Windows Phone devices, ranging from the Nokia Lumia 925 to the Samsung ATIV S. The ARMv7-based Krait dual-core CPU is clocked at 1.5 GHz and has been manufactured using a 28 nm process. The only major difference when compared to the Lumia 925: The Lumia 1020's amount of RAM has been doubled to 2 GB.

Not many synthetic benchmarks exist for Windows Phone 8 smartphones, at least at the time of writing. One of these is the so-called GFXBench which can also be run on iOS and Android devices. The results are discouraging (as are those of browser-based benchmarks): For example, the recently tested LG G2 takes the lead by a whopping 545%. Sunspider 0.9.1 is the only benchmark where the camera smartphone stands a chance when compared to iOS- and Android-based high-end devices. Still, its subjective performance levels are more than sufficient. Everything feels smooth and lag-free when navigating the UI.

This is the first ever smartphone with such a high camera resolution. Previous attempts from other manufacturers, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, have not sold very well. But the Lumia 1020 has a lot more to offer than just its enormous 41 megapixels sensor (albeit nothing which is not already known from the Lumia 925). The amount of RAM has been doubled to 2 GB, but this doesn't go along with any improvements in terms of performance as can be seen by a quick glance at our benchmark results.

The main camera with its Carl Zeiss optics proves to be a great addition, although Nokia does cheat a bit with the number of truly available megapixels. The Xenon flash delivers especially superb results, leading to homogeneous and lifelike illumination of almost any subject. Luckily, the Lumia is not poised to remain a niche product since it remains a fully functional smartphone without any restrictions (apart from its thickness). But if one deems taking photographs to be unimportant and if one doesn't see any differences between the pictures taken by the Lumia 1020 and any ordinary smartphone camera with 5 megapixels, then it might be better to have a look at another model within the Lumia range. After all, with an RRP of 699 Euros (~$945), the Lumia 1020 is certainly no bargain.