Nokia Lumia 1020 now official, 41MP OIS camera in tow

After an unprecedented amount of leaks, Stephen Elop took the stage at the Nokia Zoom Reinvented event in New York to proudly announce the Nokia Lumia 1020 - the company's new Windows Phone 8 cameraphone flagship.
The Nokia Lumia 1020's centerpiece is the 41MP autofocus PureView camera with a huge (by smartphone standards) 1/1.2" BSI sensor, 6-lens ZEISS optics and optical image stabilization. It is coupled with LED flash used for video shooting and a proper xenon flash.

The Lumia 1020's optically stabilized 41MP image sensor that can snap 40MP and 5MP photos at the same time – one straight off the sensor and one after Nokia's Super sampling has been applied. The other 41MP cameraphone - 808 PureView can only shoot one or the other at a time.
To make the best out of this beast of a camera, the Nokia ships the Lumia 1020 with its Pro Camera and Smart Camera camera lens apps. They'll allow advanced users fiddle with the camera settings and get the most out of the impressive shooter - there's even a full manual mode, which is a rarity outside prosumer or pro-grade cameras. At the front, there's a secondary 1.2MP wide-angle camera.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 in black
Nokia Lumia 1020 can capture videos of up to 1080p resolution and thanks to the high-res sensor it features lossless zoom. You can zoom in up to 3 times in 1080p mode and up to 6 times when shooting 720p video without sacrificing much in terms of quality. Sound is recorded in stereo and is guaranteed to be crisp and deep thanks to the two wide dynamic range microphones on board.
The Nokia Lumia 1020 internals don't bring many surprises as the smartphone is powered by the same Snapdragon S4 chipset with a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait CPU as the Nokia Lumia 925. A nice addition is the 2GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage. As usual, Nokia and Microsoft have teamed up and provide 7GB of free SkyDrive storage.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 in yellow
You'll be able to admire the beautiful photos taken with the 41MP camera on the 4.5" Clear Black AMOLED display of 1280 x 768 pixels resolution. It is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and features Nokia's PureMotion HD+ technology for smoother animations. Super Sensitive Touch technology is present, too, allowing you to operate the phone with gloves and nails. Nokia Glance Screen is available thanks to the Windows Phone 8 Amber update.
Local Connectivity is standard and includes Bluetooth 3.0, NFC (featuring SIM-based security), dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and GPS with Glonass support. Network support is quite wide covered with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 42Mbps UMTS/HSPA and LTE support.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 in white
The Nokia Lumia 1020 is powered by a 2000mAh capacity and supports wireless charging via an accessory cover (purchased separately). The Finns say the phone will be able to last 16 days on standby and provide 13.3 hours of talk time. Video and music playback endurance are rated at 6.8 and 63 hours, respectively.
This impressive camera module is certainly pretty large, but the Lumia 1020 isn't too bulky overall. At 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm, the smartphone is pretty much the same size as the Lumia 920, except that this time there's a large bump on the back. The Lumia 1020 is also lighter than its predecessor, tipping the scales at 158 grams.
The Nokia Lumia 1020 will be available in yellow, white and black. It will hit AT&T on July 26 for $299 with a two-year contract, while global availability is yet to be confirmed.

Watch Nokia Lumia 1020 Video

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Camera Review

You have seen the camera samples, a comparison with the Nokia 808 PureView and the unboxing, and we felt that’s not enough to let you know about the camera on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. So, here is a camera review with all the details you’d expect of the camera part of the S4 Zoom. What you will read is a deep dive into the technical details of the camera with a walkthrough of the UI, the camera samples and a short conclusion, leading up to our full review later. We have documented that on video first, do watch it here and go past the break for the text.


The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 16 Megapixel 1/2.3″ CMOS sensor with a pixel size of 1.34 um, which is pretty standard stuff when it comes to point and shoots but definitely special on a hybrid camera phone like the S4 Zoom. The sensor also can go upto ISO 3200. On top of the sensor sits the Samsung-made lens. It has a focal length of 4.3-43mm with a 10x multiplier in optical zoom. When the crop factor is to be considered, the 35mm focal length equivalent of the lens becomes 24-240mm. That’s a wide to telephoto lens with a variable aperture.
The aperture varies from f3.1 – f6.3 which is pretty slow but that’s what you get from a compact point and shoot camera these days. The lens incorporates optical image stabilization for non-shaky pictures at full zoom and long exposed low light shots, and of course stabilized video too. Talking of video, the camera can record full HD 1920×1080 video at 30 fps, with the optical zoom enabled and can record 1280×720 videos at 60 fps. This is all accomplished by a feature packed camera interface.
The camera interface is typically Samsung, and reminds us a lot of the Samsung Galaxy Camera’s user interface. You have a mode and a battery indicator on the top right, and below that is the software shutter button for stills. On a single touch, it focuses once and takes the shot. Below the software touch shutter button is the mode dial. Below the mode dial is the video button that instantly takes a video when pressed. Right below that is an upward arrow that reveals various basic filters and over at the bottom left is the gallery shortcut. Above the gallery thumbnail is the options to use touch controls for the optical zoom and at the top left are the toggles for the front facing camera, and there are additional settings too. You can refer the video above for better understanding of the UI and here are some screenshots to help you for the same -

Coming back to the important mode dial, when pressed, it opens up with four options. “Auto” which is the auto mode obviously, and then there are the other “Smart”, “Expert” and “My modes”. Lets go through them one by one. The “Smart” mode is a kind of a scene selection mode that is very similar to the one on the Galaxy Camera, and eventually that showed up on the Galaxy S4. The smart mode opens up a carousel that can be changed into a grid for easier selection of modes. There are a ton of different modes and  are a mix of what you get on point and shoots and recently, in high end smartphones like the Galaxy S4. There are specific scene and camera modes like Candle light, light trace, macro, sunset, silhouette.. etc that are like the Galaxy Camera and several other point and shoots while there are also these Drama shot, Sound and shot, Animated image, best shot, best face.. etc that you find on the Galaxy S4. All the features work as advertised and enhance the default photo experience.
While all the smart modes pre configured modes for a typical scene, the expert mode lets you tinker and change almost every controllable aspect of the camera. The expert mode reveals a familiar yet slightly different faux-lens control UI like the Galaxy Camera with three modes – program, manual and colour wizard. The Colour wizard setting lets you tweak the image exposure, saturation, colour balance, sharpness and contrast, basically dealing with everything about the image, while the program and manual modes let you tweak the finer aspects of the camera. The program mode and the manual mode are almost similar, with option to change exposure compensation, ISO, white balance and set different drive modes, with additional options of controlling shutter speed and aperture in the manual mode. That makes it very likeable for people who understand the three main aspects of exposure – aperture, shutter speed and ISO. And lastly, the “My modes” option lets you pin your 5 favourite smart scenes or expert modes to that screen for an easy and quick access.
Coming to the actual camera performance, you can get a detailed low down of each and every camera sample here in our earlier post about the S4 Zoom’s camera samples, and if interested, check out the comparison with the reigning cameraphone king – the Nokia 808 PureView.
Armed with several features and scenes, the Galaxy S4 Zoom takes good pictures in every condition possible. While they are very usable, the photos always seem a bit over processed, with some edge sharpening, and a lot of noise reduction going on in some of the low light pictures, but they are pretty usable for instant sharing. But people looking at some pro-level post processing for their pictures might be disappointed. In the end, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is a pretty decent point and shoot slapped on to a phone. If you are ok with the bulkiness, weird form factor and the awkward usage as a phone, it will serve well but then, is it really worth that effort? We’ll let you know in our complete review. Stay tuned to our YouTube channel for more previews of upcoming content!

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active review: Uncharted waters

Introduction

Ah, the great outdoors - not enough reception to put the "phone" in smartphone, but plenty of dust and water keep it out. Good thing there are IP67-certified phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active then, combining premium specs with enough durability to survive a hike or a dive.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active official images
We've become a little wary of the Galaxy S label, which Samsung flagships share with a number of almost unrelated devices, which simply piggyback on their reputation. That's not the case of the Galaxy S4 Active though, it's a proper flagship.
The 5" 1080p screen has been moved to TFT tech instead of Super AMOLED like on the regular S4, but LCD's are typically brighter, and plus LCDs are less likely to suffer water damage.
The camera situation is less clear though - Samsung downgraded it from 13MP to 8MP and while we've seen plenty of good 8MP cameras, 13MP is the current flagship standard. Everything else seems in order, however, here's the yay and nay list for the Galaxy S4 Active.

Key features

• IP67 certification - can spend up to 30 minutes in up to 1m of water
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE; quad-band 3G with HSPA; LTE
• 5" 16M-color 1080p TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass 3
• Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI
• Quad-core 1.9 GHz Krait 300 CPU, Adreno 320 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset
• 2GB of RAM
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash,1080p video recording @ 30fps, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• 2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
• Dual shot and dual video recording, Drama shot, Shot and sound
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 16GB of built-in storage
• microSD card slot
• microUSB port with USB host and MHL 2.0
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• IR port for remote control functionality
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Barometer
• IR gesture sensor for Air gestures
• Smart screen: Smart stay, Smart pause, Smart scroll
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Ample 2,600 mAh battery with great endurance
• Smart volume and Adapt Sound features for the music player

Main disadvantages

• Camera downgraded to 8MP
• Screen is TFT, not Super AMOLED
• Thicker and heavier than regular Galaxy S4, Sony Xperia Z
• No FM radio
• Shared camera interface makes framing tricky
• No thermometer or hygroscope

Samsung is not new to rugged Androids - the Galaxy Xcover line (along with carrier-specific versions) has been around for a while, but those favored durability over specs. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is not as rugged as those phones, it is a premium package.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active in the office
That includes the powerful chipset, the advanced connectivity, exclusive features, the works. Of course, it's not without competition - the Sony Xperia Z has been around for a while and it's clean, elegant design doesn't pay the rugged tax - the IP57-certified Xperia Z is a suave survivor. But anyway, if you search "quad-core, 1080p and water resistance" you'll find a very short list of options.
The internal hardware and the software of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active are almost identical to those of the regular S4, the real changes are on the outside.

NOKIA LUMIA 925

Is this really Nokia's 'masterpiece'?

The Nokia Lumia 925 is an odd device – on the one hand, a bold design, on the other, debatable specs for a flagship phone.

Known as the "Catwalk" phone for a long time, this is the phone that some fans have been clamouring for: a Nokia Lumia that brings an aluminium design with the same innovative features.

However, it's not all good news for the metal fans, as it's still got a polycarbonate back as Nokia hasn't worked out how to rock an all-aluminium chassis in the same way HTC managed with the One.

That's not to say the design of this 4G-enabled phone isn't impressive, as with the rounded aluminium edges you'd be hard pressed to notice that the back was made of plastic, albeit a premium version of that material – plus it will come in black, white and silver.

(By the way, well done Nokia for not giving the colours "magical" names. If it's white, call it that).

The front of the phone will also still wow a few, as it's using the same ClearBlack technology, coupled with an HD OLED screen, on a 4.5-inch display.

Underneath the hood there's a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset powering things along, as well as 1GB of RAM and an 8.7MP camera bolted on the back.

Some eagle-eyed readers will notice something about those specs: they're identical to the Nokia Lumia 920, launched in September 2012. In the ensuing period HTC and Samsung have both launched 2GB, quad-core powered devices with much larger HD screens.

We can't claim that they're miles ahead in smartphone terms though; while the specs don't compare at all, Nokia's well-integrated use ofWindows Phone 8 means its phones generally rocket along in day to day use, and battery power is conserved as a result.

That said, there's no denying that the screen quality is a step down when viewed side by side with the likes of the One or Galaxy S4. It's not a bad screen at all, as it's bright and clear with decent colour reproduction, but the sharpness difference is noticeable when doing things like internet browsing.

Let's talk about what the Nokia Lumia 925 is really about though: an upgraded camera with all new functionality. If you use Nokia's Smart Camera technology as the default setting it allows you to take 10 photos at once and then allows you to do a number of cool things with said snaps.

Nokia calls this an 'evolution' of the camera technology on its phones, and it's true as you no longer have to faff about with separate 'lenses' to enable functionality.

It's a similar system as the one used by HTC in the One, where capturing a 3.6 second Zoe when taking your picture allows you to create action shots, change faces in case someone blinks, remove background objects and more.

In our quick test the Lumia 925, with its 10 photos to choose from, performed a little better at things like working out which object to remove, and was a lot better than the same functionality in the Galaxy S4, on top of being easier to manipulate images you take.

There is a caveat to all this awesome technology: the 925 is a little slow on processing. And when we say a little, we're being kind. If you're taking photos for your own pleasure and have time to mess about with them to get the perfect result, then the annoying time watching the little dots at the top of the screen (which pop up when the phone is working through a task) isn't an issue.

But Nokia's selling this phone as having great shots you can share with friends -and nobody wants to be the person saying they can take a really cool picture then waiting 15 seconds to even start editing.

The other bold claim made by Nokia is the "best lowlight images without using a flash" - again, taking on HTC with the One's Ultrapixel power. We couldn't test the two side-by-side, but there's no doubt that this is going to be a closely fought war, with Nokia stating it will be putting marketing budget behind proving its own Lumia camera sensor can eclipse the One.

It reckons it can do this on a sensor that's already been used on the 920 by adding in a sixth lens to the camera unit, helping to improve things like optical image stabilisation and general photo quality.

However it's one of the only things that's different between the two phones beyond the design, with everything else nearly identical or actually worse on the Nokia Lumia 925.

They both pack a 2,000mAh battery, a 4.5-inch screen (although the addition of OLED technology over LCD is a welcome one) the same processor and RAM. However, the Lumia 925 has half the internal memory, down to only 16GB - with no expansion in sight, this is going to be a real problem for a lot of users.

Wireless charging is also not included with this phone, something Nokia tells us is a bid to keep the weight of its new flagship phone right down. You can add that functionality back in through a protective case, but it still smacks of Nokia confusing its strategy given it's poured so much effort into talking up the technology.

The diet that the Finnish brand has subjected its newest handset to is impressive though, as it's now down to 139g over the 185g whopping weight of the predecessor.

It still feels weighty compared the 130g of the plastic Samsung Galaxy S4 (despite the closeness in weight), but we like heft and metal together, so we don't think this is necessarily a bad thing - plus the battery doesn't rattle around in the case any more, which we see as a win.

We haven't touched on the combination of Nokia and Windows Phone 8 yet - and with that you get a high level of extras out of the box. Mix Radio, HERE and clever features like Cinemagraph are all add value, and are key differentiators for Nokia.

Nokia Lumia 720 Review

With the Nokia Lumia 720, the Finnish smartphone manufacturer has revealed the latest element of its strategy to recapture the mobile phone market. Sitting right in the middle of the Lumia Windows Phone family, the Lumia 720 marries sophisticated design and subtle design elements with specifications that are powerful enough to get the job done but is this sufficient to take on the multitudes of midrange Android based competitors ? Read on to find out.

Design

The Lumia 720 doesn’t break any new grounds in terms of design but it does continue the legacy pioneered with the 820 in particular. The design is also quite similar to that of the 520 though perhaps not to the same degree. The unibody polycarbonate shell feels absolutely fantastic when held and offers seamless curves which fit well in the hand.

This design familiarity continues across the Lumia 520, 620 and 720 but Nokia has done a good job at retaining a hint of individuality in the handsets. You can see that they belong to the same family but wouldn’t really confuse the three.

The front of the phone is dominated by the 4.3 inch WVGA screen with the standard Windows Phone buttons located at the bottom. Over at the top you can spot the front facing camera. The handset has a profile that comes close to larger handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S3.

The right side of the handset sports the volume rocker, power key and dual stage camera button with surprisingly good feedback.

Over at the top you can spot the 3.5mm audio jack and slots for the microSD card and micro SIM card slot. The slots can be accessed via the pinhole which ensures that you don’t have them open inadvertently and also helps keep the dust out.

The back of the phone has a gorgeous matte finish. The device is available in a range of colors including white, red, black, cyan and the yellow that you see here. You can spot the 6.1MP camera towards the top with an LED flash at the side. A Nokia logo is embossed around the middle.

The back sports charging pin connectors for an optional wireless charging backplate. A speaker grille is also openly visible which allows for loud and clear output. Overall with a 9mm thin profile and weighing just 128grams, we feel that Nokia has a done a good job on the industrial design front.

Display

We loved the display on the Lumia 720. Its not the highest resolution display out there and yes WVGA is on the lower end of the spectrum but the sheer quality of the screen really impresses. It is of the ClearBlack Display variety which provides ultra deep blacks.

The resolution was never really an issue because of the way Windows Phone 8 works. Sure, you can spot pixellation if you’re looking for it but we never really felt the screen lacking. The only area that would benefit a lot from a higher resolution display is video playback. Sunlight visibility is good and as an added bonus, the screen is of the Super Sensitive Touch variety which means that you can use it even while wearing gloves.

Software

The Nokia Lumia 720 runs Windows Phone 8. If you’ve seen it in action, you know what to expect here. The chief benefit of going in for a Lumia handset is the wide variety  of exclusive software that comes bundled in with the phone.

Nokia Music, Here Maps alone make it an impressive deal. The additional range of exclusive apps serve as icing on the cake. Nokia has also built in a few camera lenses which will allow you to shoot panoramas, cinemagraph and smart shoot in addition to others. Windows Phone 8 itself remains a very user friendly operating system with developing app ecosystems. Essential apps are now available in one form or the other but app junkies might want to check if their favorite apps are currently available or not before committing to Microsoft’s mobile operating system.

Camera

Nokia has hyped up the camera on the 720 quite a bit and for good reason too. The 6.7 megapixel BSI sensor comes equipped with a Carl Zeiss lens and an unheard of f/1.9 aperture.

Shots look particularly good in appropriate lighting conditions with the camera managing to correctly select the white balance settings. Contrast and saturation levels too were spot on.

In lower light conditions, it is possible to spot a hint of grain but the image quality is still very acceptable.

Like many other Lumia phones, getting a focus lock turns out to be the achilles heel of the handset. At least 50% of the times, we had to retake a shot because of failure in getting a focus lock.

Low light images impress for the most part and turn out better than most other smartphone cameras in the price range. The BSI sensor and f/1.9 aperture lens absorb the maximum amount of light for perfectly usable images in low light. While not as good as the Lumia 920, the Lumia 720 can definitely hold its own under adverse conditions. Video recording that tops off at 720p, 30FPS is acceptable but not very impressive. Recording is smooth but camera shake is inevitable and is very noticeable in the resulting footage.

Performance & Battery Life

The Lumia 720 is powered by a 1 Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor with a Adreno 305 GPU which provides it just enough amount of power to chomp through most common tasks. The 512MB of RAM on the other hand proves to be a limiting factor for power users. Several games on the Windows Phone app store have a minimum requirement of 1GB RAM which means you just won’t be able to download them. We really feel that Nokia has missed out on an opportunity here by not bundling in at least 1GB of RAM. In terms of storage, you get 8GB built in and this can be further expanded via the microSD card slot. Performance wise, Microsoft has done a top notch job in terms of optimization and you’d be hard pressed to find any lags or freezes in the operating system UI. General performance will give you nothing to complain about. You can read our Windows Phone 8 review to find out whats new in the operating system.

The 2000 mAh battery pack on the Lumia 720 helps it deliver exemplary battery life and we could regularly get over a day of usage. In our tests, we got a day and a half of real life usage without pushing the phone too hard. This should be acceptable for most users.

Conclusion

A better camera, higher battery capacity and great build quality is what you get when you buy a Nokia Lumia 720. Is it perfect ? No, but it comes very close. For the average user the Nokia Lumia 720 will tick most checkboxes as it nails the essentials.

All is however not perfect considering the RAM limit on the handset. We also feel that the handset should have included a 720p screen. We can definitely recommend the Nokia Lumia 720 as a solid mid range offering particularly suited to beginner smartphone users.

Pros

1. Great build quality
2. Decent screen
3. Good camera

Cons

1. 512MB RAM
2. App Selection is still limited
3. WVGA resolution