NYTimes on Nokia Lumia 1020: Photos as good as $300 pocket cameras, often they’re better!

Who is next to rain worship for the Nokia Lumia 1020? Why it’s New York Times. At first it seems they don’t quite get the 41mp is for oversampling and for all that detail but you see later on they understand just how good Nokia’s camera is in the 1020.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/technology/personaltech/lumia-1020-a-great-camera-grafted-to-an-oddball-phone.html

• NYTimes on Nokia Lumia 1020: You’ve never seen, or even contemplated, photos this good from a phone. They really are spectacular.
• Most of the time, the photos are just as good as what you’d get from a $300 pocket camera (you know, the kind that doesn’t also make phone calls). Often, they’re better.
• The low-light shots seem like they came from some kind of “Mission: Impossible” spy gear.
• And if the subject is close to the lens, the background melts into a delicious blurriness, just as in professional portraits.
• The 1020 also has a superb image stabilizer that comes in handy for videos.
• This phone’s videos really are something: stable, bright, 1080p high definition with crisp stereo sound.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/technology/personaltech/lumia-1020-a-great-camera-grafted-to-an-oddball-phone.html

Some 808 users might feel a bit annoyed at all this undue praise but don’t worry, NYTimes recognises the 808’s brilliance too.

• So yes, this is probably the best camera you’ve ever encountered on a phone. (Unless, of course, you’re familiar with the Nokia PureView 808,, a predecessor with a similarly great camera but on a now mostly defunct operating system called Symbian
• http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/technology/personaltech/lumia-1020-a-great-camera-grafted-to-an-oddball-phone.html

I agree with their sentiment that as great as the Nokia Pro Cam is, it’s not ideal having to ‘step out’ and use ‘other lenses’ such as Nokia Smart Cam. Whilst other camera UIs have similar modes to use additional features, the switching is less jarring than going out of different lenses. There needs to be a new way that makes switching lenses swift and not as cumbersome as switching actual physical lenses.

They praise WP8 but are unsure about the relative lack of apps.

“Microsoft’s phone operating system is gorgeous, logical, fluid and satisfying…Nokia’s contributions include a terrific mapping and GPS app and something called Glance, which lets you check the time and battery charge by tapping the screen of the sleeping phone…..Unfortunately, probably because Microsoft was so late to the app-phone party, Windows Phones are still considered oddballs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/technology/personaltech/lumia-1020-a-great-camera-grafted-to-an-oddball-phone.html

On this note

There’s no official Instagram app and no Vine app, either.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/technology/personaltech/lumia-1020-a-great-camera-grafted-to-an-oddball-phone.html

Well Instance works well. And 6stagram in Beta is officially supported by Instagram. There’s a great Vine app called 6sec.

Conclusion?

• What is clear, though, is that the Nokia Lumia 1020 is a remarkable experiment.
• Its size and silhouette may make it a little too weird for most people
• Windows Phone’s still struggling app catalog may turn off another swath of buyers.

But if you want good photographs from a phone — man, has this one got your number. When you use the 1020, people don’t say, “That’s a great picture! You know, for a cellphone.”

They say: “That’s a great picture. From a cellphone!?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/technology/personaltech/lumia-1020-a-great-camera-grafted-to-an-oddball-phone.html

Thanks Visa for the tip!

Category: Lumia, Nokia