Yes, it does makes sense. Although it makes me sad to think Nokia cheaped out in that area. I know you are the messenger (and I'm not trying to shoot you), but if one of the main selling points of the 1020 is the xenon flash, but it can cause ghosting, then it seems its value is much diminished. I know the 1020 supposedly has good low light capabilities (relative to most other smart phone cameras) but there are many indoor situations with kids that don't sit still long enough for a long exposure time - the xenon flash seems to be the only way to get the action.
In terms of mitigating the ghosting effect, you mentioned I could clean the outer glass with a microfiber cloth and potentially use a lens cleaner. That makes sense in terms of avoiding dust, but if the light is reflecting back into the cheap protective outer glass, I would think both sides of that glass don't have the special coating (and I can't wipe the inside). I will try it though. Another option, it would seem, would be avoid using the flash. I'll try to see about learning the low light manual controls better. I don't think I'll be able to get my kids to sit still though
I was following the advice of setting the shutter speed to 1/125s, as suggested on a site (I don't have enough posts to be allowed to include a link -- weird). I did this on many of the indoor photos in my photo shoot, many of which had those circles. Do you think changing the shutter speed would make the ghosting problem worse?
I suppose the other option is to keep using the flash when I think it is necessary, and try to edit the photos to try to remove the circles. I haven't tried that yet, so I'm not sure how successful I'll be.
Thanks again for your time, patience, and sharing your knowledge.