How's the performance of the Nokia Lumia 1020?

[lsquare]

I'm in Canada and I'm sure some of you know that Telus and Rogers will be getting this phone next month. It's been a couple of months since the Lumia 1020 launched with AT&T. I know the camera performance is sluggish especially for shot to shot. Have Nokia improved the camera's speed? How's the performance of the OS for general tasks like web browsing and emails? Is it better now than at launch?

I'm tempted to wait for the 1520 since it'll have expandable storage, but the 1020 will be more pocket friendly.

 

[sueha]

I'm in Canada and I'm sure some of you know that Telus and Rogers will be getting this phone next month. It's been a couple of months since the Lumia 1020 launched with AT&T. I know the camera performance is sluggish especially for shot to shot. Have Nokia improved the camera's speed? How's the performance of the OS for general tasks like web browsing and emails? Is it better now than at launch?

I'm tempted to wait for the 1520 since it'll have expandable storage, but the 1020 will be more pocket friendly.

AFAIK there hasnt been any update to the 1020. It shipped with GDR2 and there is no GDR3 yet. Played with the 1020 several times and couldnt complain about the camera Speed.

 

[tgr42]

In my opinion the impact of the camera startup and shot to shot times has been overstated. In practice it doesn't feel that slow to me, and I have no problem pulling out the phone, unlocking it, starting up Pro Cam, and taking a picture in a short amount of time when I'm in a hurry. Yeah, it could be faster, but it's never been a problem for me so far. And you can switch to the stock camera app if you want things to be faster. You still get the oversampled 5MP image in that case which is good enough for almost all uses.

Web browsing is decently fast (a big step up from my WP7 phone, a Samsung Focus S) but not as fast as a PC or Nexus 4. I still try to avoid following a link and then hitting back, opting to instead open it in a new tab and then close the tab, because I know it's going to take a while to re-load the page I was on. Honestly I think IE is the problem here, not the 1020. IE !@#$ing sucks.

Email is super fast, but it was on WP7 as well. This is just something that WP does well regardless of the hardware. Of course it's not a very demanding task.

App performance is good but could be better. The same apps run noticeably faster on the Nexus 4 - for example Skype, Words by Post, Ruzzle. But it's not as big of a difference as exists in web browsing.

As for updates, aside from a few settings moving around, the phone is as it was at launch.

 

[planoman]

Just ordered this yesterday from Amazon and should have it tomorrow. First time outside of android. I have been reading a lot about this device and am a bit concerned about the startup time.

I have also not seen anything on a burst mode or anything like that. One reason for getting this device was I wanted better pictures than my S4's could do (which are good) and I wanted to try out the windows OS.

I have a 9 and 7 year old that rarely pose. How is the picture to picture speed and is there any type of burst, action or sports setting?

I will have 30 days to decide since I bought it outright.

 

[tgr42]

Nokia provides a camera app called "Smart Cam" targeted towards action shots. As far as I can tell it takes a quick burst of pics and then gives you a very simple UI to choose what kind of automated processing you want it to do. I haven't really used it but you might want to look into its capabilities.

To get a true burst mode where you can see all of the photos and choose the one you want, I think you need to use a third party camera app. ProShot, for example, appears to support this but I've never tried it.

 

[doomtuba]

I have the Pro Cam linked to my camera button, but I have smart cam and the default cam on my start screen for easy access depending on my needs at the moment.

 

[Ultimateone]

Nokia provides a camera app called "Smart Cam" targeted towards action shots. As far as I can tell it takes a quick burst of pics and then gives you a very simple UI to choose what kind of automated processing you want it to do. I haven't really used it but you might want to look into its capabilities.

To get a true burst mode where you can see all of the photos and choose the one you want, I think you need to use a third party camera app. ProShot, for example, appears to support this but I've never tried it.

You can use Blink by Microsoft for "burst mode" pictures and it's also used as a lens.

This phone for everything else including startup speed is the fastest I've seen on any WP8 phone since I've started using WP8 last winter.

 

[wamsille]

I know the camera performance is sluggish especially for shot to shot.

What users are experiencing is a simultaneous capture of a 38 MP shot and a 5MP one. You don't have to use the Pro Cam app all the time.

Have Nokia improved the camera's speed?

Compared to? It's the same as it was when it was released. It's been heavily debated and the poor dead horse that has been beaten repeatedly is now alive and has asked us all to leave him alone.

How's the performance of the OS for general tasks like web browsing and emails? Is it better now than at launch?

Compared to what? Launch? What was wrong with it at launch, aside from the fact for reviewers outside of Windows Phone that didn't like the interface?

I'm tempted to wait for the 1520 since it'll have expandable storage, but the 1020 will be more pocket friendly.

So what feature do you most want and need? Pocket-friendliness? Expandable storage? An awesome camera?

You may be better off waiting for the 1520 if you want a quad-core processor with expandable storage. If you want a smaller device to fit in your pocket and take amazing photos, go with the 1020. I will warn you that with any camera worth its weight that there is a learning curve. Take time to practice taking photos with the Lumia 1020 before you write it off as sluggish or that the photos are "too warm". Auto settings compensate for the lack of manual intervention, and therefore are not always right. If you want granular control over your photography, the Pro Cam app is a great start and I'm sure with time it will be fine-tuned. There may be more Nokia / Microsoft has up their sleeve for future devices, too

Alternatively, you could get the Galaxy S4 Zoom that has a 10x optical zoom and pretty much looks like a point and shoot camera with a phone thrown in for good measure. You'll miss the optical stablization and better optics on the Lumia 1020 though.

 

[planoman]

I know the camera performance is sluggish especially for shot to shot.

What users are experiencing is a simultaneous capture of a 38 MP shot and a 5MP one. You don't have to use the Pro Cam app all the time.

Have Nokia improved the camera's speed?

Compared to? It's the same as it was when it was released. It's been heavily debated and the poor dead horse that has been beaten repeatedly is now alive and has asked us all to leave him alone.

How's the performance of the OS for general tasks like web browsing and emails? Is it better now than at launch?

Compared to what? Launch? What was wrong with it at launch, aside from the fact for reviewers outside of Windows Phone that didn't like the interface?

I'm tempted to wait for the 1520 since it'll have expandable storage, but the 1020 will be more pocket friendly.

So what feature do you most want and need? Pocket-friendliness? Expandable storage? An awesome camera?

You may be better off waiting for the 1520 if you want a quad-core processor with expandable storage. If you want a smaller device to fit in your pocket and take amazing photos, go with the 1020. I will warn you that with any camera worth its weight that there is a learning curve. Take time to practice taking photos with the Lumia 1020 before you write it off as sluggish or that the photos are "too warm". Auto settings compensate for the lack of manual intervention, and therefore are not always right. If you want granular control over your photography, the Pro Cam app is a great start and I'm sure with time it will be fine-tuned. There may be more Nokia / Microsoft has up their sleeve for future devices, too

Alternatively, you could get the Galaxy S4 Zoom that has a 10x optical zoom and pretty much looks like a point and shoot camera with a phone thrown in for good measure. You'll miss the optical stablization and better optics on the Lumia 1020 though.

Good stuff thanks! I have owned the previous two generations of galaxy notes and have moved in so the 1520 is just too much for me at 6".

I use a Google edition S4 as my daily driver and although it has a 13 mega pixel it does not have the same software as the touch wiz S4 so the pictures are adequate. I actually went to see the moto x and was underwhelmed. I saw the 1020 and started messing with it. It was smooth and the camera was pretty cool so I ordered one from Amazon to get several weeks of intensive use with it before deciding to keep it or not. The S4 zoom is not really an option for me.

 

[majortom1981]

IF you use the Camera app from the OS itself the shots are instant. The only drawback is that you only get the 5mp shots and not the high res ones. IF you will be doing a lot of pictures that require fast snaps then have the wp camera set as default and the procam app as a live tile.

 

[wamsille]

Good stuff thanks! I have owned the previous two generations of galaxy notes and have moved in so the 1520 is just too much for me at 6".

I use a Google edition S4 as my daily driver and although it has a 13 mega pixel it does not have the same software as the touch wiz S4 so the pictures are adequate. I actually went to see the moto x and was underwhelmed. I saw the 1020 and started messing with it. It was smooth and the camera was pretty cool so I ordered one from Amazon to get several weeks of intensive use with it before deciding to keep it or not. The S4 zoom is not really an option for me.

The Galaxy S4 has some nice hardware to it, but you are correct that you miss out on several Touchwiz tweaks that can really make the camera shine.

The Moto X is a departure from the Motorola of old, but they apparently went and borrowed the same camera from previous devices. I would be more inclined to pick up a Moto X to have a customized device built around a solid platform. (Motorola's build quality, not Android) The phone is slick and from all accounts is not a bad smartphone, just not "cutting edge" stuff. If the camera on the Moto X was better, I think the phone would be a killer device to have. Not everyone needs a 41MP, 13MP or 10MP camera. If Motorola made the phone and Samsung provided the camera, that pairing would make one heck of a phone.

 

[lsquare]

In my opinion the impact of the camera startup and shot to shot times has been overstated. In practice it doesn't feel that slow to me, and I have no problem pulling out the phone, unlocking it, starting up Pro Cam, and taking a picture in a short amount of time when I'm in a hurry. Yeah, it could be faster, but it's never been a problem for me so far. And you can switch to the stock camera app if you want things to be faster. You still get the oversampled 5MP image in that case which is good enough for almost all uses.

Web browsing is decently fast (a big step up from my WP7 phone, a Samsung Focus S) but not as fast as a PC or Nexus 4. I still try to avoid following a link and then hitting back, opting to instead open it in a new tab and then close the tab, because I know it's going to take a while to re-load the page I was on. Honestly I think IE is the problem here, not the 1020. IE !@#$ing sucks.

Email is super fast, but it was on WP7 as well. This is just something that WP does well regardless of the hardware. Of course it's not a very demanding task.

App performance is good but could be better. The same apps run noticeably faster on the Nexus 4 - for example Skype, Words by Post, Ruzzle. But it's not as big of a difference as exists in web browsing.

As for updates, aside from a few settings moving around, the phone is as it was at launch.

Thanks for the response. This does seem a bit disappointing. I am currently using a Nexus 4 and I can't imagine switching to a phone slower than the Nexus 4. I thought Windows Phone was extremely optimized for the dual core Snapdragon CPU, but I guess that may be stressed to the max. Part of me is now saying to wait for the 1520 as it'll have a much faster processor and expandable memory.

 

[Ultimateone]

Thanks for the response. This does seem a bit disappointing. I am currently using a Nexus 4 and I can't imagine switching to a phone slower than the Nexus 4. I thought Windows Phone was extremely optimized for the dual core Snapdragon CPU, but I guess that may be stressed to the max. Part of me is now saying to wait for the 1520 as it'll have a much faster processor and expandable memory.

I'm going to tell you the 1020 is lightning fast and I have no idea why that other person is saying anything is sluggish, makes no sense.

 

[tgr42]

I'm going to tell you the 1020 is lightning fast and I have no idea why that other person is saying anything is sluggish, makes no sense.

Have you put the 1020 side by side with the Nexus 4 and done the same tasks on both? If not, then of course it won't make sense.

Thanks for the response. This does seem a bit disappointing. I am currently using a Nexus 4 and I can't imagine switching to a phone slower than the Nexus 4. I thought Windows Phone was extremely optimized for the dual core Snapdragon CPU, but I guess that may be stressed to the max. Part of me is now saying to wait for the 1520 as it'll have a much faster processor and expandable memory.

If you're really interested in the 1020, I encourage you to go to a shop and do a heads up comparison vs. your Nexus 4. You may find the performance to be close enough to be worth giving up a bit in order to get the far better display and camera. It is commonly said that Windows Phone is so optimized that it runs faster than Android even with slower hardware. Based on my observations, this is not the case when it comes to 1020 vs. Nexus 4. Maybe it was true for some other Windows Phones vs. some other Android phones.

My smartphone history is Samsung Focus S (WP7.5), Nokia 1020 (WP8), and most recently the Nexus 4. I've found the Nexus 4 to be remarkably fast and efficient and an insane value for $200. And I can do things with the Nexus 4 that I can't do with the 1020 due to WP limitations and lack of apps. So I'm currently using the 1020 as my main phone outside of home, plus the Nexus 4 as a wi-fi only device for apps and web browsing. Not an ideal setup but it's sort of the best of both worlds, for now. Still thinking about where to go from here.

 

[hary536]

Check this article which mentions couple of Nokia's camera apps: Green light for Lumia Amber – Nokia Conversations : the official Nokia blog
There are also couple more: Nokia smart shoot and Cinemagraph
New Camera Extras and Cinemagraph rolling out to all Nokia Lumia smartphones – Nokia Conversations : the official Nokia blog
Creating better photos with Nokia Lenses – Nokia Conversations : the official Nokia blog
Our guide to creating amazing Cinemagraphs – Nokia Conversations : the official Nokia blog

Just ordered this yesterday from Amazon and should have it tomorrow. First time outside of android. I have been reading a lot about this device and am a bit concerned about the startup time.

I have also not seen anything on a burst mode or anything like that. One reason for getting this device was I wanted better pictures than my S4's could do (which are good) and I wanted to try out the windows OS.

I have a 9 and 7 year old that rarely pose. How is the picture to picture speed and is there any type of burst, action or sports setting?

I will have 30 days to decide since I bought it outright.