Nokia has just launched the Lumia 1020, the first Windows Phone handset equipped with the company’s groundbreaking 41-megapixel PureView camera technology and a bucket-load of other fancy imaging tricks.
There’s a lot to like about the Lumia 1020, but it might not be everyone’s cup of tea for various reasons. If you’re after a great camera experience on your phone but the Lumia 1020 doesn’t appeal, what are your alternatives? Well we’ve compiled a list of some of the better camera phones on the market just for you.
Nokia Lumia 925
The Lumia 1020’s 41-megapixel sensor is fantastic and does produce some of the best quality images you’ll find on a phone, however, it’s one chunky beast as a result. If you’re after something a bit more sleek but still want great image and video capture the Lumia 925 is a nice compromise.
What’s important to bear in mind about the difference between Nokia’s two imaging monsters is that they’re both most effective at 8-megapixels. The Lumia 1020 uses a 41-megapixel sensor but set to the 8-megapixel mode it uses a technique called ‘oversampling’. This captures more detail and offers a ‘lossless’ digital zoom function.
Meanwhile the Lumia 925 has an 8-megapixel sensor, but like the Lumia 1020 it also uses optical image stabilisation (OIS) to ensure it can keep the sensor active for longer and capture more light without compromising image quality through wobbling.
The Lumia 1020 also features a Xenon flash and a mechanical shutter to optimise its use, while the Lumia 925 has a dual-LED flash. The Lumia 925’s aperture is rated at f/2.0, which is quite wide and ensures plenty of light and image detail can be captured, it also has a maximum ISO setting of 1200 and six lens layers, including one glass lens.
What all this means is that the Lumia 925’s camera capabilities are still fantastic, and the main thing is that you have a very thin, lightweight and highly usable device compared to the Lumia 1020’s substantial girth.
If Windows Phone 8 is also your thing, then you’re going to enjoy the fact that it shares the same operating system as the Lumia 1020, so you’re not missing out. Put simply, if the Lumia 1020 is the Commander-in-Chief of the camera phone space then the Lumia 925 is its second in command, and that’s still a pretty great place to be.
Other specs are fairly standard for current, high-end Windows Phone devices and includes a 4.5-inch AMOLED display with Nokia ClearBlack and PureMotion HD+ layers for improved picture quality. It also works with gloves, so if you’re out snapping in the snow or something this could come in handy.
The processor is a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 clocked at 1.5GHz and there’s 16GB of onboard storage but no microSD. For connectivity you have 4G, HSPA+ 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, microUSB and NFC. A 32GB storage model is available exclusively via Vodafone.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
Samsung’s Android-powered compact camera, the descriptively titled Samsung Galaxy Camera, paved the way for further merging of the two device categories and the resultant lovechild is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom.
Indeed, it even looks as if someone sliced the back off a Galaxy Camera and stuck the front fascia of a Galaxy S4 on there. The main advantage of this handset is that it packs a 16-megapixel sensor with both LED and Xenon flashes and a 10x optical zoom complete with variable f/3.1-f/6.3 aperture. It also has optical image stabilisation.
We haven’t put the Galaxy S4 Zoom through its paces at time of writing, but that’s an impressive set of hardware to say the very least and we’re sure the images and 1080p videos you can get out of it will be of a suitably high quality.
Admittedly, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is also not going to be to everyone’s tastes, it is a very bulky device and the zoom lens adds further potentially awkward protrusions – we can’t imagine sliding this handset into a pocket very easily. But, if you’re not bothered about bulk and would prefer an excellent camera phone on the Android (4.2 Jelly Bean) operating system rather than Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 on the Lumia 1020 it is a prime contender.
The display is a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED with a 960x540 pixel resolution at 256 pixels-per-inch (ppi) and power comes from a dual-core 1.5GHz processor. You only get 8GB of onboard storage with 5GB usable but there is microSD up to 64GB for all your captured pictures and video. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi, 4G LTE and HSPA+ 3G together with microUSB , GPS for geo-location data and MHL output if you want to show your snaps on a TV.
HTC One
The HTC One features a rather unusual camera setup. It’s rated at 4.3-megapixels, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a waste of time. The device uses ‘Ultrapixel’ technology with larger pixels, optical image stabilisation and a wide f/2.0 aperture.
The result is that it performs way better than the megapixel rating alone would imply. In our review we found that while the camera is certainly much better than average thanks to the stabilisation and aperture it is not quite as detailed as competing devices.
But, importantly, those hardware features do mean it can provide a consistently decent imaging experience, which is a very good thing. You’ve also got the fact that this is another Android device if your preferences lie in Google’s sphere, plus there’s even the HTC Zoe software which allows all manner of on-the-fly editing capabilities.
The phone itself is also a handy size, is relatively lightweight and thin and is made from aluminium with an attractive exterior aesthetic. Power comes from a Qualcomm 600 Snapdragon quad-core processor at 1.7GHz with 2GB of RAM and there’s plenty of onboard space at 32GB but there’s no microSD.
Connectivity includes 4G LTE, HSPA+ 3G, Wi-Fi, MHL and microUSB. The Full HD 1080p Super LCD3 screen is also fantastic for viewing any snaps or videos you’ve captured with a bright picture, vivid colours and crystal clear clarity.
We should also mention the HTC One’s front-facing 2.1-megapixel camera packs 1080p video and optical stabilisation too and, for this latter feature, is the only smartphone to currently do so.
Nokia 808 PureView
Another alternative if you’re not after Windows Phone 8 is the Symbian-powered Nokia 808. It uses the same 41-megpixel PureView camera tech as the Lumia 1020 with oversampling, optical stabilisation and lossless zoom for some excellent picture quality.
It is bulkier than the Lumia 1020 though and Symbian is officially defunct as far as Nokia is concerned – you can still get support for it and no doubt dedicated Symbian fans will continue to sustain the platform to an extent, but it’s not a ‘live’ operating system in the sense of iOS, Android or Windows Phone.
And the rest
There really isn’t much else apart from these devices which really compares in terms of the extra imaging trickery. Optical image stabilisation makes a big difference on its own but there are few other handsets which carry it and many of the handsets we just listed add a whole lot more besides to improve picture quality as a whole.
Honourable mention has to go to the iPhone 5, BlackBerry Z10, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z, which all pack impressive camera setups even if clever camera hardware isn’t the focus (sorry) of these devices.
Additionally we’d point to the Nokia Lumia 720 and Sony Xperia SP if you’re after something more affordable but which still has better-than-average imaging capabilities.
The Lumia 720 is, in our view, not far behind the Lumia 920/Lumia 925 in terms of picture quality and consistency thanks to its f/1.9 aperture, 6.7-megapixel seensor and despite not packing optical stabilisation.
The Sony Xperia SP’s 8-megapixel setup is also good, ranking slightly lower than the Lumia 720 owing to some discernible noise, but not too much, overall the experience is good for the price point and it produces particularly vivid ‘Instagram’ style colours with nice dynamic range, which we rather like.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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