A ‘superphone’ launched for selfie addicts, shutterbugs, professionals

Gary Chan, Nokia’s marketing head for Pan Asia, talks about the Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone and its features during its launch Wednesday, Oct.2, 2013. With Chan was Karel Halob, Nokia Philippines general manager. Video by INQUIRER.net’s Matikas Santos; photos from Nokia website.

MANILA, Philippines – Selfie addicts, shutterbugs, and even professional photographers are going to get an adrenaline rush out of the latest smartphone by Nokia –the Nokia Lumia 1020.

The latest flagship smartphone from Nokia, dubbed as an “Imaging superphone” by Gary Chan, Nokia’s marketing head for Pan Asia, has a whopping 41 megapixel camera sensor, making it like a cameraphone on steroids.

The camera can take pictures and zoom in to get close up shots without any loss in quality or sharpness because it has the “most number of lenses in any camera smartphone”, Chan said.

The phone’s “six lens array from Carl Zeiss optics” allows the phone to take pictures “whether in dark indoor conditions or bright outdoor conditions,” he said.

The camera’s software uses an “oversampling” method that uses the entire 41 megapixel sensor even when taking small 7 or 5 megapixel shots for easy sharing on social networks.

Its built-in xenon flash allows for bright illumination even at long distances while the LED flash ensures a steady light when taking videos, Chan said.

The built-in Nokia Pro Camera user interface allows the user to manipulate the camera settings from shutterspeed, ISO setting, exposure, and white balance manually just like with professional DSLR cameras.

“No other camera user interface can do this for you,” Chan said.

The camera is also capable of recording 1080p video at 30 frames per second and with stereo sound recording.

The Lumia 1020 has a 4.5 inch screen, runs on 1.5Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, and will have a 32GB internal memory with 2GB of RAM.

Karel Holub, Nokia Philippines General Manager, said that it would have all the features of Windows 8 phones such as free HERE Maps, 7GB of free SkyDrive storage, and the latest Microsoft Office applications.

Lumia 1020 will be available in Nokia stores in the Philippines on October 11 with a hefty price tag of P35,650.

The phone comes with a free camera case that has an extra battery and allows the phone to be mounted on any standard tripod.

The 10.4mm-thin and 158g phone will come in yellow, white, and black colors.