While demonstrating the remarkable photographic capabilities built inside its new Lumia 1020 Windows smart phone that will be hitting AT&T stores exclusively in the U.S. on July 26.
Of itinerary, finding a needle in a haystack is a pertinent parable for Nokia, the struggling Finnish cell phone gigantic that is trying to regain a footing in the U.S. market by selling Windows phones. AT&T is charging $299.99 for the device.
The latest Lumia boasts a second-generation 41 megapixel-image sensor, Zeiss optics, xenon flash, manual shutter, and other photographic smarts. And if you dig into higher end settings changing the white balance, ISO, and more one can see the impact that making those changes will have on the final image.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said during the launch event at a New York City pier, the phone represents the "introduction of the next chapter in smart phone photography." Two images are automatically captured each time you shoot so in addition to the ultra-high resolution picture that is captured when you snap the shutter, you also get a 5-megapixel image that can be more easily shared online. Nokia makes impressive claims for video too. The phone has a 4.5-inch Super Amoled display, protected by the latest version of Gorilla Glass.
The phone comes with 32GB of internal memory but no card slot for expanding that memory. Nokia says that although the highest resolution pictures will up to 38-megapixels in quality, but only eat a modest 8-megabytes in size. Meanwhile for a limited time, it does come with 50GB of free online storage through the digital AT&T Locker.