Nokia launches Lumia 1020 with mammoth 41MP camera in India for Rs 49,999, gets the pricing wrong

After unveiling the same in July this year, Finnish handset giant Nokia has finally launched Lumia 1020 in the Indian market. Priced at Rs 49,999, the device comes with the tagline 'Nothing gets this close', hinting at the camera quality. This one runs on the Windows Phone 8 operating system and sports a mammoth 41 mega pixel rear camera. While this would have amazed us, but if you remember, the company had earlier launched Nokia 808 PureView that also came with an unheard of (at least at the time) 41MP camera.

Here is a quick look at the specifications of the device.

The smartphone has a 4.5 inch ClearBlack AMOLED WXGA touchscreen display (1280×768 pixel resolution) with 334 ppi pixel density. It is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual core processor, and has 2 GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 32GB, along with 7GB of additional SkyDrive cloud storage from the company.

On the camera front, which is basically what this smartphone is all about, the device has an 41 mega pixel auto-focus rear camera (with optical image stabilisation) that can record full high-definition videos (1080 pixels) at 30 frames per second and a 1.2 MP wide-angle front-facing camera that can also record HD (720p) videos. The rear camera has a backside-illuminated image sensor, 6-lens optics, and a Xenon Flash for image capture and video light for video recording. The main camera has a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens and with f/2.2 aperture.

There are a number of white balance modes (cloudy, fluorescent, incandescent, automatic, daylight) and scene modes (automatic, night portrait, sports, night, close-up, backlight), and the video recording function also has stereo audio recording and continuous autofocus. On the connectivity front, the device comes with Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G (depending on the region), and it also has a microUSB port. The device measures 130.4 mm x 71.4 mm x 10.4 mm and weighs 158 gm.

It has a 2,000 mAh non-removable battery that the company claims will provide over 19 hours of talk time and 63 hours of music playback. The device comes with Nokia HERE maps (for navigation), A-GPS and Near Field Communication (NFC). It will be available in black, white, red and yellow colours.

In addition, since it is primarily a camera-focused smartphone, the company has provided a number of photography apps like Nokia Pro Camera: enables users to take full manual control over exposure, shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus, just like on an Digital SLR camera; Creative Studio: its photo editing tools let users adjust color balance, remove red eye and apply filters; Nokia Glam Me Lens: automatically enhances the users self-portraits with toning, eye resizing, teeth whitening, among other effects; and PhotoBeamer: point your Nokia Lumia at any screen displaying www.photobeamer.com and view your photos on those screens- kind of like a mobile projector that's always at hand.

Also, apart from the wireless charging cover, the smartphone also comes with a Nokia Camera Grip', which makes it easier for users to click pictures or record videos, especially single-handed. The grip can also be attached to any standard camera tripod, allowing users to set up long-exposure shots or steady videos. Read here for detailed specifications and information about the accessories of the device.

While priced right this smartphone could have been a winner for Nokia, we feel that the company failed to do the same, yet again. The smartphone does pack a decent mix of specifications, but at Rs 49,999, we don't feel Lumia 1020 will find many takers in the domestic market. After all, in India, only Apple's iPhone commands the buyer's attention in the Rs 50,000 and above price range. In terms of competition, it will compete with the likes of HTC One (Rs 44,999), LG G2 (Rs 43,490), iPhone 5 (starting at Rs 42,749), Sony Xperia Z1 (Rs 41,500), and the soon to be launched iPhone 5c & 5s, among others.