There are now at least two major camera-phones coming to market where a camera-phone is a smartphone with a serious point+click camera attached – or vice versa. Two vendors, Nokia and Samsung, are testing the theory that a top of the line compact camera equivalent or better can help sell a premium priced smartphone. The first is Nokia’s 1020 upgrade to the Nokia Pureview 808 and the second is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. Both are as much cameras as smartphones. The basic specs tell the story:
| Nokia 1020 | Samsung S4 Zoom |
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| Basic Features | |
| Sizing– 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm, 158gms | 125.5 x 63.5 x 15.4 mm, 203gms – Sizing |
| Display – 4.5″ AMOLED with Gorilla Glass 3, 768 x 1280 | 4.3″ AMOLED with Gorilla Glass 3, 540 x 960 – Diplasy |
| Memory – 32GB, 2GB RAM, no expansion | 8GB, 1.5GB RAM, 64GB – Expansion |
| CPU – Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait, Adreno 225 GPU | Dual-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A9, Mali-400 GPU – CPU |
| Sensors – Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass – Sensors |
| Battery – Non-removable Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery | Li-Ion 2330 mAh –Battery |
| Networks – 2G, 3G, 4G LTE | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE – Networks |
| Camera Features | |
| Sensor – 38 MP – 7152 x 5368 pixels, 1/1.5″ sensor | 16MP 1/2.33” sensor size – Sensor |
| 2nd Camera – Yes, 1.2 MP, 720p@30fps | Yes, 1.9MP – 2nd Camera |
| Lens – Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, autofocus, F2.2 | F3.1-F6.3, 10x optical zoom (24-240mm), OIS- Lens |
| Flash – Xenon, LED | Xenon – Flash |
| Features – GPS tagging, face detect, panorama, dual capture | GPS-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detect, panorama, HDR– Features |
| Video – 1080p@30fps, 4x lossless digital zoom, video light | 1080p@30fps – Video |
| Phone Features | |
| OS – Windows Phone 8 | Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 – OS |
| Connections – Bluetooth 3, NFC, Infrared, microUSB | Bluetooth 4, NFC, Infrared, microUSB – Connections |
| WiFi – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA – WiFi |
| Features – SNS integration – Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic – MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player – MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player – 7GB free SkyDrive storage – Organizer – Document viewer – Video/photo editor – Voice memo/command/dial – Predictive text input – Stereo FM Radio | Features S-Voice natural language commands and dictation – Dropbox (50 GB storage) – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic – TV-out (via MHL A/V link) – SNS integration – MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player – MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player – Organizer – Image/video editor – Document viewer – Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa – Voice memo/dial/commands – Predictive text input (Swype) |
| Price – $299.99 with 2 year contract AT&T US | $524.80 unlocked – Amazon.com – Price |
The green highlights indicate where each camera-phone has a clear advantage over the other. The Nokia has a size and weight, RAM, display, and camera sensor advantage while the Samsung excels in battery, memory expansion, optical zoom lens range and some camera software features. However, if we look at the previews, GSMArena rates the Nokia higher interest and base ratings than the Samsung Zoom. Even more telling are the previews. Here we see a clear separation between the two camera-phones.
Camera Expectations
This reviewer is an admirer of the Samsung agile product development process and fully expected the Samsung Zoom to perform better than the Nokia 1020. Basically real 10x optical zoom would trump the 3x optical zoom by oversampling used to crop in on an image in the case of Nokia’s Pureview technology. But the first reviews point in the exact opposite direction. For example, Engadget in describing the Samsung camera say “Photojournalists won’t want to touch this shooter with a 10-foot pole, no matter how desperately they may want to own an LTE-connected cam”.
The GSMArena review shows what one of the major problems is for the Galaxy S4 Zoom – it is barely 1/3 the power of its other Galaxy S4 sibling machines on a whole range of CPU performance tests. So the Zoom is a Galaxy S4 in name but not the underlying processing power. However, the photo and video players and software gets top marks. But GSMArena, like Engadget finds problems with image noise, panorama stitching, corner noise plus haling. These may be due to less computing power because the Galaxy S4 Zoom at 16MP is hard pressed to match the main Galaxy S4 at 13MP as seen here.
In contrast, GSMArena’s Nokia 1020 preview is very positive. And the first set of full reviews at Engadget, Gizmodo, and CNET are quite positive with the exception that Gizmodo openly raves about the Lumia 1020 and its camera control. Now that those reviews are in we can deal with each of this reviewer’s potential concerns:
1)Battery life – the phone, picture-taking and GPS geo-tagging will put a serious limit on the phones effective battery life and do -reducing it by 15-20% versus its own Nokia counterparts when extensive photo-taking is done. But the Nokia camera mount for $79 extra more than restores the Lumia 1020’s battery life with 1040 mAh added power;
2)Video may be challenged by the large scale of oversampling required; however this is the part of the reviews that got top ratings and without battery problems;
3)Burst mode picture taking – again does oversampling have to be turned off to enable rapid burst mode operations not really answered in any of the latest review.
Now DPreview has also been largely positive about the Lumia 1020 but also reserves judgement on the final camera for good reason:
The [predecessor to the Lumia 1020, the] 808’s front-side-illuminated sensor didn’t perform as well as its spec may have suggested. When tested by DxOMark, the 808 performed only slightly better than a 5-year-old-camera — specifically the Canon PowerShot G9. The 808’s Nokia/Toshiba sensor was larger and several years newer than the G9’s, yet it barely out-performed it. It also was noticeably out-done by a contemporary camera, Canon’s S100.
But its just released preview largely answers its own questions as seen in this comparison test:
Clearly the Nokia Lumia 1020 camera phone is all by itself among smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom loses too much with its smaller sensor and 1/3 speed CPU. However, the Samsung’s competitive phone features and camera software lead are not to be taken lightly. The Korean firm is well known for its one year or less catch up capabilities as Apple well knows.
Essential Takeaways
Just as very good video came to compact and DSLR cameras, so has very good camera capabilities come to smartphones. In fact, electronic gadgets have become general purpose Swiss Army Knives. Because of enormous improvements in computing power on mobile chips plus ever smaller but effective sensors plus robust OS systems – electronics craftsmen can combine devices in just about any amalgam that meets the markets needs and desires.
More importantly for Nokia, they have arrived by a circuitous image-taking route to the top of the mobile phone world again. But things have changed in order to get there and as we have seen in the case of Apple’s iPhone – staying at the top is a non-trivial exercise. In sum, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is a very good still image and video camera that is also a very good smartphone. Or vice versa. And in a Moore’s Law metaphor, all for the price of a very good smartphone alone or a very good compact camera alone.