phone 15 – nokia lumia 1020

being unsatisfied with nokia x2 dual sim, quite expected since it is a low-tier phone, i gave nokia one last chance. one thing i considered is where nokia, i mean microsoft is good at that time – providing a straightforward interface which i loved on my htc windows phone 8x. i considered some nokia windows phone. there are a lot of choices. to give nokia the advantage of this chance, i chose a phone with most positive reviews from ordinary users and technology enthusiasts. finally, i bought nokia lumia 1020 in 2015, released on 2013.

up to this day, it is still working and i was able to have a battery test. from 2 hours and a little more than 30 minutes of charging last year, this 2021, another 30 minutes is needed to fill up the 2000mah battery – a total of more than 3 hours of charging. it lasts for almost a day. still good for casual use in 2021. and if you go a little bit more of active use, the battery grip can help extending the battery life aside from activating battery saver.

music play is one of the things i enjoy on this phone. whether it is through loudspeaker or wireless audio, the sound is good. better sound comes out on 3.5mm audio, as it is tuned to dolby standards.

web browsing is just alright, i have the stock browser on windows phone 8, so there is really nothing to amazed about. what is important is, this phone is still capable of handling daily world wide web needs – social media, researches, online shops.

as for gaming, i only have the solitaire collections. this is not one of the strengths of nokia 909 (another name for nokia lumia 1020) as there are noticeable delays and stutters while playing the game. it also seems to be the worst battery-drainer and heat-generator (though i did not take notes on the battery used on each app).

if gaming is its weakest link, nokia lumia 1020 is known to have great camera system. the hardware stirs the interests of technology enthusiasts and the software part were praised by users for being easy to use. this is one of the reasons i want to keep this phone longer, use it longer. camera outputs are great even in 2021. whether i only use the fully automatic settings or manual settings, the results were great – not really on the latter since i have not mastered proper adjustments on the shots i wanted to take. most of the time, the results are still better on nokia lumia 1020 than on most phones i acquired after it. and it is also essential to mention that the video output is equally good. the optical image stabilization on this one is seamless, it is able to resolve some shakiness of my hands. adding to these, both led flash for videos and xenon flash for photos were great when ambient light is too low.

the last battery test i did, is to watch videos on its 4.5 inches amoled display, having more than 300 pixels per inch. it is not that sharp because of different pixel arrangement, making it look like an ips with sub-300ppi. nevertheless, i was still able to enjoy some movies and clips. the saturation might be good on those, but when i watch the videos taken with the phone’s camera, i had too select a subdued setting on the display. i actually put it as a default setting, since i also prefer a subdued color on the user interface. the puremotion hd+, clearblack display were also good. i appreciate it more now, since i tried some newer phones with amoled display, and some tend to have ghosting.

as for the handling, it is important to note that the upper part is heavier than the lower part because of the large camera module. after you are aware of that, there will be less chance of dropping it. i never did, thanks to those reviewer who pointed it out, and some exaggerated it. it is also pocket friendly, that is without the battery grip.

apart from those, you also get an fm tuner, numerous usual sensors, but not the expandable storage option.

overall, this phone is a beast. i cannot help myself but to adore this phone and glad that i still found it, 2 years after it was released. and, ye, it was already hard to find that time. i need to do some mall-hopping to find it. it did not replace my main phone, sony xperia miro, with this. but i always tag it along when i go somewhere for leisure. it is hard to let go of most of my phones, that is why i keep them, collect them. but, i guess, if i need to let go of any of my collections, nokia lumia 1020 will be one of the last phones i am willing to let go. see my ranking preference here: phone reviews - introduction and benchmark plans.