After first being launched as an AT&T exclusive in 2013, Microsoft has officially launched the unlocked version of the Nokia Lumia PureView 1020 Windows Phone smartphone for $549.99 with a future update to Windows Phone 8.1 being made available for the phone as soon as it’s available.
The 1020 features a 4.5 inch AMOLED touch display at 1280×768 with a 15:9 aspect ratio, Gorilla Glass 3 front with additional software enhancements to improve sensitivity when wearing gloves, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB RAM and 32GB of storage, though the phone does not include an additional microSD slot for adding storage despite the high resolution of the images taken with the PureView camera. Strangely, Microsoft has decided not to release the 64GB version of the phone which it launched with Spanish carrier Telefonica as an exclusive model late last year.
The smartphone features the second generation of the Symbian-powered 808?s innovative 38 megapixel camera sensor with additions such as backside illumination, a faster f/2.2 aperture lens assembly with Carl Zeiss six-lens optics, improved xenon flash assembly taken from the Verizon-exclusive Lumia 928 and optical image stabilization with improvements such as a floating ball-bearing assembly for the optical image stabilization that is active for both images and video as well as an improved camera app in the Nokia Camera Pro app, featuring full manual control over ISO settings, shutter speeds, white balance and the requisite control needed to take the best images, including complete manual focus for images if desired. The rest of the imaging-centric features include a dedicated two-stage camera shutter button and a manual shutter for the camera assembly as well as 6x lossless digital zoom in 720p video capture mode and 4x lossless digital zoom when capturing video in 1080p resolution.
