This Phone Was Ahead Of Its Time

Windows Phone in 2023: • The First Nokia Lumia:...
Nokia Lumia 1020 In 2024 Review.
Today we are looking back again at a Microsoft Windows Phone. This time it's the Nokia Lumia 1020. It has a massive 41 megapixel sensor that could shoot some amazing images for the time. But how good is it today compared to newer smartphones? I will tell you in this review. It also includes image samples and lumia 1020 camera test.
0:00 Intro
0:39 Design
1:38 Wireless charging case
1:48 Xenon flash
2:07 Headphone port
2:17 Windows Phone 8 OS
3:22 Always On Display
3:39 Battery Life
3:58 What isn't good
4:23 Why it was ahead of it's time
4:28 Camera specs
4:54 Camera experience
6:03 Sample images
7:29 Conclusion

[@ariandomarthintuwe6972]

It's a shame Microsoft didn't push hard enough with this one. It had potential.

[@yftinthyn007]

Pushing it wouldn't have done anything. Too many ecosystems and Windows Phone wasn't catching on.

[@manoelmelo3008]

Microsoft failed twice doing the same mistake: they thought mobile devs would have the same tolerance with a horrible SDK and support as they do with Windows for PCs, they just forgot they didn't have enough users to justify going through so much bs.

[@kayj8976]

A big focus on camera, launching off of f this, would have kept the in the game

[@sifatakon2355]

Even Bill Gates himself admitted at the Rubenstein Show.....

[@calebsmith254]

Microsoft is better in acquisitions anyway.

[@ssccvvsscc]

I had lumia 920 when it just released. Honestly it was a spectacular phone back then. The lack of apps was a bit depressing, but also quite refreshing, because it basically had everything I needed and I didn't need to worry about the trendiest things on the app store. Very sleek UI, stylish and customizable. Great photos for that time. Battery lasted me for the entire day. A design so bold my relatives from USA didn't believe it was a phone. It served me well for 5 years untill it eventually became obsolete. I still miss my yellow brick of "I bet you haven't seen a phone like this!"

[@userwest626]

at that time. windws 7/8.1 has its own UI and store app, then was not injunction with widows 10 mobile UI and store apps. but technology has to go forward.

[@JARofEMUS]

Not having every app under the sun was great at separating work from living. I'll use the computer If I need xyz when I'm ready and everyone will have to wait 👌

[@Agitated_Hamster]

This phone was amazing in terms of design.

[@nakdickson]

Timeless

[@Etendard1708]

Yep. I remember that colorful rubber case & backpanel of Lumia was copied by iPhone 5C then by Asus Zenfone 1st gen & Xiaomi Mi4i

[@usbaudio2.0]

system wise and hardware wise

[@amazingfreelancer]

Sure. Those phones got unique and smart look than most phones.

[@rady_angkorian]

Id chose it over any smart phones any day if there were app support and continued support from Microsoft and Nokia. I love the windows phone os (specifically 8.1) so much because of its difference.

[@saufi89]

Its ability to capture even the lower light impressed me alot.

[@ddpenny]

I hope Microsoft would make a phone like this in the future with all the app support. Size should be the same or at least the same as the iphone 12 or 13 mini. I would definitely leave apple/IOS. I miss Windows phone.

[@userwest626]

yes we are now bored of everything android. I wish to see windows 12 mobile or windows 12 surface go.

[@shieldboys3433]

It was my dream phone in class 11th

[@etonsot392]

I still remember when Nokia introduced its first camera phone, the commercial with the goat was iconic.

[@taurus0486]

I really love this phone simple design but powerful and sturdy. The image and video quality is still better than most of today's smartphone. The image's detail and color are realistic and gets even better when post processed. The dual flash can even trigger an external flash for dslr.

[@amoggoma430]

they should remake this phone but keep the metro aesthetics and add android app capability

[@jovanramirez8682]

Those transitions still looks so smoooth and great

[@vedanshchn]

I have two of these 🥳 The first was Nokia 808n Pureview to have the bigger camera size.

[@ImportantTech]

Nice! Thanks again for the comment!

[@-Jaydeep-dt9yz]

I too desperately want one ❤😢

[@kwamestanciel2513]

I had this phone right when it came out!

[@danetomas1577]

Huawei Vivo and Co. uses this design of camera modul in 2023. My Lumia 1520 rocks W10mobile and many things working. Nice review!

[@ImportantTech]

Thank you!

[@mindrover777]

Wow. Could you elaborate on the features not working

[@danetomas1577]

@@mindrover777 webview, loading heavy sites with pictures and videos because of outdated browser

[@Lucius4992]

My sister had this phone and it was gorgeous. I got the Lumia 925 instead (slim, some aluminium, 8Mp camera) and it already wiped the floor with flagships of that time, I remember people with much more expensive phones would ask me how the hell I send them pictures that look so good. Also, the store wasn't that bad, but yes it was badly sabotaged by other companies who didn't want to put very popular apps in. I remember snapchat was one of them, youtube (google) removed their app, and also pokemon go never arrived, so people stayed away from WP. The OS was amazing, very fast no matter the time, use or even the specs. The UI was super efficient despite not being attractive for a lot of people, you would get to every app and option quickly and Microsoft was way better that its competition with the included apps. There's much to highlight!

[@rustysim]

Yea snapchat definitely sabotaged WP. There were alternatives like 6snap but they'd quickly get banned

[@TheRelaxingRide]

always liked the Lumia range - great off-axis noise cancellation when recording video with that microphone array

[@joelconolly5574]

Kinda interesting to hear that Google was one of the companies who didn't support the rise of Windows Mobile by deliberately not making their official Google apps for Windows Phones. Add this with other devs not jumping on the bandwagon and Microsoft not able to pull more devs into the new ecosystem it literally killed this phone in less than a decade. Kinda sad seeing this could pioneer the ARM based windows machine more easily. Too bad Microsoft. It was a darn good phone killed by no support.

[@bepopxxx]

I remember that day that youtube app suddenly crashed and not working while using windows phone. I believe google sabotage windows phone because they scarw wp will get bigger than android, can u evem believe with less than 1gb ram windows phone doesnt even lag.

[@xninja2369]

​@@bepopxxxWell there was no OFFICIAL KZbin app for windows , it was all ported apps .( As far as I remember) And the reason windows phone didn't lag is just like the iPhone because it has steal your freedom , it has less app support like IOS , ( at that time ) you can't modify any app and install it , no root privileges , modules etc . SDK platform was too bad to deal with it . .... You need to pay a lot to have your app on windows , that's terrible as always even in 2024 I never use Microsoft store it just sucks so bad , .. Apart from that 625 was my favourite not gonna lie , it brings Nostalgia..

[@bepopxxx]

@@xninja2369 there is official youtube apps from google, check your fact back,

[@nagame859]

Hi there! Good to see old phones.. keep going and all the best! subscribed👍

[@ImportantTech]

Thank you so much for the comment!

[@aaqibbaloch02]

U should install a custom rom on it and try with the latest camera software.Imo it can easily beat almost all current phones with a newer software.

[@d0cx]

Desktop Windows 8 was kind of a mess, but looking back the Phone OS was gorgeous. So much smoother than anything we have today. Still...

[@donotfwme]

the design and camera was amazing for it's time

[@ahumblerequest5222]

I absolutely love the design and also the Lumia 800

[@kailashks901]

My brother had the Lumia 520 and I loved the phone overall. The software really had a lot of potential if Microsoft had gone with the standalone approach instead of going with the let's translate windows metro UI to phone. I think if this phone had shipped with Android natively.. Nokia would still be around as a relevant player.

[@Noa15Lv]

I personally had Lumia 435 and it felt super premium back in 2015-2016, switching from Samsung Galaxy Trend 2 Lite.

[@karlijn8099]

Nice video!

[@ImportantTech]

Bedankt!

[@tomhardy8967]

Used this phone for a bit last year and although it's not supposed so I couldn't really do anything with it besides making calls, I had the time of my life playing with the camera, it's amazing even today wayyy into the future

[@codedxxx]

Anytime I see an old phone, what comes to mind is MP3 player. This will serve as a portable camera as well.

[@abangwu]

I owned a 925 in 2014- great little device when it was heating up, spent more than half the time in the freezer cooling down.

[@GOKUL-rm7md]

@6:29 2013 Nokia image looks more natural and better than the over processed Pixel image!

[@mindrover777]

Miss the Lumia series. Loved the windows UI.

[@yousefalmarhoon8789]

Still one of the best phones at its time, I had the lumia 950xl and before it I had the lumia 1520 and both cameras was 4 years ahead of other phones, not to mention the battery life, you will never feel any lag in the system and feel how smooth it is, but unfortunately there was no support to it, otherwise it was such a success specially since it doesn’t recognize any viruses

[@dhunnudorai]

you are just killing me... with all these nostalgia.

[@ddvantandar-kw7kl]

It was a decade ahead of its competition as they offer windows capabilities to the phone .i wonder what went wrong that the concept could not capitalized.

[@floreaclaudiu1150]

Had this phone and the 920 ,the quality of pics like dslr almost,natural and no softwaremagic

[@AnkitJangra786]

I also used Nokia Lumia 730 Windows phone, used it for 3 years, had great experience 😊I miss WP os

[@hdreviewshort]

ux/ui 1020 very neatly done.

[@Luis-gy3yx]

The design it's really nice, I think these phone were a step further from the others back then.

[@VSOUR88]

the Lumia polycarbonate was something else

[@elijahlevi]

I had this phone last time . the software was so simple & user friendly just like iPhone nowadays . and also very smooth, it was truly ahead of its time when it came out .

[@TheAsianStyle]

now this is a design! I used to have the Lumia 730 and 1520

[@wasifhasan826]

Is there any chance of getting a Nokia Lumia 1020 new

[@kaiser.watanabe]

Still using one as a camera, love the xenon flash, computational photography could never beat that period.

[@vince-n]

I bought one yesterday 2nd hand to use just as a camera and I can't find any phone that does action shots like this does 🙂

[@eiyllaaa]

I remember playing newly released asphalt 8 in 2014 with nokia lumia phone I was silky buttery smooth i wish some os could be as smooth as windows phone. It was definitely ahead of its time. We couldn't see it's full potential. It saddens me

[@xammendoza667]

I had this in yellow when it came out and it's a head turner. I missed this phone.

[@pichsopheak]

I loved their camera so much.

[@60_069]

Woah that always on display!

[@z4520ft]

If we want to talk about which Nokia phone that was ahead of time, it should be in this order. Nokia N9 - full gesture OS Nokia 808 - high megapixel count, lossless digital zoom & pixel binning Nokia Lumia 920 - OIS, night photography

[@danielluswillfredomatuless7429]

still one of the best phone cameras in the technical side in my opinion. had the chance to try it out once and took a picture from the front of the store to the back, zoomed in and it was as sharp as it can be. no phones to date can rival the detail levels of this phone but of course they would destroy this phone in terms of post processing :')

[@shinigamisensei2517]

Still using lumia 532, idk why your phone did not load youtube, mine loads youtube perfectly and it loads facebook too. It used to load instagram and twitter few months ago but sadly it does not anymore. Soon it will stop loading yt and fb too I guess. I am going to use my lumia 532 as long as its battery is working. I really like designs of these phones. Minimalistic and really smooth OS till this day compared to todays 2GB RAM android devices.

[@childrey14]

The phone had a beautiful design and incredible camera back then. I had one and loved it.

[@Garrettdx1988]

I had a 920 back in the day. God, I miss using that phone. I still have it, but the dead software has rendered it unusable, unfortunately.

[@lumia_dayZ]

Beautiful

[@hirankaushal3899]

Miss you Lumia

[@biggeststeppa1]

Such a gorgeous phone

[@ashmilmujeeb.k814]

Design 🔥

[@diegoreartes1243]

i started with L. (Lumia) 430 then L535 also L1020 and finally L640XL. Those last 2 had W10 mobile and GOD.. W10 was so good, all the phones itself were well made and the OS was good too (in any device) its a shame the developers didnt involved too much in windows to make apps (or maybe im missing something) but taking pics in 1020 and watch videos in 640XL were a truly great experience, my 430 was too good to listen songs on spotify and chat in whatsapp in the street. Man i wish Windows try to comeback to make mobile OS in a world conquered by android and ios.

[@supertony4708]

Great video! But please take care of the editing process, especially the color tone of each video cut. There are more than 5 tons in this final video which is not so professional.

[@ImportantTech]

Thanks for the tip!

[@albioncia]

i used to have 920 man that phone looks good and is a tank

[@balya8937]

I have two, I will always take care of them, and I only use them for taking pictures, because I prefer natural ones

[@rahulpare4414]

I absolutely loved the windows OS.

[@nigelpaul6998]

i hope windows os can make a comeback. the os was very smooth, oh i miss the windows phone.

[@K_pax0703]

Still looks minimalistic and futuristic after all those years ... Not a single Chinese brand or even pixel is on this level

[@user-jj4qt3ux1y]

Nokia Windows Phones were beast Running Asphalt Games on 1 GB Ram with smooth performance

[@pixelplaynow]

The Design was timeless.

[@alangfp]

And what's funny, back then we all preferred thinner phones and thought that camera bump looked stupid af. Now, all phones have huge camera bumps, most even larger that this one on the nokia... It truly was ahead of its time. Even a little too much.

[@ThePrinceVincent]

This phone feels like a FujiFilm camera in all its glory, in my opinion newer phones take the soul out of the photos, this doesn’t. “Drama in your photos, the sensor adds a lot of character, the bokeh has character and drama, the reflections show how the pure view optics are built showing their imperfections, it’s just pure hardware without software”

[@jimzcoi]

lumia. always in my heart

[@jovanramirez8682]

I have always loved lumia, it was such a great phone

[@muddassarali6449]

I am still keeping one of Lumia phone with memories ....... If Microsoft start producing them again tomorrow, I am all in 😇

[@augustooliveira9023]

I miss the Xenon flash!

[@anushtechreviews]

Nokia preview 808 also a phone that stood ahead of all phone models of it's time

[@243.shinji]

this phone has the prime design but a few fixes to the body (tall and slimer), bezels (thinner and symmetrical). the camera bump doesnt need to actually change

[@skyMcWeeds]

i remember using it back then it was silky smooth in its operation while android has that distinct stutter android lag or worse samsung touchwiz lag.

[@SKLL3TR]

I remember when lumia was a cool phone and whenever I saw someone who has it I was always impressed by how different it was, unfortunately Microsoft gave up on it

[@IgnasZvi]

I would buy a new phone with modern software and hardware but with the same look. It was so comfy. and screen was great.

[@slo-e-g8299]

Lumia got the potential for craziest comeback, If they try to make it again

[@yungdadi]

The picture quality from this phone is better than modern phones

[@Redmentoos]

Exactly! It was unbelievable how much they where ahead! They had iris scan years bevore samsung, poverfull cam's great software desing, good hardware... only the apps killed them. If they "just" got apks working on ther phones i think they could have enough potential to stay on long enough to get more apps in there store. Sadly it could not happen.

[@radhapandey7073]

Can we install android 10 11 12 or 13 stock or lite version 🤔 somehow on Lumia 1020?

[@ImportantTech]

Sadly not possible I think

[@BrainDeadz]

I hope Lumia makes a comeback but with Android OS this time.

[@Deathshack]

The reason why Windows Phone's failed was because developers failed to to re-write the code to put them on the window's app because of not strong enough data to persuade them to support the OS.

[@wastedkafir9134]

wish someday Win mobile will be back

[@BlueSkiesOcean]

..still using this phone 😊

[@kittiegalore5890]

mine is yellow,i can still use the cam and vids.still can manage texting because it still has strong signal

[@protripleplus]

custom rom?

[@nebuoules6930]

Damn, i remember being shocked by the pixel count of this phone, still high for todays standards but its hard to imagine we now use up to 200mp cameras in phones (a bit of a gimmick but still)

[@ImportantTech]

Yes that's pretty insane! But like you say, megapixels don't say everything and its a gimmick sometimes. A 12mp sony a7siii will take much better images than a 200mp phone but the sony is of course much more expensive.

[@prasannakrishnav3980]

Sir can you do a giveaway of the ipod nano 6. I really want one. Ive subbed btw nice vid 😁

[@BurningBaboon]

Nothing feels better than typing on a windows phone; I loved the sounds they used

[@MithunOnTheNet]

The Lumia devices were a league apart! They had some of the most impressive camera systems!

[@franciscoalfonsobenedictoc4258]

I love windows phone even my old one i fixed it myself ❤❤❤

[@NaldzHobbySide]

i sold my yellow 1020 recently for $9 😐 the battery is in bad condition, the audio (video) is also in bad condition, Call & Text still functional, the Camera is working perfectly still can take really good Photos.

[@SirTubeALotMore]

I loved my Lumia until I noticed that my apps never updated to competitor standard ...

[@PPLRRN]

The speaker is nice if you have the case on

[@AbdulPAK]

Indeed!

[@PaulKasule-xm1pq]

I once had a windows phone , but it was so good, even the camera was better than android and ios cameras

[@birlikberaberlik346]

I miss my lumia 925

[@produb_sa]

Nokia Lumia would incur some serious screen damage, and would still continue to touch. Even on cracks that would cut your you fingers.

[@CommentGuard717]

Whats that glitch at 5:16

[@ImportantTech]

That was the xenon flash. But the xenon flash is too fast for my camera sensor to capture, so it only captures part of the flash.

[@sahibdhillon6393]

Hi sir, I want to purchase this phone, from where I can purchase it

[@ImportantTech]

Sadly there isn't a way to buy it anymore. I bought mine used

[@lutztech]

The Lumia 950 XL was an incredible phone.

[@ImportantTech]

I will make a video about that one too!

[@RookieTrader27]

Wouldve been the best gadget to film videos for creators

[@JK-xz1lt]

The aesthetics of this phone is second to none. Microsoft and Nokia were a good design pair, but the world wasn't ready for such a good phone OS.