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Lumia 1020 vs. iPhone 5s, which should I get?

TSE

TSE

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
4,063
3,700
St. Paul, Minnesota
I have a Windows 7.5 phone (the Lumia 710), and love it. I am upgrading, and the choice is between the iPhone 5S 32 GB ($299) vs. the Lumia 1020 ($199), both AT&T.

Things I like about the Lumia 1020:

-The Industrial Design of it.
-The screen size of it.
-The camera of it.
-The UI of it.

Things I like about the iPhone:

-The app ecosystem of it.
-The fact it doesn't have a bulge on the back.
-The performance of it.

Questions I have concerning both:

-Do you think the iPhone's camera is comparable to the Lumia 1020's?
-Do you think the battery life of the iPhone is better than the Lumia's?
-Can the Lumia 1020 completely replace my point and shoot?
-Will the Nokia's 2 year old dual-core processor be enough in 2 years for web browsing, taking photos, listening to music, etc.? 4 years seems ancient for cell phone processors.

----------

Another thing that concerns me is that I am going to Rome and then Sweden for industrial design classes, both months at a time. Will I be able to use these phones while over there? Will they have plenty of apps to help navigate streets, find restaurants, etc. while over there? That is also a reason why I am leaning towards the 1020, as I don't want to carry a point and shoot camera around. Is the 1020 truly as good quality as a point and shoot?
 
I LOOOOVE the Lumia. I've owned one (the 928). It's probably the best smart phone camera in the US available. However, if you like apps, I'd recommend waiting until maybe next year when Microsoft starts pushing developers to start porting apps from iOS and Android at a more frequent level. Right now, the app situation is truly pitiful. I had to return the Lumia - even though I originally planned as keeping it for my "camera phone" and my iPhone as my "everyday".
 
nooaah said:
I LOOOOVE the Lumia. I've owned one (the 928). It's probably the best smart phone camera in the US available. However, if you like apps, I'd recommend waiting until maybe next year when Microsoft starts pushing developers to start porting apps from iOS and Android at a more frequent level. Right now, the app situation is truly pitiful. I had to return the Lumia - even though I originally planned as keeping it for my "camera phone" and my iPhone as my "everyday".
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't care THAT much about apps. The only thing that really annoys me about the Windows Phone is there are no alternative web browsers save for a few different web browsers in the App store that are all still based off the internet explorer that come with the phone (just new UIs on top of it).

The only thing that really scares me about the 1020 is if it's battery life is as good as the iPhones and if the processor is good enough... ya know?

What I use my phone for:

-Web Browsing... checking MacRumors.... Forums.... etc.

-Turn-by-Turn voice navigation.

-Camera, obviously.

-Text, E-mail, Facebook, and calling... both can obviously handle those well.

-Music.

-Youtube.
 
Don't kid yourself: they're both cell phone cameras. Do you really want to store and deal with 41MP files!? Really? Imagine your data plan. Your phone's memory.

Will they replace a point-and-shoot camera? WHICH p&s camera? These phones do not hold a candle to a Sony DSC-RX100, Canon G15/16, Olympus XZ-2, Nikon P7800, etc. I use an Olympus OM-D and Sony TX100... both of them destroy camera phones. Get a real camera. Don't buy into phone company hype, as if their crappy cameras were very good. Tons of megapixels are no replacement for a decent lens and larger sensor. Phones can't even zoom.

Furthermore... Everything Microsoft is a copy. Their stores are copies of Apple stores. Their tablets are copies of iPads. Their enployees are copies of Apple Store employees, right down to the lanyard and colored T-shirt.

I went into the Portland Microsoft store and asked where their Mac section was. I mentioned how I still have my MS Word 1.0 for Mac box on my shelf. And 4.0. And 5.1. I said I wanted to buy Office 2011, and asked where it was. They just kind of were like, uh...

The place was pretty empty. Everyone knows that it's a copy of an Apple store, and not a good copy, either.

At the end of the day, if you have to ask, you'll never know. If you have to ask if you should get an iOS or Windows Phone device, it tells me that you can't tell the difference anyway, which means you are not worthy of owning an iOS device. That sounds really arrogant, but seriously, Windows Phone is a piece of s*** compared to iOS. It's not even close.

Windows phone has:
* ugly, bland, horrifically colored rectangles everywhere that are mostly devoid of content
* more of these rectangles
* an eyesore UI
* not very many great apps
* no good music apps AFAIK

Find me something equivalent to Animoog or Garage Band for stupid Windows Phone. Or Textastic or Exoplanet. Nope.

Get the original. Get the best. Or if you can't tell a difference really, see a doctor.
 
Last edited:
darkgoob said:
Look. Everything Microsoft is a copy. Their stores are copies of Apple stores. Their tablets are copies of iPads. Their enployees are copies of Apple Store employees, right down to the lanyard and colored T-shirt.
Click to expand...

Suddenly, things just got nasty.
 
TSE said:
Honestly, I don't care THAT much about apps. The only thing that really annoys me about the Windows Phone is there are no alternative web browsers save for a few different web browsers in the App store that are all still based off the internet explorer that come with the phone (just new UIs on top of it).

The only thing that really scares me about the 1020 is if it's battery life is as good as the iPhones and if the processor is good enough... ya know?

What I use my phone for:

-Web Browsing... checking MacRumors.... Forums.... etc.

-Turn-by-Turn voice navigation.

-Camera, obviously.

-Text, E-mail, Facebook, and calling... both can obviously handle those well.

-Music.

-Youtube.
Click to expand...

Well, bad news: Posting on forums via the browser generally doesn't work for some reason - but this may be remedied with WP 8.1. There are a couple decent alternative browsers, btw.

Nokia Drive is badass. Not as good as Google, but it's better than the native iOS app.

The camera app is the best ever. There's also a third party app (someone help me out) that's basically for pros. It's unreal.

Youtube app gets pulled frequently because Google keeps disabling it. The music app is fine but Spotify is kind of crippled.

Overall, I loved the phone. If not for the lack of apps, I'd probably still own it.
 
darkgoob said:
Don't kid yourself: they're both cell phone cameras. Do you really want to store and deal with 41MP files!? Really? Imagine your data plan. Your phone's memory.

Will they replace a point-and-shoot camera? WHICH p&s camera? These phones do not hold a candle to a Sony DSC-RX100, Canon G15/16, Olympus XZ-2, Nikon P7800, etc. I use an Olympus OM-D and Sony TX100... both of them destroy camera phones. Get a real camera. Don't buy into phone company hype, as if their crappy cameras were very good. Tons of megapixels are no replacement for a decent lens and larger sensor. Phones can't even zoom.

Furthermore... Everything Microsoft is a copy. Their stores are copies of Apple stores. Their tablets are copies of iPads. Their enployees are copies of Apple Store employees, right down to the lanyard and colored T-shirt.

I went into the Portland Microsoft store and asked where their Mac section was. I mentioned how I still have my MS Word 1.0 for Mac box on my shelf. And 4.0. And 5.1. I said I wanted to buy Office 2011, and asked where it was. They just kind of were like, uh...

The place was pretty empty. Everyone knows that it's a copy of an Apple store, and not a good copy, either.

At the end of the day, if you have to ask, you'll never know. If you have to ask if you should get an iOS or Windows Phone device, it tells me that you can't tell the difference anyway, which means you are not worthy of owning an iOS device. That sounds really arrogant, but seriously, Windows Phone is a piece of s*** compared to iOS. It's not even close.

Windows phone has:
* ugly, bland, horrifically colored rectangles everywhere that are mostly devoid of content
* more of these rectangles
* an eyesore UI
* not very many great apps
* no good music apps AFAIK

Find me something equivalent to Animoog or Garage Band for stupid Windows Phone. Or Textastic or Exoplanet. Nope.

Get the original. Get the best. Or if you can't tell a difference really, see a doctor.
Click to expand...

I appreciate where you are coming from, but I like Nokia as a company and think their phones are some of the best. I like the Windows Phone UI.

And the Point-and-Shoot that I have currently that I am satisfied with is the Canon ELPH 300 HS. How do both phones compare to this camera?

I am not looking for professional-quality imagery, just enough to really take pictures of things that occur in my life, and to maybe take photos of my design work in classes to put up on my website.

I appreciate it Noaah. Wasn't aware of alternative web browsers, with Windows Phone 7 Microsoft wouldn't allow non-Internet Explorer engine'd web browsers. Good that they changed their mind. What do you mean you can't post on forums?
 
KaijuRed said:
Suddenly, things just got nasty.
Click to expand...

Being honest is not being nasty. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. It's worked for Microsoft for all these years... why break the mold?

They shouldn't think they can blatantly emulate the Apple Store experience, and no one will call them out on it. I will call them out on it. It's a copy, just like Windows 95 was, just like Aero copied Aqua (right down to the four letter name starting with an A and ending with a vowel).

But ultimately it's still Windows underneath it all, with its "registry" and BSODs. It's something you deal with at work because you must, because some IT guy at some point had an MCSD. Not because you'd actually choose to let that into your home given a choice otherwise.

But that's just my opinion. I like a solid Unix foundation.
 
At our local mall, the Apple Store and the Microsoft Store are a minute apart. I looked at the 5s phones, they were superb.

Then went to the Microsoft store. I am telling you straight up, between software and hardware, all of the Lumia phones running that Windows phone UI were garbage compared to the new iPhones.

IOS7 is miles ahead of that tiling garbage with Window phone. Then I tried the email and messaging with Window phone. Christ, what a mess, it functions terribly and looks even worse. Those tiles are just stupid, they serve no purpose, flipping around with information you can't understand, or, there are big black boxes where you don't have a tile. It sucks.

So that was about as direct a comparison as I could make having looked at both phones. In my opinion, iPhone 5s and iOS7 are lightyears ahead of the hardware and software of Lumia and WindowPhone OS.
 
TSE said:
I appreciate where you are coming from, but I like Nokia as a company and think their phones are some of the best. I like the Windows Phone UI.

And the Point-and-Shoot that I have currently that I am satisfied with is the Canon ELPH 300 HS. How do both phones compare to this camera?
Click to expand...

Your Canon has a far superior flash to either device. The Canon is probably made in Japan. It has an *optically stabilized* zoom lens, which is far superior to anything on an iPhone or Nokia device. It has a Canon-engineered high-sensitivity CMOS chip, and features variable ISO, exposure compenation, spot-metering, and proper camera-style metadata. A phone will not compete with this in low light or in a situation involving flash, or zoom. Good close-up macro capabilities are also a feature your Canon holds over phones. Canon makes excellent cameras.

I am not looking for professional-quality imagery, just enough to really take pictures of things that occur in my life, and to maybe take photos of my design work in classes to put up on my website.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, nothing we are discussing will result in professional-quality images. We're talking about the difference between a decent P&S camera... and two phones that each have OK cameras.

Sure an iPhone and a Lumia can both produce a decent image given the correct subject, and decent lighting. That may be enough for you. If it's mainly going online then you don't need the 41MP of the Nokia. If you plan on blowing up to 80" prints, you should get a Nikon D800E and not mess around with phones!

Also I don't mind Microsoft, as I say, I have been a loyal customer of their Macintosh software division since the late 80s. I like Office. I just don't care for their new excuse for an OS. It's good for gaming on PCs, and that's about it.
 
nooaah said:
I think the "metro" UI is very unique and a pleasure to use, personally.
Click to expand...

It's "unique" in the same way that hipsters wearing black-rimmed glasses are "unique." In other words: not at all. There's nothing unique a about rectangles, the oldest shape humans ever invented. Even the wheel is newer. The color scheme is god-awful.

But I know the devs at MS worked their tails off, and hats off to them. Someone also worked hard to mold the plastic for black-rimmed glasses, and weave the cloth for plaid shirts and roll-up jeans and Chuck Taylors. Hats off to them too.

There should be competition for the iPhone. It helps us appreciate how much better it is. It lets us be glad of the mess we're avoiding. But if you like it, hey, each to their own. I don't understand black-rimmed glasses either, but if people think it improves them in some manner, they can knock themselves out.
 
You can't even compare WP 7.5 to WP 8 (and 8.1 has just rolled out and the new 1020s come with it).

MS opened it up a bunch so third party apps are coming in pretty well. I haven't found any that I miss. Everything I need is avaliable. To be honest a bunch of stuff is just included in the OS rather than needing an app.

The Nokia Drive and Here come on the Lumias free and they are the best 'driving" apps I have used. I've been driving around a lot recently (buying a new house) and I've had some time to compare these with Apple Maps, Goggle maps, and the nav system in my car. I've found my phone works best. And if you're going to be in Europe I expect that the Nokia maps will be the most accurate you can find.

As for the camera, well, there's no comparison. The 1020 wins, hands down. And both Nokia and MS have a bunch of filters if you use them. Personally I usually don't but they seem to be very popular. I believe one of the best is Photosynth. Check it out.

One nice thing about the MS App Store is you can go online and browse from any computer. I suggest you look around for browsers, etc. there to see what's avaliable.

And the other real plus with WP phones (which I'm sure you know) is the trial periods for apps. Install the trial and decide if it works for you before you buy. To me, this is a major plus for MS. I don't know how many apps I've bought from Apple for my ipads only to find that it really didn't work out.
 
nooaah said:
The xenon flash on the 928 and 1020 are superior to any other phone available. It's not even a contest.
Click to expand...

Yes but they are inferior to actual flashes on real cameras, which was my point. And even more inferior to not even using a flash.

My advice: get a real camera and don't wake up five years from now with nothing but crappy camera phone pictures. Go buy a Micro Four Thirds camera like the E-M5 or get a used Sony NEX-5 etc. Hell even a Nikon 1 would trounce these pieces of garbage.

You can get a great used DSLR for next to nothing, and used high-end P&S for next to nothing. I saw a used Nikon D2HS for $500 with a lens in a camera store today, in near-mint condition. And Olympus E-330 with 2 lenses for $200. A Canon G12 for $249. Etc.

Don't live a delusion. Cameras on phones are only useful when you don't have any other options. Built-in flashes on cameras generally produce bad photos with harsh shadows behind the subject. It's commonly known. Having the best built-in flash of phones is like having the most powerful towing wench on a bicycle.
 
Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone has the best of both worlds; iOS and Android.

WP 8 has the smoothness of iOS and excellent battery life, while it's ecosystem is slowly adapting to Google Play, as mentioned above with it's "shop" being easily accessible on any web browser along with "try before you buy".

I recommend a Lumia 1020 if you love to take photos and don't want to carry a SLR/DSLR every where you go.

I know a lot of people find the "tiles" homescreen impractical and ugly, but i personally like it. It's a weird hybrid of "app icon" and "android widgets". You can expand each tile to display more information, or minimize it so it functions and looks like a traditional app icon. So far the battery tile and Weatherflow tile has been useful and doesn't drain the battery very much.
 
darkgoob said:
Yes but they are inferior to actual flashes on real cameras, which was my point. And even more inferior to not even using a flash.

My advice: get a real camera and don't wake up five years from now with nothing but crappy camera phone pictures. Go buy a Micro Four Thirds camera like the E-M5 or get a used Sony NEX-5 etc. Hell even a Nikon 1 would trounce these pieces of garbage.

You can get a great used DSLR for next to nothing, and used high-end P&S for next to nothing. I saw a used Nikon D2HS for $500 with a lens in a camera store today, in near-mint condition. And Olympus E-330 with 2 lenses for $200. A Canon G12 for $249. Etc.

Don't live a delusion. Cameras on phones are only useful when you don't have any other options. Built-in flashes on cameras generally produce bad photos with harsh shadows behind the subject. It's commonly known. Having the best built-in flash of phones is like having the most powerful towing wench on a bicycle.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but I own a DSLR and I own a phone. The phone is on me at all times. The DSLR is on me on planned occasions. There's no reason to compare the two until Canon (my personal pref, btw) makes a clip-on lens like Sony just did.
 
donnaw said:
You can't even compare WP 7.5 to WP 8 (and 8.1 has just rolled out and the new 1020s come with it).

MS opened it up a bunch so third party apps are coming in pretty well. I haven't found any that I miss. Everything I need is avaliable. To be honest a bunch of stuff is just included in the OS rather than needing an app.
Click to expand...

How much is MS paying you? This has to be a joke.

Name a single decent synthesizer (music keyboard) app for Windows Phone. Name a single decent multi-track audio editing software. What's a good code editor with dropbox support? What's a good FTP client that can unzip files? What's a good Reddit client? How about an aurora tracker? Starmap? Financial tracker with realtime updates for each bank account, stock account, credit scores? I could keep going but why?

The Nokia Drive and Here come on the Lumias free and they are the best 'driving" apps I have used. I've been driving around a lot recently (buying a new house) and I've had some time to compare these with Apple Maps, Goggle maps, and the nav system in my car. I've found my phone works best. And if you're going to be in Europe I expect that the Nokia maps will be the most accurate you can find.
Click to expand...

Apple Maps works great actually. I also have Google Maps for iOS and the Tom Tom GPS app.

As for the camera, well, there's no comparison. The 1020 wins, hands down. And both Nokia and MS have a bunch of filters if you use them. Personally I usually don't but they seem to be very popular. I believe one of the best is Photosynth. Check it out.
Click to expand...

Actually there is comparison. Nokia thinks megapixels are everything. I would not argue that 1020 has a decent camera on it. However I would question whether it "wins" because what you are using, and what kind of light you are in, will determine whether it wins. Also, if you are shooting video or stills, will also determine this. Are you taking a snapshot to post on Facebook or text to someone? All the extra pixels won't matter. iPhone 5S can shoot super fast sequences of full-rez photos and you just pick the best one. The 120FPS video at 720P is very cool also.

I think 8MP is more than enough for a camera phone for posting online, texting, printing enlargements up to 16x20", etc. I think the 5S will produce better lowlight color. YMMV, but 41MP files of the 1020 will eat up all your memory and ultimately you will rarely utilize this, and only in perfect lighting. In which case, the only benefit is you can blow up more into the pixels.

One nice thing about the MS App Store is you can go online and browse from any computer. I suggest you look around for browsers, etc. there to see what's avaliable.
Click to expand...

Ah, another feature copied from Apple.. no offense.

And the other real plus with WP phones (which I'm sure you know) is the trial periods for apps. Install the trial and decide if it works for you before you buy. To me, this is a major plus for MS. I don't know how many apps I've bought from Apple for my ipads only to find that it really didn't work out.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that would be a nice feature for Apple to copy back. Of course, given how cheap apps are, I don't feel bad on the rare occasions I waste $1.99 due to a particular App really sucking. Most of them have a free version to try, but Apple prefers to leave it up to the dealer.
 
I loved Nokia when Symbian (S60) was their primary OS. The N73/82/95 and E-series were the pinnacle of Nokia. Ever since Windows took over, Nokia isn't what it once was...

I would recommend getting an iPhone 5S over the 1020, unless it's just about the glorified camera on the 1020.
 
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