Apple iPhone 5S vs. Nokia Lumia 1020

Apple iPhone 5S vs. Nokia Lumia 1020

At its town hall event this week, Apple made a big point of emphasizing the new Apple iPhone 5S's camera. Among the upgrades are a 15 percent larger sensor, an f/2.2 aperture, and larger pixels that measure 1.5 microns across.

If you're a Nokia or Windows Phone fan, that instantly brings to mind the Lumia seriesâ€"specifically, the Nokia Lumia 1020, which currently has the most advanced smartphone camera on the market. The Lumia 1020 does something similar, in that it employs its 41-megapixel sensor for oversampling (in one mode, at least), shooting 5-megapixel images that are more detailed and less noisy at higher ISO settings than usual.

There's more to buying a phone than its camera, of courseâ€"which brings us to this article. Here's a side-by-side look at the Apple iPhone 5S and the Nokia Lumia 1020, not just in camera specs, but all around. Which smartphone should be your next purchase?

Name Nokia Lumia 1020 (ATT) Apple iPhone 5S   Editor Rating   Lowest Price %displayPrice% %seller% %displayPrice% %seller% Dimensions 5.13 x 2.81 x 0.41 inches 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.3 inches Weight 5.56 oz 3.95 oz Operating System as Tested Windows Phone iOS Total Integrated Storage 29 GB 16 GB CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 Dual-Core Apple A7 Screen Size 4.5 inches 4 inches Screen Resolution 1280 x 768 pixels 1136 x 640 pixels Screen Pixels Per Inch 331 ppi 326 Camera Resolution 41MP Rear; 2MP Front-Facing 8-megapixel Video Camera Resolution 1080p 1080p 802.11x/Band(s) 802.11 a/b/g/n 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth Version 3 4.0 GPS Yes Yes NFC Yes No microSD Slot No No   Read the Review Read the Review

Let's start with the way they look. They're both phones with touch screens, but the similarities pretty much end there, as these two phones are about as different as they could be otherwise. The Lumia 1020 measures 5.1 by 2.8 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.6 ounces. That's partially thanks to its 4.5-inch 720p touch screen, but the rest of the weight is mostly from the camera assembly, which protrudes slightly from the back of the phone. The iPhone 5S is svelte in comparison, measuring 4.87 by 2.31 by 0.3 inches and weighing just under four ounces. The iPhone steps down to a 4-inch, 1,136-by-640-pixel touch screen.

Nokia Lumia 1020 (ATT)

Powering the iPhone 5S is a new 64-bit A7 processor and M7 motion coprocessor, which should be ideal for powering the next generation of apps running under the new iOS 7. The Lumia 1020 features a now-standard 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, which is typical for Windows Phone 8 devices in general. As far as the operating systems themselves are concerned, both phones are very different. Keeping in mind that these are blanket generalizations, Windows Phone 8 is much more customizable, and its live tile interface is fun to use, while iOS 7 is a fresh makeover of an aging OS, but Apple's app and game catalog is second to none; it's definitely worth trying both before plunking down cash on your next phone.

Now about the two cameras. The iPhone 5S has a laundry list of features, including True Tone flash, a backside illumination sensor, a hybrid IR filter, and the usual face detection, panorama, and burst modes. Both phones record high-definition 1080p video at 30 frames per second, and both phones can take still shots while recording video. The iPhone has a new slo-mo video mode that grabs 120 frames per second, plus improved video stabilization.

Hands On With the Apple iPhone 5S

The Lumia 1020's camera is a 2/3-inch design, which is about the same size as what you'd find in a high-end premium compact camera, which is very impressive. It's also backside illuminated to reduce noise, and has a wide-angle 27mm (35mm equivalent) field of view in 4:3 mode. Like the iPhone 5S, the Lumia 1020's aperture is fixed at f/2.2, but you can change white balance, ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation, and focus.

In our review, we found the Lumia 1020's camera to be just as good as you'd expect, with its only demerit being that it has a slow shot-to-shot time. Our senior camera analyst, Jim Fisher, found the Lumia 1020 takes 6.1 seconds to launch the camera app and shoot a photo, and anywhere from 3.6 to 4.2 seconds between each photo after that depending on file size. It's also working with up to 38-megapixel shots, but even 5-megapixel shots take that long. The iPhone 5S's A7 processor could help make it feel faster, but we won't know for sure until we get one in for review.

Will the iPhone 5S's camera measure up otherwise in actual photo results? Will the phone itself measure up? Keep reading PCMag.com to find out as soon as we do.

And finally, let's turn the stage over to you. Which phone do you prefer: the iPhone 5S or the Nokia Lumia 1020? Let us know in the comments below.

For more, check out PCMag's hands on with the iPhone 5S and the slideshow above.