Nokia Lumia 1020 vs. Sony QX-10

Dont want to give up your Android or iPhone for the Windows Phone running Lumia 1020? The Sony QX-10 maybe your solution. This camera accessory can be clipped to the back of an Android or iOS smartphone, so you can use its optics instead of the device's integral camera. But can the QX-10 optics rival the 41MP camera on the Lumia 1020? Lets find out

Nokia Lumia 1020	Sony QX-10
Sunshine, easy subject
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Sunshine, zoom test
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Fierce light extremes
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Sunny, macro
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Low light, no flash
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Low light, no flash (zoomed)
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Low light, noise and stabilisation test

As you may know, the 41MP sensor on the Lumia 1020 allows the handset to offer 3x of digital zoom without a drop in quality. While this is an impressive feat for a smartphone, the QX-10 camera accessory includes 10x optical zoom.

However:

• The QX-10's 1/2.3" (optical format) sensor is still only half the size of the 1/1.5" sensor in the Lumia 1020
• There's no flash of any kind
• It can takes up to 30 seconds to get ready to take a photo
• It can take another 6 seconds to take and save/retrieve a 5MP photo or up to 30 seconds to save a full resolution image
• Focussing is often problematic, taking several taps on the phone screen to get the camera focus-locked
• The clipped on assembly can feel heavy and awkward next to the sleeker Lumia 1020.

If you are a Windows Phone user, there is clearly no better choice than the Lumia 1020, especially since Sony has not released driver/app support for Windows Phones. The QX-10 does have a zoom advantage and allows Android and iOS to stay on the platform they love. However the Lumia 1020 trumps the QX-10 in terms of quality and quickness.

You can see side by side comparisons of the photos, get access to the image sources and a deeper analysis of this comparison by heading to All About Windows Phone.

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