Nokia's canceled Lumia 2020 was a compact Windows RT tablet after my heart

Three years later, we finally get the chance to review another one of Nokia's canceled relics. This is the Nokia Lumia 2020 mini tablet with Windows RT.

Here at Windows Central, we love looking into the history books at Windows devices that never came to be. Some of our favorites have included the canceled Nokia Lumia McLaren with 3D Touch and the first images of Microsoft Surface Mini. While the Surface Mini might have been the darling of the rumor mill, Nokia too was working on a compact Windows RT tablet — the Nokia Lumia 2020.

Codenamed "Illusionist", the Lumia 2020 was going to be Nokia's second Windows RT tablet. However, following the launch of the Lumia 2520, Nokia ended development on the smaller, 8-inch device. While not much is known about why Nokia decided to kill the product, many speculate the decision was influenced heavily by Microsoft, who was also building a similar, arguably better tablet with pen support; something the Lumia 2020 didn't have but the Surface Mini would (had it too not been canceled).

Lumia 2020 specifications Category Nokia Lumia 2020 OS Windows RT 8.1 (ARM32) Material Polycarbonate shell Processor Snapdragon 800 (8974) 2.15GHz Storage 32GB (expandable) RAM 2GB Display 8.3-inch 1080p LCD Graphics Qualcomm Adreno 330 Ports 1x MicroUSC, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, SIM tray, MicroSD card slot Audio Dual front-facing stereo speakers. Camera Front facing 1MP, rear-facing 19MP PureView camera Lumia 2020 hardware

In early 2014, the Lumia 2020 would have been considered "high-end". Featuring a Snapdragon 800 CPU with 2GB RAM, 64GB internal storage, and an 8.3-inch 1080p LCD, the Lumia 2020 was a pretty powerful mini tablet that rocked Windows RT like it was nothing. Since Windows RT was limited to Windows Store apps, for the most part, the device flies when opening new apps, switching between them and multitasking with multiple apps at once.

In my time using the prototype, I've not had any performance issues worthy of note. That's unlike the original Surface RT, which shipped with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip and as a result suffered from terrible performance. The Snapdragon 800 was a much more powerful chip that didn't struggle nearly as much with Windows RT. Paired with 2GB RAM for multitasking, things run pretty smooth on this mini tablet.

We're also rocking an 8.3-inch 1080p display on the front of the device, which looks absolutely gorgeous. The screen is bright and crisp, with 1080p bringing more than enough pixels for the 8-inch form factor. There's also a pair of front-facing speakers on the top bezel of the device, which is a nice touch. We also have a single capacitive home button with haptic feedback when touched.

There's also a front and rear-facing camera, with the latter being a PureView 19MP shooter with dual-LED flash. Unfortunately, the software was never completed on this prototype, which means actual photos look rubbish. Still, if this device were to have hit the market, it would have likely had the best camera of any tablet at the time. Impressive stuff.

The Lumia 2020 is also rocking an microSD card slot for expandable storage, as well as mobile data through an LTE SIM card slot. This would have been incredibly useful for those who like to travel light, yet stay connected when they take their tablet with them. There's also a Micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack, par-of-the-course back in 2014.

Lumia 2020 design and build quality

Build quality is nothing short of excellent. There's no doubt about it; this was going to be a premium mini Windows RT tablet. The device features a matte polycarbonate shell, which would have been available in a number of colors; our prototype is white, which looks super clean and nice. There's no creaking or flimsiness to be found on this device, which is excellent. It doesn't feel as good as the magnesium Surface RT, but it still feels great. I'd say it's comparable to the build quality of the Lumia 1520.

We have just three physical buttons on the top of the device. A power/lock button and right next to it the volume rocker. There's no dedicated camera button, which I'd argue isn't exactly needed or useful on a tablet anyway. The buttons feel a little mushy, but that's probably because this is an old prototype that's been around a fair bit.

The front of the device is where things start to fall down. For some reason, Nokia decided to make the left and right bezels slimmer than the top and bottom, giving the front of the device an "off" look. I wouldn't say it looks bad, but I would have preferred if the bezels on the Lumia 2020 were equal on all sides.

What's more, the polycarbonate shell wraps around the front of the device and outlines the screen and its bezels. Depending on the color, the shell can really visually pop. On our white prototype, for example, the shell is clearly visible around the screen.

The screen itself is a 16:9 display, so it's only really useful in landscape mode, which is the orientation that the device is designed in. Using the tablet in portrait mode, as many likely would want to do with an 8-inch device, results in the screen being awkwardly tall and narrow. This is a mini tablet designed to be used in the landscape orientation.

And that I think says a lot about the tablet Nokia was planning to build. Unlike Microsoft, who was building the Surface Mini as a productivity machine for taking notes, Nokia looked to be building a mini tablet that's more aimed at media consumption and creation. The high-quality camera, paired with the 16:9 1080p display and front facing speakers all point toward a device aimed at entertainment rather than productivity.

Lumia 2020 software

The Lumia 2020 is an ARM-based tablet running Windows 8.1 RT. Microsoft of 2014 hadn't yet mastered Win32 emulation on ARM, limiting Windows RT devices to apps downloaded from the Windows Store. The first Microsoft Surface was the inaugural Windows RT device, along with a few tablets by the likes of Dell, ASUS, and Samsung. They all flopped, so it's no surprised that Nokia decided to pull the plug on the RT-running Lumia 2020.

Windows RT came with Office 2013 RT out of the box, which gave RT users access to the full suite of Office apps, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Outlook for free. You can find the same set of apps on the Lumia 2020, but I don't think these apps would have seen much use by users. The screen is too small to do any real work, and since the Lumia 2020 doesn't support pen, there's no way to ink in OneNote.

The desktop environment itself is also incredibly small on an 8-inch device, so much so I'd say it's barely usable. The Modern Windows 8.1 UI, on the other hand, is tremendous at this screen size. Elements are perfectly sized, icons and text look super crisp and the entire tablet experience just works. It's gesture-based, which I feel is pretty natural on a tablet experience.

Even with the tablet experience being more than great, this thing is still running Windows RT. This means that most people would've immediately disliked the tablet thanks to its limited app selection.

I never really disliked Windows RT, but for those that did, this tablet wasn't going to fix any of its problems.

Lumia 2020 camera

It's odd to be talking about a camera on a tablet, but the camera on the Lumia 2020 is pretty remarkable. It's a great shooter, as it is PureView after all. The camera software was never finished on this unit, but I'm able to get some pretty good photos out of what was finished.

I'd never recommend using a tablet as your main camera, but the camera on the Lumia 2020 would've been better than most smartphone cameras in the year 2014. That's an impressive feat.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to show you how this camera performs in low-light because the camera simply doesn't perform in low-light. I'm assuming this is partly due to the fact that this is an unfinished prototype, but any attempts to take a photo in low light simply failed to capture an image.

Lumia 2020 final thoughts

I've been using the Lumia 2020 as an "around the house"-type tablet over the last week, and I've enjoyed every second. It's small enough to be convenient to use for browsing the web, checking email, and watching videos without me needing to pull out a laptop, and is light enough to carry around with ease.

The addition of LTE support is also a nice touch, allowing me to throw the tablet in a bag and take it with me when going out on day trips. Sometimes using your phone to check email or browse the web when on the go isn't enough, and the 1080p 8.3-inch screen on the Lumia 2020 really delivers. It gets bright enough for use outdoors too.

Battery life on the Lumia 2020 is pretty good. I can get through a day using it on and off like you would a normal tablet pretty easily. I can probably squeeze two days out of a single charge if I use it occasionally. LTE will obviously bring that number down, but when using WiFi around the house, this thing lasts. Since this tablet was never released, we don't actually know the capacity of the battery without openign up that sealed back shell — and that's not worth the risk of breaking this rare prototype.

The Lumia 2020 would have been a superb entertainment tablet back in 2014. It's small, designed well, and has a great display and speakers, along with a really good camera (especially for a tablet). It was designed for media consumption first and foremost, not for working in Word. Browsing the web, checking email, using Twitter and watching videos are what this tablet does best.

I am saddened that this tablet never actually came to market. I feel the same way about the Surface Mini. As a fan of small tablets, both the Lumia 2020 and Surface Mini have left holes in my heart. I've always wanted a small Windows tablet with great battery life and performance, and the Lumia 2020 could have been that device. Unfortunately, it was never released, and to this day we still haven't had a compact, premium, and powerful Windows tablet.

Perhaps that'll change now that Microsoft is bringing Windows 10 back to ARM with the Snapdragon 835 — and with full app support. We can't wait to see what's in store. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the Lumia 2020? Let us know.

Pros:

Crisp, clear 1080p display.

Premium polycarbonate build.

Loud and clear front-facing speakers.

LTE support.

Great camera.

Cons:

Was never released.

Runs Windows RT.

16:9 aspect ratio is odd for a mini-tablet.

No pen support.

Source: Nokia's canceled Lumia 2020 was a compact Windows RT tablet after my heart

Microsoft 'Windows Core OS' aims to turn Windows 10 into a modular platform for the future

Microsoft is taking the next steps in its "One Windows" vision with an internal project called "Windows Core OS" that turns Windows 10 into a fully modular platform and lays foundations for the future of Windows.

Updated September 29 2017: Several sources have come forward and told us the "Andromeda OS" effort is now internally referred to as "Windows Core OS." We've updated this article to reflect this.

Windows is now over 30 years old, which is beyond ancient in technology years. As a result of this, Windows itself is encumbered by features, functions, and components that some devices today may no longer need. In an industry where new device types are being introduced all the time, Windows itself is too old and heavy to be able to adapt to those new devices (an example of which are smartwatches) quickly enough. As it turns out, Microsoft is aware of this and is working on something internally that looks to solve this problem.

Over the last several months, I've been talking to multiple sources about something internally referred to as "Windows Core OS" (originally Andromeda OS.) According to these sources, Windows Core OS (WCOS for short) is the future backbone of Windows and is a monumental step forward in making Windows 10 a truly universal OS. In short, WCOS is a common denominator for Windows that works cross-platform, on any device type or architecture, that can be enhanced with modular extensions that gives devices features and experiences where necessary.

In layman's terms, its ultimate goal is to make Windows 10 much more flexible, allowing it to be installed on a wider variety of devices without being based on specific, pre-existing product variants. As a result of this, Windows itself can become smaller depending on the device, the OS itself can be built faster, and devices won't be encumbered by components and features they don't actually need; speeding up overall performance in the process on smaller or less capable devices.

As it currently stands, OneCore and the Universal Windows Platform are the only true universal elements of Windows 10. Everything else is specific to the many variants of Windows. For example, Win32 programs are specific to Windows on the desktop and aren't found on Windows Mobile. With WCOS, Microsoft wants to remove these specific product variants, and turn Windows 10 into a fully modular platform by componentizing the OS.

As a result of this full modularity, individual Windows 10 product variants such as Windows 10 Mobile or Windows 10 on Xbox become redundant. WCOS allows Windows 10 to be configured and built for a specific device without it having to be its own variant. It gives Microsoft and hardware makers the flexibility of building versions of Windows 10 with different features and functions, quickly and efficiently.

What does this mean for me?

Windows 10 as it is today has a few different variants of itself. It's not one OS that's shared across devices. Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 desktop are two different variants of Windows 10, for example. Now, these different variants do share universal elements, such as OneCore and the Universal Windows Platform, but the OSs themselves aren't the same. WCOS removes these different variants and gives us a universal base that can be built upon. If you want Windows on a phone, instead of using Windows 10 Mobile, you would simply use "Windows 10" with components that make sense for a phone device. It's the next steps in Microsoft's modularity of Windows, which has been ongoing for years at this point.

In fact, it's very similar to how Windows 10 Mobile itself is handled today. Windows 10 Mobile is provided in separate packages to OEM's, which gives said hardware makers the flexibility to pick and choose which OS features and functions (such as Continuum) are bundled onto a device. It's the same idea here with WCOS, except it's applied to all of Windows 10 instead.

Right now, if an OEM wants to make a device running Windows, it has to choose from a number of pre-defined variants of Windows 10 that Microsoft has already built. That includes things like Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 S, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Server, Windows 10 IoT, and many more. This can sometimes be a very limiting factor for OEMs. WCOS makes it so hardware makers aren't limited to pre-defined variants, and can pick and choose features and functions from each for their devices instead.

WCOS opens the door to many new configurations of Windows that previously weren't possible. Of course, Windows 10 desktop SKUs such as Pro and Enterprise will continue to exist, with all the same functionality and features you'd expect from a desktop OS. Microsoft won't be taking functionality away, and it won't be de-emphasizing desktop with WCOS.

Windows Central understands that the initial introduction of WCOS will be mobile-focused, and is internally pegged to be ready sometime in 2018. A theoretical Surface phone running Windows 10 built with WCOS wouldn't be running Windows 10 Mobile or Windows 10 desktop, it would be running "Windows 10" with whatever components Microsoft deems fit. That may include Win32 components, or it may not. It will depend on the kind of device Microsoft, or hardware makers, are planning to build.

The work Microsoft is doing to Windows 10 with WCOS will help move Windows into the twenty-first century, where devices of all shapes, sizes and power capabilities are being introduced all the time. Windows today can't run on everything because it's just too big and heavy. Even the smallest variants of Windows 10 today can be too much for some device types, such as smartwatches. WCOS will change this.

As mentioned above, we're hearing the first iteration of WCOS will be for mobile-type devices such as phones, tablets, and wearables, with WCOS for desktop and Xbox devices coming later. WCOS, along with work Microsoft is doing with CShell, is a huge leap forward for Microsoft's "One Windows" vision. OneCore and the Universal Windows Platform were the first Windows 10 elements to be universal, and now Microsoft is taking the next steps in that vision with WCOS and CShell.

The future of Windows

WCOS and CShell are laying the foundation for Windows into the next decade and beyond. WCOS will help kick-start Windows on modern, mobile devices, along with modernizing Windows itself for new device types that may show up over the next several years. Microsoft needs a flexible, configurable and nimble OS and Windows today isn't that. WCOS will make it that, and that's incredibly exciting.

We already know Microsoft is prototyping new mobile hardware internally, which is often referred to as simply "Andromeda" on the web. Could Microsoft be planning to release a mobile device next year, powered by Windows 10 with WCOS that showcases to hardware makers and the rest of the world what can be done? We're yet to find out. Regardless of who makes new mobile devices running Windows, whether they be phones, tablets, wearables or something else entirely, WCOS will give them a stage to do it.

It is important to stress that WCOS isn't a consumer-facing feature, and won't be something Microsoft is planning to market openly. It's an internal platform that makes Windows far more flexible, allowing Microsoft and hardware makers to build versions of Windows 10 that previously weren't viable. As always, Microsoft may decide to pull the plug or delay its WCOS efforts at any time, too, so keep that in mind.

What are your thoughts on Windows Core OS? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Microsoft 'Windows Core OS' aims to turn Windows 10 into a modular platform for the future

Nokia Lumia 925 Screen Protector

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Nokia Lumia 925 LCD Screen Protector film LCD Guard (Incl cleaning cloth)

Product Overview:- Easy to install Screen Protector.- No cutting or glues required.- Straight-forward installation.- Includes cleaning cloth

Key benefits of Screen Protector:- Includes cleaning cloth- Specifically fits around earpiece and contour of screen

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Nokia Lumia 925 LCD Screen Protector NOT crystal case silicon case car charger - Please check our other listings for these!

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Source: Nokia Lumia 925 Screen Protector

Nokia's canceled Lumia 2020 was a compact Windows RT tablet after my heart

Three years later, we finally get the chance to review another one of Nokia's canceled relics. This is the Nokia Lumia 2020 mini tablet with Windows RT.

Here at Windows Central, we love looking into the history books at Windows devices that never came to be. Some of our favorites have included the canceled Nokia Lumia McLaren with 3D Touch and the first images of Microsoft Surface Mini. While the Surface Mini might have been the darling of the rumor mill, Nokia too was working on a compact Windows RT tablet — the Nokia Lumia 2020.

Codenamed "Illusionist", the Lumia 2020 was going to be Nokia's second Windows RT tablet. However, following the launch of the Lumia 2520, Nokia ended development on the smaller, 8-inch device. While not much is known about why Nokia decided to kill the product, many speculate the decision was influenced heavily by Microsoft, who was also building a similar, arguably better tablet with pen support; something the Lumia 2020 didn't have but the Surface Mini would (had it too not been canceled).

Lumia 2020 specifications Category Nokia Lumia 2020 OS Windows RT 8.1 (ARM32) Material Polycarbonate shell Processor Snapdragon 800 (8974) 2.15GHz Storage 32GB (expandable) RAM 2GB Display 8.3-inch 1080p LCD Graphics Qualcomm Adreno 330 Ports 1x MicroUSC, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, SIM tray, MicroSD card slot Audio Dual front-facing stereo speakers. Camera Front facing 1MP, rear-facing 19MP PureView camera Lumia 2020 hardware

In early 2014, the Lumia 2020 would have been considered "high-end". Featuring a Snapdragon 800 CPU with 2GB RAM, 64GB internal storage, and an 8.3-inch 1080p LCD, the Lumia 2020 was a pretty powerful mini tablet that rocked Windows RT like it was nothing. Since Windows RT was limited to Windows Store apps, for the most part, the device flies when opening new apps, switching between them and multitasking with multiple apps at once.

In my time using the prototype, I've not had any performance issues worthy of note. That's unlike the original Surface RT, which shipped with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip and as a result suffered from terrible performance. The Snapdragon 800 was a much more powerful chip that didn't struggle nearly as much with Windows RT. Paired with 2GB RAM for multitasking, things run pretty smooth on this mini tablet.

We're also rocking an 8.3-inch 1080p display on the front of the device, which looks absolutely gorgeous. The screen is bright and crisp, with 1080p bringing more than enough pixels for the 8-inch form factor. There's also a pair of front-facing speakers on the top bezel of the device, which is a nice touch. We also have a single capacitive home button with haptic feedback when touched.

There's also a front and rear-facing camera, with the latter being a PureView 19MP shooter with dual-LED flash. Unfortunately, the software was never completed on this prototype, which means actual photos look rubbish. Still, if this device were to have hit the market, it would have likely had the best camera of any tablet at the time. Impressive stuff.

The Lumia 2020 is also rocking an microSD card slot for expandable storage, as well as mobile data through an LTE SIM card slot. This would have been incredibly useful for those who like to travel light, yet stay connected when they take their tablet with them. There's also a Micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack, par-of-the-course back in 2014.

Lumia 2020 design and build quality

Build quality is nothing short of excellent. There's no doubt about it; this was going to be a premium mini Windows RT tablet. The device features a matte polycarbonate shell, which would have been available in a number of colors; our prototype is white, which looks super clean and nice. There's no creaking or flimsiness to be found on this device, which is excellent. It doesn't feel as good as the magnesium Surface RT, but it still feels great. I'd say it's comparable to the build quality of the Lumia 1520.

We have just three physical buttons on the top of the device. A power/lock button and right next to it the volume rocker. There's no dedicated camera button, which I'd argue isn't exactly needed or useful on a tablet anyway. The buttons feel a little mushy, but that's probably because this is an old prototype that's been around a fair bit.

The front of the device is where things start to fall down. For some reason, Nokia decided to make the left and right bezels slimmer than the top and bottom, giving the front of the device an "off" look. I wouldn't say it looks bad, but I would have preferred if the bezels on the Lumia 2020 were equal on all sides.

What's more, the polycarbonate shell wraps around the front of the device and outlines the screen and its bezels. Depending on the color, the shell can really visually pop. On our white prototype, for example, the shell is clearly visible around the screen.

The screen itself is a 16:9 display, so it's only really useful in landscape mode, which is the orientation that the device is designed in. Using the tablet in portrait mode, as many likely would want to do with an 8-inch device, results in the screen being awkwardly tall and narrow. This is a mini tablet designed to be used in the landscape orientation.

And that I think says a lot about the tablet Nokia was planning to build. Unlike Microsoft, who was building the Surface Mini as a productivity machine for taking notes, Nokia looked to be building a mini tablet that's more aimed at media consumption and creation. The high-quality camera, paired with the 16:9 1080p display and front facing speakers all point toward a device aimed at entertainment rather than productivity.

Lumia 2020 software

The Lumia 2020 is an ARM-based tablet running Windows 8.1 RT. Microsoft of 2014 hadn't yet mastered Win32 emulation on ARM, limiting Windows RT devices to apps downloaded from the Windows Store. The first Microsoft Surface was the inaugural Windows RT device, along with a few tablets by the likes of Dell, ASUS, and Samsung. They all flopped, so it's no surprised that Nokia decided to pull the plug on the RT-running Lumia 2020.

Windows RT came with Office 2013 RT out of the box, which gave RT users access to the full suite of Office apps, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Outlook for free. You can find the same set of apps on the Lumia 2020, but I don't think these apps would have seen much use by users. The screen is too small to do any real work, and since the Lumia 2020 doesn't support pen, there's no way to ink in OneNote.

The desktop environment itself is also incredibly small on an 8-inch device, so much so I'd say it's barely usable. The Modern Windows 8.1 UI, on the other hand, is tremendous at this screen size. Elements are perfectly sized, icons and text look super crisp and the entire tablet experience just works. It's gesture-based, which I feel is pretty natural on a tablet experience.

Even with the tablet experience being more than great, this thing is still running Windows RT. This means that most people would've immediately disliked the tablet thanks to its limited app selection.

I never really disliked Windows RT, but for those that did, this tablet wasn't going to fix any of its problems.

Lumia 2020 camera

It's odd to be talking about a camera on a tablet, but the camera on the Lumia 2020 is pretty remarkable. It's a great shooter, as it is PureView after all. The camera software was never finished on this unit, but I'm able to get some pretty good photos out of what was finished.

I'd never recommend using a tablet as your main camera, but the camera on the Lumia 2020 would've been better than most smartphone cameras in the year 2014. That's an impressive feat.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to show you how this camera performs in low-light because the camera simply doesn't perform in low-light. I'm assuming this is partly due to the fact that this is an unfinished prototype, but any attempts to take a photo in low light simply failed to capture an image.

Lumia 2020 final thoughts

I've been using the Lumia 2020 as an "around the house"-type tablet over the last week, and I've enjoyed every second. It's small enough to be convenient to use for browsing the web, checking email, and watching videos without me needing to pull out a laptop, and is light enough to carry around with ease.

The addition of LTE support is also a nice touch, allowing me to throw the tablet in a bag and take it with me when going out on day trips. Sometimes using your phone to check email or browse the web when on the go isn't enough, and the 1080p 8.3-inch screen on the Lumia 2020 really delivers. It gets bright enough for use outdoors too.

Battery life on the Lumia 2020 is pretty good. I can get through a day using it on and off like you would a normal tablet pretty easily. I can probably squeeze two days out of a single charge if I use it occasionally. LTE will obviously bring that number down, but when using WiFi around the house, this thing lasts. Since this tablet was never released, we don't actually know the capacity of the battery without openign up that sealed back shell — and that's not worth the risk of breaking this rare prototype.

The Lumia 2020 would have been a superb entertainment tablet back in 2014. It's small, designed well, and has a great display and speakers, along with a really good camera (especially for a tablet). It was designed for media consumption first and foremost, not for working in Word. Browsing the web, checking email, using Twitter and watching videos are what this tablet does best.

I am saddened that this tablet never actually came to market. I feel the same way about the Surface Mini. As a fan of small tablets, both the Lumia 2020 and Surface Mini have left holes in my heart. I've always wanted a small Windows tablet with great battery life and performance, and the Lumia 2020 could have been that device. Unfortunately, it was never released, and to this day we still haven't had a compact, premium, and powerful Windows tablet.

Perhaps that'll change now that Microsoft is bringing Windows 10 back to ARM with the Snapdragon 835 — and with full app support. We can't wait to see what's in store. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the Lumia 2020? Let us know.

Pros:

Crisp, clear 1080p display.

Premium polycarbonate build.

Loud and clear front-facing speakers.

LTE support.

Great camera.

Cons:

Was never released.

Runs Windows RT.

16:9 aspect ratio is odd for a mini-tablet.

No pen support.

Source: Nokia's canceled Lumia 2020 was a compact Windows RT tablet after my heart

Nokia's canceled Lumia 2020 was a compact Windows RT tablet after my heart

Three years later, we finally get the chance to review another one of Nokia's canceled relics. This is the Nokia Lumia 2020 mini tablet with Windows RT.

Here at Windows Central, we love looking into the history books at Windows devices that never came to be. Some of our favorites have included the canceled Nokia Lumia McLaren with 3D Touch and the first images of Microsoft Surface Mini. While the Surface Mini might have been the darling of the rumor mill, Nokia too was working on a compact Windows RT tablet — the Nokia Lumia 2020.

Codenamed "Illusionist", the Lumia 2020 was going to be Nokia's second Windows RT tablet. However, following the launch of the Lumia 2520, Nokia ended development on the smaller, 8-inch device. While not much is known about why Nokia decided to kill the product, many speculate the decision was influenced heavily by Microsoft, who was also building a similar, arguably better tablet with pen support; something the Lumia 2020 didn't have but the Surface Mini would (had it too not been canceled).

Lumia 2020 specifications Category Nokia Lumia 2020 OS Windows RT 8.1 (ARM32) Material Polycarbonate shell Processor Snapdragon 800 (8974) 2.15GHz Storage 32GB (expandable) RAM 2GB Display 8.3-inch 1080p LCD Graphics Qualcomm Adreno 330 Ports 1x MicroUSC, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, SIM tray, MicroSD card slot Audio Dual front-facing stereo speakers. Camera Front facing 1MP, rear-facing 19MP PureView camera Lumia 2020 hardware

In early 2014, the Lumia 2020 would have been considered "high-end". Featuring a Snapdragon 800 CPU with 2GB RAM, 64GB internal storage, and an 8.3-inch 1080p LCD, the Lumia 2020 was a pretty powerful mini tablet that rocked Windows RT like it was nothing. Since Windows RT was limited to Windows Store apps, for the most part, the device flies when opening new apps, switching between them and multitasking with multiple apps at once.

In my time using the prototype, I've not had any performance issues worthy of note. That's unlike the original Surface RT, which shipped with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip and as a result suffered from terrible performance. The Snapdragon 800 was a much more powerful chip that didn't struggle nearly as much with Windows RT. Paired with 2GB RAM for multitasking, things run pretty smooth on this mini tablet.

We're also rocking an 8.3-inch 1080p display on the front of the device, which looks absolutely gorgeous. The screen is bright and crisp, with 1080p bringing more than enough pixels for the 8-inch form factor. There's also a pair of front-facing speakers on the top bezel of the device, which is a nice touch. We also have a single capacitive home button with haptic feedback when touched.

There's also a front and rear-facing camera, with the latter being a PureView 19MP shooter with dual-LED flash. Unfortunately, the software was never completed on this prototype, which means actual photos look rubbish. Still, if this device were to have hit the market, it would have likely had the best camera of any tablet at the time. Impressive stuff.

The Lumia 2020 is also rocking an microSD card slot for expandable storage, as well as mobile data through an LTE SIM card slot. This would have been incredibly useful for those who like to travel light, yet stay connected when they take their tablet with them. There's also a Micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack, par-of-the-course back in 2014.

Lumia 2020 design and build quality

Build quality is nothing short of excellent. There's no doubt about it; this was going to be a premium mini Windows RT tablet. The device features a matte polycarbonate shell, which would have been available in a number of colors; our prototype is white, which looks super clean and nice. There's no creaking or flimsiness to be found on this device, which is excellent. It doesn't feel as good as the magnesium Surface RT, but it still feels great. I'd say it's comparable to the build quality of the Lumia 1520.

We have just three physical buttons on the top of the device. A power/lock button and right next to it the volume rocker. There's no dedicated camera button, which I'd argue isn't exactly needed or useful on a tablet anyway. The buttons feel a little mushy, but that's probably because this is an old prototype that's been around a fair bit.

The front of the device is where things start to fall down. For some reason, Nokia decided to make the left and right bezels slimmer than the top and bottom, giving the front of the device an "off" look. I wouldn't say it looks bad, but I would have preferred if the bezels on the Lumia 2020 were equal on all sides.

What's more, the polycarbonate shell wraps around the front of the device and outlines the screen and its bezels. Depending on the color, the shell can really visually pop. On our white prototype, for example, the shell is clearly visible around the screen.

The screen itself is a 16:9 display, so it's only really useful in landscape mode, which is the orientation that the device is designed in. Using the tablet in portrait mode, as many likely would want to do with an 8-inch device, results in the screen being awkwardly tall and narrow. This is a mini tablet designed to be used in the landscape orientation.

And that I think says a lot about the tablet Nokia was planning to build. Unlike Microsoft, who was building the Surface Mini as a productivity machine for taking notes, Nokia looked to be building a mini tablet that's more aimed at media consumption and creation. The high-quality camera, paired with the 16:9 1080p display and front facing speakers all point toward a device aimed at entertainment rather than productivity.

Lumia 2020 software

The Lumia 2020 is an ARM-based tablet running Windows 8.1 RT. Microsoft of 2014 hadn't yet mastered Win32 emulation on ARM, limiting Windows RT devices to apps downloaded from the Windows Store. The first Microsoft Surface was the inaugural Windows RT device, along with a few tablets by the likes of Dell, ASUS, and Samsung. They all flopped, so it's no surprised that Nokia decided to pull the plug on the RT-running Lumia 2020.

Windows RT came with Office 2013 RT out of the box, which gave RT users access to the full suite of Office apps, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Outlook for free. You can find the same set of apps on the Lumia 2020, but I don't think these apps would have seen much use by users. The screen is too small to do any real work, and since the Lumia 2020 doesn't support pen, there's no way to ink in OneNote.

The desktop environment itself is also incredibly small on an 8-inch device, so much so I'd say it's barely usable. The Modern Windows 8.1 UI, on the other hand, is tremendous at this screen size. Elements are perfectly sized, icons and text look super crisp and the entire tablet experience just works. It's gesture-based, which I feel is pretty natural on a tablet experience.

Even with the tablet experience being more than great, this thing is still running Windows RT. This means that most people would've immediately disliked the tablet thanks to its limited app selection.

I never really disliked Windows RT, but for those that did, this tablet wasn't going to fix any of its problems.

Lumia 2020 camera

It's odd to be talking about a camera on a tablet, but the camera on the Lumia 2020 is pretty remarkable. It's a great shooter, as it is PureView after all. The camera software was never finished on this unit, but I'm able to get some pretty good photos out of what was finished.

I'd never recommend using a tablet as your main camera, but the camera on the Lumia 2020 would've been better than most smartphone cameras in the year 2014. That's an impressive feat.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to show you how this camera performs in low-light because the camera simply doesn't perform in low-light. I'm assuming this is partly due to the fact that this is an unfinished prototype, but any attempts to take a photo in low light simply failed to capture an image.

Lumia 2020 final thoughts

I've been using the Lumia 2020 as an "around the house"-type tablet over the last week, and I've enjoyed every second. It's small enough to be convenient to use for browsing the web, checking email, and watching videos without me needing to pull out a laptop, and is light enough to carry around with ease.

The addition of LTE support is also a nice touch, allowing me to throw the tablet in a bag and take it with me when going out on day trips. Sometimes using your phone to check email or browse the web when on the go isn't enough, and the 1080p 8.3-inch screen on the Lumia 2020 really delivers. It gets bright enough for use outdoors too.

Battery life on the Lumia 2020 is pretty good. I can get through a day using it on and off like you would a normal tablet pretty easily. I can probably squeeze two days out of a single charge if I use it occasionally. LTE will obviously bring that number down, but when using WiFi around the house, this thing lasts. Since this tablet was never released, we don't actually know the capacity of the battery without openign up that sealed back shell — and that's not worth the risk of breaking this rare prototype.

The Lumia 2020 would have been a superb entertainment tablet back in 2014. It's small, designed well, and has a great display and speakers, along with a really good camera (especially for a tablet). It was designed for media consumption first and foremost, not for working in Word. Browsing the web, checking email, using Twitter and watching videos are what this tablet does best.

I am saddened that this tablet never actually came to market. I feel the same way about the Surface Mini. As a fan of small tablets, both the Lumia 2020 and Surface Mini have left holes in my heart. I've always wanted a small Windows tablet with great battery life and performance, and the Lumia 2020 could have been that device. Unfortunately, it was never released, and to this day we still haven't had a compact, premium, and powerful Windows tablet.

Perhaps that'll change now that Microsoft is bringing Windows 10 back to ARM with the Snapdragon 835 — and with full app support. We can't wait to see what's in store. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the Lumia 2020? Let us know.

Pros:

Crisp, clear 1080p display.

Premium polycarbonate build.

Loud and clear front-facing speakers.

LTE support.

Great camera.

Cons:

Was never released.

Runs Windows RT.

16:9 aspect ratio is odd for a mini-tablet.

No pen support.

Source: Nokia's canceled Lumia 2020 was a compact Windows RT tablet after my heart

Even Bill Gates Has Stopped Using Windows Phone and Moved to Android

Ever wondered which device Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates uses? It's not an iPhone, and of course not the non-existent Windows phone. He revealed in an interview with  Fox News Sunday (spotted by Onmsft) that he uses an Android device loaded with lots of Microsoft software.

Masaru Kamikura | Flickr

Nearing the end of the noughties, Microsoft's Windows phones were one of the major rivals to iPhone and then emerging Android phones but they saw a drastic downfall over the years and are now essentially dead.

Bill Gates seems to have moved on from the downfall of Windows phone to the more popular choice globally — Android — but doesn't reveal exactly which device he is using currently.

Going by the revelation that the device sports a lot of Microsoft software, The Verge speculates that Gates might be using the Samsung Galaxy S8 which comes bundled with several basic Microsoft apps.

"A Microsoft customization is applied to the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ Microsoft Edition when the devices are unboxed and connected to Wi-Fi. This customization ensures customers a best-in-class productivity experience with Microsoft applications such as Office, OneDrive, Cortana, Outlook and more," a Microsoft spokesperson told the Verge.

Soon after the launch of Samsung Galaxy S8, Microsoft began selling the device bundled with apps like Office, OneDrive, Cortana, and Outlook.

During the Fox interview, Bill Gates admitted that Steve Jobs was a 'genius' but his famous ban on iPhone and iPad (and other Apple products) from his home still remains as it is. More so, since he seems to have taken to using Android devices.

While Microsoft hasn't really taken well to the dynamic world of smartphones, they seem to be laying their focus more on cloud computing and Windows for PC.

Source: Even Bill Gates Has Stopped Using Windows Phone and Moved to Android

Video capture shoot-out: Lumia 950 XL versus iPhone 8 Plus

Published by Steve Litchfield at 15:27 UTC, September 27th 2017

Despite losing to the Lumia 950 XL in the stills shootout, the new A11-powered iPhone 8 Plus gets its revenge when capturing video, where the sheer processing power it brings to bear pays more dividends. See the split-screen proof below. Who says the Lumia always wins on AAWP?(!)

I had both the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus in a jig to keep them stationary with respect to each other, though this did compromise the 950 XL's stereo audio in that one of the microphones was essentially obstructed by the jig and adjacent iPhone - so take the imbalanced audio and occasional scratching sounds with a pinch of salt - it's just how I had the phone mounted.

Both phone cameras have OIS plus EIS (Electronic/digital stabilisation, essentially using accelerometer inputs and/or frame analysis to make the output super smooth) - ignore that aspect of the commentary, in which I wasn't sure about the iPhone's EIS and imply that it's Lumia only. EIS of various kinds is definitely in place on the iPhone (as you'd expect) and applied after outputting the preview to the viewfinder, which is why I couldn't spot it properly at shooting time in the real time commentary.

Note that all footage is at 1080p deliberately, I've ignored the 4K facility on both phone cameras, partly because not that many people can still stream or view 4K and partly because I wanted to use quite a bit of digital zoom here (and less is needed at 1080p since there's spare 'capacity' on the sensors).

This comparison, for once, sees the Lumia 950 XL comprehensively outgunned:

the iPhone 8 Plus's sensor is newer

it has a 2x zoom lens

it has hardware-based real time noise reduction

it uses much higher data rates

it encodes to the new HEVC format (which proved a pain initially when setting this comparison up, but it does deliver excellent results)

Here's the video data point anyway - as usual, click on the 'YouTube' logo, once playing, and you'll be taken off into another browser tab which can be fully maximised - increase the quality there so that you can stream the full 1080p and also see all the resolution available:

The plus points listed above all make their mark, with the iPhone footage superior at every turn. Quite astonishingly clear pixel detail across the frame, decently low noise in the dark of the church (which was a lot dimmer than the footage makes it seem!), lightning fast auto-focus, and so on. While the 950 XL's video frame was dimmer than I'd have liked (remember there's no PureView oversampling help when shooting video) and auto-focus was as rubbish as usual when the light was anything less than good.

The Lumia needn't feel too bad, since technology marches on and video capture is one aspect of phone cameras which has advanced fast than most - these days even £200 phones can shoot 4K, for goodness sake. Simply amazing. Anyone else remember when phones would capture QVGA? And then the Nokia N93 hit the world in 2006 with VGA capture and optical zoom and we thought the future had arrived? Today's 4K video frame is roughly 24 times the number of pixels on-screen as on that original Nokia N93 powerhouse!

All in all, a very definite win for the latest iPhone flagship over the old Lumia, so kudos to Apple here - but then the 950 XL's strong point is stills, arguably? Can't win 'em all, eh?

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Source: Video capture shoot-out: Lumia 950 XL versus iPhone 8 Plus

Forget Windows Mobile, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates prefers Android over iPhone

If there was ever a case to demonstrate Microsoft's monumental failure in capturing the smartphone market, billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has done it. Singalling that the company's co-founder has little faith in the Windows 10 Mobile ecosystem, Gates said in an interview that he is using an Android phone with lots of Microsoft software on board.

With Satya Nadella at the helm, Microsoft has brought its much-used productivity software to both Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms, and Gates seems satisfied with this formula.

In an interview with Fox News, Bill Gates said he was impressed with the competition that Apple founder Steve Jobs helped foster in the software and IT space, he has preferred to switch to an Android smartphone and uses all Windows-based PCs.

"It's great that Apple is continuing to good work [after Steve Jobs passed away]. I happen to use all Windows-based PCs. The phone that I have recently, I actually did switch to an Android phone with lot of Microsoft software, but the competition in software and IT space that Steve [Jobs] help foster, is phenomenal and Microsoft is a big part of that," he told Fox News.

While Bill Gates didn't specifically share the handset that he is using, the reference to "lot of Microsoft software" has led to speculation that he might be talking about the Microsoft edition of either Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, which were launched in April this year.

The Microsoft-customised version of the smartphones comes with the Redmond-based company's applications such as Office, OneDrive, Cortana, Outlook and more.

Putting aside any doubts that Gates might be using an iPhone as well on the side, he simply said, "No, no iPhone" when the interviewer asked him if he is not using the iPhone. 

Source: Forget Windows Mobile, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates prefers Android over iPhone

Nokia 8 first impressions: Finally, a premium Nokia smartphone we’ve been waiting for

Nokia, a brand once synonymous with mobile phones, made a comeback in January this year, courtesy HMD Global, the Finnish firm that develops and markets smartphones and feature phones under the "Nokia" brand name. Ever since the resurrection, it's been a long wait for an Android smartphone that blended Nokia's expertise in design and camera, and specifications that could take on the likes of flagships from Samsung and LG. After wooing the budget market with Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6, HMD Global launched the Nokia 8 in August, the most premium smartphone from the company so far.

This phone, however, is not just about top-end specifications. It comes loaded with three first-of-its-kind features for Android smartphones: Collaboration with ZEISS optics, Nokia 'OZO Audio' and the 'Dual-Sight' mode. Add to this list the vanilla Android with a promise of regular security and software updates and it'd seem the phone has a lot going for itself. We used the smartphone briefly when it was launched in Delhi on Tuesday, and here are our first impressions.

First things first: The Nokia 8 is a beautiful smartphone. Never mind that it does not sport the trendy Infinity screen or a higher screen-to-body ratio like other contemporary smartphones. What works for it is its sturdy build and a uniform design with a minimalist approach. The phone does remind us of the older Lumia smartphones, but that's not a negative. It fits well in your palms with all the necessary buttons such as volume rocker and power buttons well within reach. Its capacitive touchbuttons at the bottom bezels for navigation, and a home button in the center that also doubles as the fingerprint scanner, add to the phone's ease of use.

Perhaps, a rear-facing fingerprint scanner, or a large home button, could have been much easier. The pill-shaped home button does take some time to get accustomed to. If you'd used Nokia 6 in the past, you would have faced the same issue initially.

Needless to say, the pure Android (it runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box) seems fluid with absolutely no lag or stutter while shuffling between apps. The stock Android is now finally getting a wide attention by various OEMs. In the last couple of months, a number of phones, including Xiaomi's Android One Mi A1, launched with the pure Android. Lenovo ditched its Vibe UI for a range of its smartphones such as the K8 Note. The Nokia 8 will not only be upgradable to Android 8.0 Oreo but also receive regular security updates, a big pain point for Android users for a long time.

The Nokia 8 runs on pure Android. (HT Photo)

The Nokia 8 comes with dual 13-megapixel rear cameras with one sensor for colour and the other for monochrome. Though it does not have a dedicated depth-sensing sensor, it can deliver Bokeh effect (DSLR-like shallow depth-of-field). The camera also has a dedicated button for Bothie, which essentially lets you shoot from both the rear and front cameras simultaneously.

A preview of the camera interface of the Nokia 8. (HT Photo)

You can also natively livestream Bothie videos to YouTube, Facebook and other social networking sites. We couldn't spend much time with the phone to draw a conclusion on Bothie. However, unless you are a big fan of gimmicks, take this feature with a pinch of salt. Do you really see yourself using this feature a lot? Yes, it's a good addition, but we have the same feelers for Bothie that we had for Sony's 3D creator on the Xperia XZ1. ALSO READ: Liked Nokia 8's 'Bothie' feature? Try these 3 free apps to mimic the experience

Go live on Facebook and YouTube directly from the smartphone. (HT Photo)

With Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB of RAM under the hood, the Nokia 8 is unlikely to be a slouch. More on that later, after we've had a chance to thoroughly review the device. We are really looking forward to try out the OZO 360-degree sound and the Carl Zeiss camera. With a price tag of Rs 36,999, this phone has a good chance in the premium category where its closest competitors are the OnePlus 5 and Honor 8 Pro, priced at Rs 32,999 and Rs 29,999 respectively.

Source: Nokia 8 first impressions: Finally, a premium Nokia smartphone we've been waiting for

Transferring Photos from iPhone7 with IOS 11 to PC with Windows 10

Computer Type: PC/DesktopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: My Own BuildOS: Win 10CPU: i7 6700KMotherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus VIII HeroMemory: 16 Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4Graphics Card: Intel (i7 CPU)Sound Card: RealtekMonitor(s) Displays: 23" ViewsonicScreen Resolution: 1920X1080Keyboard: Microsoft wirelessMouse: Microsoft wirelessPSU: EVGA Supernova 750 G2Case: BeQuiet Silent Base 600Cooling: Deepcool Captain 120EXHard Drives: Samsung 850 EVO for Win 10 250GB SSD for Win 10 Insiders Version 1TB conventional drive for recording projects and backupInternet Speed: 100 Mb/sec downlink, 10 Mb/sec uplinkBrowser: EdgeAntivirus: Windows DefenderOther Info: Recording Studio using Sonar Platinum

Computer Type: LaptopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: Dell Inspiron 15 5577OS: Win 10 HomeCPU: 7th gen i5Motherboard: DellMemory: 8 GBGraphics Card: NVIDIASound Card: RealtekMonitor(s) Displays: DellScreen Resolution: 1920X1080Keyboard: DellMouse: LogitechPSU: DellCase: DellCooling: DellHard Drives: 250GB SSDInternet Speed: 100Mb/sec downlinkBrowser: EdgeAntivirus: Windows DefenderOther Info: Recording studio DAW PC

Source: Transferring Photos from iPhone7 with IOS 11 to PC with Windows 10

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says he voted against Steve Ballmer's $7.6 billion Nokia mistake (MSFT)

© Provided by Business Insider nadella ballmer gates When Microsoft's then CEO Steve Ballmer proposed buying Nokia to shore up the company's foundering mobile phone division, Satya Nadella thought it would be a mistake. 

Four years later, he hasn't changed his mind.  

In his new book, "Hit Refresh," Nadella, who replaced Ballmer as Microsoft CEO, says he unsuccessfully tried to dissuade his predecessor from purchasing Nokia. 

According to the book, Ballmer held an informal poll among his most senior executives: Should he move ahead with an acquisition of Nokia? Ballmer made the case that without Nokia, Microsoft's struggling Windows Phone operating system and ecosystem would never be able to compete with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, which were dominating even then. 

Nadella, who was then the top executive in charge of Microsoft's cloud business and a member of Ballmer's inner council, voted "no." 

"[It] was too late to regain the ground we had lost. We were chasing our competitors' taillights," Nadella writes in his book.

Nadella's "no" vote was first reported by Bloomberg back in 2014, not long after he assumed the role of chief executive, but he's never before publicly acknowledged it. Other Microsoft executives joined Nadella in opposing the deal, according to the report, while Microsoft founder Bill Gates advised Ballmer against it. 

Ultimately, Ballmer got his way. Microsoft purchased Nokia in 2013 for $7.9 billion. But just as Nadella worried, the deal turned out to be a big mistake. The company ultimately took a write-down for almost the entire purchase price and laid off thousands. 

And there was another outgrowth of the deal — Ballmer's departure. Microsoft finalized the deal about a month after Ballmer said he would step down as CEO. The friction between Ballmer and Microsoft's board of directors that was generated by the Nokia acquisition is ultimately what led to his decision to resign, according to numerous reports. 

© Provided by Business Insider microsoft panos panay windows phone lumia 950 Getty Images/Andrew Burton

In early 2014, Microsoft appointed Nadella CEO. While Microsoft released one new flagship Windows phone, the Lumia 950, it wasn't long before Nadella started to unwind the company's smartphone business. 

Instead of focusing on making its own phones, Microsoft, under Nadella, has concentrated on making apps and services available for Apple's iPhone and iPad and for Android devices. Microsoft should only be in mobile when it has something unique to offer, Nadella writes in his book. That could be a hint that the company is still working on its long-rumored Surface Phone.

Nadella says his biggest disappointment from the entire Nokia episode was its human cost. 

"In retrospect, what I regret most is the impact these layoffs had on very talented, passionate people in our phone division," Nadella writes.

NOW WATCH: Video from 50 smartphones captures a New York City moment in a way you've never seen before

© Microsoft © Getty Images/Andrew Burton
Source: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says he voted against Steve Ballmer's $7.6 billion Nokia mistake (MSFT)

iPhone 8 Gets New Benchmarks – Outpaces a Core i5-Powered MacBook Pro and Other Windows-Running Notebooks

As evidenced in previous benchmarks, the iPhone 8 is a mobile computing beast but that is not going to be the end of it as the latest series of scores show that the phone is a formidable piece of technology even against a MacBook Pro and a Windows 10-powered notebook.

Tom's Guide got its hands on the latest iPhone 8 and perhaps for kicks and giggles, benchmarks were run pitting the 4.7-inch phone against the MacBook Pro and Dell's XPS 13 in Geekbench 4. The results were quite astonishing as the iPhone 8 was able to breeze past both notebooks in the multi-core test results. Bear in mind the 13-inch MacBook Pro that was put through the test featured a Core i5 processor and that chip is no slouch if you want to carry out a number of tasks in quick succession or simultaneously.

In previous benchmarks, the iPad Pro was also able to beat Apple's MacBook Pro in a variety of tests, proving that the company's chip design prowess is at its imperious best. The surprising thing about these tests is that the iPhone 8 Plus obtained a higher score compared to the iPhone 8 and to remind you, the former exudes a higher resolution than the 4.7-inch smartphone which puts more strain on the GPU.

In comparison, the OnePlus 5 and Galaxy Note 8 exhibit nowhere near the same level of performance of these dominating computing beasts, and we also feel that next-generation 'off the shelf' hardware from Qualcomm and Samsung will not be able to hold a candle next to these results.

The improved performance could be one of the reasons why the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are able to provide support for 4K video recording at 60 frames per second. Even in the camera department, both devices have secured the highest positions according to DxOMark's strict testing, proving that Apple has managed to strike the hammer in various categories for a smartphone once more.

You might also like to check out:

Source: Tom's Guide

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Source: iPhone 8 Gets New Benchmarks – Outpaces a Core i5-Powered MacBook Pro and Other Windows-Running Notebooks

Camera head to head: Lumia 950 XL vs Apple iPhone 8 Plus

The iPhone 8 Plus takes the best of physical optics - twin cameras, one of which is telephoto - and the best of computational photography, with noise reduction and multi-frame techniques, and puts it all together with love and care. Remember that some of Nokia's PureView talent went to Apple and that the latter's imaging team is many hundreds of people. At which point you shouldn't be surprised that this particular camera head to head is going to be the closest yet.

The iPhone 8 Plus only offers a 12MP 4:3 mode, so effectively 9MP when looking at 16:9, meaning that I chose to shoot at 8MP on the Lumia 950 XL - I do like to match up resolutions as best possible so that I can use Rafe's fancy interactive comparator, below. 

The iPhone actually captures the photos in HEIC format, but they're exported from the phone as low compression/high quality JPGs, which is what I'm looking at here. Also, some of the test shots were also snapped with the optional 'live photos' turned on, adding to the byte size, should you grab any of the original JPGs...

The fields of view of the two phone cameras were very different, I've tried to centre crops on the same detail where possible, for ease of comparison.

All photos were taken on full 'auto' on both phones, unless stated otherwise. 

Obviously, there's the potential here to slant the comparison towards the iPhone by deliberately using the zoom all the time, but I've tried to use zoom with restraint. Plus, after all, the PureView zoom on the 950 XL is also there, albeit not at a full 2x. Finally, in low light, the 2x zoom lens isn't used by the iPhone, the software defaults to digital zoom on the main camera, which is the one with large aperture and OIS. Complicated, isn't it?!

Let's start snapping and pit the results against each other, using our Famed Interactive Comparator (FIC). All 1:1 crops are at 900x500 for comparison, but see the links for full versions.

Note that the interactive comparator below uses javascript and does need to load each pair of images. Please be patient while this page loads, if you see a pair of images above each other than you've either not waited long enough or your browser isn't capable enough! You ideally need a powerful, large-screened tablet or a proper laptop or desktop. This comparator may not work in some browsers. Sorry about that. On Windows 10 Mobile, use the 'AAWP Universal' UWP app, which handles the comparator very competently (see the tips in the app's help screens). Test 1: Sunny scene

My standard suburban comparison and, for once, the sun was shining. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

There's not a lot to choose between the two photos - as you'd expect in great lighting. The iPhone 8 Plus's shot definitely looks more 'processed'/sharpened, but you have to know what to look for. And, down at the pixel level, to be this close makes little difference for end users looking at the whole photo. Still, with my purist's hat on, I'm going to give the Lumia 950 Xl the win here by a nose.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 9 pts

Test 2: Sunny scene, zoomed

Having said that I wasn't going to over-do zooming, let's at least start with a zoom, given the perfect lighting conditions. Here's the same scene, but zoomed at roughly 2x. I say 'roughly' because there's no exact detent on the Lumia 950 XL UI, so you have to guess to some degree. 

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

You'll remember from my zoom article that the Lumia 950 XL can zoom losslessly by 1.5x when in this 8MP mode. But I'm asking 2x here, meaning that there's going to be some lossy digital zoom too. Thus the iPhone 8 Plus's 2x zoomed shot from its dedicated lens produces the clearer shot now, with the 950 XL taking a turn at producing a 'processed' (as in blocky/fuzzy) image. Just look at the edges and fine detail and you'll see what I mean.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 10 pts

Test 3: Low light scene, zoomed

Staing with zoom (sorry!), and having established the suburban detail above, I wanted to throw in the exact same test but in very low light, here taken just before sunrise. It was much darker than the images make it seem, it's the magic of OIS that allows both phone cameras to bring out the detail here. Anyway, something of an ultimate light gathering exercise - the iPhone 8 Plus went down to 1/4s exposure, while the Lumia 950 XL went to 1/10s but with four times the ISO etc.

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

Now this is interesting - and expected. The iPhone 8 Plus doesn't have OIS on its zoom lens, so it knows that the only way to get zoom in low light is to rely on the main, stabilised lens and use traditional digital (interpolative) zoom. As a result, the Lumia 950 XL's image, even though slightly digitally zoomed itself, is noticeably cleaner and more detailed. [Note that the iPhone X, due out in a couple of months, has OIS on both lenses and will do a lot better here. More on that in November!]

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 7 pts

Test 4: Shady detail

Good lighting and an old church door that caught my eye from around 25m. No zooming this time, just old fashioned snap and detail. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

As with the first suburban shot, the 950 XL's PureView oversampling and image processing work well to give great and genuine detail (e.g. inside the door 'frame'), while the iPhone 8 Plus does well but ultimately has just too much contrast and sharpening added.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 9 pts

Test 5: Clock zoom

I can't resist using that tempting iPhone 8 Plus 2x zoom again, especially since the sun's out and it will definitely be employed. Here is the whole unzoomed scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

This is playing utterly to the iPhone 8 Plus's strengths, of course, but having real, optical 2x zoom is just a pleasure. And shown off well here, with the iPhone's photo almost perfect, while the Lumia 950 XL has to dip into lossy zoom territory (always a bad thing) and the result is an artefact-strewn, over-exposed mess. Oh well. Low light is coming and the Lumia's time to shine will arrive, below. Hopefully!

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 6 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 9 pts

Test 6: Indoor flowers

A nice flower arrangement, lit indoors by artificial (fluorescent) light. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

The iPhone 8 Plus camera may indeed be backed by massive processing power, but its result looks artificial here, down at the pixel level, while the 950 XL's photo looks AMAZINGLY real. Just my opinion, but your comments welcome too. This is down to the combination of still-cutting edge OIS, PureView oversampling and ZEISS lenses. I expected this test shot to come out equally, but the Lumia's photo detail has blown me away.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 8 pts

Test 7: Party time!

My famous mocked up evening party shot, with me creating the exact same movement under low light and with flash enabled on the phone camera, with the phones on a tripod on self-timer (I didn't want to entrust this to human/family error!) Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

While the iPhone 8 Plus does a good job of capturing the scene as a whole, you can see from the crops above that there's significant blurring of movement in the scene - while the 950 XL's extra bright flash and multi-frame flash algorithm manages to get much closer to what a standalone camera would have achieved. You can even see some individual hairs on my hand holding the glass, plus wrinkles (ahem), while the pixel level detail is just image-processed fuzz from the iPhone. Sorry, Apple, on this one. You have yet to nail moving subjects in low light...

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 6 pts

Test 8: Night time

A lit path on a dark night, a test of focussing and light gathering. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

Both phone cameras went for roughly a 1/4s exposure (thanks to OIS!) but the Lumia's image is dramatically less noisy, thanks to the PureView oversampling and a physically larger sensor. Apple, in theory, has hardware-based noise reduction, but I'm not seeing the results from this here. Critics will say that 'oh, you're expecting too much from a phone camera', but I'd reply 'but phone cameras CAN cope with this sort of scene and they've been doing so successfully ever since the Lumia 950 range was released at the end of 2015!'...

It's not just noise, either. Look at the car on the right of the crop, it's almost invisible on the iPhone 8 Plus photo. 

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 6 pts

Test 9: Wild fair

A wild-card fling of a phone camera test - flashing lights at night down at the fair - all rather extreme but even a geek has to have some fun!! Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

A tough shot for both to pull off and the iPhone 8 Plus just manages a win here, with its focus more accurate and with the sharpening algorithms able to pull out more detail in this man-made/artificial scene. In contrast (pun intended), the Lumia 950 XL's shot is very good but there's a sense (as there often is at night) that the focussing of the lens system wasn't quite right.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 9 pts

Test 10: Stained glass zoom

Here's a good example of where zoom is needed and with tricky lighting. In this church interior, I couldn't get closer to this stained glass window because the altar area was roped off. So I shot the window from the side with 2x zoom on each phone. Here is the whole (zoomed) scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and iPhone 8 Plus, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

Although both phone cameras struggled with exposure and dynamic range here, the iPhone 8 Plus had enough light to use its zoom lens and the result is more detail - and also better colours, with the Lumia turning the monk's brown habit (on the left of the crop) to royal purple. Oops. This is a good example of, whatever negatives I've brought up above, how the iPhone 8 range's image processing does get colours right more often than almost anything else, while the Lumia range, for all its imaging positives, can sometimes throw up something of a curve ball in terms of colours, with skin turning yellow and - here - rich colours changing hue entirely.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 6 pts; Apple iPhone 8 Plus: 9 pts

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Verdict

As usual, adding up the points gives us a feel for how the two phone cameras did:

Lumia 950 XL: 84/100pts

iPhone 8 Plus: 82/100pts

I promise that this isn't a 'fix', by the way. In fact, I had nine test cases and the 8 Plus was too far behind in terms of how I felt about the capability of its cameras, so I added a tenth (the clock zoom test, no.5 above) to give its principal selling point another chance to 'shine'. I'm kind that way. And the 950 XL still came out on top, though not by much.

The preceding paragraph tells the story of the iPhone 8 Plus camera, really. If you like to use the 2x zoom lens a lot (and in good lighting) then it's the best phone camera in the world bar none. (Well, since the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom!) Away from the zoom use case, it's simply another very good modern phone camera, along the lines of the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S8. Which is to say that images are excellent as long as you stay in reasonable light and don't crop down to pixel level. Plus the dual camera design on this Plus model does mean that special computational effects like the rather effective 'portrait' mode are possible, also a possible reason to choose this model over a single lensed design, if that's what you're into.

But in terms of straight out photos with high image quality (IQ) the Lumia 950 range still reigns supreme as the 'all in one' phone camera, in my view. It's demonstrably not perfect - odd colour renditions sometimes, unreliable focus in very low light, poor digital zoom algorithm. Yet, test case after test case, it's still manages to pip everything else to the post, even two years after launch.

As I've said often, the competition is always catching up. The Nokia 808 PureView was five years ahead of its time but hampered by an OS that had already been proclaimed End Of Life. The Lumia 1020 was also arguably years ahead, but hampered by the use of an old chipset and no dedicated ISP. But the Lumia 950 and 950 XL had reasonably current chipsets and refined versions of most (though not all) of the tech that had gone into the 808 and 1020. Which is why the 950 devices have 'lasted' longer in terms of imaging relevance here on AAWP.

I'm pretty sure the £1000 Apple iPhone X camera (dual OIS) will finally - just - topple the Lumia 950 XL, and I'll test that soon enough. But in the meantime, the classic WIndows 10 Mobile flagship remains on top of the heap. Whatever DxOMark might say*.

Your comments?

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* DxOMark, which likes to proclaim itself the self-styled standard tester of phone cameras, never did test the Lumia 950. Ever. Which is ironic, considering that it's consistently missed the one device that would trump everything else in its list, at least for pure IQ. There are question marks over its methodologies though, plus there are serious questions about its impartiality over the years - it does seem that the manufacturer that cosies up to DxOMark every few months is the one that gets the best shot at 'top phone camera' for that period (hint: they've spent a lot of time working with a company in Cupertino over the summer)...

Source: Camera head to head: Lumia 950 XL vs Apple iPhone 8 Plus