Nokia focuses on taking photos in latest Lumia 1020 smartphone

Say cheese! Nokia is hoping a professional-quality camera will draw customers to pick up its latest smartphone.

The Finnish phone-maker on Thursday announced the Lumia 1020, a smartphone that packs a 41-megapixel camera designed to take better pictures than its rivals.

For comparison, other phones, including the iPhone and Galaxy S 4, typically have 8- or 12-megapixel sensors for their cameras.

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So what’s the benefit of a 41-megapixel camera? Well, Nokia is touting the fact that users won’t have to worry about zooming in before taking photos. Simply shoot the picture, and zoom in on what you want afterward.

“The Lumia 1020 camera zooms into the details of every shot -- over-sampling the results -- making your photographs sharper and clearer than ever before,” Nokia said in a statement.

The Lumia 1020 also gives users the ability to adjust the settings of its camera. Nokia said users can adjust the exposure level, white balance, shutter speed and film ISO before snapping a picture.

The device is “great for people who already know what they’re doing and those keen to learn more,” the company said.

And while the phone saves the high-megapixel images it takes, it also creates smaller 5-megapixel versions of the photos so users can quickly share them on their social networks.

Besides its camera, the Lumia 1020 is also a respectable all-around smartphone. It runs on Windows Phone 8 operating system and features a 4.5-inch 720 HD screen, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and, most importantly, 32 gigabytes of storage for all those photos.

The device will go on sale in the U.S. from AT&T on July 26 for $299. It will be available in yellow, white and black color options.

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