There are many reasons to buy a smartphone.

If a camera is your number one priority, you should probably go with the Nokia Lumia 1020. 

Robert Scoble has been taking photos with the 1020 and comparing them to the new iPhone 5S. It’s not even close (at least not to my eyes). The 1020 blows away the 5S. 

The 1020′s biggest selling point is its camera, which is a 41 megapixel “PureView” lens system.  The iPhone 5S has an 8 megapixel camera.

Apple says megapixels are a misleading indication of the quality of a camera. Instead, says Apple, it’s all about sensors and software and how the phone processes the photos. 

Apple is basically correct in that what matters are the results.

But looking at Scoble’s photos, the results for the Nokia phone are great in low-light situations with a flash compared to the 5S. 

We have some of the comparisons below. 

As I said at the start, there are a lot of reasons to buy a smartphone. Personally, I think the iPhone’s operating system, iOS is significantly better than Windows Phone, which is what’s running on the 1020. iOS also has more, better apps, including Instagram which is pretty much the most important photo app nowadays. 

Because of iOS, I would recommend an iPhone over a 1020. But, if you just do minimal stuff like email and web browsing and photos are super important, the 1020 might be a good choice.

(Also, on a personal note, I was just at a wedding taking a lot of photos with an iPhone 5, so low-light photos are at the top of my mind.)

Here are Scoble’s photos, :

A photo taken with the 1020 with a flash:

Same photo taken with an iPhone 5S with flash:

Here’s another Nokia 1020 photo:

And for comparison, here’s the iPhone 5S version of the same photo:

Here’s an outdoor photo with the 1020:

Here’s the same photo with the 5S:

And, just to be clear, the Nokia phone is all about the camera. This is what it looks like. Check out how big the camera lens is. It even sticks off the phone’s back adding some bulk:

Here’s an iPhone 5S:

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