Future Technologies

NEW YORK — While demonstrating the remarkable photographic capabilities built inside its new Lumia 1020 Windows smartphone that will be hitting AT&T stores exclusively in the U.S. on July 26, Nokia showed how you could zoom in on a picture of a haystack and literally find the needle hiding inside. The eye of the needle in the picture was that sharp. Of course, finding a needle in a haystack is an apt metaphor for Nokia, the struggling Finnish cellphone giant that is trying to regain a footing in the U.S. market by selling Windows phones. But if the Lumia 1020 is any indication—and I have to add the caveat that I haven't actually tested the phone yet—Nokia may have something special, at least for avid photographers who want a higher-pedigree camera phone. AT&T is charging $299.99 for the device, with the customary two-year contract. The latest Lumia boasts a second-generation 41 megapixel-image sensor, Zeiss optics, xenon flash, manual shutter, and other photo...