Nokia has unveiled the Lumia 1020, its flagship smartphone, which will be exclusively sold by AT&T for $299.  Pre-orders start on July 16 and the device will be available in stores on July 26.

So what does this newcomer have that others don’t?  41MP camera baby!

Aside from that, it features a 4.5 ” ClearBlack AMOLED with super-sensitive touch technology, Dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, 2GB RAM, 32BG mass memory, 7 GB free SkyDrive cloud storage, runs Windows Phone 8, 3.5 mm audio jack, micro USB, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 3.0, WLAN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiFi channel bonding, NFC for payment, Sharing, Pairing, Tagging,  2000 mAh built-in battery with a maximum 2G talk time of 19.1 hours, maximum 3G talk time of 13.3 h, music playback time of 63 h, video playback time of 6.8 h, maximum WiFi network browsing time of 5.5 h, supports wireless charging via an accessory cover, Volume keys, Camera key, Power/Lock key, Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyroscope, Proximity sensor, Magnetometer.

Now back to the camera.  It has an HD 1.2 MP wide angle secondary camera with 1280 x 960 pixels, f/2.4 aperture that is capable of video recording, still image capture, and video calling.

For the main camera, and the Lumia 1020’s main selling point, it has a 41MP PureView camera with 7712 x 5360 resolution, with autofocus, a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, 1/1.5 inch sensor size, f/2.2 aperture, 26mm camera focal length, 15cm minimum focus range, JPEG camera image format, Xenon flash, 4.0m flash operating range, with on, off and automatic flash modes.

There’s also Optical image stabilization, PureView, Backside-illuminated image sensor, 6-lens optics, High resolution zoom 3x with digital camera add-ons such as Nokia Smart Camera, Cinemagraph lens, Panorama lens, Bing vision, PhotoBeamer, Creative Studio, Nokia Glam Me, and Nokia Pro Camera, which lets you play choose between auto mode and manual mode to take full control of over exposure, shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus – just like on an expensive DSLR camera.

The question now is, will this camera be able to propel Nokia to the top of the food chain once again?

Tony Cripps, Principal analyst at Ovum believes that the Lumia 1020 using Windows Phone 8 breaks new ground for smartphones.

“The combination sets a new benchmark for high-end smartphone engineering – and a timely reminder of Nokia’s R&D capabilities – but the company must still overcome incumbent rivals, slow adoption of Windows Phone and a modest marketing budget if it is to finally help the company turn a financial corner after its recent time in the doldrums,” says Cripps.

Cripps also believes that the Lumia’s audio features takes the device a step further away from the shadows of homogenous smartphone market.

“Both imaging and audio are key areas of investment for Nokia and crucial to its long-term strategy of rebuilding market differentiation,” Cripps says. “This is true not only at the high end, where the Lumia 1020 will be something of a beacon, but also further down the range as the fruits of Nokia’s labours begin to trickle down through the midrange towards the value end of the smartphone spectrum.”

See how the Lumia 1020 compares to the Samsung Galaxy S4 in our earlier piece here.