Nokia has been one of the most trusted and top quality mobile manufacturer of all time, whether it be old classic phones or new generation smartphones. Nokia Lumia Smartphones are one of the most spectacular and high performing smartphones in the industry, at least I feel that. I've always found Lumia smartphones attractive and better looking than many other phones but I never had a user experience with them. Recently Nokia Connects sent me their smartphone 'Nokia Lumia 1520' for testing and review. This was my first great experience with a Windows smartphone and today I'm going to share my experience in a form of quick review.
First Impressions & Unboxing of Lumia 1520
Windows Platform always looked amazing but was a deal breaker for me because of the apps. Obviously it wasn't as versatile as iOS and Android and I personally found it a bit hard to use because of no home screen and other software issues but I still tried my best to get used to it. The box in which the phone came was nice and compact and was made of good quality material. I was surprised to find that Lumia 1520 was almost of the same size as the box (It's quite big) - at least one of the biggest phones I've ever held, except for tablets. Yes, Lumia 1520 is phablet and packs a 6 Inch Display. Other contents of the box are Earphones, charger, USB cable, Some booklets and a SIM ejection tool, that's pretty much it.
Built Quality & Design
Nokia Lumia 1520 is a big phone with 6 Inch Display and a unibody design made of polycartbonate. Lumia 1520 is available in several different colors and textures. There are glossy ones and matte body too. On one side there is a power button, physical camera shutter key and volume rockers, bottom has a MicroUSB connector port and a 3.5mm jack on the top. There is a large camera lens at the back and speaker vents. Overall the phone looks quite sleek and sturdy, it was comfortable in hand (obviously not for one hand use) and wasn't much slippery, at least the matte version. Lumia 1520 is 8.7mm thick which is quite slim for 6" Inch phones. It weighs 209 grams and has corning gorilla glass 2 protection.
Display
Nokia Lumia 1520 packs a 6 Inch Full HD IPS LCD Display with resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, with pixel density of ~367 ppi. The Display looks stunning and has a very good sunlight legibility, the touchscreen is very responsive but the size makes it difficult for one-hand operation.
Hardware & Software
Nokia Lumia 1520 packs decent hardware which makes it a great performing phablet. Under the hood it has Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset, Quad-Core 2.2GHz Krait 400 processor and Adreno 330 GPU. The above listed hardware is enough to run almost all games (currently available) with ease and full performance. Lumia 1520 runs Microsoft Windows 8 platform which is upgradable to 8.1 and future Windows 10. The Internal storage is 16 GB and 32 GB, depending on your variant. The storage can be expanded upto 64 GB using microSD card and has 2 GB RAM.
Camera
Camera is the top highlight of Lumia 1520. Honestly saying, Lumia 1520 is one of the best camera phone I've ever used. The camera output was unbelievable for me, the photos clicked using Lumia 1520 came out professional, like taken from DSLR camera. The camera specification of Lumia 1520 are; 20 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Dual-LED Flash, Autofocus, Optical Image Stabalization, 1/2.5'' sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, PureView technology, face detection, Panorama etc. It can shoot 2K videos (After WP8 Denim Update) and Full HD videos in slow motion with optical stabalization. The Front camera is a 1.2 Megapixel shooter which can capture 720p videos. The camera interface is easy to use and has many options for capturing perfect photos.
Click Here to View Lumia 1520 Sample Shots | Sample Video Test
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| Click on the Image for Full Resolution. |
Battery
The battery life of Nokia Lumia 1520 is pretty decent, at first I thought that the large screen size will drain battery faster, but still the phone lasted a day and half with moderate use. Lumia 1520 has 3400 mAh non-removable battery which is quite big for running this giant without any drain issues. The software is optimized well with hardware which decreases the battery consumption and provides better performance. According to the company, Lumia 1520 gives upto 768 hours of stand-by time, 28 hours of talktime and approximately 124 hours music playback.
Other Features
Apart from the above listed features, Lumia 1520 also has many other ones. Connectivity wise we've got Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.0, GPS, NFC, 2G and 3G connectivity, GPRS, EDGE and in some regions 4G LTE connectivity. Lumia 1520 also supports wireless charging.
Personal Experience & Verdict
I tested two different Nokia Lumia 1520 phones for about a month and was very happy with it's performance. I agree that there were some down-points regarding the size and software but once you are used to it, those issues will vanish. The phone looks amazing and is quite comfortable to hold. The vibrant colors give it a fresh appeal and make it attractive, despite of polycarbonate body, the phone still looks premium and an eye-candy. Performance wise, Lumia 1520 is heavy performer. It ran all the games and apps which I threw at it, with ease and without heating issues. Windows 8 platform has some limitations but it is properly optimized with Lumia 1520 and performs really well. The color of the tiles on the Lumia homescreen can be changed to several other colors, giving a fresh new look every time. The camera is the high-point and I really loved it (no flaws here, except for poor resolution front camera).
Overall Nokia Lumia 1520 is a winner and the best device to go for, if you are looking for a High-Performing Phablet which can capture stunning photos. Lumia 1520 is available in India for Rs. 45,000 which is quite expensive but still it delivers great performance and a stand-out look.
About Jimmie Luthra
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