Nokia launches 10.1" Lumia 2520 Windows RT tablet, and two 6" Windows Phone 8 devices

[Jessica Lares]

Nokia has just announced their first Windows RT 8.1 tablet (the 10.1" Lumia 2520), and two new 6" Windows Phone 8 devices (the Lumia 1520 and 1320).

The 1520 will be sold exclusively by AT&T on contract while the 1320 will be $349 off-contract.

The specs are as follows:

2520:

• Windows RT 8.1
• 10.1” full 1080p HD AH-IPS, High Brightness with Low Reflectance, Gorilla Glass 2
• 6.7MP Auto Focus ZEISS optics, Secondary: 2MP HD wide-angle
• Video 1080p@60fps
• 4G LTE
• Nokia Music for unlimited streaming of ad-free music
• Free global HERE Maps
• Microsoft Office built-in
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (2.2GHz Quad Core)
• 8000 mAh (integrated)
• Red, White (glossy), Cyan, Black (matte)

1520:

• Windows Phone 8
• 6” full HD 1080p LCD, ClearBlack, Sunlight readability, Super sensitive touch, Gorilla Glass 2
• PureView 20 MP, ZEISS optics,OIS, 2x lossless zoom, oversampling, dual LED flash
• Video 1080p @ 30 fps full HD video with optical image stabilization
• 4G LTE
• Nokia Music for unlimited streaming of ad-free music
• Free global HERE Maps and HERE Drive+, HERE Transit available in the Store
• Microsoft Office built-in
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (2.2GHz Quad Core)
• 3400 mAh (integrated) with built-in wireless charging
• Yellow, white, black, glossy red

1320:

• 6-inch display, 768x1020 resolution
• Dual-core processor
• 3400 mAh battery
• 1GB of RAM
• 5MP camera
• microSD support
• Three rows of normal sized Live tiles
• Comes in matte yellow, matte black, glossy white, and glossy red

Alongside those announcements, they've also announced that Flipboard, Instagram, Vine, Temple Run 2, and Android exclusives InNote and Papyrus, among a few others are joining the Windows Phone Store lineup.

http://www.wpcentral.com/nokia-offic...windows-tablet
http://www.wpcentral.com/nokia-announces-lumia-1520
http://www.wpcentral.com/nokia-announces-lumia-1320

Pair it with Freda (or any of the other reading apps), a color scheme of your choice, and the WP8 devices will probably make great readers for those on the edge of whether to get a Kindle or a tablet.

[DianNC]

A phablet!

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by DianNC

A phablet!

Yep. Here's a comparison shot between some phablets:



Lumia 1520, Xperia Z Ultra, and Galaxy Note 3

[cfrizz]

Geez, the Note 3 looks positively tiny in comparison! LOL!

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Yep. Here's a comparison shot between some phablets:



Lumia 1520, Xperia Z Ultra, and Galaxy Note 3

That Nokia screen does not look more readable than the Note 3. Actually the Note 3 has deeper blacks, so to me its display looks better.

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by afv011

That Nokia screen does not look more readable than the Note 3. Actually the Note 3 has deeper blacks, so to me its display looks better.

Samsung has the deepest blacks on any display I've ever seen, but I don't care for the screen overall.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by afv011

That Nokia screen does not look more readable than the Note 3. Actually the Note 3 has deeper blacks, so to me its display looks better.

The deeper blacks are one thing, but the most noticeable difference to me is the glowing effect on the Note 3. It makes the text less comfortable to read IMO.

[markbot]

Great looking device, but the new Dell Venue 11 Pro has the new Atom z3770 processor (bay trail). Thus, for the same price as this Nokia Tablet you get a Dell device that gets 9 to 10 hrs of battery life with similar CPU performance, albeit somewhat slower 3D graphics performance, and full Windows 8.1. Windows RT is only good because of the better battery life but the with the new bay trail processor full windows machines have similar battery life but have complete legacy Windows program compatibility.

This is absolutely no contest. The full Windows 8.1 support is more than worth the 1 to 2 hrs of battery life...and at 9hrs it is more than good enough.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by afv011

That Nokia screen does not look more readable than the Note 3. Actually the Note 3 has deeper blacks, so to me its display looks better.

The Nokia screen is LCD vs. the Samsung's Super AMOLED, which would explain the deeper blacks. However that picture is deceiving, since there's a reflection that makes the Nokia screen not look as black.

Personally, I prefer LCD over AMOLED for two main reasons -- power consumption, and pixels.

AMOLED consumes power in proportion to the number of pixels that are "on" (that is, not black) and brightness, while LCD consumes power only in proportion to brightness (backlight). As long as you can stay with a mostly black theme, AMOLED isn't too bad. But open a white page (WP's email reading pane, even in the dark theme, or most websites) and power consumption skyrockets on AMOLED.

Pixels are maybe less important at the 6" 1080p density, but there's still the principle of the matter. Samsung reverted back to Super AMOLED pentile displays from the Super AMOLED Plus RGB display they used in the SGSII. Pentile displays are "1080p equivalent", and don't actually have 1920x1080 pixels due to the pentile subpixel arrangement. That means they tend towards fuzzy text and poorer color reproduction (more prone to blue or red push since the green subpixels are smaller and spaced farther apart). Both issues are most notable on white text, where you end up with fuzzy letters with blue and red tints rather than crisp, white lettering.

Given that Nokia eventually switched from LCD to AMOLED for their previous devices (920 had LCD, 925/928/1020 have AMOLED), one would expect that there will eventually be a 1520 derivation with AMOLED as well. But so far Nokia has used proper RGB AMOLED screens, not pentile, and I would expect that to continue.

For what it's worth, Nokia gets nice black levels on their LCDs through the use of polarity filters. This has an added benefit of being more readable in bright sunlight and reducing reflections.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Actually, KNOX (and the new region lock, if reported issues continue) are what make the Note 3 out of the question for me. The 1520 couldn't have arrived at a better time.

My question: Whether or not the version of Windows which the 1520 uses allows USB audio out.

At this point, Android 4.2 and iOS7 both do, so Windows tablets ought to be competitive.

I'd also like to know more about the 1520's DAC chip. Is it a Wolfson, Cirrus, Yamaha or something else?

[pl001]

Originally Posted by markbot

Windows RT is only good because of the better battery life...

That's simply not true.

I'm not going to claim RT is the best choice for everybody. But there are differences in vulnerability, form factors available, and, especially when you are talking about Dell, build quality and support. And you won't notice any difference between the two other than the inability to run x86 desktop programs on RT.

I do still like the Venue 11, at least on paper, and would consider it if I were buying today. It's nice to have choices.

I so often see people complain about the desktop being in 8/RT tablets. Yet when they can't run old desktop programs they complain as well. It's really a no-win situation for Microsoft.

[Sweetpea]

If they'd added an 8" to the lineup, I'd have pre-ordered in a flash. I do love the form factor of the Lumia's.

I now have the Dell Venue Pro 8 on my radar.