From months of rumours and speculation we’ve been expecting Nokia to be entering the ‘phablet’ market, and today the Finnish manufacturer has done so with a bang. At Nokia World this morning the company introduced not one, but two phones rocking 6-inch displays.
Clearly designed for the new market of people who want a big phone, the new Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320 phones take Windows Phone to a new size scale. Both are big enough to be taking on Samsung’s Galaxy Note III in terms of size, though the Lumia 1320 is a scaled back phone with a more affordable price tag.
Lumia 1520
Previously known by its codename of ‘Bandit’, this phone has a whopping 6-inch Full HD display rocking a crisp resolution of 1,920 x 1,080. Its other headline feature is a 20-megapixel PureView camera with Zeiss optics, situated on the rear, which will see the giant Windows Phone go toe-to-toe with Sony’s 20 megapixel Xperia Z1.
Inside there’s plenty of power, courtesy of a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip from Qualcomm, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage which can be boosted by up to 64GB of micro SD card. If that’s not enough storage for you, Microsoft throws in 7GB of cloud storage space with SkyDrive, which can also be expanded upon in exchange for your hard earned cash.
Measuring 162.8 x 85.4 x 8.7mm and weighing a hefty 209g, the Lumia 1520 is far from what we’d call a ‘pocketable’ smartphone, but all that space does allow for every little bit of technology to be crammed in. There’s 4G, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and GPS connectivity, a huge 3,400 mAh battery which can be wirelessly charged with any Qi compatible charger and no less than four microphones which work together to provide supreme ‘Rich Recording’ audio quality for your recorded videos.
Coming in Nokia’s usual red, white, black and yellow colours, the Lumia 1520 has been priced at $749 SIM-free. Whilst the direct conversion of this gives a UK price of £464, we’re going to bet on it being upwards of £550 in reality. It’s coming to the US and Europe before the end of the year.
Lumia 1320
Want a big phone but don’t want to pay a big price? The Lumia 1320 is the answer, according to Nokia. Also rocking a huge 6-inch display, the 1320 offers ‘big’ but scaled back in terms of high specs. For example, the display is the same size but the resolution is a slightly less sharp 720p HD, which is by no means a bad thing.
The rear camera is a 5-megapixel one, though the 1320 will benefit from Nokia’s new camera and Storyteller apps which bring fresh shooting options and features to the snapping experience. Despite being lower in the megapixel count, the rear camera is still capable of capturing Full HD 1080p video, too. Up front is a 0.3 megapixel camera for video calling.
Tucked away inside is a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 chip from Qualcomm, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage which again is expandable by up to 64GB through the micro SD card slot and is complemented by a free 7GB of SkyDrive cloud storage.
Connectivity comes in the form of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, 4G and GPS and Nokia has jammed in the same 3,400 mAh battery as the Lumia 1520 to keep that huge screen ticking over throughout the day without the need for constant charging.
Measuring up at 164.5 x 85.9 x 9.79mm and weighing 220g, the Lumia 1520 is thicker and heavier than its more capable counterpart, though its curvy design certainly looks more palm-friendly to us. Red, yellow, black and white colours will be available and the price tag given is $339, so likely £299 SIM-free here in the UK. This one won’t be available until early 2014 where it will arrive in China and Vietnam before anywhere else before heading to India and then Europe later in the year.