Nokia Lumia 1520 hands-on: First look

Introduction

The Nokia Lumia 1520 brings several firsts for the company. This is the Finns' debut in phablets, the first WP quad-core device and the first one to rock a FullHD screen.

The Nokia Lumia 1520 in white, red and yellow

The Nokia Lumia 1520 builds upon the design philosophy of all previous Lumia flagships. It features a solid unibody construction with a colorful polycarbonate casing. The PureView camera on board, complete with optical image stabilization, promises great low-light experience, while the top-notch display should help the 1520 deliver the best Windows Phone experience around. Services and apps like Nokia Camera, Storyteller and Cinemagraph add even more value to the package.

But first let's get the technicalities out of the way.

Nokia Lumia 1520 at a glance

• Dimensions: 162.8 x 85.4 x 8.7 mm, 209g
• Display: 6" ClearBlack IPS display with 1080p resolution, Gorilla Glass 2 protection, 367ppi
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800; quad-core Krait 400 at 2.2GHz, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM
• OS: Windows Phone 8 GDR3 with Nokia Black
• Camera: 20 MP, Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash, PureView technology
• Video camera: 1080p @ 30fps video capture with main camera
• Storage: 32GB built-in, microSD card slot with support of up to 64GB, 7GB SkyDrive cloud storage
• Connectivity: NFC, A-GPS+GLONASS, WLAN (2.4/5Ghz) a/b/g/n/ac, microUSB 2.0, BT 4.0 LE
• Battery: 3,400 mAh with built-in wireless charging (Qi compatible)
• Misc: Nokia Camera app, FM Radio, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor

The 6-inch diagonal and has FullHD (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution, which allows for a ppi of around 368 ppi, meaning no pixels will be visible. The bigger screen estate and higher resolution result in a third column of Live Tiles being present on the Lumia 1520 start screen.

The 6" ClearBlack IPS display offers low reflectivity and very wide viewing angles. It's covered with Gorilla Glass 2 for scratch resistance and can be used not only with bare fingers but also with gloves, thanks to the Super sensitive touch.

Moving onto the back where one of the most interesting assets of the device lies. The 20 MP camera with OS makes great use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset and provides shot to shot times far shorter than those of the Lumia 1020.

Stay tuned - more live photos and hands-on videos of the Nokia Lumia 1520 will be coming to the following pages very shortly.