Last week I received two Nokia products for review, the first was the Lumia 2520, which I review today, the second was a Lumia 630 running the latest Windows Phone 8.1 software, this will be reviewed later.
Ever since the birth of the modern tablet, arguably kickstarted by the release of the iPad, a problem has always existed. Like it or not, people still want to run their PC software on a tablet. This problem has been somewhat negated by the enormous app ecosystems that have exploded in the iOS and Android markets, but the fact remains that when it comes to writing letters or working with spreadsheets, people still want to work with Microsoft Office. So, what can offer the best of both worlds? A tablet running snazzy apps or a power hungry laptop that saps it’s battery is a couple of hours?
Well, it looks as though Nokia has come up with the answer to this problem in the Lumia 2520, a tablet running a battery friendly version of Windows 8.1.
Nokia without doubt have the most amazing colour palette choices when it comes to choosing the cases for its devices, and the 2520 is absolutely no exception. The device supplied to us is covered in the most exquisite red polycarbonate casing we have ever seen. It looks like the most a giant lumia phone, carrying over the same styling choices from their high end handsets.
The screen is 10.1 inches diagonally with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It uses IPS LCD technology along with ‘Clear Black’ display and Gorilla Glass 2. The tablet is driven by a Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400 CPU with the addition of a Adreno 330 GPU. This makes the tablet very snappy and well able to use graphic intensive software or games. We tested (as usual) FIFA 14 from the Windows Store and it performed very nicely, perhaps not a smooth at the Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2. Battery wise, the tablet contains a non-removable 8120 mAh battery, which should allow you to work all day on light use.
Charging is provided by a non standard charger, and we found it strange that although the tablet has both a micro HDMI and a USB V3.0, we weren’t able to charge the device through the USB port.
Camera wise, as you might expect the rear facing camera is high quality for it’s class, with a 6.7 MP, 3088 x 1744 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus with a 1/3.4” sensor size. It can record 1080 video at 30fps. The front camera is a 2MP able to record 720p video at 30fps. I can’t honestly see why you would use a tablet to take photos or movies, but I have seen people do it at public events, and I guest if you do want to with the Lumia 2520 you have one of the top end cameras for the job. If you want to Skype, you equally have a top end set of cameras for the job.
When you use the device, unless you are familiar with Windows 8, you may find it a little of the confusing side as unlike Windows Phone 8/8.1, there is no ‘back’ button. And some apps don’t to appear to include a software solution to this, so you end up flicking the app downwards to either close it or minimise it (I’m not sure which one). You can access the Task Manager and kill apps if you want though. I didn’t have the optional keyboard attachment and to be honest, I would have liked to, as using the on screen keyboard you end up with a great deal of the screen obscured, so it would have been nice as an option.
The tablet a nice weight and it’s polycarbonate case makes it easy to hold comfortably, and it fairs very nicely in a world dominated by Apple and Samsung tablets, the inclusion of Windows 8.1 (albiet a slightly cut down version in RT) is a great thing as if you use a Windows PC for home or work it will be instantly familiar to you.
All in all, I really liked the Nokia Lumia 2520. It’s a great sized ultra-comfortable tablet and increases my fondness to Nokia as a brand. I haven’t yet been able to test the Microsoft Surface Pro yet, so I have little to compare it too within it’s OS, but comparing to top end Samsungs and iPad’s it fairs excellently. There is now a growing number of Apps in Microsoft’s Store, so maybe the big two have real competition at a very (currently) fair price indeed.
If a member of your family is looking for a device with the familiarity of Windows, you can’t go fair wrong with the Lumia 2520 from Nokia.
Nokia Lumia 2520
Summary
Nokia have excelled themselves again with an excellent Windows 8.1 RT Tablet, along with Micro SD and Sim Card slot this is a serious tablet for both business and home use. Perhaps the only downside is the OS is Windows 8.1RT which means it’s is not compatible with x86 Windows 8.1. Desktop mode can be difficult to manage if you have big fingers. However, as a hybrid tablet/PC it is a very cost effective solution. As of writing this, John Lewis are offering the tablet with £150 discount.