The Nokia Lumia 1520 was a

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...

phablet A phablet (, ) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a portmanteau of ''phone'' and ''tablet''. Phablets feature large displays that complement screen-intensive activity such as mo ...

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

designed and produced by Finnish telecommunications manufacturer

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

in partnership with American software manufacturer

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

. The device was first announced at the Nokia World event on 22 October 2013 in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, alongside its mid-range phablet stablemate the

Nokia Lumia 1320 The Nokia Lumia 1320 smartphone is a phablet smartphone in the Lumia series developed by Nokia that runs the Windows Phone 8 operating system. It was announced at the Nokia World event on October 22, 2013. It was released in Asia in the first qua ...

and Nokia's 10.1 inch

Windows RT Windows RT is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. It is a version of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 built for the 32-bit ARM architecture (ARMv7). First unveiled in January 2011 at Consumer Electronics Show, the Windows RT 8 operat ...

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...

the

Nokia Lumia 2520 The Nokia Lumia 2520 is a Windows RT tablet computer originally developed by Nokia. It is Nokia's first and only Microsoft Windows, Windows-based tablet, and the company's first tablet since its Nokia Internet Tablet line. Sharing its design and ...

. Until its discontinuation in the United States on 7 April 2015 the phone served as the flagship device for Nokia's '' Lumia Series'' and Microsoft's

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

effort. On 6 October 2015 Microsoft officially announced its flagship phablet successor, the

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (codenamed ''Cityman'', a reference to the old Nokia Cityman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on October 6, 2015 and released on November 20, 2015 alongside the smaller Lumia 950. The Lumia 9 ...

, with availability sometime in November 2015. The device was powered by a 2.2 GHz quad-core MSM8974

Snapdragon ''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native to r ...

800

system-on-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...

with an ARM-based Krait 400 CPU produced by American semiconductor manufacturer

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...

. It was paired with 2 GB of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

and an

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...

Adreno 330 GPU. The chassis was constructed of a highly durable

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...

unibody shell featuring the ''Lumia Series signature bright colors. International units were available in black, white, red and yellow with a native storage capacity of 32 GB, expandable through a MicroSD card slot that can support up to 2 TB. The American version was sold exclusively through telecommunications provider

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, who limited onboard storage to 16 GB but offered an exclusive green color alongside the international colors. Germany also saw a green version with 32 GB storage and bundled apps from Deutsche Bahn, CEWE photo services, Zinio, Max Dome and N-TV. The screen of the 1520 was an optically-bonded

Full HD 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen verti ...

(

1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vert ...

)

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

display with 16 million colors featuring Nokia's proprietary ''ClearBlack'' display technology. It measured diagonal with a 16:9 aspect ratio, resulting in a

pixel density Pixels per inch (ppi) and pixels per centimetre (ppcm or pixels/cm) are measurements of the pixel density of an electronic image device, such as a computer monitor or television display, or image digitizing device such as a camera or image scanner. ...

of 367 ppi. Protection came from a sheet of chemically strengthened Corning

Gorilla Glass Gorilla Glass is a brand of chemically strengthened glass developed and manufactured by Corning, now in its seventh generation. Designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant, the glass gains its surface strength, ability to contain flaws, and c ...

2. The device shipped with

Windows Phone 8 Windows Phone 8 is the second generation of the Windows Phone mobile operating system from Microsoft. It was released on October 29, 2012, and, like its predecessor, it features a flat user interface based on the Metro design language. It was su ...

preinstalled and was upgradable to

Windows Phone 8.1 Windows Phone 8.1 is the discontinued third generation of Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system, succeeding Windows Phone 8. Rolled out at Microsoft's Build Conference in San Francisco, California, on April 2, 2014, it was released ...

Now this device is included on the Microsoft list of

Windows 10 Mobile Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. First released in 2015, it is a successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10. Wind ...

upgrade, it can be upgraded through the

Windows Insider Windows Insider is an open software testing program by Microsoft that allows users globally who own a valid license of Windows 11, Windows 10, or Windows Server to register for pre-release builds of the operating system previously only accessible ...

program too. The phone had a large non-removable 3400

mAh ''Mångha'' (') is the Avestan for "Moon, month", equivalent to Persian ''Māh'' (; Old Persian ). It is the name of the lunar deity in Zoroastrianism. The Iranian word is masculine. Although Mah is not a prominent deity in the Avestan script ...

Li-Ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible Redox, reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It als ...

battery (BV-4BW), which gave it slightly longer endurance compared to its contemporaries from Android and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

. The rear camera has 20 megapixels, is optically stabilized, and a subsequent software update introduced the ability to film in 4K (2160p) resolution. Owing to its large dimensions and flagship specifications, the phone was viewed as a direct competitor to the

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is an Android phablet smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy Note series. The Galaxy Note 3 was unveiled on September 4, 2013, with its worldwide release beginning later in the month. S ...

and

HTC One Max The HTC One Max is an Android phablet smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC. The device is a larger variant of HTC's 2013 flagship high-end smartphone, the HTC One, notably incorporating a 5.9-inch display and fingerprint recognition featu ...

.Nokia Lumia 1520 Hands-On
Thenextweb.com. Retrieved on 22 October 2013.

Availability

The Lumia 1520 was initially released in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, France, China, Germany, Finland, Pakistan and India. In Australia, the Lumia 1520 was distributed exclusively through launch partner Harvey Norman. In the United States,

was chosen as the sole carrier for the device. Production of the Lumia 1520 has been officially discontinued.

Design

The Lumia 1520's IPS LCD display is the first Windows Phone display to have a resolution of 1080p, allowing it to have three columns of Live Tiles and is covered with by Gorilla Glass 2. At 6 inch, the display has a pixel density of 368 pixels per inch. The phone has a 2.2 GHz

Snapdragon 800 This is a list of Qualcomm Snapdragon System on a chip, systems on chips (SoC) made by Qualcomm for use in smartphones, Tablet computer, tablets, laptops, 2-in-1 PCs, smartwatches, and smartbooks devices. Before Snapdragon SoC made by Qualcom ...

SoC, and a 20 megapixel PureView camera. It has 4G LTE and near field communication connectivity, and comes with 32 GB of built-in memory, with a possible further 2 TB expansion via microSD. At launch the highest capacity MicroSD cards available were 64 GB. MicroSD cards that comply with the SDXC standard top out at 2 TB. MicroSD cards over 64 GB will work as long as they are formatted in the proper file system. The Lumia 1520 has a 3,400 mAh battery and will be compatible with a US$99 DC-50 wireless-charging plate, with the phone itself to have a price of US$749. Like the

Lumia 1020 The Nokia Lumia 1020 (known as Lumia 909 during development) is a smartphone developed by Nokia, first unveiled on 11 July 2013 at a Nokia event in New York. It runs Windows Phone 8, but is also Windows Phone 8.1 ready. It contains Nokia's Pure ...

it takes a shareable 5Mpx picture and a 16Mpx picture that can only be accessed by attaching the handset into a PC, but only has 1/2.5" sensor size. Capable of 2x

data binning Data binning, also called data discrete binning or data bucketing, is a data pre-processing technique used to reduce the effects of minor observation errors. The original data values which fall into a given small interval, a '' bin'', are replaced b ...

lossless compression for taking photos and 4x for taking videos.

Model variants

Reception

Tom Warren from

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

has praised the phone for its display, speed and camera, but noted the lack of stylus support and its size makes it difficult to use one handed. Andy Vandervell from TrustedReviews wrote: "The Lumia 1520 is a watershed phone in many respects. It brings Windows Phone hardware on par with the rest of the smartphone world, but the software still needs a bit of work." Brad Molen from Engadget concludes: "The Lumia 1520 offers a Windows Phone experience unlike any we've seen before. With its top-notch hardware, fantastic imaging and constantly improving firmware, this is by far our favorite WP8 device."

Awards

The Nokia Lumia 1520 won the GSM Arena's Smartphone Champions League in 2013. Nokia captured the first 3 places with the Nokia Lumia 1020 in second place and the Nokia Lumia 520 tied for third with the LG Nexus 5.

Reported problems

Upon its release, the 1520 suffered from initial issues that had since been resolved. For example, early users reported a speaker overdrive issue with Windows Phone 8.1 version 5001. Users also reported random reboot issues, which Microsoft tried to address with a software update on 19 March 2014 to no avail but were able to resolve with an update on 19 June 2015. One contentious issue was a supposed design flaw on the device's screen wherein the touch interface digitizer receives signals without user interaction on the touchscreen, resulting in "phantom touches".

Gallery

File:Nokia Lumia 1520 next to a 1 18 scale model of a Maserati Spider.jpg, The Nokia Lumia 1520 next to a 1:18 scale model car for comparison. File:Nokia Lumia 1520 reverse side.jpg, Reverse side of the Nokia Lumia 1520. Arrangement of the 3.5mm headphone jack, dual-LED flash, 21 megapixel Carl Zeiss Pureview camera, volume, power and camera buttons are clearly visible. File:Nokia Lumia 1520 Clearblack display.jpg, Picture of the Nokia Lumia 1520's FHD ''ClearBlack'' IPS display and backlit capacitive keys switched off. File:Nokia Lumia 1520 Sim SD Card Tray.jpg, Detailed view of the Nokia Lumia 1520's Sim card and SD card slots. File:Nokia Lumia speaker grille.jpg, Detailed view of the Nokia Lumia 1520's speaker grille and micro USB port. File:Nokia Lumia 1520 supine.jpg, Yellow Nokia Lumia 1520 File:Nokia Lumia 1520.jpg, White Nokia Lumia 1520 File:Microsoft's Nokia Lumia 1520 compared to a 2 Euro coin.jpg, Comparison between the Nokia Lumia 1520 and a €2 coin.

References

External links

Engadget's review of Nokia Lumia 1520

TechAdvisor/PCAdvisor's review of Nokia Lumia 1520

GSMArena's review of Nokia Lumia 1520 great battery and performance
{{Nokia devices, 1000 series=yes, 2000 series=yes, 3000 series=yes, 5000 series=yes, 6000 series=yes, 7000 series=yes, 8000 series=yes, 9000 series=yes, 3-digit series=yes, asha=yes, cseries=yes, eseries=yes, nseries=yes, xseries=yes, 3-digit symbian=yes, lumia=yes, internet=yes, n-gage=yes, x family=yes, android=yes, originals=yes, c series=yes, g series=yes, x series=yes, miscellaneous=yes, below=yes

Lumia 1520 The Nokia Lumia 1520 was a flagship Windows Phone phablet smartphone designed and produced by Finnish telecommunications manufacturer Nokia in partnership with American software manufacturer Microsoft. The device was first announced at the Nokia ...

Windows Phone devices Microsoft Lumia Mobile phones introduced in 2013 Discontinued smartphones Phablets PureView Smartphones