Gadgetory

if you're still asking whether phone/tablet hybrids or phablets deserve to exist we sympathize pockets can only get so big after all but in our view the more important question is if you're a smart phone manufacturer can you afford to ignore this category well unless your Apple the answer for now is no and that's why Nokia launched the Lumia 1520 just a few weeks ago it's prodigious it's powerful and it's Windows Phones only phablet to date but is it worth buying let's see I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is our video review of the Nokia Lumia 1520 if you're familiar with Nokia's design language up till now the 1520 will come as little surprise in the looks department it's basically an upscaling of the company's Lumia 925 one of Nokia's best looking windows phones to date considered alone the 1520 doesn't particularly standout at first there's all the usual hallmarks of excellent but understated Nokia design from the gently curved Gorilla Glass 2 to the ceramic buttons on our black unit here it's only when you pick it up and put it alongside more common smart phones that the devices sighs truly hits you and in that way the 1520 is much more like the HTC One Maxx or Samsung's Galaxy mega 6.3 its huge size is a big part of its overall story but the 1520 outpaces both of those devices on the spec sheet landing closer to the sony xperia z ultra in terms of horsepower a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 sits at its core a first for Windows Phone and it powers another first the six inch IPS display up front boasts 1080p resolution this processor and display pair isn't insignificant it's fast becoming the standard on flagship smartphones and the 1520 is for now the only Windows Phone to live up to that standard it's also the highest end nokia device to include a microSD card slot for storage expansion a big deal for media hounds so the 1520 is definitely the phone to get if you want the cutting edge of Microsoft's mobile offering this holiday season that cutting edge isn't quite so sharp in terms of software we talked a bit about why that is in our recent after the buzz reira view of the Lumia 925 so hop over to that episode after this review for our thoughts on how Windows Phone is aging but the larger higher resolution display allows for the interface to spread out a lot more on the 15:20 with the screen like this Microsoft can finally deliver on the glance ability promise of the modern UI instead of scrolling around to find the tile you're looking for the 1520 has enough room to display everything all at once it's very convenient to have so much canvas to work with right on the front page still we've dogged other plus-sized smartphones for not doing enough to intelligently utilize their large screens and the 1520 deserves the same rebuke the Start screen is really the only place Windows Phone takes advantage of this phones hulking dimensions there's no split pane simultaneity asking approach to work with more than one app at a time we're hopeful the forthcoming threshold update will bring some of this but that's a ways off and until then you're stuck using that huge screen for just one app at a time still big is big and that added room is very handy for taking advantage of the built-in Microsoft Office suite and when skyping netflix inc reading and gaming a little more on gaming though the Windows Store continues to lag behind its competitors in this arena those games that are here play very well low impact apps like sparkle 2 and rise of glory as well as high demand titles like asphalt 8 play with nary a hiccup on the 1520 the rear mounted speaker is clear and very loud and the IPS display does a great job of rendering graphics the saturation and contrast high enough that we didn't really miss the AMOLED technology from other Lumias the screen also does justice to the output from the 1520's camera it's not the 41 megapixel monster from the Lumia 1020 but the 20 megapixel shooter here is still PureView optically stabilized with a 6 element carl zeiss lens and the new integrated nokia camera app with automatic shooting modes alongside professional manual controls the photos it produces are quite nice outdoors with crisp lines and authentic colors if sometimes it touch on the oversaturated side in keeping with Nokia's reputation sometimes indoor results are just as good but other times more noise creeps into the image than we'd like then the automatic white balance isn't always consistent thankfully the 15 20 lives up to Nokia's name in low-light photography the same trends by and large hold true in video output as well with a lot of fuzz in this challenging lighting situation on an Amtrak train but beautiful crisp colors and nice sound even with a face full of Sun and wind in this video shot from a ferry boat you may have noticed a bit of wiggle in those videos because the 1520 just isn't as comfy to shoot with thanks to its size that cumbersome nature is also evident when putting the phone up to our ear the 1520 is just as much a monster up to the head as any other phablet but fortunately Nokia's excellent voice quality more than makes up for the awkwardness in private and in loudspeaker calls and those calls can go on for quite a while AT&T voice network in the Greater Boston area is just as reliable as its LTE network is speedy we had no carrier complaints in the 12 days we carry the device and the huge 3,400 milliamp hour battery means we weren't looking for a power outlet all that often will have more battery life impressions in our written review at the end of the day the Lumia 1520 is a monster but a friendly lovable one it doesn't do all it can to leverage its massive screen and it's bound to be just too big for many people's pockets but in a world where gargantuan smartphones seem here to stay for the moment the 1520 gets a lot right it packs the best specs of any Windows Phone to date while keeping compromise to a minimum so it gets a score in line with its fellow mammoth competitors we give it an 8 point 4 out of 10 folks we're far from finished with the Lumia 1520 we have comparisons features and a full written review coming soon at PocketNow and so you don't miss those follow us on social media and subscribe here on YouTube toss us a like if you did enjoy this video review leave a comment down below if you have some feedback and as always we thank you very much for watching we'll see you soon you