Nokia 1520 Cell Phone

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Nokia are one of the few smart phone makers who are specializing in new Windows Mobile OS phones. In the beginning these phones were ok, but underpowered.  This is far from true with the 1520.  The 1520 has an incredibly bight screen, takes stellar pictures, moves quickly an is a breeze to use.

The Nokia 1520 has the same basic shape as the Lumia 800 and 925, except the 1520 is thinner, quicker, more robust processing power and a big 6 inch screen which is border line tablet.  The phone comes in three colors yellow, red and black.  )Yellow being the brightest and most attention grabbing, so the one I had to have.)  The phone itself has some killer specs.
General

2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – all versions
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 – RM-937, RM-939, RM-940
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 – RM-938

4G Network LTE 800 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 – RM-937
LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 – RM-938, RM-940

SIM Nano-SIM

Announced 2013, October

Status Available. Released 2013, November

Body Dimensions 162.8 x 85.4 x 8.7 mm, 120.3 cc (6.41 x 3.36 x 0.34 in)

Weight 209 g (7.37 oz)

Display Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

Size 1080 x 1920 pixels, 6.0 inches (~367 ppi pixel density)

Multitouch- Yes

Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 2

– ClearBlack display

Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones

Loudspeaker- Yes

3.5mm jack Yes

– Dolby Headphone sound enhancement

Memory Card slot microSD, up to 64 GB

Internal 16 GB (RM-940 only)/32 GB, 2 GB RAM

Data GPRS Yes

EDGE Up to 236.8 kbps

Speed HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps

UL, 150 Mbps DL

WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot

Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP

NFC Yes

USB Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera Primary 20 MP, 4992 х 3744 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, opticalimage stabilization, autofocus, dual-LED flash, check qualityFeatures 1/2.5” sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, PureView technology, dual capture, geo-tagging, face detection, panorama

Video Yes, 1080p@30fps, video light, stereo sound rec., check quality Secondary Yes, 1.2 MP, 720p@30fps

Features OS Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Black

Chipset Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800

CPU Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400

GPU Adreno 330

Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM

Browser HTML5

Radio FM radio

GPS Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS

Java No

Colors Yellow, white, black, red

– SNS integration

– Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic

– 7GB free SkyDrive storage

– MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player

– MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player

– Organizer

– Document viewer

– Video/photo editor

– Voice memo/command/dial

– Predictive text input

Battery Non-removable Li-Ion 3400 mAh battery (BV-4BW)Stand-by Up to 768 h (2G) / Up to 768 h (3G)Talk time Up to 27 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 25 h (3G)
Music play Up to 124 h

Misc SAR EU 0.64 W/kg (head) 0.20 W/kg (body)

Tests Display Contrast ratio: 1207:1 (nominal) / 1.813:1 (sunlight)

Loudspeaker Voice 73dB / Noise 66dB / Ring 74dB

Audio quality Noise -89.3dB / Crosstalk -89.4dB

Camera Photo / Video

Battery life

Endurance rating 107hThese specs are courtesy of GSMArena.

Apps are not as easily accessible as on some phones, and some are quite slow or choppy.  Facebook, for example, only shows a fraction of what you post on your own page- the bonus is, that it’s lightning fast. Some, like TV Tag are not able to be installed because there is no windows version- the same goes for game apps and other social media sharing apps.  Hopefully, app makers will catch up soon, because that’s the only real drawback to this phone.  Some people think it’s crazy huge- I love the large screen and easy to see pages and touch screen buttons, it’s like a phone and tablet in one (I’ve been calling it my “Phablet”- and yes, mine is bigger then yours.  Size matters.)  The photos are as good in quality as my smaller point and shoot camera, which to this traveler, foodie, and mother means a lot.

The phone retails for $99.99 with 2 year activation and is available at fine retails everywhere, including Amazon.

They also send you the phone with a “dummy-proof” sticker on in, so you can’t mess it up when you are trying to learn how to use it and where what goes.  Holes and wires, tricky tricky!  There is a learning curve, and I admit I still have things to figure out, but the great photos alone are awesome.