Review of the first tablet Nokia Lumia 2520

Rumors about the "large" device from Nokia went for six months. Heated by numerous rumors and teasers, the public was wondering what kind of device it would be (there were even options for a tablet on a Windows Phone or laptop). All covers were dropped last October at the Nokia World conference in Abu Dhabi, where we introduced the first tablet
on Windows RT 8.1.



Not so long ago, Nokia Lumia 2520 reached Russia, and in this regard, we decided to arrange a detailed review of this device.

Looking ahead, it is worth noting that the Nokia Lumia 2520 - does not immediately reveal itself. This is not a typical mobile device for consuming content, as you might have thought at first. Rather, it is a tablet with great features for its (content) creation. However, it cannot be said that the Nokia Lumia 2520 was released with the expectation of replacing modern laptops. However, the ability to solve many work and creative tasks suggests that this tablet is more than just a gaming and entertainment platform - a kind of all-in-one device. But first things first.

Housing

The design of the Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet is the embodiment of the stylistic solutions of the latest models of the Nokia Lumia line in the form factor of the tablet device.



Case material - polycarbonate, traditional for our flagship devices. The tablet is available in black, blue, white and red, but in Russia Nokia Lumia 2520 is available only in red and black. It is noteworthy that the Lumia 2520 differ not only in color, but also in the type of coating: the black model has a matte finish and the red one is glossy.



In this case, even in red, the tablet does not look like a frivolous gadget. It is rather catchy "high-tech", distinguishing it from the mass of competitive devices.

Almost the entire area of ​​the front panel is occupied by a 10.1-inch screen with Corning's Gorilla Glass 2. Through it, the front camera and the information LED are visible. In addition, the only visible elements on the front panel are the touch “Windows button” and speaker jacks.





Despite the large diagonal of the screen, in the hands of the tablet does not seem bulky at all and leaves the impression of a gadget that is convenient for use on the go. This is confirmed by the actual dimensions of the device: 267 x 168 mm with a thickness of only 8.9 mm. The weight of the tablet is 615 grams.





On the monolithic back surface, only the peephole of the main camera and the Nokia logo stand out. All other controls and data transfer made to the end. There are: on / unlock buttons, a slot for a memory card and SIM card and an interface for connecting additional accessories.





Here you can also see microUSB 3.0 and microHDMI connectors, a standard 3.5 mm jack for headphones and a charger connector. The latter, due to its shape, recalls the classic Nokia chargers.

Hardware features

As we mentioned above, the screen size is 10.1 inches with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and a density of 218 ppi. Like most Nokia smartphones, the Lumia 2520 LCD screen is based on IPS technology. From the "younger brothers", the novelty also received ClearBlack technology .



Thanks to the presence of additional layers, the ClearBlack screen allows you to minimize glare and keep the image saturated and readable. In practice, Lumia 2520 in various lighting conditions (reading news feeds and social networks in public transport, use as a navigator in a car, casual games at home and partially writing this post in the office) we can say that the screen readability has always remained at a comfortable level.

High brightness and wide matrix angles also work on screen quality indicators. The declared brightness value is 650 nits (cd / m²), but in practice the indicators can reach even higher values ​​(for example, in the Hi-Tech@Mail.ru test, the indicators were 731 nits (cd / m²)). Even with a directional light source on the tablet, you can work, for example, holding it at an angle.



The next important point in the description of the filling of Nokia Lumia 2520 is its “heart and brain” - Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. Nokia was one of the first manufacturers to use this system-on-chip (SoC) for tablet computers in principle and in the field for devices on Windows 8.1 RT in particular.

The system itself is made using 28-nanometer technology. It includes: four Krait 400 cores operating at a frequency of 2.2 GHz, an Adreno 330 graphics processor, Hexagon v5 DSP with support for 4G LTE, USB 3.0 and Bluetooth, as well as the ability to display images on screens with a resolution of 2560 x 2048 pixels.

Nokia Lumia 2520 by default is equipped with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory for the system, applications and user content. The microSD card slot allows you to increase the "personal" space of the user by another 64 GB.

We’ll talk about applications a bit later, but in the context of performance, it is worth noting that this configuration provides smooth multitasking. Especially considering the fact that applications retain all the functionality when switching between them.

Windows RT 8.1 in Nokia Lumia 2520 also allows you to work in multi-window mode, when applications share a single screen. This is very convenient, for example, if your news feed has moved to the space of social networks. Now you don’t have to constantly switch between the browser and the Twitter events feed (VKontakte, Facebook), and open links in a parallel window. Moreover, the size of these windows can be adjusted at your discretion.



By the way, to work with Internet content, the device provides not only Wi-Fi, but also the 4G module mentioned above. This solution, we note, is not yet so common among tablets on Windows. If we talk about the local exchange of data between devices, then in this regard, the "large" Lumia provides support for modern standards Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 3.0 and even NFC.



The tablet is equipped with two built-in cameras: the main camera with Zeiss optics (!) Has a resolution of 6.7 megapixels, and the front - 2 megapixels, while both cameras support recording in Full HD.

Due to the use of the latest generation components (in particular the Snapdragon 800 system-on-chip, solid state drive, etc.) and the features of Windows RT 8.1, the device is highly energy efficient. This, combined with a powerful 8120 mAh battery, provides up to 25 days of standby time and 11 hours of continuous video viewing.

Nokia Lumia 2520 is charged from a special charger and supports the fast charging function, allowing you to recharge the charge by 80% in just one hour.

To conclude our review of the hardware capabilities of Nokia Lumia 2520, we offer you to see the results of the benchmarks PC Benchmark, 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, Disk Bencmark, GFXBench and nCore CPU Mark:


PC Benchmark




3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited


Disk Bencmark


GFXBench


nCore CPU Mark

Windows RT 8.1

There are many differences between Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1. If the first is designed for x86 / x64 architecture, then RT is exclusively for mobile ARM. This means that the "classic" applications will not be able to run on the Nokia Lumia 2520.



However, if you look from the point of view of the average buyer of tablets and compare it with mobile OS, then Windows RT has several advantages.

Unlike other systems, file management in Windows RT is not implemented in the form of any complex third-party application, but is a familiar “explorer”.

The initial screen with tiles is sharpened by gesture control and combines the information content of widgets and the simplicity of application icons.
If Windows 8.1 is installed on your main computer, the system automatically synchronizes its settings and applications (including their location on the home screen) with your Lumia 2520. To do this, just log in using your account.



But back to the moment we started talking about Windows RT 8.1.

Applications

The traditional arguments of opponents of Windows RT are the lack of "classic" applications and the modest assortment of the "Store". However, classic Windows applications are not optimized for touch control, and the official application store can no longer be called small - 200,000 applications as of the end of 2013. Many large publishers and services have already released or are going to release their applications for the platform.

Many "gaming" giants, such as Gameloft (Asphalt 8), Disney, Microsoft Studios began to confidently master the WinRT platform. The hardware capabilities of Nokia Lumia 2520 are sufficient to cope with any of the modern tablet hits.



In Lumia 2520 all of the above complements (familiar to the owners of Lumia smartphones) exclusive from Nokia. Among the branded applications at the moment include: “Nokia Camera”, “HERE Cards”, Nokia Mix Radio, “Nokia Stories” and a few more app.

“Nokia Camera”, so loved by Lumia users, is an application for shooting with a convenient interface, fine-tuning shooting parameters and high-quality frame processing. All of the above, of course, has been optimized for the tablet.



This application allows you to make a choice: provide the definition of parameters to Nokia Camera algorithms or adjust white balance, focal length, ISO values, shutter speed and exposure as you wish.

HERE Maps are detailed maps that have proven themselves not only on Nokia smartphones, but also on a number of navigation systems of various car manufacturers. The application has an offline navigation mode. To do this, it is enough to preload the cards in the device’s memory. In online mode, the user becomes available dynamic data on traffic in real time. But HERE will be convenient to use not only for motorists, but also for pedestrians and people traveling by public transport, as HERE can build such types of routes.



Nokia Stories- a different look at the photo gallery on a smartphone or tablet. Using HERE geolocation information, this application has icons of photos and videos on the world map to create a kind of "travel in pictures."



Nokia Mix-Radio is a streaming audio service. It offers the user the ability to listen to music not only by artist and composition, but also in special editorial as well as user collections. The service can also work offline.



Also in the arsenal of the tablet from Nokia there is a simple video editing tool Nokia Video Director, an interactive information guide on the My Nokia tablet and the Notifications from the operator application that allows you to receive service messages from the service provider.

Nokia Lumia 2520 as a tool for work

We specifically took this section beyond the scope of applications, since we decided to look at the Nokia Lumia 2520 from a different point of view, namely as a replacement for a working laptop.

First of all, I would like to note that all owners of this tablet by default receive the basic package of Microsoft Office applications, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Applications are no different from their counterparts for x86 and with basic tasks, such as creating tables or presenting presentations (recall the microHDMI connector), users of the Lumia 2520 can easily cope.



In addition, users can download corporate Office applications from the Store: Lync for communication with colleagues, conferences, video calls, SharePoint Newsfeedto receive news and participate in discussions from SharePoint sites, as well as Microsoft Power BI for continuous access to Microsoft Office 365 reports.


Microsoft Power BI

Another important point for using Nokia Lumia 2520 in organizations is the ability of Nokia Lumia 2520 to work in a corporate network using VPN connection. Network settings are set through the general settings of the tablet.

For those whose work is somehow connected with Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Dynamics CRM , Dynamics AX 2012 Approvals , Dynamics AX 2012 Expenses and Dynamics AX 2012 Timesheets will come to the rescue .

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a “dashboard” for tracking and managing your organization’s CRM database. The last three applications let you manage approvals, reports, and time sheets in Dynamics AX 2012. All applications are available for free in the Windows Application Store.

You can also find My Server 2012 and My Server 2012 R2 ups for working with Windows Server 2012 Essentials and Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, respectively. Through the interface of these applications, you can manage users, devices, alerts, and access shared files. In addition, files that were recently accessed using the My Server application will be available even offline, which is convenient if you work with them on trips or, for example, in the subway.

To create simple applications, for example, for personal or corporate use, you can resort to using the Microsoft application “Project Siena”. To create a product catalog or an interactive FAQ, you do not need any special skills in writing code. Read more about how to work with this application here .



What else? Unfortunately, to list all the available applications for solving business problems using the Nokia Lumia 2520, there are not enough posts. However, one thing is certain: there are professional applications in the Store — and in sufficient quantities. And it can be as functional appas, convenient for any user, like the Adobe Photoshop Express photo editor, as well as highly specialized and highly targeted applications like a medical application for working with patient data SAP EMR Unwired .