If you like your smartphones big, has Nokia got a dream device for you. The Nokia Lumia 1520 is the first "phablet" for the Windows Phone platform, a plus-size phone with a full HD 6-inch display. As had been rumored, the new Lumia also boasts some of the PureView camera technology seen in the Lumia 1020 that's capable of capturing extremely sharp high-resolution photos.
The first thing most users will notice about the Lumia 1520 is the enormous display, which allows for a third column of live tiles on the phone's home screen. The latest Windows Phone software from Microsoft supports high-resolution displays like the 1,920 x 1,080 screen on the 1520 as well as the powerful quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor (with 2GB of RAM) that drives it.
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I got a chance to handle the Lumia 1520, and it's feels as crazy big as it sounds. It's not going to fit in many pockets (certainly not while you're wearing skinny jeans anyway), but the overall build is good, and it's quite thin (0.34 inch). The screen is nice and bright, and the three columns of live tiles can really showcase a lot of content at once.
The camera on the Lumia 1520 carries the PureView label, reserved for Nokia's high-end phones with tricked-out camera features The 1520 has a 20-megapixel sensor -- about half the resolution of the camera in the 1020, but still higher than most smartphones today.
Of course, the megapixel rating is just one spec, and the Nokia augments the 1520's camera with plenty of other toys: Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, a backside-illuminated sensor and a dual-LED flash. Nokia also has a special way to handle the high-res photos: Once you snap a pic, the phone generates a lower-resolution image that's more suited to immediate sharing. The original 20MP images are saved on the device and can be exported to AT&T Locker or SkyDrive right from the phone.
Nokia has also added a Storyteller feature, which will quickly generate a slideshow experience from your photos. Unlike similar services from BlackBerry and HTC, Storyteller looks primarily at the location photos were taken to create its slideshows, making all the pics viewable on a map. It also considers other factors, such as the time they were taken.
In addition, the camera is capable of refocusing photos on different subjects after they're taken, similar to the Lytro camera. A user needs to select the Refocusing option before capturing the photo, however. The 1520 does this trick via software, not optics, and Nokia plans to introduce the feature to the 1020 at a later date.
For video, the 1520 can capture 1080p video at 30 frames per second, and it has no fewer than four separate microphones to help capture the best possible audio.
At 6 inches, the Lumia 1520 tops the list of huge, high-end phones, at least this week. The HTC One max is just a hair under at 5.9 inches and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 measures 5.7 inches. (There are some phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Mega, that exceed 6 inches, but their specs keep them in the midrange.)
The big, nonremovable battery holds 3,400 milliamp-hours, enough for almost 11 hours of video playback, Nokia says. Storage is 32GB, and there's a microSD card slot for even more. The polycarbonate back comes in red, white, yellow and black.
Nokia's also introducing some new accessories, including a case for the 1520 and a "Treasure Tag," a small wireless tab that you can attach to a keychain, which will alert you if it's ever separated from the smartphone by more than 50 feet or so.
For those who like the size of a big phone but can't afford the 1520's upper-tier specs, Nokia has something for them, too. The Nokia Lumia 1320, debuting alongside the 1520, also sports a 6-inch display, except it's just 1,280 x 720 resolution. You still get the three columns of live tiles, but the 1320 lacks the PureView enhancements to the camera and instead packs a 5MP shooter.
No word yet on when Nokia's phablets will come to the U.S., which carriers will have them, or what the prices will be.
Update: AT&T has announced it will be the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Nokia Lumia 1520. It'll also sell Nokia's 4G LTE connected tablet, the Lumia 2520. AT&T didn't reveal any pricing.
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