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Let's try Nokia Lumia 1520 (5 days of test operation)



Specifications


Display

Main camera

Duration of work

CPU

All features are available on nokia.com.

The recommended retail price at the moment: 24990 rubles.

Contents of delivery



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In a compact cardboard box are:


Appearance and features


The Nokia Lumia 1520 is a classic touch screen monoblock.



The body is made of high quality polycarbonate. The material is matte, very pleasant to the touch and somewhat resembles ceramics.

The design “chip” of the design is the right angles of the case and smooth contours, which the manufacturer repeats in almost all devices of the Lumia line. The edges of the protective glass are also rounded - this adds grace.



The screen is protected by Corning® Gorilla® 2 glass with oleophobic coating.
In the upper part on the front panel you can see the “eye” of the auxiliary camera, the earpiece and the light and proximity sensors are hidden.

At the bottom of the case is a microUSB connector and speaker grille.



At the top there is only a connector for headphones or a headset.



On the left side there are “compartments” for installing nanoSIM and microSD memory card.



The compartments are made quite interesting: they are spring-loaded - just insert the clip from the delivery set into the corresponding hole and press a little bit - the compartment jumps out of the case itself.



The right side contains buttons that are required for all Windows Phone devices (from left to right): volume rocker, power on, camera.



The keys practically do not protrude outside the case, which gives some inconvenience in working with them - it is almost impossible to blindly press the right one, but perhaps this is a matter of habit.

On the back is one of the key elements of this Nokia flagship - a PureView camera (20MP) with Zeiss optics and dual LED flash.



The device clearly refers to the top products - everywhere you can feel the high quality of materials and the reasonableness of the construction is visible.

Using


Lumia 1520 - a very rather big device (in the photo from bottom to left-to-right - Lumia 1520, Galaxy Note, iPhone 3GS, below - iPad).



It is almost impossible to use one hand - the phone tries to slip out and its rounded edges are very helpful.
But the large size also has advantages - in horizontal mode it is very convenient to type text on the on-screen keyboard with two hands.



By the way, in the photo above you can see that the finger is just on the power button, which in some cases can cause shutdown.

But you can calmly put up with these minor inconveniences only after seeing this excellent, bright, clear screen with a size of 6 inches. The image on it is just great and is suitable for everything - viewing photos, surfing the web, reading books, working with office documents or just for playing games.

The FullHD resolution and proprietary technology, which allows to use the device even in direct sunlight, only add “pluses” to the Lumia 1520 piggy bank.

The phone is equipped with a highly sensitive touchscreen, with which you can work even with thin gloves! Unfortunately, the work with it is not implemented perfectly - sometimes the scrolling gestures are perceived by the system as a touch.

Windows Phone 8

Nokia Lumia 1520 is currently running on Windows Phone 8 with Lumia Black Service Pack.

My last experience of using smartphones on the Windows platform was more than 10 years ago (still in the Windows Mobile version), so getting to know the Luma 1520 was also getting to know the new Windows Phone, and this getting to be nice.

Laconic design, “live tiles”, large fonts, perfect smoothness of interface animation, scrolling and other innovations left a very pleasant impression.

Of course, the very powerful stuffing of the Lumia 1520 played a role here, which during the test operation never gave even a hint of some kind of "brakes" in the work.



After using various features of Android to customize the look of the smartphone, Windows Phone looks quite ascetic, but you quickly get used to it and begin to perceive all kinds of "decorations" as unnecessary "bows."

Even such seemingly insignificant things as the implementation of the lock screen on Windows Phone are impressive. On the one hand, nothing superfluous, but all the necessary information is immediately available:



Interestingly, even in the "off" state, you can configure the device so that the clock and notification panel will be visible:



By the way, you can “wake up” the phone by double tapping the screen.

But not without a "fly in the ointment." For example, there is no separate volume control for various situations (phone ringing, message about incoming SMS, music, etc.), there is not enough “command center” for quick control of wireless interfaces (so that, for example, you can quickly turn off WiFi).

Some obvious features aren't very convenient.
For example, answering a phone call requires two actions: first you need to move the screen with the message about the incoming call up (thereby unlocking the phone) and only then press the "answer" button. Slightly weird.

I am sure that these and other annoying miscalculations will be eliminated in future updates of the system.

Microsoft Ecosystem

Microsoft builds a full-fledged ecosystem of compatible devices and Nokia Lumia integrates perfectly into it.

For example, if you have an Xbox 360 at home, you can choose which device you want to play music on. Moreover, it works not only for standard multimedia applications, but also on third-party ones.
In the screenshot below, DS audio is used as a music player (music application for use with Synology NAS).



Additionally, you can turn your phone into an Xbox remote with your Xbox SmartGlass.

On this integration with the game console does not end - you can manage your avatar, get information about games, view your achievements in games, chat with friends on games, etc.

Another interesting feature is that achievements in games that are made for the phone (for example, Temple Run 2) are displayed on the Xbox among others.

Judging by the announcements, in the case of the Xbox One game console, there should be more sharing scenarios.

If you have a Windows-based computer, connecting the Nokia Lumia 1520 to it is also not difficult: simply connect the phone to the computer using the appropriate cable and Windows Phone appears in the explorer with the ability to navigate through the internal memory and memory card (if installed) into the phone).



If you need more opportunities for synchronization - you can use the appropriate application and configure its settings.



But not everything is so smooth with MAC - without installing free software from MS from the AppStore, the computer doesn’t see Nokia Lumia.

Let's return to the possibilities of the phone itself.

Basic software

A good browser (despite its minimalist design, it has all the basic features and makes surfing the web comfortable). Unfortunately, Chrome’s usual features are not enough, such as auto-filling of addresses, synchronization with the desktop browser (bookmarks, open tabs, browsing history, etc.), but you can put up with it.

Tight integration with social networks, the ability to exchange messages (including multimedia), etc. - allows you to always stay in touch with your friends and colleagues.



It is also impossible to ignore the Office package and One Note - these applications allow not only to view the relevant office documents very effectively, but also to fully work with them (at the same time, almost the entire design is preserved).



Documents can be stored not only locally on the device, but also using SkyDrive cloud storage - which adds not only convenience, but also provides additional protection against, for example, phone loss.

In addition to the "regular" applications from the Window Phone suite, the Nokia Lumia 1520 contains a set of proprietary Nokia applications, which stand out among other Windows phones.

Navigation

Of course, it should be noted navigation software with the ability to download maps (and accompanying voices) for subsequent offline navigation.
Well-thought-out route guidance functions: speed control, display of information about nearby places, and even the use of augmented reality.

Lumia 1520 as a navigator with a 6-inch screen is an excellent solution.



Again, when driving while driving a car, this device helps a lot - there is an “in-car” mode in which you can turn off almost all alerts (for example, from social networks, and leave only messages about calls and SMS). The mode can be activated automatically when you connect via bluetooth to the system of hands-free car or headset.

Naturally, Windows Phone can be controlled by voice commands and the quality of this control is at its best.



Camera

Of course, it should be noted such an important component of the Nokia Lumia 1520, as the main camera.

She is really outstanding. In addition to the fact that it has almost a record performance indicators (resolution, matrix size, etc.), the software component raises the bar even higher.

The built-in camera settings are actually close to those of normal cameras, but there are also additional options for processing photos.

When taking pictures, the phone can save pairs of images: “normal”, with a resolution of 5MP and “pro”, with a full resolution of 13MP. The “pro” image format can be either JPEG or DNG (analogous to RAW in Canon mirrors). Thus, there is an opportunity for thoughtful post-processing on a computer.

By the way, the use of such an approach makes it possible to realize an analogue of the optical zoom when photographing (x2) and video recording (x4) without loss of quality.

Unfortunately, during the test there was no sunny weather outside, so all the photos were taken in difficult conditions of low light.

Examples of photos are shown below (all pictures were taken in automatic exposure and white balance selection):



During night shooting, the shutter speed can be up to 4 seconds.



In low light conditions, the camera may make mistakes with the correct definition of white balance, during tests this led to the photographs becoming too pink.



The camera can focus in automatic mode at distances greater than 10 cm, but it is possible to manually focus at shorter distances:



The auxiliary camera does not have any special characteristics and copes remarkably with its main functions (video chat, etc.), but for the order we will provide a photo from it:



An example of a video .

Nokia Lumia 1520 users, who actively use the camera, will appreciate another program - Nokia Stories.
This program allows you to combine groups of photos in the "history". The characteristics of each “story” include the following entities: name, date, place. Each "story" is displayed on the map.



In addition to these rich features, there is also the possibility of creating "live photos" and "smart photos".

Unfortunately, it is impossible to describe these and other possibilities of photographic software in the framework of one review.

Playing music

I really liked another branded application - Nokia MixRadio.

This application allows you to simply create music mixes based on your preferences.
To create such a set of compositions, it is enough to choose several preferred performers and the system itself will collect “homogeneous” music, and will add there other performers with similar compositions (of your choice).

This mix can be downloaded to your phone and listen (for free!) For a month. If this is a “restriction” for you, you can purchase the Pro version.

Naturally, if you have music on your phone (in internal memory or on a card), you can play it using the Music and Video application. All main features are supported (including display of covers, selection by artists / albums / folders, etc.).

Video playback

Regular software allows you to play a fairly limited number of formats. The most "safe" is the MP4. Other formats (popular MKV, for example) need to be transcoded.

The fact that the phone with regular video and music applications did not detect the DLNA servers with media content on the home network was also surprising.

In this situation, the solution came to the rescue as an application MoliPlayer Pro. This application has eliminated all the noted shortcomings: all the sources of content were immediately detected and without any problems “over the air” I managed to play various media files (including MKV up to 15GB).

But, unfortunately, not all the tasks related to streaming video were solved (perhaps, there simply wasn't enough time to search).
For example, there was no replacement for the DS Cam application (working with a video surveillance system based on NAS from Synology) and VU + Player (watching satellite TV from compatible satellite receivers based on Linux).

Battery operation

Another feature of the flagship Nokia is a capacious rechargeable battery - 3400 mAh.

During the tests, I made this phone the main one (by redirecting all calls to it, setting up receipt of mail, installing familiar programs for social networks, all wireless interfaces were turned on, etc.), while the phone practically did not turn off. And even in such tough enough conditions, he stayed on one charge for about 36 hours.

I think that with “normal” battery operation it will be enough for two full days. Agree, this is an outstanding result, and even for a device with such a huge screen.

Another distinctive feature of this device is the possibility of wireless charging.

Third Party Applications

Once upon a time, when I switched from Windows Mobile to iPhone, I managed to pick up the same set of familiar software and the “move” was almost painless.

The subsequent transition from iPhone to Android also did not cause any difficulties - in Market, it was enough to search by the name of the corresponding programs and install the necessary versions.

With Windows Phone, the situation was not so rosy. Unfortunately, not all developers write their software right under the three platforms, unfairly forgetting the Microsoft OS.

The MS application store is built on the same principles as competing platforms, but some things are rather strange. For example, you cannot sort applications by rating, so when choosing software, you have to look through a lot of options and choose the right one.

Interestingly, some applications under Windows Phone are not at all. For example, the Firefox and Chrome browsers do not exist for this platform.

At the same time, there are a lot of low-quality applications in the Market (with terrible comments and very low user ratings).

I want to believe that this is temporary and in the foreseeable future the situation will change dramatically: leading developers will turn their eyes on this platform, the quantity and quality of useful software will grow.

findings


In my opinion, Nokia has released a phone with excellent hardware characteristics, the combination of which makes this device a real flagship that very high raises the bar for similar devices on any platform.

The collaboration between Microsoft and Nokia while working on the Lumia 1520 makes it a real business device, which harmoniously fits into the corporate environment.
On the other hand, at home, this smartphone integrates with the Xbox, which improves the overall perception of the device (not only for work, but also for rest).

pros



Minuses



PS review prepared for the competition .

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/211965/

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