Nokia Lumia 2520: Nokia's first Windows tablet is here

Nokia launches its first tablet. But is it good enough? Here are some few initial impressions from Himanshu Juneja

The Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet is now official. The device has been priced at $499 and is slated to hit the Indian market next year.

The now very familiar Lumia's polycarbonate build has been used for this latest offering by Nokia as well. The well built and feature loaded tablet seems like a solid product and coming from a reputed brand as Nokia, it is looking like a good option indeed.

Specs

Processor: 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800.
GPU: Adreno 330
Display: 10.1 inch IPS LCD.
Resolution: Full HD @ 1920x1080, ably protected with Gorilla Glass 2 technology.
OS: Windows 8.1 RT.
Cam: 6.7MP rear cam and 2MP front facing.
Memory: 32 GB onboard (Expandable upto 32GB)
Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-fi, LTE, USB 3.0 interface, HDMI.
Battery: 8000mAH. Claimed to last 10 hours with normal use.
Weight: 615 gms
Other Worthy mentionables: Qualcomm QuickCharge tech, Stereo speakers, Dolby Headphone sound.

Build and Design

The Unibody polycarbonate tablet looks and feels impressively solid. Not only the name, but the designing details as well as manufacturing screams of it being coming from the Lumia Series, something which should find support and appreciation instantly.

The power/lock button as well as the volume rocker have been placed on the top edge.
The Charging port and the headphone jack are found on the left side , the USB 3.0 and the HDMI port are on the right side.

Due to the impressively built contours, a curved sleek and slim design, the tablet is a pleasure to hold. The fabulous screen adds to the experience.
Even though the tablet is slightly curved at the backside, it doesnt makes the device rest awkwardly when placed on a flat surface.

The tablet isn't cheap by any stretch but is a treat to use. The Lumia 2520 is being offered in red, cyan, black and white colours.

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Display

The 10.1 inches screen is offering the buyers a full HD viewing panel with excellent viewing capabilities. Not only the screen is High Def and the viewing angles very good, the enhanced outdoor viewing possibilities have been kept in consideration while manufacturing this device.

The tablet comes with what called as the 5% reflection, basically meaning very low reflective surface while viewing the tablet under direct sunlight.This feat has been accomplished by using the ClearBlack Display filter, the same filter which is present on the Lumia phones as well. The tablets users in general would want to surf the internet or use the tablet for long hours, and the impressive outdoor visibility in direct sunlight should make the potential buyers sit up and take notice easily.

Operating System

Straight out of the box, the tablet comes running the Windows 8.1 RT Operating System, and comes with the complete Microsoft Office installed with its full features.
Also, there are other preinstalled apps included as well, like the well known Mail, Skydrive, XBox music etc proving that nokia has tried to keep up with times.

Nokia didnt stop here.It added few apps from its own stable to enhance the user experience by offering apps like Nokia Camera, and Video Director. The former combines Pro and Smart Cam features to provide the user option to take out motion shots and toggle the camera settings during the same time, whereas the Video Director app allows you to combine independent clips and form a longer one.

One can add sound effects, music bits, title screens etc to further enhance the videos.

The tablet also has something called as Storyteller app. It lets you curate your pictures and videos to create a story on a map.

Seems like Nokia is all set to push the tablet as a fun station than just introduce another tablet in the market.

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Accessories

The Tablet comes with Qualcomm QuickCharge technology, which claims to charge up the battery upto 50 percent in just 40 minutes and about 80 percent of charge accomplished in an hour's time. The drawback - It uses a Propriety plug.

Apart from this, the tablet comes with a separate accessory: The Nokia Power Keyboard. Priced at $149, this keyboard can be folded from certain sections to transform it into a stand. Also there are a few nifty and critical features coming along with the keyboard like an additional battery, and two USB 2.0 ports on the back to enhance the tablet's feature list nicely. The additional battery means another 5 hours of backup added which can really come in handy.

Since one gets the complete suite of MS Office with this, the keyboard really will make up for a worthy accessory.

Competition

Nokia's 2520 will be pitted directly against Microsoft's surface 2, as both are running the Windows 8.1 RT Operating system on it. What gives the Nokia tablet the edge is that it is currently the only RT tablet with LTE technology. Add to that, the plethora of apps thrown in by Nokia does seems to make it a worthy choice.

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Early Verdict

That Nokia is an extremely trusted brand and hence has the confidence of buyers.

Nokia certainly has been late in coming to the tablet market and it looks like they have presented a solid product to make up for the loss in as convincing manner as possible. The design and built oozes quality and confidence from the word go. They certainly got the bases in that department covered.

What remains most importantly to be seen is that how the interested and potential consumers will warm up to the idea of using Windows RT Operating system on a solid piece of hardware from the Nokia stable.
Nokia claims the reasons for choosing RT were providing better response time when waking up the tablet from sleep, better battery backup, and ofcource a thinner chasis.

Nokia and Microsoft are reputed brands in the Indian market and both exudes confidence. But considering the fact that the Windows RT OS is not amongst the more preferred ones, and neither has Nokia made a mark in the tablet segment at all, looks like that despite a stellar product that Lumia 2025 seems to be.. Nokia has it's task cut out already.

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