Lumia 2520 and 1520: Nokia Goes Big with Windows
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Nokia(ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates) — Nokia wants to put some big screens in your hands.
Tuesday at its Nokia World Conference in Abu Dhabi, the company, which is set to be acquired by Microsoft, announced a series of devices including a full Windows 8.1 tablet and a new Windows Phone phablet — that is a phone that is close in size to a tablet.
The $499 Lumia 2520 is Nokia’s first Windows tablet and is similar in specifications to Microsoft’s own new Surface 2 tablet, which will go on sale Tuesday. Running Windows 8.1 RT, the tablet has a full 10.1-inch 1080p display, which is said to be readable outdoors, and is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. Like its Lumia phones, the 2520 will be available in a selection of colors, including red and cyan, and will have a higher-end 6.7-megapixel camera with ZEISS optics.
Similar to the Surface, it will also be available with Nokia’s Power Keyboard, a $149 keyboard cover that includes a keyboard, trackpad and additional battery to charge up the tablet. Nokia has also brought over its Nokia Here Maps app and its Nokia Music app to Windows 8.
But if you’re looking for a slightly smaller tablet that can make phone calls, Nokia is introducing the 6-inch Lumia 1520 Windows Phone. The phone runs the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8, which was updated earlier this month for larger screens. With the bigger 1080p screen, a third column of tiles or apps will appear on the phone’s main screen.
Speaking of those apps, Nokia also announced at its conference Tuesday that after much anticipation, Instagram would be available for Windows Phone in the coming weeks. It also confirmed that Vine, the popular six-second video sharing app, will be available soon in the Windows Phone app store.
The Lumia 1520, which is powered by the same processor in the 2520 tablet, has all the other staples of a Nokia device. It has a 20-megapixel camera and is available in yellow, white, black and a glossy red.
Nokia would not detail the pricing or availability of the big phone, but said to expect it to be on sale this holiday season in the U.S. along with the 2520 tablet.
And Nokia’s 2520 won’t be the only tablet hitting for the big buying season. On Tuesday, Apple is expected to announce new iPads, and Amazon recently announced its new Kindle Fire HDX tablets.
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