Nokia Lumia 2520 review

It’s taken a long time for the Finnish phone giant to get around to it, but Nokia has finally summoned up the courage to release its first Windows tablet – the Lumia 2520. It’s a 10.1in, Full HD device running Windows RT 8.1, and first impressions are highly favourable.

It’s built quite beautifully, with a solidity reminiscent of the Lumia smartphone range at its best. A single, seamless slab of smoothly curved plastic wraps gently around the edges and meets a scratch- and shatter-resistant Gorilla Glass 2 panel at the front.

The Lumia 2520 comes in a selection of different colours and finishes, too: red gloss or black matte initially (and white gloss or matte cyan available later). Having handled both the gloss and matte versions, we prefer the matte, which picks up greasy fingerprints and scuffs less eagerly.

Whichever you choose, though, the connections and specification remain the same. On the left edge is a 3.5mm headset socket and a DC input, and on the top are the volume rocker and power buttons, plus a drawer for microSDXC and SIM cards. Impressively, every Lumia 2520 is 4G-enabled. On the right is a micro-USB 3 socket and micro-HDMI output, and on the bottom edge a docking connector.

Inside, there’s dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4, plus NFC and GPS, 32GB storage, and on the rear and the front are 6.7- and 2-megapixel cameras. It’s an impressive list of features – the only thing lacking – at least compared with the Microsoft Surface 2 – is practicality. There’s no integral kickstand, and although you can buy a keyboard case, the only option at the time of writing is one with a built-in battery (for a claimed boost of five hours to battery life), which will set you back a hefty £150.

Performance

Switch it on and good things continue to happen. Nokia claims “best in class outdoor readability” for the Lumia 2520, and we wouldn’t contest that. Its Full HD IPS screen, as measured with our X-Rite colorimeter, reaches a dazzlingly bright 714cd/m[sup]2[/sup], which is far higher than the Surface 2 and Apple iPad Air.

A contrast ratio of 1,151:1 ensures that images have plenty of solidity and presence, and although a touch warm, colours really pop from the screen. In fact, we’d go so far as to say it’s the best screen we’ve come across on any tablet – an impressive feat given the calibre of the competition.

It doesn’t end there, though. A quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU, coupled with Adreno 330 graphics and 2GB of RAM, ensures performance is right up with the best. This is a combination we’ve been impressed with before in the Kindle HDX 7in and HDX 8.9in, and it runs Windows RT 8.1 just as impressively.

In the demanding GFXBench 2.7 T-Rex HD test, the Lumia 2520 achieved an average 27fps – a result not even the iPad Air could match with its result of 21fps. It returned a SunSpider time of 517ms, and a Peacekeeper score of 584, neither of which is quite as impressive, but are competitive with its main rival – the Surface 2.

And, just as with the Surface 2, the Lumia 2520 is a joy to use. The tiles, menus and onscreen keyboard of Windows RT 8.1 respond at hyper-speed. Apps launch far quicker than they ever did on the first generation of sluggish RT devices. Even the Office RT apps appear without delay.

The Lumia 2520’s battery life is better than the Surface 2’s, too. In our video-rundown test, with the screen calibrated to 120cd/m[sup]2[/sup] and flight mode enabled, it lasted 12hrs 1min – more than two hours longer than the Surface 2, and almost as good as iPad Air’s 12hrs 55mins.

Even the 6.7-megapixel camera does a decent job, capturing clean, low-noise stills. Video capture was less encouraging, however, with footage appearing smeary and over-compressed.

Software

The Lumia 2520’s biggest issue is that, since it runs Windows RT rather than full Windows, you can’t install proper Windows apps in the same way as you can with devices like the Asus Transformer Book T100. However, that’s mitigated somewhat by the inclusion of Office 2013 RT, which in RT 8.1 has been bolstered by the addition of a desktop version of Outlook, and the steady improvement of the Windows Store.

More and more major titles are appearing as the months go by, with official Facebook and Twitter clients, Dropbox and Evernote all now available. Even when an app isn’t available, the browser is good enough that using the web equivalent isn’t as much of a pain as you’d imagine.

Where the Windows Store continues to fall short is in the availability of those small apps that accompany third-party products and services – printers, routers and NAS appliances, for example. Most companies still develop for iOS and Android first.

To give Nokia its due, it has made an effort to make up for this with a few bonus apps of its own. Nokia Video Director delivers basic video-editing capabilities, Nokia Storyteller creates montages of your photos and video clips. There’s Nokia’s Here Maps, plus its tweaked camera app, which gives you control over advanced features such as ISO sensitivity, white balance, shutter speed and exposure compensation.

Verdict

Despite our reservations over Windows RT, there’s no denying that this is a top-quality piece of hardware. It isn’t the best tablet around, but the Lumia 2520 delivers faster performance and better battery life, with a higher quality display than the Surface 2, and includes 4G as standard. For only £41 more – it looks like a bargain.

What prevents the Nokia tablet from taking the Windows RT top spot is purely the superior flexibility of the Microsoft Surface 2. Its kickstand and the availability of cheaper keyboard options make it – just – the more practical purchase.

Detail
Warranty	1 yr return to base
Physical
Dimensions	265 x 10.2 x 168mm (WDH)
Weight	615.000kg
Display
Screen size	10.1in
Resolution screen horizontal	1,920
Resolution screen vertical	1,080
Display type	Multitouch, capacitive
Panel technology	IPS
Battery
Battery capacity	8,000mAh
Core specifications
CPU frequency, MHz	2.2GHz
Integrated memory	32GB
Camera
Camera megapixel rating	6.7mp
Focus type	Autofocus
Built-in flash?	no
Front-facing camera?	yes
Video capture?	yes
Other
WiFi standard	802.11abgn
Bluetooth support	yes
Integrated GPS	yes
Accessories supplied	Mains charger
Upstream USB ports	0
HDMI output?	yes
Video/TV output?	no
Software
Mobile operating system	Windows RT 8.1