Introduction

As the Finnish company's first Windows tablet, the Nokia Lumia 2520 cannot complain about lack of attention from both brand loyalists and industry pundits. Announced alongside the Lumia 1520 phablet, the slate expands Nokia's product lineup beyond smartphones, thus allowing the company to compete with the heavyweights in yet another highly-lucrative segment of the consumer tech market.

Just like in the case of its latest generation Windows Phones, Nokia has opted for using some of the most capable hardware available around for its tablet. The Nokia Lumia 2520 packs a stunning 10.1-inch IPS LCD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset, LTE connectivity, and a 6.7MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens. Not to mention the usual host of Nokia's proprietary apps and services.

Here goes the full list of Nokia Lumia 2520 features, followed by some of its disadvantages we found after using the tablet for a while.

Key features

  • 10.1" 1080p (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) ClearBlack IPS touchscreen; Gorilla Glass 2
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 SoC; quad-core 2.2GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU
  • Touch-optimized Windows 8.1 RT with deep Microsoft services integration
  • 2GB 800 MHz LPDDR3 RAM; 32GB of in-built storage (around 17.5GB user available)
  • Micro SD card slot, up to 64GB supported
  • Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity with Wi-Fi Direct
  • HSDPA 42mbps and LTE 150Mbps connectivity
  • MicroUSB port, USB 3.0 host functionality
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • NFC connectivity
  • HDMI port
  • Accelerometer, compass and three-axis gyro-sensor
  • 6.7MP main camera with F/1.9 aperture and Carl Zeiss optics; 1080p@30fps video
  • 2MP wide-angle front-facing camera, 720p@30fps video
  • Built-in stereo speakers
  • Superb build quality and ergonomics
  • Full version of Microsoft Office available out of the box
  • Exclusive HERE Maps with available offline navigation out of the box
  • Nokia Storyteller; Nokia Camera; My Nokia; Nokia Music; Nokia Video Director apps are exclusive to the tablet
  • 8,120mAh battery with impressive endurance
  • Available optional battery keyboard dock with a duo of USB ports

Main disadvantages

  • Windows RT app availability is still confined to the Windows Store
  • Limited amount of good-quality apps available for the RT platform
  • Heavier than most other 10" tablets
  • Display resolution falls behind the competition in the same price range
  • There are compelling options with the full-blown Windows 8.1, some at a lower price
  • The keyboard dock adds considerably to the tablet's price and thickness

A quick look at the key features reveals that, as far as specs go, the Nokia Lumia 2520 is well-equipped to go head to head with the finest tablet offerings available on the market. The Lumia's display resolution falls slightly behind its top-end iOS and Android rivals', though Nokia has made up for the pixel shortage with superb contrast, sunlight legibility, and viewing angles.

Of course, just like in the case of the Microsoft Surface 2 we recently reviewed, we can't help but be a tad skeptical about the presence of Windows 8.1 RT as the OS of choice on Nokia's first tablet. The new wave of affordable, Intel Atom based touchscreen tablets running the full Windows 8.1 questions the very existence of the ARM-centric branch of the OS. The same goes for the obvious lack of hardware vendors willing to utilize the lightweight Windows version in newly developed products.

In a manner taken straight from its Windows Phone playbook, Nokia has countered the limitations of the OS by adding a number of useful, exclusive apps to the Lumia 2520. They include HERE Maps, Nokia Camera, Nokia Video Director, and Nokia Storyteller.

As always, we will kick the review off by unboxing the tablet, followed by a close look at its design and hardware.

Basic retail package

The retail package of the Nokia Lumia 2520 is basic. Inside the tablet's box, you will find a charger, a tool for accessing the SIM and microSD slots, as well as some booklets.

Much like the Microsoft Surface 2, the Nokia Lumia 2520 has an optional keyboard cover. Alongside the full QWERTY and trackpad, the keyboard cover packs an extra 2,027mAh battery and a duo of full USB ports.

The keyboard cover for the Nokia Lumia 2520 is essential for utilizing its massive productivity talents. Its two major downsides come from its price tag and its considerable weight. At $149 and 571 grams respectively, both add significantly to the tablet's bottom line in both literal and figurative sense.

Design and build quality

The looks of the Nokia Lumia 2520 hold no surprises. The tablet follows closely the design language of the Nokia Lumia smartphone range. Thanks to its rectangular shape and rounded edges, the slate literally looks like a stretched out Lumia smartphone.

The above considered, the Nokia Lumia 2520 looks handsome in the flesh, if a bit too familiar. After all, the current Lumia family design language debuted back in mid-2011 with the MeeGo totting Nokia N9.

Like its smartphone relatives, the Nokia Lumia 2520 is available in a variety of colors, and matte or glossy finish. The colors on offer are black, white, cyan, and red. The black and cyan color schemes come with a matte finish, while the white and red are glossy.

The matte black version which we got to review can easily claim to be the most understated-looking tablet around. We also reckon that the matt finish is easier to live with on a daily basis, as it handles smudgy fingerprints much better that its glossy counterpart.

The measures of the Nokia Lumia 2520 are 267 x 168 x 8.9 mm, while its weight tips the scale at the relatively substantial 615 grams. The latter means that the Nokia Lumia 2520, while a tad more compact than the Microsoft Surface 2, is heftier than the high-end iOS and Android offerings it will compete with.

Build quality is up to Nokia's usual high standards. The Lumia 2520 is superbly put together and ready to tackle plenty of daily use and abuse - from the solid polycarbonate body, all the way to display covered by Corning's Gorilla Glass 2

Display

The Nokia Lumia 2520 features a 10.1" Full HD ClearBlack IPS display with multi-touch support. The screen boasts enhanced outdoor visibility and an orientation sensor. Its pixel density is 218ppi.

The contrast and viewing angles of the Lumia's display are superb, as is its sunlight legibility. Nokia has been treating its top-end smartphones to high-quality displays for some time now, so we can't say we didn't expect one on the company's first tablet as well.

Subjectively, the Nokia Lumia 2520 hands-down beats the screen of its Windows 8.1 RT sibling, the Microsoft Surface 2, in both contrast and viewing angles. Brightness is better too.

Things however, take a downturn when Nokia's offering goes head to head with the iOS and Android's finest. Apple, Samsung, and ASUS all offer tablets with significantly higher resolution than the Lumia 2520. To put things simply, 1920 x 1080 pixels is no longer considered cutting edge for a $499 tablet.

Final words

The Nokia Lumia 2520 is a solid first entry into the tablet realm for the manufacturer, and a logical extension of its smartphone range. The slate is well-equipped, has instantly recognizable design, and, like Nokia's Windows Phone devices, comes with a number of useful, exclusive apps.

Of course, like in the case of the Microsoft Surface 2, we are a bit skeptical about the choice of Windows 8.1 RT in the Nokia Lumia 2520. With Microsoft's own Surface 2 being the only other new product to utilize the OS besides the Lumia 2520, we can't help it but question the Windows RT's prospects as a viable competitor to the ever more tablet-friendly Android and iOS.

Again, much like the Microsoft Surface 2 (analogies are difficult to avoid in this case), the Nokia Lumia 2520 should be judged depending on the user's specific perspective.

The comparison is not in the Nokia Lumia 2520's favor when you face it with the likes of the iPad Air and the high-end Android tablet army. The Apple slate and the latest batch of flagship Android tablets offer more polished and better rounded tablet OS experience, though they cost significantly more when equipped with LTE radio.

The above has nothing to do with hardware anymore, as, the slightly lower screen resolution aside, the Nokia Lumia 2520 is anything but short on specs. The operating system however, falls behind iOS and Android on the developers' priority lists. And as you know, mobile platforms these days are judged first by the number and quality of third-party apps available. In this respect, a Windowd 8 RT tablet such as the Lumia 2520 hardly has any strong point beyond the presence of the full-featured Microsoft Office suite.

The latest proper Windows 8 tablets (the ones with Intel Atom Bay Trail processors) also make a strong case against the Nokia Lumia 2520. LTE connectivity aside, the Atom-based tablets make more sense than Nokia's product by offering the full Windows experience at a lower price point.

Speaking of price, the Nokia Lumia 2520 is priced at $499 without contract for AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the United States. The optional battery keyboard cover will set you back an additional $149. LTE data plans on both carriers costs extra.

As always, we took a look around about what else you can pick up for a similar budget as the Nokia Lumia 2520. Here are some of the most notable findings.

A budget of $449 will get you a Wi-Fi-only version of the above two. LTE connectivity bumps up the price of the Note 10.1 significantly. In the case of the ASUS, it is missing as an option altogether.

There is a host of Intel Bay Trail totting tablets, which offer full Windows 8.1 for less than what Nokia is asking for the Lumia 2520. The most notable ones include the ASUS Transformer Book T100 and the HP Omni 10, etc. All of them lack LTE, but cost $399 or less, thus leaving you plenty of spare change to pick up a wireless keyboard.

Finally, considering the multi-faceted nature of the Nokia Lumia 2520, we decided to take a look at the Windows hybrid ultrabook realm even though it's outside of our usual area of interest. A quick search online brought up the MSI S Series ultrabook with 11.6" 1080p display, Inter Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 128GB SSD, and a sliding keyboard listed for only $620 delivered - less than a Lumia 2520 with a battery cover.

The abovementioned ultrabook has no HSDPA/LTE connectivity, but if processing power in a portable package is what you are after, it literally blows the Nokia Lumia 2520 out of the water.

Intel is expected to release a 22nm Atom chips with integrated LTE next year. They are bound to bring an even greater performance and power efficiency to the table, thus hopefully bringing an end to the Windows RT debacle.

But back to the Lumia 2520. We are afraid that just like the first Nokia Lumia smartphones, the company's first tablet will not shatter any sales records either. But being the finest Windows RT offering and a logical extension to the Lumia range however, it is certain to attract its fair share of followers.

Until this moment arrives, or until Microsoft somehow shatters the wall separating the ARM-based tablets and the Windows Phone devices, the Nokia Lumia 2520 is bound to remain a characterful, but niche product. Like in the case of Windows Phone, it is up to Microsoft to make it a viable mainstream player, as Nokia has already done its job to squeeze the maximum out of the Windows RT platform.