Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet review

THERE is much to like about Nokia’s first tablet/laptop, but price is not one, writes Alex Kidman.

The beautifully designed Lumia 2520 released by Nokia

THERE is much to like about Nokia’s first tablet/laptop, but price is not one, writes Alex Kidman

Nokia’s first tablet is a beautifully designed device that very closely resembles the Lumia line of phones.

It has smooth edges that hide a SIM card slot, volume and power buttons.

The underlying hardware is powerful, with a 10.1-inch full HD display panel, 32GB of on-board storage plus microSD and a 2.2Ghz Snapdragon 800 processor under the hood.

The screen is bright and clear, even in direct sunlight, and it’s really only when you use touch fully that you appreciate the Windows touch experience.

Microsoft’s pitch to the tablet crowd has always tended towards those who needed to create content, rather than those who consume it, and with that in mind the Lumia 2520 also has an optional $240 power keyboard case which adds a solid keyboard, two USB ports and a 2027 mAh battery.

It provides a solid magnetic clip for a single lap position, and works very well indeed.

Even without the power keyboard attached, we sailed through more than 10 hours of video playback without seriously troubling the Lumia 2520’s internal battery.

All of this might sound as though there’s nothing but praise to heap on the Lumia 2520, but unfortunately the positives are heavily outweighed by negatives.

It’s a Windows RT tablet, joining stablemate the Surface 2 in running Microsoft’s cut-down Windows variant. This is fine if you just need basic Office, which is included, or simple tablet tasks, but it’s annoying because it acts much like Windows 8.1, but isn’t really Windows 8.1 at all. You’re limited by what’s available in the Windows RT App store, and while that has been improving, it still feels stupidly small given that the entire look and feel of Windows RT is identical to that of Windows 8.1 itself.

But the big problem is price. At $840 outright its price is comparable with competing tablets. However, it’s priced locally much higher than it is overseas. In the US, for example, it can sell for $499.

That high price really hurts, especially if you bundle in the Power Keyboard. Do that, and it compares to the much better Surface Pro 2 laptop. If you don’t need the keyboard case and can tolerate Windows RT, the Surface 2 is $300 cheaper.

That’s a huge price difference for the Lumia 2520’s 4G LTE, which is the key differentiator between the two. Nokia/Microsoft’s laptop hybrid is pretty and powerful, but they’ve given little reason to buy one.

Price: $840

Rating 2/5