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Surface? What Surface? Nokia unveils first Windows tablet in Abu Dhabi

6-inch phablets also launched

Surface? What Surface? Nokia unveils first Windows tablet in Abu Dhabi
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Nokia has unveiled its first Windows 8 tablet, with the Lumia 2520 – unveiled at the Finnish firm's annual Nokia World conference in Abu Dhabi – set to serve as the first real competition for Microsoft's flagship Surface range.

The 2520 features a 10.1-inch full 1080p display with what Nokia claims is the "highest brightness and lowest reflectance" of any tablet in the market, enabling consumers to play games or access content even in the brightest sunshine.

The tablet, which runs Windows RT 8.1, also comes equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, as well as both 6.7Mp rear facing and 2.0MP front facing cameras.

Out and about

Most interesting from a gaming perspective, however, was Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's focus on "making tablets truly mobile" for the first time.

Elop cited stats that suggest, currently, tablets are most used in the early morning and in the evening, suggesting that most never leave the house.

80 percent of tablets sold today, he added, are wi-fi only.

"We want to get tablets out of the house, and to do that, they have to be able to connect anywhere," said Elop, adding that the Lumia 2520 is 4G LTE equipped.

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Retailing for $499 and available in Nokia's 4th quarter, portability is also the motivation behind the device's Power Keyboard, which adds an extra 5 hours of battery life for those taking the 2520 out and about.

In all, Nokia claims the Lumia 2520 - which will come in red, black, cyan and white - should sport up to 16 hours of power with the cover attached.

Fab phablets

Nokia World also played host to the unveiling of Nokia's first phablets – two 6-inch Lumia devices with HD displays aimed at different price points.

The $749 Lumia 1520 adds, as predicted, an extra third column to the Windows Phone UI to take advantage of the wider screen and the 1080p display, with a 20MP camera ensuring that imaging is once again the Finnish giant's focus.

Indeed, such a stance was backed up by the announcement that both Vine and Instagram will finally launch on Windows Phone 8 "in the coming weeks".

Games once again earned a mention – this time via Temple Run 2 – with the device packing in the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor that sits in the 2520, enabling a "richer and faster gaming experience".


Lumia 1520

While both the 1520 and 2520 had been leaked in the days leading up to Nokia World, the cheaper of the two phablets – the $339 Lumia 1320 – was more of a surprise, with its reduced RRP enabled by the decision to build a 5MP camera and a dual-core processor.

Asia appears to be the focus here, with both China and Vietnam on the early launch roster.

Its more powerful brethren, the 1520, has more established markets such as the US, Singapore and Hong Kong (with Europe coming soon after) as its targets.

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Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.