• Diyan
• On March 24, 2014

Review Overview

Design

6

Display

6.5

Camera

5.5

Performance

7.5

64%

Rating

Budget 6-inch phablet, nowhere near as capable as the Lumia 1520

Design

With a similarly sized 6-inch display but with a lower resolution (720p), the phone doesn’t impress as much as the range-topping 1520. The 1320 is also bigger and heavier (164.6 x 9.78 / 220 grams) than its sibling, with rounded corners and more traditional Lumia design, similar to the 625. Lumia 1320 has removable back shells in multiply colors (yellow, black, white and red) folding around the sides meeting up with the glass front as opposed to the rectangular unibody design of the Nokia Lumia 1520. Overall it feels quite a solid-device. There are three physical keys on the right hand side – volume rocker, power and camera shutter, and sometimes it could be hard for you to press the keys with one handed grip due to the phone’s size. Three capacitive buttons as on any other Windows Phone are found on the front section of the device – Back, Windows and Search.

Display

Nokia has downgraded the 6-inch screen from the excellent 1080p display in the 1520 to a lower-resolution 720p display for this budget-oriented phablet. As a result, the phone definitely doesn’t look as premium as its sibling, though the screen has Gorilla Glass 3, bright and crisp colors and acceptable viewing angle. Lack of Full HD resolution could be a problem as the 1320 has a very large display, while on small screen size models it would be hard to notice the difference. You might notice not so detailed images and blurry web pages, especially while browsing or reading text. On the other hand, Windows Phone 8 is a platform that doesn’t suffer from resolution drop and the experience is quite the same on all available screen sizes. Moreover, the current version is designed with 720p in mind, so the Nokia Lumia 1320 looks fine.

Camera

We have a pretty basic 5MP camera without the PureView branding which makes this smartphone not so appealing for photo enthusiasts. The major downside of the camera comes in the way of its sensor size and resolution. Nokia uses the same f/2.4 lens found on two of its low-end models – the Lumia 520 and Lumia 620. Given the sensor limitations, it’s expected that Nokia Lumia 1320 leaves mixed feelings in both good and low-light conditions. The pictures are often a bit washed out, with noise and limited level of details, however, compared with alternative budget smartphones, the Nokia’s camera looks quite in line.

image source: trustedreviews.com

You control both focusing and shutter with a two-stage dedicated camera button on the right. Like any other Lumia phone, Microsoft’s camera is your default camera app, but you should definitely use Nokia Camera, which offers much more options and possibilities to make great shots. Using the backside camera you can record videos at 1080p and 30fps (720p at default) with crisp picture and vibrant enough colors with sound quality found to be below the average. There is a basic VGA front-facing camera for video calling, but the quality is far below acceptable, especially for a phone with a price tag of around £300.

Software and Performance

Lumia 1320 comes with the latest Windows Phone incarnation so you shouldn’t expect anything new in this model. Microsoft’s platform shows flawless performance on any hardware and screen size, and this phone proves it once again. Thanks to controlled hardware requirements and good optimization, Windows Phone 8 runs almost as well as on high-end models such as Nokia Lumia 1520 and Lumia Icon. Similar to the other large screen devices, the 1320 offers three columns of square mid-sized tiles on the home screen, and even though the screen size has just 720p resolution, the home screen still looks great. At the same time, the difference between the 4-inch Lumia 520 and this phone is hard to notice with menu screens looking inefficient, with a waste of space.

Nokia Lumia 1320 uses a dual-core Snapdragon processor running at 1.7 GHz helped by 1 GB of RAM. According to benchmark tests, the phone shows a performance level 40% lower than Lumia 1520, so we can place it somewhere between 5xx and 6xx Nokia Lumia handsets. The internal storage capacity is 8 GB with Windows Phone taking up 2 GB, so you have just 6GB free for apps and multimedia. With storage capacity running out rather quickly, buying a microSD card is a must. The phone is available in two versions – with 3G support for emerging economies and LTE/4G for most of the markets. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and this phone is fueled by a large 3400 mAh battery.

Wrap-up

Nokia Lumia 1320 is a budget (and only) alternative on the Windows Phone market of 6-inch handsets and it could be a good option for all users who want to get a strong Windows Phone 8 experience at a reasonable price.

With average hardware components, Nokia Lumia 1320 is just a less attractive version of the 1520. The phone has a 720p 6-inch screen, an average dual-core processor and a huge battery, giving you enough power for at least one day of moderate usage. There is an ordinary 5MP camera on the back, capable of good pictures in daylight and 1080p video recording. Major downsides of the phone come in the way of its design, as it is bulkier, heavier and less-attractive looking than the high-end 1520 with some compromises in the built quality.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 164x86x10mm
• Weight: 220g
• Processor: Dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm SnapdragonS4
• RAM: 1 GB
• Storage: 8 GB
• Memory slot: Yes
• Display: 6in ClearBlack, IPS LCD, 1280x720pixels
• Camera: 5 megapixel with auto focus, 4x digitalzoom, LED flash; VGA front-facing camera with F2.8 lens
• Battery: 3400mAh