Review: Nokia Lumia 1520

Pros:
Excellent screen; Great camera; Sturdy and premium build; Impressive multimedia performance; Free voice-guided sat nav; Comes with Microsoft's productivity apps.

Cons:
Too large to be a phone; A few games are still missing on WP8.

Design And BuildIf you like pockatable phones, the 1520 is not for you. With a 6" screen, it's huge and unwieldy. Heck, it's even bigger than the Samsung GALAXY Note 3. Only monstrosities such as Sony's Xperia Z Ultra and Samsung's Mega 6.3 beat the 1520 when it comes to the odd size. Personally, I wouldn't want to be seen with such huge phone in public.

Design-wise, the phone is based on Nokia's fabula design language that debuted on the N9. With its unibody design the 1520 looks like an overgrown 720. One thing worth mentioning here is that the phone supports wireless charging. It packs in the induction charging coil in its 8.7 mm thin body, which is quite feat.
The 1520's construction is top-notch. There's not a single rough spot on the phone. Even the loudspeaker grille pores are machined with precision. The buttons placement is a standard Lumia affair. The screen along with the capacitive keys are covered by a layer of scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 2. It's worth noting that the Lumia 1520 is Nokia's first phone to adhere to nano-SIM standards. That's going to be helpful for those making a switch from the iPhone. The rest will have to get their SIM card changed.

Display
The 1520's 6" IPS LCD screen has pixel dimensions of 1920x1080. That takes its pixel density to around 365 ppi. No doubt, the display is very sharp, but what's even more impressive are the viewing angles. Even at extreme angles, the screen manages to retain legibility with minimal colour shift. Thanks to polarisation filters, the phone delivers relatively deeper blacks while eliminating the screen glare. Backed by the Assertive display tech, the screen offers excellent picture quality in various lighting conditions. The system comprises of a dedicated chip and software algorithm that controls individual pixels in real time. Similar to the current crop of Lumias, the 1520 comes with a super-sensitivity display. For those who like to experiment, there's an option to play around with the colour profile. So you can change the colour tone from natural to vivid.
Specifications
Apart from a 2.2 GHz quad-core processor, the phone features an Adreno 330 GPU. For multitasking, there's 2 GB of RAM. Internal storage is 32 GB, and you can throw in additional 64 Gigs via the microSD card slot. The phone flaunts a 20 megapixel camera with  PureView branding. The 3400 mAh battery promises up to 5 days of music playback. The handset's network and Wi-Fi reception was spotless.
Software
The Lumia 1520 runs Windows Phone 8 Update 3 out of the box. After adding its own enhancements, Nokia packages it as Lumia Black. WP now allows you to close background apps. The much needed rotation lock is finally here. The Glance screen offers more options. As mentioned in 525's review, the Finns have also provided 'Folder' option to club similar apps on a single tile.