Nokia today unveiled the world’s biggest Windows Phones—two new Lumias with gorgeous 6-inch, high-def displays and roomier Start screens—and announced that an official Instagram app for Windows Phone 8 would arrive “in the coming weeks.”
If you stayed up to watch the live stream of the announcement from Nokia’s Abu Dhabi press event, you know it was packed with one awesome revelation after the next. Besides the new phones, Nokia also announced a new Windows RT 8.1 tablet, a new Lumia software update, and a long list of great apps and games on the way to Windows Phone—including Instagram (pictured below).
For a detailed rundown of what’s headed to the Windows Phone Store (including some available now), check out my app wrap up. And here’s a quick recap of everything you missed at Nokia World in Abu Dhabi.
From big to bigger screen
Nokia announced three impressive new devices at Nokia World, including two phones—the Lumia 1520 and1320—and the new 10-inch Lumia 2520 tablet. For more on Nokia’s first Windows tablet, check out the deep dive from my colleague Brandon LeBlanc on Blogging Windows today.
Now onto those eye-popping new phones.
Lumia 1520
The first thing you notice about the new Nokia Lumia 1520 is its gorgeous 6-inch full HD 1080p screen—the biggest on any Windows Phone yet. One nice surprise: despite the 1520’s impressive size, it still fits easily in the pocket, as I discovered when I tried out a colleague’s loaner device.
Thanks to a new Windows Phone update, the larger, HD display also sports a jumbo-sized Start screen with room for three large or six small Live Tiles across, meaning you can pin even more of the people, info, and apps that matter to you so they’re front and center.
It also means a bigger canvas for taking, editing, and showing off your pictures and videos. And as you’d expect, Nokia has once again pulled out the stops on imaging.
The phone comes with a 20MP PureView camera that leverages many of the innovations found in the Lumia 1020—including optical image stabilization, oversampling technology to capture more details, and great zooming ability. Four built-in microphones, meanwhile, provide directional stereo recording capability and clear, distortion-free sound for your HD videos. The Lumia 1520 also comes with an impressive roster of photo apps—including the new Nokia Camera and Nokia Storyteller. More on those in a moment.
Finally, the screen isn’t the only thing with some muscle. Under the hood, the Lumia 1520 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor. The added horsepower this chip delivers should open the door to all kinds of incredible new games. (Scope out more Lumia 1520 specs on the Windows Phone website.)
The Nokia Lumia 1520 will come in yellow, white, black, and glossy red (exact color selection will likely depend on your carrier), and is expected to roll out later this year in the U.S., U.K., China, France, Singapore, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, and other markets. Estimated price: $749 USD before taxes and subsidies.
Separately, AT&T said it will be the exclusive U.S. carrier for Nokia Lumia 1520, which will use the company’s 4G LTE network. AT&T also said it will offer the Lumia 2520 Windows tablet.
Lumia 1320
Today Nokia also unveiled the Lumia 1320, a lower-cost sibling that features a 6-inch 720p screen, 5MP camera, and dual-core processor. It also has 8GB of internal storage (expandable to 64GB).
Like its sibling, the Lumia 1320 comes packed with Nokia’s impressive portfolio of photography, entertainment, and navigation apps, including HERE Maps, HERE Drive and HERE Transit, Nokia Music, and more.
Available in orange, yellow, white, and black, the phone and is expected to roll out in early 2014 to China and Vietnam, followed by other Asian markets, India, and Europe. Estimated price tag: $339 USD before taxes and subsidies.
New Nokia apps—and a new update called Black
On the software front, the Lumia 1520 and 1320 will come with a bunch of great new apps and features—many of which will be rolling out to existing phones in the form of a new update Nokia is calling Lumia Black. The update, which includes the latest version of the Windows Phone 8 operating system, is expected begin rolling out to Nokia Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8 in early 2014, the company said.
Here’s a rundown of the highlights:
Nokia Camera
Nokia, always pushing the envelope on smartphone photography, has now merged two of its most powerful and popular stand-alone photo apps—Nokia Pro Camera and Nokia Smart Camera—into one. Nokia Camera makes it easier to switch between camera modes faster and choose the best settings for your pictures. The app’s Pro Mode lets you tweak settings like shutter speed and white balance and preview changes in real-time. While Smart Mode can animate still images to create a sense of movement. Switch to the video mode to shoot full HD movies.
Nokia Storyteller
Relive your memories in a dynamic and interactive way. The app automatically integrates your phone pictures with location information, then plots this chronological picture journey on a map. Zoom out of the picture to see more, like points of interest tagged to the map and driving directions to the place. When viewing the images on the map, your memories come alive with integrated video, animated Cinemagraphs, and burst shots.
Nokia Beamer
Share your experience and ideas easily and instantly with friends or colleagues by projecting your phone screen to any HTML5-enabled screen. You can also beam your phone’s screen to someone far away by sending them a link by email, SMS, or via social media. Documents, maps, locations details, or even your camera viewfinder will be shown as you can see it, live and real.
Nokia Glance
An update to Nokia Glance screen brings notifications on missed calls and new emails on the standby screen to allow you to see more without unlocking the phone.
Where to learn more
Again, check out my other post today for a fuller rundown of apps and games headed to the Windows Phone Store. You’ll find more specs and in-depth coverage of Nokia’s new phones and the Lumia 2520 Windows tablet on Nokia Conversations.