Three way Lumia midrange battle

Nokia recently unveiled the Lumia 1320 and the Lumia 1520 locally. The 1520 is the monster while the 1320 is the cheaper version and a device that should be really considered. But there is problem and it comes from Nokia themselves. Do you get the 1320 or do you go for the previous flagship devices i.e. the 920 and the 925 whose prices have dropped to the price point of the 1320? It’s a really difficult choice as you will realize as you read on.

The 1320 is an exciting device. It flaunts a huge 6 inch display and is relatively thin for its size. The display is 720p so it isn’t so bad. Under the hood you get a dual core S4 chip clocked at 1.7GHz paired with 1GB of RAM and Adreno 305 GPU. This is like a turbo charged v8 engine for windows phone. You get a lowly 5MP camera on the back with LED flash. What really sets the 1320 apart aside from the large display is the enormous battery. The phone comes with a non removable 3400mAh battery which will get you about 2 days of use but you could get more depending on your use.

The competition is the Lumia 920 and 925. These are identical devices but for the looks. Internally they both have a dual core 1.5 GHz Krait processor with 1GB of RAM paired with Adreno 225 GPU. There is an 8MP Pureview camera which is way ahead of other 8MP shooters. You get 2000mAh battery on both and this should only be enough for a day’s use. If you are a power user you may want to invest in a portable charger. The difference between the 920 and the 925 is the build design. The 920 is chunky and has the Nokia N9/Lumia 900 design while the 925 is made of Aluminium and very sleek and thinner.

So what does it come down to? If you want a bigger display probably for media consumption and better web browsing experience and of course that terrific battery life then selecting the 1320 is a no brainer. However, if you want a smaller device with a better camera then the 925 should be your device. You should pick the 920 is you want a smaller device and you are on a budget since the 920 is cheaper than the 925. Whatever your choice, you will have something to smile about, either a big display and excellent battery life or a premium design and a kickass camera.

Nokia Android Phone: What you need to know

Nokia is no longer the number one mobile device company but it still has a way of making headlines. The latest buzz is about an upcoming android phone. Most people had wished for Nokia to go the Google way instead of Microsoft and this latest buzz goes on to show that people still have that dream. The rumoured device causing the stir is only known as the Nokia Normandy and based on the leaks it runs the latest version of android. But there is more to it, or lack thereof.

Based on the leaks the Normandy is a low end device in the league of the Lumia 520 with a dual core processor and 512mb of RAM. Most of you don’t care about that as the mention of android is still making your heads spin. Well, here’s the thing, android is open source meaning it is free. Google however supports the development process of android but they don’t own it. So to make business sense out of it they bundle their services such as Gmail, Google Play, Google maps and the other Google apps and package this to OEMs. The packaged android is more appealing to device manufacturers since it saves them the hassle of developing apps and even marketing the OS.

In China, however, things are different. Google services are rarely used. So most phones developed for the Chinese market make use of the forked android. Amazon does the same thing with Kindle and goes ahead to provide its own applications store. This is the path Nokia wishes to pursue. The main reason for this would be budget. In terms of cost Windows Phone or even the Google sponsored android can only be pushed down to a certain level. Forked android is free hence costs can be pushed further down. The Normandy may certainly join the Asha line up and this will be a much needed refresh. This also upgrades the Asha line up to fully fledged smartphones. I bet I am not the only one who feels that the Asha series don’t deserve the smartphone tag. So maybe there is already a deadlock in the Series 40 coding meaning it is costly and time consuming to add new features like it happened with Symbian.

Nokia will probably provide their suite of apps for the phone and maybe partner with some of the Google independent app stores to provide more apps. Leaks suggest that the device has been customized with the metro/modern UI. This may be a marketing strategy. So, let’s say you get the budget Normandy device. In case you need to upgrade you will look for a windows phone rather than an android device because of that metro UI that you are now used to.

Now we just wait and see how this turns out. After all we are still only dealing with rumours.