We've already taken a close look at the hardware on the Lumia 1320 and found it to be a well-balanced mid-tier smartphone. Running a Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor at 1.7 GHz, with 1 GB of RAM and just 8 GB of storage. Thankfully the handset supports microSD cards for extra storage. These specs might not be the cutting edge of smartphones, but they are comfortably mid tier (in fact this is the first Nokia handset to use the Snapdragon 400 architecture). Coupled with Windows Phone ability to sip on battery, memory, and CPU cycles, there are no issues over lag in the UI or the speed of operation.
Of course, the main attraction is the screen, and at six inches it is one of the largest Windows Phone displays on the market. Resolution is 1280 x 720 pixels, providing full 720p resolution for video playback (compared to 1080p on the Lumia 1520, but that's for another article). Thankfully, Nokia have stepped up the resolution compared to the phablet-esque Lumia 625 which only ran at 800 x 480 pixels - that would have been far too blocky for comfort on the 1320.
As it is, my eyes are more than happy with the 720p resolution on offer here, and at some points I was glad to have the extra physical size while still retaining the same pixel count as smaller devices such as the Lumia 925. The display is IPS ClearBlack, with a full RGB implementation (no pentile or sub-pixel sharing here) and I have to say I'm really enjoying it - the colours pop out of the screen and while the soft keys at the bottom of the screen are not illuminated, I'm more than familiar enough with Windows Phone to know where the back, home, and search functions can be found.
I guess the question of the physical size comes into play here. I was surprised at both the thinness of the 1320, and the relatively small bezels around the screen. Even with the compromised specs to get the 1320 down to the target price, there is a lot of electronics to get in. There's a 3400 mAh battery in there, plus the screen, and it still shocks me that everything else can fit in the gaps around these major elements.
I guess that's my first big takeaway about the Lumia 1320. While I've tested other 'phablets' out there (mostly in the Android world, it has to be said), they left me a little confused as to what they were trying to achieve, with the extra size proving to be a challenge the hardware and the OS never quite answered. I never had that with the Lumia 1320. Perhaps that's down to the smart design of the Windows Phone apps? The typography around the first-party apps has always been a strong point of the platform, and when you go for a larger screen, that strength becomes even more evident. Most of the time.
It's unfortunate then that some of the advantages around typography, layout, and the unique nature of the 'we mustn't call it Metro' Windows Phone Design Language have been watered down since they debuted in Windows Phone 7. It means that one of the issues that irked me on the Android phablets is starting to creep into the large-screened Windows Phone devices... the switching between extremes of fonts and sizes. Looking at core apps such as the People Hub, the Email client, or the Calendar, there is a consistency of size and layout. That's fine. It's the areas where Microsoft has decided to tinker with Windows Phone 8 and bring it 'closer' to the Android or iOS experience where Windows Phone starts to suffer, with haphazard use of fonts and typography; where the UI starts to reflect the Android design language and not that of Windows; where apps have menus that hang from the side of the screen because another platform does it that way.
Adding a third column of tiles to the Start screen brings the feeling to be more like a 6x10 grid of widgets rather than the live tile experience that I fell in love with. Smaller tiles to launch apps, some bigger tiles with isinformation, it looks more like an Apple or a Samsung than a Nokia or a Microsoft device. So yes, the Lumia 1320 is gong to be more acceptable in the marketplace, it's likely to draw a lot of new fans, but the essence of being a Windows phone has already been diluted.
I fear that as devices continue to be iterated, Microsoft will tend towards the consensus of a Mobile Phone UI, rather than go with the vision that made Windows Phone unique. For me, the Lumia 1320 is just across that line, and I hope that no Windows Phone device goes further that this - but given what we know of the next Windows Phone release, that seems to be a dream at best.
There's no getting away from the fact that the Lumia 1320 is a big phone. You are not going to slip this into a jeans pocket without a lot of effort. That said, the pocket in my suit trousers was big enough to accommodate the phone, and I tended to keep it tucked into the inside great pocket of my jacket while out and about. How you carry your phone is a consideration here. The 1320 is a touch shorter than some of the popular Android phablets, and that is just enough to put it inside my comfort range. Just.
There's no way that the 1320 can be used as a one-handed device. In a comfortable hold, my thumbs can't reach the top of the screen, so the media controls need me to change my grip, or to bring in my other hand. Straight away I knew the 1320 required my second hand, and that meant from the outset that I was only ever using the 1320 in just one 'mode'. Unlike other Windows Phones, where one-handed operation can be achieved if you focus and stretch a little bit, the 1320 experience means you don't even try. That makes it a more comfortable smartphone to use.
One advantage of the size is that it has made the 1320 a really good Windows Phone for consuming content. Be it an eBook on the Kindle App, a movie of TV show copied over to the microSD card, browsing the web, or simply enjoying the UI of the music player and interacting with my albums, playlists, and artists, the 1320 made me want to explore my media content. As someone who travels long distances throughout the year, the 1320 is a well-balanced portable media player, which is (just about) convenient in size, a larger screen than many economy class plane seats, and a battery life that will get me from Scotland to the west coast of America without having to worry about recharging.
The PIM suite of apps are the standard Windows Phone fare, and I am very happy with them. Once they are set up and synced, which takes a bit of time but is only needed once. While the more sexy apps have been given an 'Androidification', the PIM apps have been left alone. That means Windows Phone's typography strength carries over and allows the Calendar, Email, and People hub to comfortably inhabit the screen. Yes there is still a lot of black space on show, especially in the agenda views, but it works.
You can make your apps look like a spreadsheet, or you can give them life through design. Windows Phone continues to do the latter, compared to the design choices made by iOS and Android. Microsoft has a style that works at any size.
There are also benefits to web browsing with the larger screen, even though the pixel count is the same as the Lumia 925. Larger target areas, easier on the eye to read some of my favourite sites with densely packed text, and all the benefits of the 'tap to zoom on text areas' are here. Even though the content on show is the same, the 1320 is far easier to use as a browser than the Lumia 925's physical setup.
One of the areas where I especially feel the difference is in gaming. While games with basic controls (such as the one key 'touch the screen' of Jetpack Joyride) feel a little bit sparse on the 1320, the more complicated games which employ multiple controls and virtual on-screen joysticks benefit from the six-inch screen. Less of the action is obscured by my thumbs, the handset is comfortable to hold (especially in the landscape mode that many games are looking for). It actually alters the gaming feel of Windows Phone, allowing for the more complicated 3D games to really come into their own.
It also means that games that are designed to work well on smaller screened devices such as the Lumia 520 feel a touch comical on the 1320, but the cramped and squished titles the 520 cannot accommodate work very well here. I'd argue that the 1320 will be rather effective as a 'cheap' Xbox Mobile console. Which makes sense.
I'm surprised that I want to keep using the Lumia 1320. Going in, I saw a phablet that was too large, a specification that screamed mid-range and limiting, and a mobile operating system that seemed suited to the smaller screen. All of those were pushed out of the way in use. The size is an issue, but not an insurmountable one and it has benefits that I didn't consider before. I should know better that Windows Phone under-promises and over-delivers when it comes to specifications for a handset, and the 1320 reminded me. And finally the smart design of the UI of Windows Phone has proven to be a UI that works just as well on the larger screen.
The Lumia 1320 delivers a great Windows Phone experience, it delivers a great phablet experience, and it delivers a great smartphone. That it's aimed at the mid-range market as a standalone handset, and is going to be incredibly cheap when bundled with a contract, should make the Lumia 1320 a strong contender for many customers.
Ultimately the size perception may kill this off - it's unlikely I would have given the phone a second chance if I wasn't reviewing it and able to do a direct comparison to other handsets. Don't make that same mistake I nearly did.