The Nokia Lumia 1020 and 1520 are Windows Phones, with the Lumia 1020 being released earlier last year, famed for its 41 MP PureView camera.
The Lumia 1520 is more of a phablet type of phone with a more modern hardware but with a 20 MP PureView camera.
Design Comparison
Both the devices have a similar design, but the Lumia 1520 comes with a tapered design making it look slimmer. The Lumia 1020 is flat on the top and bottom edges, whereas the Lumia 1520 is more rounded. Both the phones are sturdy and are available in different colors. As for the size, the Lumia 1520 is beefier and has larger dimensions, so it may not be so comfortable to hold as the 1020. Both the devices come with the same set of buttons for controlling the volume, the power buttons, speaker grills and so on. The only difference is that the Lumia 1520 comes with a micro SD card slot, for increasing internal storage.
Display Features
The Lumia 1520 comes with a 1080p resolution, the first of its kind on a Windows Phone. The screen size is 6 inches and it uses the IPS LCD screech display technology. The Lumia 1020 is smaller in comparison with a 4.5 inches screen and an AMOLED display panel of 768 x 1280p. The Lumia 1520 offers a pixel density of 368 ppi compared to the 334 ppi of the Lumia 1020. As the display technologies used in both the phones are different, they have their specific advantages and disadvantages. The Lumia 1520 has realistic tones, better brightness and offers excellent outdoor visibility. The Lumia 1020, on the other hand, comes with an AMOLED panel and offers saturated colors and better viewing angles, though not as good outdoor visibility.
User Interface/ Functionality
The functionalities and user interface of both the devices are identical. The core functions and the features in both the phones are the same. However, the Lumia 1520 has the added advantage of the GDR3 update and the Windows Phone 8 features.
The first difference in the user interface is seen with the start screen. The Lumia 1520 comes with a bigger display and has more live tiles. In addition, the GDR3 update enables closing down applications from the multitasking menu, setting customized notification tones, locking up the rotation of the screen and an interesting Driving Mode, for monitoring phone features while driving. Both the phones can download all the Nokia branded applications.
The typing layout on both the phones is simple and very responsible with auto correct features, but the layout in the Lumia 1520 is more spacious. All personalization features and organization applications, including Microsoft Office are present in both the phones.
Performance and Hardware
Considering the hardware, the Lumia 1520 is more future proof with a modern silicon piece of a quad core 2.2 GHz, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, combined with a RAM of 2 GB, Adreno 330 GPU. It is faster and offers a perfect performance. On the other hand, the Lumia 1020 comes with a dual core 2.5 GHz Processor, a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus SoC, and a graphics chip of Adreno 225 GPU and a RAM of 2 GB. The Lumia 1020, in all fairness, is capable of handling all the complex tasks with good performance.
Verdict
Both the devices come with all the useful features and functionalities of Windows Phones, but the Lumia 1520 comes with the added GDR3 updates, which is the sole difference between the two phones. However, the Lumia 1020 is also likely to receive the same update very soon.
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