Nokia outs a tablet, two phablets, and the likelihood of Instagram

The Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet

Big news coming out from the other side of the world where Nokia held an event to show that it has bigger things up its sleeve. Literally.

Announced over in Abu Dhabi, the company with colourful phones and Microsoft’s Windows Phone as its main platform has signalled that it will be heading in the direction of bigger devices, with the first two big phones announced in the 1320 and 1520, as well as a tablet that will compete directly with Microsoft’s own Surface 2 RT.

Nokia's Lumia 1520

Bigger phones are becoming a bigger deal, so to speak, partially because for many these devices have the potential to remove or lessen the need for a tablet.

That’s an area Microsoft wants to be, and Nokia too, with two products announced that push the colourful smartphones to larger sizes.

These are the Lumia 1320 and 1520 handsets, and while both are six inch products, Nokia is positioning them as the mid-range and high-end models, respectively.

Nokia's Lumia 1320

The 1320 will bring with it a dual-core processor with 8GB internal and up to 64GB extra through the use of microSD, with a 5 megapixel camera on the rear and a 6 inch screen capable of showing 1280×720 (720p HD), while the 1520 is the all new flagship for the brand, and is the first Windows Phone to have a 1920×1080 (1080p Full HD) resolution, while also bringing with it a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor (the same used on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and LG G2) with 32GB storage and a microSD card slot with up to 64GB more if you need it.

Also included on that flagship 1520 is a 20 megapixel PureView camera, down from the 40 megapixel on the 1020 smartphone, but capable of two times lossless zoom and supporting optical image stabilisation on Full HD video.

Both devices will pack in 3400mAh of battery, as well as Bluetooth, WiFi, and 4G, but only the 1520 will support Cat4 networks capable of a maximum download speed around 150Mbps.

Nokia's Lumia 1520

The devices look big and relatively impressive, and hopefully we should have them here before the holiday season, providing Windows 8, a big screen, and an extra column of icons thanks to those first two features.

Also of note is that Instagram will finally be coming to Windows Phone in the coming weeks, as will Twitter’s Vine service, and a Nokia video editor called “Video Director.”

Nokia’s big phones, however, weren’t the biggest announcements of the day for the brand.

The Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet

A new tablet will also be coming from the company in the form of the Lumia 2520, a 10.1 inch device that takes the style of the polycarbonate Lumia smartphones and gives it tablet innards.

This tablet will run Microsoft’s Windows RT 8.1, a version of Windows 8 that runs on chips commonly seen in mobile phones and tablets, and as such can only run applications developed for Windows 8 and Windows RT variants, missing out on compatibility for software made for Vista, XP, and Windows 7, of which regular Windows 8 systems can run.

That said, this will compete with Microsoft’s Surface tablets, and Nokia is hoping to inspire people to try its product out thanks to a unique design, a keyboard case that brings with it an extra 5 hours of life in a battery, a 6.7 megapixel rear camera, DLNA, Miracast, Near-Field Communication, USB 3.0, Bluetooth, and support for Cat4 4G LTE.

Nokia’s technology inside is very similar to what the company is using in the 1520, complete with same Snapdragon 800 processor, and so while you can think of it as a tablet version of the Nokia 1520 phablet, this is a device that will run an operating system closer to a computer and less like a phone, with 32GB storage inside for your files and more supported over microSD.

Unfortunately, prices and availability for this device in Australia aren’t yet confirmed, though we’re hoping for right before Christmas with a recommended retail price between $500 and $649.

The Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet with keyboard case