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Nokia Lumia Icon vs Lumia 1520 vs Sony Xperia Z1 specs comparison

posted by Daniel P. / Feb 12, 2014, 12:01 PM

Nokia Lumia Icon is finally upon us as a Verizon exclusive, and with it the prayers of Lumia 1520's awesome specs but in a more manageable body, have seemingly been answered. Or have they?

With a 5.39 x 2.79 x 0.39" body, against the 6.41 x 3.36 x 0.34" on the 1520, Nokia Icon is certainly much more compact than the 6" phablet, but how about if we pit it against another 5-incher, like the Xperia Z1, which also sports a high-res camera. Well, the things here look pretty good for the Lumia as well, since the Sony handset measures 5.69 x 2.91 x 0.33" - taller and wider than the Icon. Of course, it is also thinner, waterproof, and with a more premium chassis materials, despite having almost the same weight as the Lumia's 5.86 oz.

On the display side of things the Icon sports 441ppi pixel density, as much as the Z1, but its ClearBlack AMOLED screen with high brightness mode and excellent viewing angles is much superior to the poor viewing angles on Sony's phone, and it can also be operated with gloves on, just like the panel on the 1520. As for the processing power and memory - all three phones are loaded with fast Snapdragon 800 chipsets and 2 GB of RAM. Sony's phone offers 16 GB of internal storage, compared to 32 GB on the Lumias. It also adds a microSD slot for expansion, but so does the 1520, leaving the Icon with the embedded amount of memory only, though 32 GB is usually enough for most purposes.

The cameras is where it's at with those handsets, as all sport 20 MP units, but the PureView ones in the Lumias sport Zeiss lens and optical image stabilization, making low-light photography superior to what the Z1 can produce. In addition, Nokia's handsets sport the record four HAAC microphones each, grabbing a great distortion-free stereo sound to go with your videos, even at loud metal concerts. Too bad that the Icon is a Verizon exclusive for now, but we hope to see its equivalent make a global march, too.

Nokia Lumia Icon vs Nokia Lumia 1520 vs Sony Xperia Z1

Display

Display size

5.0 inches

6.0 inches

5.0 inches

Resolution

1080 x 1920 pixels

Pixel density

441 ppi

368 ppi

441 ppi

Technology

AMOLED

IPS LCD

TFT

Screen-to-body ratio

71.04 %

70.95 %

64.52 %

Peak brightness

600 cd/m2 (nit)

Camera

Rear

Single camera

Main camera

20 megapixels

20.7 megapixels

Hardware Features

Optical image stabilization, Autofocus, Back-illuminated sensor (BSI)

Autofocus, Back-illuminated sensor (BSI)

Specifications

Aperture size: F2.4; Focal length: 26 mm; Sensor size: 1/2.5"

Aperture size: F2.4; Focal length: 26 mm; Sensor size: 1/2.5"; Pixel size: 1.12 μm

Aperture size: F2.0; Focal length: 27 mm; Sensor size: 1/2.3"

Video recording

3840x2160 (4K UHD) (30 fps), 2560x1440 (QHD), 1920x1080 (Full HD) (30 fps)

3840x2160 (4K UHD) (30 fps), 1920x1080 (Full HD) (30 fps), 1280x720 (HD) (30 fps)

1920x1080 (Full HD)

Recording format

MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV

MPEG4, H.263, H.264

Features

Optical image stabilization, Continuous autofocus, Video light, Video calling, Video sharing

Optical image stabilization, Video light

High Dynamic Range mode (HDR), Continuous autofocus, Video light, Digital image stabilization

Front

1.2 megapixels

2 megapixels

Video capture

1280x720 (HD)

1280x720 (HD) (30 fps)

1920x1080 (Full HD)

Design

Dimensions

5.39 x 2.79 x 0.39 inches (137 x 71 x 10 mm)

6.41 x 3.36 x 0.34 inches (162.8 x 85.4 x 8.7 mm)

5.69 x 2.91 x 0.33 inches (144.4 x 73.9 x 8.5 mm)

Weight

5.86 oz (166 g)

7.37 oz (209 g)

6.00 oz (170 g)

Resistance

Water, Dust; IP 58

Features

Notification light

Hardware & Performance

System chip

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 8974-AA

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974

Processor

Quad-core, 2200 MHz, Krait 400

GPU

Adreno 330

RAM

2 GB LPDDR3

OS

Windows Phone, 8

Windows Phone, 8.1, 8

Android (5.1 Lollipop, 5.0 Lollipop, 4.4.2, 4.4, 4.3, 4.2.2)

Battery

Capacity

2420 mAh

3400 mAh

3000 mAh

Talk time

27.40 hours

13.83 hours

Stand-by time

18.0 days (432 hours)

32.0 days (768 hours)

36.7 days (880 hours)

Talk time (3G)

16.40 hours

25.10 hours

15.00 hours

Stand-by time (3G)

35.4 days (850 hours)

Stand-by time (4G)

31.7 days (760 hours)

Music playback

75.00 hours

124.00 hours

110.00 hours

Video playback

9.00 hours

10.80 hours

5.50 hours

Shopping information

MSRP price

$ 749

Options

10 Comments

1. Troysyx

Posts: 181; Member since: Jul 30, 2012

Spec comparisons really dont matter when you pit an android against a windows phone. The specs aren't going to be the thing that persuades me either way. Definitely just my own personal opinion here, but i would never go with a windows phone over an android phone. I personally just hate the way it looks and operates. Would i love to have the nokia lens instead of the one on my Z1? Sure, but i definitely wont jump to windows just for camera quality. I'll buy a camera before i would EVER do that. Its too bad that Nokia is deciding to horribly fork android for their (rumored) upcoming android phone. They could have had a lot of customers if they just went stock android, or close to that like the Moto X.

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 12:39 PM 3

3. iguano

Posts: 101; Member since: May 10, 2012

something is telling me that you never used a windows phone

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 2:51 PM 2

7. milesboy5

Posts: 179; Member since: Nov 07, 2012

I have and I had to switch back to android

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 7:17 PM 3

8. cdgm2509

Posts: 30; Member since: Mar 29, 2013

Same thing here... It took one week for me to realize how much windows phone sucked... i returned the Lumia 900 and went back to the Xperia T I previously had.

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 8:33 PM 0

9. milesboy5

I had the Lumia 929 and had to get myself the Moto X which I am still using...because verizon doesnt support the nexus 5

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 10:18 PM 0

11. Troysyx

Iguano: owned one? No. Played with one for a day? Yes. I did not like it at all. I actually have a windows 8 computer and it drives me up a wall daily. I can't wait until colleges and Enterprises stop relying on Microsoft Office and let me use Google docs.

posted on Feb 13, 2014, 9:59 AM 0

4. papss unregistered

I respect your opinion but feel the complete opposite. I do agree on the forked android issue though

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 3:09 PM 1

2. Miracles

Posts: 560; Member since: Aug 31, 2013

A big difference in battery...what with the mini 2400mah battery? they still use those lol

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 1:48 PM 0

5. Hyperreal

Posts: 361; Member since: Oct 08, 2013

Z1 more premium materials?? is that a joke? seriously? New lumia has unibody all metal chasis and the z1 has only metal frame, glass front and back, but still feels not so solid as htc One, kind of empty inside.

posted on Feb 12, 2014, 3:33 PM 0

6. Gemmol

Posts: 793; Member since: Nov 09, 2011

If the Icon was 6 inches and have the same battery as the 1520 I would get it...... oled screens are nice, but I cannot go back to small screens and low battery, I can go 2 or 4 days without charging on my 1520