Windows RT continues to nibble at the tablet market, with Microsoft applying the cut-down operating system to its much-improved latest generation of Surface tablets. (Those even found some approval from Ars Microsoft Editor Peter Bright.) Nokia—whose shareholders just approved the sale of its devices division to Microsoft—has just issued its own Windows RT tablet, the Lumia 2520, and it takes a tangential approach to Microsoft's OEM Surface devices.

The 10.1" Lumia 2520 has the same 1920x1080 resolution as the Surface 2, though it uses a "ClearBlack" IPS LCD panel (as does its baby brother Windows Phone 8 device, the Lumia 1520). Physically, the Lumia 2520 is smaller in two of its dimensions than the Surface 2 (267mm tall by 168mm wide by 8.9mm thick, versus the Surface 2 at 274mm tall by 172mm wide by about the same 8.9mm thickness). The Lumia appears thinner, though, because it's slimmer at its edges than in its middle, while the Surface has a flat back. The Lumia also manages to be much lighter, coming in at 614g against the Surface's 676g.

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson



Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

The 2520 has an all-plastic back, using the same smooth, glossy polycarbonate shell as other devices in the Lumia line. The one that Nokia sent is an eye-watering Ferrari red, with the Verizon logo printed on the back just below the Nokia logo. That Verizon logo actually speaks to one of the biggest advantages the cheaper-feeling Nokia has over the Surface—it might not be made of a vapor-deposited magnesium casing, but it's got 4G LTE connectivity built-in.

There are two small slots just below the screen's black bezel for the 2520's stereo speakers, which at max volume weren't terribly loud. If you're going to be listening to audio on the device, you'll likely be using headphones—and therein is the biggest complaint I have so far with the 2520. The headphone jack is situated on the left edge along with the charging port... and they look the same. They both appear to be stereo audio mini plugs, and there's no labeling or external indication of which is which. I found myself having to consult the stencils on the removable plastic the Lumia came wrapped in to tell one from the other.

Big red data

That LTE connectivity comes courtesy of the other big thing the 2520 has going for it: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800. This quad-core SoC, with its Adreno 330 GPU, is considerably more powerful than the SoC in the majority of current Windows RT devices. In fact, speaking last month at the Lumia's unveiling in Abu Dhabi, a Qualcomm senior vice president was quoted as saying that comparing the 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 to the Surface 2's 1.7GHz Nvidia Tegra 4 is "not even really a contest."

In the days we were able to spend with the device for our hands-on, we found Windows RT on the Lumia 2520 to be snappy and responsive throughout. Full benchmarks are coming in our review, but as a "second screen" on my desk with e-mail and music playing, the 2520 worked great. Adding a half-dozen browser windows to the mix didn't slow it down at all, nor did opening the supplied Windows RT version of Word to take notes. Pairing the tablet form factor up with LTE is also smart, since Wi-Fi is not available everywhere. Plus, the Lumia's relatively small 32GB internal storage means that it's really only able to fully function when it has access to all of its various cloud services.

Picture taking

The rear-facing 6.7MP camera, with its conspicuous Zeiss branding, produced perfectly adequate pictures outdoors in overcast light, though its low-light performance was bad enough that I wouldn't consider ever using it except outdoors during the day. However, with enough light, it looked perfectly fine. The camera's specs say that it will shoot with an aperture of f/1.9, though the bokeh produced at that aperture isn't particularly pleasing.

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson

More to come

Peter Bright is busily working to produce our full review of the device, which we'll be bringing you in the coming days. Our first impression, though, is a favorable one, and we've saved one final data point to the end: it's $50 cheaper than the Surface 2, coming in at $399—if you don't mind a new two-year contract with Verizon or AT&T. Otherwise, the price is $499. The Verizon version of the tablet goes on sale starting today, November 21. AT&T's model will be available to purchase tomorrow, November 22.

The 2520 may not have a kickstand, but it's cheaper (if subsidized), lighter, potentially faster, and has built-in LTE. We'll know more after our review, but right now, it's looking pretty hard to beat.

Listing image by Lee Hutchinson