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For the past couple of days, i’ve been showing you here my comparison reviews between Nokia Lumia 2520 against other competing devices. According to many of these previous reviews, Nokia Lumia 2520 is probably more ideal as a productivity-dedicated or media-consumption tablet rather than a pure gaming device.
I’m not saying that this device really sucks in gaming performance because that is so wrong. Nokia Lumia 1520 is still a powerful gaming tablet with high-grade specs. However, there’s one downside found on this device.
And that is its lack of game catalog, thanks to its Windows RT platform that even until now, is still playing catch up with Android and iOS in terms of market share and of course, app and game catalog. So as a result, there are many Android and iOS games that are unavailable on this Windows RT platform, which means you won’t be able to play many of your favorite Android and iOS apps/games on Nokia Lumia 1520.
Anyway, today i still want to discuss about the same issue in my next comparison review. However, one tablet that i want to put in the ring today is also coming from the same company that builds Nokia Lumia 2520 – which is Nokia (duh!). This one is Nokia Lumia 1520, which actually is the smaller sibling of Nokia Lumia 2520. Meanwhile, the challenger is HP Slate6 VoiceTab, a 6-inch device just like Nokia Lumia 1520.
Well, if you’re interested to find out more about my comparison between these Nokia and HP tablets and see how they fare against each other in this review, including my take on their gaming experience and performance, then here you go, my comparison review between Nokia Lumia 1520 and HP Slate6 VoiceTab.
Introduction
Nokia may not have the experience and expertise in making tablets just like Apple or Samsung. However, i think this company still deserves some recognition around the tablet market because some of its devices are actually quite good and worth recommending, especially if you’re looking for a Windows-powered device with high-grade specs, and you also happen to be a huge fan of Nokia.
And that’s exactly what happens here on Nokia Lumia 1520. Despite using a smaller 6-inch screen size than Nokia Lumia 2520, this tablet actually still has some superiority compared to its larger sibling. First of all, its 6-inch display sports 1080p resolution just like its 10.1-inch sibling. So when it comes to sharpness, of course this smaller model is better because all of pixels are crammed on a much smaller display, resulting in much higher pixel density.
It goes the same with its camera department, which interestingly comes with a jaw-dropping 20MP Carl Zeiss rear camera with dual-LED flash plus 1.2MP shooter on the front – as opposed to only 6.7MP camera without LED flash on Nokia Lumia 2520. The same applies to its high-grade specs that ensure smooth gaming performance, even for handling games like GTA San Andreas or Modern Combat 5.
Nokia Lumia 1520 is definite a perfect choice for you.
Meanwhile, the contender for this Nokia’s device in this comparison review is coming from HP. This one is HP Slate6 VoiceTab, which also is a cellular-equipped tablet just like Nokia Lumia 1520. However, compared to Nokia’s tablet, this HP HP Slate6 VoiceTab VoiceTab is probably less appealing in terms of specs because it’s simply not on par with the hardware specs found on Nokia Lumia 1520.
And this means, its gaming performance might not be as great as Nokia’s device. This is actually not so shocking given that HP is more focused on mid and low-end markets with its tablet lineup. Even so, HP HP Slate6 VoiceTab is still a good quality device overall especially thanks to its modern-looking design with unique pattern on the back.
But the questions remain. With all of the great things and good performance found on both tablets, which one between Nokia Lumia 1520 and HP HP Slate6 VoiceTab that deserves to be the best gaming tablet in this comparison review? Which one between these 2 tablets that is a better device in the whole aspect? Is it worth it to buy any of these tablets, especially for playing games?
Well, hopefully we’re about to find out more about the answers of these questions at the end of this review. So be sure to stick around!
Design
When it comes to design, Nokia Lumia 1520 actually doesn’t look quite different with Nokia Lumia smartphones, similar just like what happens on the larger 10.1-inch sibling. So it has that sharp looking design – especially on the corner sides -, matte finish on its rear case and it’s really prominent with the use of popping-out color (like red, yellow, etc).
Nokia Lumia 1520
HP Slate6 VoiceTab
HP Slate6 VoiceTab
And this is exactly the same thing found on all Nokia Lumia smartphones. The good thing is, the design of Nokia Lumia 1520 still looks great and the most importantly, it has its own characteristic especially compared to other tablets from Android camp that mostly look generic one to another.
Similar just like Nokia Lumia 1520, the design of HP Slate6 VoiceTab is also not such a huge departure from the other device made by this company – HP Slate7 Extreme. So it has the dual speakers on the front, 2 layer colors (gray and black bezel) around the side of the screen, metal trim around the side of tablet and the corners are also made in rectangular shape – just like HP Slate7 Extreme and Tegra Note and even NVIDIA Shield Tablet actually.
However, despite using similar design of its siblings, there is one thing that actually makes this device look different especially compared to its counterparts out there. And that is its rear-cover.
So on this HP device, it rear cover interestingly is made with unique patterned finish, which kind of makes it look modern and in fact, premium compared to other similar looking devices, say HP Slate7 Extreme or NVIDIA Shield Tablet. The metal trim around the side of this device also contributes to its premium looks, making it look solid and sturdy. So i think HP has done such a great job with the design of this tablet.
Overall Specs
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Nokia Lumia 1520
HP Slate6 VoiceTab
4G (Nano-SIM)
Released November 2013
209 g (Weight)
6.0 inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
1080 x 1920 pixels (~367 ppi pixel density)
Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400 Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 Chipset
Adreno 330 GPU
2 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows Phone 8 (upgradeable to v8.1)
20 MP rear-facing camera Carl Zeiss optics, OIS, dual-LED flash, 1080p @30fps video recording
1.2 MP front-facing camera with 720p @30fps Video recording
microSD card slot for up to 64 GB
16 GB/32 GB Internal storage
NFC
Corning Gorilla Glass 2, ClearBlack display
No Java
Non-removable Li-Ion 3400 mAh battery
Dual SIM (dual stand-by)
Released February2014
160 g (Weight)
6.0 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
720 x 1280 pixels (~245 ppi pixel density)
Quad-core 1.2 GHz Marvell PXA1088 Chipset
1 GB RAM
Android OS 4.3 Jelly Bean
5 MP rear-facing camera, LED flash
2 MP front-facing camera
microSD card slot for up to 64 GB
16 GB Internal storage
GPRS
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth v3.0
microUSB v2.0
Stereo FM radio
GPS
Java
Colors Black
Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery
On hardware side, both Nokia Lumia 1520 and HP Slate6 VoiceTab are actually not on the same level. So despite using the same 6-inch display, there are so many parts of Nokia Lumia 1520 that make the comparison review against HP Slate6 VoiceTab seems unreasonable.
And that’s because Nokia Lumia 1520 is a flagship device with flagship quality specs. On the other hand, HP Slate6 VoiceTab is a tablet in mid or even low-end category. That’s shown perfectly on their display, processor, GPU, RAM, camera and many more.
Nokia Lumia 1520 is equipped with a 6-inch display sporting the 1080p resolution (1920x1080 pixels), a quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, a mind-boggling 20MP rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash, 1.2MP front-facing shooter, Windows Phone 8 OS, microSD card slot for up to 64GB, 3400mAh battery and some other standard features, including NFC, 4G LTE and many more.
Meanwhile, released in low-end category, HP Slate6 VoiceTab comes with some mid-grade specs. It has a 6-inch screen sporting the 720p resolution, a quad-core Marvell PXA1088 processor, 1GB of RAM, 5MP and 2MP cameras with LED flash on the back, microSD card slot for up to 64GB, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, 3000mAh battery and some other standard features like GPS, Java, cellular support and many more.
Screen
As entirely 2 different class tablets, of course Nokia Lumia 1520 has some superiority on many of its departments compared to HP Slate6 VoiceTab. One of them is actually on its display. This Nokia’s tablet is sporting the 1080p resolution on its 6-inch display, as opposed to the lower 720p display found on HP Slate6 VoiceTab. So in terms of sharpness, it’s quite obvious that HP Slate6 VoiceTab is definitely not up to par with Nokia Lumia 1520.
Reading books, browsing the web, editing documents, watching HD movies or playing games are no doubt a lot more fun to do on Nokia Lumia 1520 than HP Slate6 VoiceTab. Text looks really sharp and readable even from far distance, image looks crisp and everything that you throw on its 1080p screen just looks really sharp and gorgeous.
Meanwhile, the 720p display of HP Slate6 VoiceTab actually still looks pretty sharp. However, you will always need to do the pinch-to-zoom gesture especially when reading tiny text in books and browsing the web.
User Interface
Despite not having a higher-resolution screen, there’s actually one sector of HP Slate6 VoiceTab that interestingly puts this device up ahead against the Nokia Lumia 1520. And that is its UI. So HP Slate6 VoiceTab is an Android-powered tablet and its UI is the stock vanilla version from Google without any added customizations from manufacturer – or in this case, HP. So if you’re already familiar with Android platform especially with its elements like homescreen, widgets, app drawer and many more, then you will feel at home when using this device.
On the other hand, Nokia Lumia 1520 comes pre-installed with Windows Phone 8 platform. And as you probably know already, the UI of Windows Phone 8 is dominated with box-shaped Live Tiles, dark black wallpaper and that’s it, nothing more. So unlike the Android UI of HP Slate6 VoiceTab that has some cool customizations and features, the UI of Nokia Lumia 1520, on the other hand, actually can be pretty boring to use in the long run, especially if you are teenager who love looking at fun colorful stuff.
In my opinion, i think this Nokia’s tablet is more ideal to use for professional career people than general users, because many of these busy users don’t really have the time to think about customizing their phones' UI. So most of them usually don’t mind with its boring black UI on Nokia Lumia 1520 as long as it's operating properly and fulfills everything they need from a smartphone. But this will also come down to your personal preference actually.
I mean, even if you’re just a college student, but you don’t mind using the boring Live Tile of Windows Phone 8, then you’re good to go with Nokia Lumia 1520. Meanwhile, if you a power user and always love to see something different and fun and colorful on your phone every minute – or even every second -, then you might want to switch to other choice, like say, HP Slate6 VoiceTab for example.
Gaming Performance
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So what do we have here? Nokia Lumia 1520 is a flagship quality tablet, while HP Slate6 VoiceTab falls in the mid-to-low end category. And that’s shown perfectly by their processors, GPUs and RAMs. So Nokia Lumia 1520 is equipped with a flagship processor from Qualcomm called Snapdragon 800. Meanwhile, HP Slate6 VoiceTab looks less powerful with 1.2 GHz quad-core Marvell PXA1088 processor (coupled with Vivante GPU if i’m not mistaken, similar like Samsung GALAXY Tab 4 7.0).
In terms of gaming performance, it’s just no-brainer that the Snapdragon 800 inside Nokia Lumia 1520 is just way more powerful than the Marvell PXA1088 processor inside HP Slate6 VoiceTab. And that’s true because with Nokia Lumia 1520, you’ll be able to play any kind of games on Windows Phone 8 – even the latest and most graphically demanding games like Modern Combat 5, Asphalt 8: Airborne or GTA San Andreas – all smoothly and perfectly even in full highest graphics.
On the other hand, the gaming performance of HP Slate6 VoiceTab is really horrible as it’s only equipped with a processor and GPU that haven’t been proved their quality. And that’s shown perfectly when this HP device is deployed with some of the most graphics intense games like NOVA 3, Beach Buggy Blitz and Asphalt 8: Airborne. Both NOVA 3 and Beach Buggy Blitz perform really laggy on HP Slate6 VoiceTab, with many stutters and frame drops here and there in the gameplay.
Weirdly, a much heavier game Asphalt 8: Airborne surprisingly runs really smoothly in medium graphics (with asphalt reflection and sun glare). But even so, i don’t think HP Slate6 VoiceTab is an ideal device for playing games. Yes – you can play Asphalt 8: Airborne smoothly in medium graphics, however, i have doubts this tablet is capable to run many heavy games on Google Play Store.
Therefore, if you’re into gaming, i strongly recommend you to pick other HP tablets, like HP Slate7 Extreme, HP Slate7 Plus or HP Slate8 Pro. These siblings are just way much better as gaming devices than HP Slate6 VoiceTab. And that’s not shocking given that these 3 devices are powered by NVIDIA Tegra 4 and Tegra 3 processors, which are actually gaming-dedicated processors.
Anyway, as for Nokia Lumia 1520, despite being a powerful tablet with high-grade specs, there’s actually one simple thing that could make this device less appealing especially for gamers. And that is its platform. As you know already, Nokia Lumia 1520 is running on Windows Phone 8 platform. And unlike Android or iOS, this Microsoft’s mobile OS is really lacking when it comes to market share and of course, game catalog.
So even if its processor and GPU are really powerful and more than adequate to handle even the latest graphically demanding games perfectly, its lack of game catalog could turn out to be such a disaster over the time. There are many Android and iOS games/apps that are still unavailable on Windows Phone 8 OS.
That’s why, if you decide to buy this Nokia tablet, you must also accept that many of your favorite apps/games will not be available on this device, thus forcing you to find the alternatives, which obviously are not that good compared to the original versions. This is something to think about, especially if you’re on the verge of buying this tablet near time soon.
Anyway guys, if you want to know more about the gaming performance of Nokia Lumia 1520 and HP Slate6 VoiceTab, including what games that will run on these tablets, check out my YouTube video playlist or Pinterest page. :)
Cameras
One of the strongest points found on Nokia Lumia 1520 is definitely on its camera. As a matter of fact, the cameras found on this Nokia’s tablet – especially the rear one – is just not untouchable by the 5MP rear shooter of HP Slate6 VoiceTab. And that’s because Nokia Lumia 1520 is equipped with a mind-boggling 20MP rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss optics and 1.2MP front shooter. Not to mention, there's also the dual-LED flash found on its back, making it more ideal as a photography tablet even in low-light condition.
So when it comes to quality and especially sharpness of pictures, it’s just no-brainer that the 20MP rear camera of Nokia Lumia 1520 takes a way better shots than HP Slate6 VoiceTab. In fact, i think the camera of this Nokia’s tablet is also capable to capture much better sharper looking images and videos compared to the camera of latest-gen iPhone 6 Plus or iPad mini Retina.
It’s not only because it has much bigger megapixel count compared to the camera of iPhone and iPad, but it’s also because Nokia has years of experience in camera developments along with its technologies – as seen on PureView. And one of its smartphones - Nokia Lumia 1020 – really shows us perfectly how its camera is just way more powerful than even iPhone.
That’s why, if you’re looking for a 6-inch giant phone or tablet with great and sharp quality cameras, then you’re best shot is definitely on Nokia Lumia 1520. Not only are its cameras capable to take decent quality shots, but also the photos and videos taken with this tablet are also worth showing off even on a larger HDTV in your house.
On the other hand, the 5MP and 2MP cameras found on HP Slate6 VoiceTab probably don’t look promising compared to the cameras found on Nokia Lumia 1520, especially in sharpness and quality. But even so, the cameras of this HP’s tablet actually also takes good quality photos and videos. I believe its quality is not gonna be very far different with the cameras of HP Slate7 Extreme, which also take great shots - especially given their similar design with dual-front-speakers.
Battery Life
When it comes to battery life, Nokia Lumia 1520 looks far more superior than HP Slate6 VoiceTab. No argue about that. It comes with a bigger 3400mAh battery inside, as opposed to the 3000mAh battery found on HP’s tablet. According to GSMarena, this tablet is able to survive in 27 hours of talk time (multimedia), 768 hours of standby time and 124 hours of music play. And this battery life stats are really impressive for a tablet with 1080p display and powerful processor.
I believe its Windows Phone 8 platform – which is really light compared to Windows RT – is the one that’s responsible of its powerful battery life. It uses simple UI without any complicated elements on it and there’s probably not many apps or tasks in the background/memory/RAM, so it really makes this device perform much faster and smoother, plus more efficient in battery life. So basically, you can expect to see this tablet last in solid day or 2 even in heavy use.
Meanwhile, HP Slate6 VoiceTab definitely is not on the same level with Nokia Lumia 1520 when it comes to longevity of its battery. This device is powered by 3000mAh battery, and stock Android UI running the platform. So it’s probably not really friendly with battery life. But even so, i believe this device with its lower 720p display is still able to deliver an all-day-long battery life to users, of course in moderate use.
However, if you use this to do some heavy intense use without resting the screen at all – like watching HD movies in marathon or playing games in the row -, then its battery would drop drastically to probably just around 5 to 7 hours, maybe less than that, depending on some certain factors like screen brightness, the use of live wallpaper, the existing apps or tasks that are running in the background and many more.
My Personal Opinions
So in conclusion, in this comparison review, i think it’s quite obvious that Nokia Lumia 1520 is just a way better device than HP Slate6 VoiceTab in the whole aspect. It has a much sharper 1080p display, a more powerful Snapdragon 800 processor, far stronger Adreno 330 GPU, bigger 2GB of RAM, much higher quality 20MP rear camera, far longer battery life and pretty much everything about this Nokia’s tablet is just better than HP Slate6 VoiceTab.
So long story short, in terms of specs, Nokia Lumia 1520 totally blows HP Slate6 VoiceTab out of the water. A flagship quality device VS a low-end tablet.
However, despite owning a far more powerful spec sheet, there’s actually one thing that makes Nokia Lumia 1520 a less appealing tablet than HP Slate6 VoiceTab. And that is its platform – Windows Phone 8. So besides lacking in game/app catalog on this platform, the UI of Windows Phone 8 can actually become quite boring to use over the time.
And this really contradicts with the stock Android UI on HP Slate6 VoiceTab that comes with many interesting features and visual presentations all over the place. Not to mention Google Play Store of Android has a much bigger game/app catalog than a tiny Windows Phone MarketPlace. So on this platform, you can find almost all of the iOS apps and games on Google Play Store, which then can also be installed and played on HP Slate6 VoiceTab.
So even though Nokia Lumia 1520 is a powerful tablet with higher-grade flagship monster quality specs than HP Slate6 VoiceTab, i think its platform and UI could be the ones that would hold back this device from being a perfect 6-inch tablet on the market. On the other hand, despite not having some impressive quality specs just like Nokia Lumia 1520, this HP’s tablet still has superiority in terms of app/game catalog on Android platform.
But at the end of the day, i think the final decision to buy any of these tablets will totally come down to your personal preference. So if you’re looking for a 6-inch giant phone or tablet with cellular functionality, which also has sharp display, great camera and long lasting battery, but you are okay having a boring looking UI and limitation on game/app catalog, then Nokia Lumia 1520 is definite a perfect choice for you.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for an Android tablet with 6-inch screen and cellular features, plus some mid-to-low quality specs and affordable price point, then HP Slate6 VoiceTab can still be one of your options. However, as a gaming tablet, i strongly recommend you to switch to either HP Slate7 Extreme, HP Slate7 Plus or HP Slate8 Pro because this 6-inch tablet is not so great in gaming performance.
Disclaimer: Hi guys, bear in mind that this is not some in-depth review. This is Read more...