Nokia Lumia 1320: The 6-Inch Budget Windows Phone with a 5MP Camera
Phablets were still a novelty when Nokia unveiled the Lumia 1320 in late 2013, and the Finnish company was clearly hedging its bets between the flagship Lumia 1520 and the more modest mid-range. With a 6-inch display, polycarbonate shell, and Windows Phone 8 at its core, the device targeted shoppers who wanted a giant screen without paying flagship prices. For Australians eyeing their first large-screen handset, the 1320 promised a taste of the phablet experience at a friendlier cost than Samsung's Galaxy Note range.
Sitting one rung below the Lumia 1520, the 1320 shared its sibling's footprint but trimmed the specifications to keep the sticker down. The Snapdragon 400 replaced the Snapdragon 800, the PureView 20-megapixel camera was swapped for a simpler 5-megapixel shooter, and the Full HD display was dialled back to 720p. These compromises allowed Nokia to pitch the phone at a price point that felt almost generous for a 6-inch device, particularly for buyers stepping up from older Lumia 820s or 920s.
Australian shoppers at the time were spoiled for choice in the budget phablet segment, with Samsung, HTC, and Sony all pitching alternatives. Yet Windows Phone still offered a distinctive personality through its Live Tiles and strong integration with Microsoft services, and Nokia's hardware had a reputation for solid build quality. The 1320 arrived as an option for Sydneysiders commuting on the harbour trains, Melburnians waiting for trams in the inner suburbs, or anyone across the country who wanted a bigger canvas for reading, browsing, and navigating without stretching to a Note 3.
A Six-Inch Canvas Without the Flagship Heft
The Lumia 1320 carried forward Nokia's design language of the era, wrapped in a single piece of polycarbonate that curved gently around the back. Available in glossy orange, yellow, white, and black, the casing felt sturdy in the hand, though at 220 grams it carried noticeable weight. For users upgrading from smaller Lumias, the jump from a 4.5-inch screen to 6 inches was substantial, and Nokia kept the bezels reasonably slim to avoid making the device feel overly wide.
The IPS LCD display ran at 1280 by 720 pixels, which translated to around 245 pixels per inch. That was a step behind the Lumia 1520's 1080p panel, but text remained sharp enough for reading emails on the go, and colours leaned toward the warm side that Nokia had tuned. Outdoor visibility under the bright Australian sun improved thanks to the ClearBlack polarisation layers, although the screen dimmed faster than premium rivals when viewed through polarised sunglasses, a quirk familiar to anyone walking along Bondi Beach on a summer afternoon.
Underneath the glass, Nokia opted for Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to resist scratches from keys and coins. The unibody construction meant the battery was sealed away, a trade-off that bothered some power users but allowed the phone to feel solid. Volume and power buttons sat along the right edge, with a dedicated camera shutter key rounding out the controls, a small touch that frequent photographers in Perth's golden-hour light or Melbourne's laneway cafes quickly came to appreciate.
A Modest Shooter with Lumia Smarts
The 5-megapixel main camera on the Lumia 1320 was a clear downgrade from the 20-megapixel PureView unit on its flagship sibling, but Nokia retained its well-regarded imaging software. The dedicated camera button launched the viewfinder quickly, and the Nokia Camera app offered manual controls for ISO, white balance, and exposure, a rarity on phones at this price tier. For casual snapshots at weekend markets or family barbecues, the results were perfectly shareable on social media, though low-light shots showed visible noise compared to the Lumia 1020 or 1520.
Around the front, a VGA camera handled video calls and the occasional selfie. It was functional rather than impressive, which was typical of phones in this price bracket at the time. The main rear camera recorded 1080p video at 30 frames per second, with continuous autofocus and the ability to grab still frames mid-recording. Tripod enthusiasts shooting timelapse of Brisbane's Story Bridge or Adelaide's hills would have welcomed the manual controls, even if the smaller sensor demanded careful exposure choices.
Nokia's camera lens bundle, available as a separate download, extended the phone's capabilities with creative filters and a smart sequence mode. For Australians documenting everything from coastal road trips along the Great Ocean Road to weekend festivals, the Lumia 1320 delivered a camera experience that punched above its modest pixel count, particularly when paired with the Nokia Refocus lens for adjustable depth of field.
Hardware Choices That Kept the Price Honest
Inside the Lumia 1320 sat Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 chipset, a dual-core Krait 300 processor clocked at 1.7 GHz, paired with 1 GB of RAM. These were humble specifications by 2014 standards, yet Windows Phone 8 was lighter on its feet than Android, and daily navigation through menus felt fluid. App launching lagged behind the Lumia 1520 under heavy load, but for messaging, browsing, and streaming music during the daily drive, the phone rarely stumbled.
Storage came in at 8 GB internally, with a microSD slot tucked beneath the back cover accepting cards up to 64 GB. This was a sensible move that addressed one of the biggest complaints about the original Lumia 920, which lacked expandable storage. Australians who loaded up offline playlists for long bus rides through the outback or who wanted to carry an entire season of a TV show for a flight from Sydney to Perth found the microSD slot genuinely useful.
Connectivity covered the essentials, with LTE support on the Australian 1800 MHz band, which Telstra and Optus had rolled out across the country. Wi-Fi ran on the 2.4 GHz band only, a limitation that mattered less in 2014 than it would today, and Bluetooth 4.0 handled wireless headphones and fitness trackers with ease. The omission of NFC meant contactless payments were off the table, but that was still a novelty in Australia at the time.
Windows Phone 8 and the Black Update
Out of the box, the Lumia 1320 shipped with Windows Phone 8, including Nokia's amber firmware that brought Glance Screen and a host of exclusive apps. Live Tiles made the Start screen feel alive, scrolling through notifications without needing to open individual apps, and Office integration was a real draw for business users wanting to edit Word documents or Excel spreadsheets on the move. The Maps experience, powered by HERE Maps, offered offline navigation that was a step ahead of Google Maps at the time, particularly useful for regional drives through country Victoria or Western Australia.
The Lumia Black update, rolled out globally through early 2014, refined the experience with folders on the Start screen, a battery saver mode, and the ability to close apps from the multitasking view. App selection remained the Achilles' heel of the platform, with notable gaps in popular Australian services and certain banking apps. Yet the core experience felt polished, and Nokia's own apps, like MixRadio for streaming music, helped fill some of the catalogue gaps for travellers between major cities.
Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant arrived later in the cycle, giving Australian users a local-flavoured digital helper that integrated with the local calendar and could recognise Australian English accents reasonably well. For users already invested in Outlook, OneDrive, and Skype, the Lumia 1320 felt like a natural extension of their digital workspace, particularly attractive for office workers in Brisbane or Canberra who relied on cloud documents.
Battery Life That Outlasted the Working Day
The 3400 mAh battery inside the Lumia 1320 was generous for its class, and Nokia's conservative hardware helped it deliver real-world endurance. Most users could stretch through a full day of mixed use, including navigation, music streaming, and the occasional phone call, before needing a top-up. Wireless charging was not included, a cost-saving omission, but the phone supported the Qi standard through optional back covers, a feature Nokia offered to keep the door open for desk chargers in home offices across the suburbs of Adelaide or Hobart.
Under continuous video playback, the 1320 ran for roughly ten hours, an impressive figure that put it ahead of many Android rivals in the same price bracket. Heavy users who leaned on the GPS for turn-by-turn navigation along the Pacific Highway or spent long days out at a cricket match found the battery held up better than expected, though constant LTE streaming could still drain the cell by evening.
Charging itself was handled through a micro-USB port, which felt dated even then but remained the universal standard. A full charge took close to three hours with the supplied 1.5-amp charger, and there was no fast-charge capability. For Australians who planned ahead and charged overnight, this was a non-issue, but road warriors hopping between meetings in Sydney's CBD and Melbourne's Docklands would have appreciated quicker top-ups during the day.
Australian Pricing and Carrier Availability
When the Lumia 1320 reached Australian shores in early 2014, it landed at retailers like Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi with a recommended price around AUD 499 outright. Vodafone Australia picked up the device shortly after launch for prepaid customers, while Optus and Telstra offered it on contract plans bundled with mid-tier data allowances. The phone's colour options were sometimes limited in-store, with the black variant the easiest to find on shop floors in suburban shopping centres from Parramatta to Chadstone.
Importing from grey-market sellers was tempting for bargain hunters, but Australian customs duties and the lack of local warranty made that route less attractive. Buyers who opted for carrier contracts often paid the device off over twenty-four months, which worked out cheaper per month than financing through a buy-now-pay-later plan. By mid-2014, the street price had dipped towards AUD 399 as Nokia prepared the ground for newer models like the Lumia 830, making the 1320 a popular pick for students heading into university that year.
For travellers heading overseas, the unlocked variant supported the global LTE bands needed in Asia and Europe, and it ran Windows Phone's data-sense feature that helped curb roaming charges. Australians taking the phone on a working holiday to London or a ski trip to Japan found the dual-band 3G fallback kept them connected when LTE was unavailable.
Where the Lumia 1320 Sat in the Phablet Pecking Order
The 1320 found itself in a crowded marketplace, sandwiched between budget Android phablets and the much pricier Lumia 1520. Against Samsung's Galaxy Mega 6.3, the Nokia offered a more refined design and a better camera app, though the Mega had a slightly higher resolution display. Against Sony's Xperia T2 Ultra, the 1320 traded multimedia flair for Windows Phone's productivity strengths, and against Huawei's Ascend Mate, it brought Nokia's reputation for build quality and after-sales support.
Compared with the Lumia 1520, which sat closer to AUD 749 at the time, the 1320 saved buyers roughly AUD 200 in exchange for a less capable camera and a slower chipset. For anyone curious about Windows Phone but unwilling to spend flagship money, the 1320 delivered a generous slice of the Lumia experience, and it remains a fond memory for early adopters of Microsoft's mobile platform who wanted a big screen on a sensible budget.
| Specification | Lumia 1320 | Lumia 1520 | Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 6.0-inch IPS LCD, 720p | 6.0-inch IPS LCD, 1080p | 6.3-inch PLS LCD, 720p |
| Processor | Snapdragon 400 dual-core 1.7 GHz | Snapdragon 800 quad-core 2.2 GHz | Snapdragon 400 dual-core 1.7 GHz |
| RAM | 1 GB | 2 GB | 1.5 GB |
| Storage | 8 GB + microSD | 16/32 GB + microSD | 8/16 GB + microSD |
| Rear Camera | 5 MP, f/2.4 | 20 MP PureView, f/2.4 | 8 MP, f/2.6 |
| Front Camera | VGA | 1.2 MP | 1.9 MP |
| Battery | 3400 mAh | 3400 mAh | 3200 mAh |
| Operating System | Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone 8 | Android 4.2 Jelly Bean |
| Launch Price (AUD) | ~499 | ~749 | ~599 |
Years after its launch, the Lumia 1320 still draws curiosity from enthusiasts hunting through second-hand markets and collectors who appreciate Nokia's final years of mobile craftsmanship. Anyone comparing current budget phablets to this device will find a fascinating snapshot of how much the budget segment has evolved, and the latest phone coverage on the site offers plenty of context for how the market has shifted since 2013. For readers weighing whether to revisit Windows Phone nostalgia or simply looking for modern alternatives in the same vein, the Apple lineup shows how dramatically large-screen phones have come to dominate the conversation, with every manufacturer now offering supersized flagships that would have seemed extravagant when the 1320 first landed in Australian stores.