Mid-range yet value packed
Being the middle child is always difficult,
so in that respect the Nokia Lumia 720 has it tough as it nestles slap bang in
the center of the Finnish firm’s Windows Phone 8 range. Arriving on the scene
alongside the budget-focused Nokia Lumia 520 at MWC 2013, the Lumia 720
provides a happy middle point in a lineup which also includes the Lumia 620,820
and 920. The Nokia Lumia 720 is available for around $460 SIM-free, while on
contract you’ll be able to pick it up for free from $36 per month over two
years. This pits the Lumia 720 against the likes of the HTC One SV, Samsung
Galaxy S3 mini, Motorola Razr i and Sony Xperia T.
Being
the middle child is always difficult, so in that respect the Nokia Lumia 720
has it tough as it nestles slap bang in the center of the Finnish firm’s
Windows Phone 8 range
Our Nokia Lumia 720 turned up in a fetching
shade of red, but there is a choice of four other colors if that doesn’t take
your fancy with blue, yellow, black and white all up for grabs.
While the color extends from the rear to
the sides of the device the front of the Lumia 720 is dominated by a slab of
glass which covers the 4.3-inch display, 800 x 480 display. But did we like it?
Read on to find out.
The Lumia 720 sports a distinctively
plastic finish, but the unibody design means the Lumia 720 has a solid
construction giving it a reassuring presence in the hand - although there’s not
much grip to be had. At 128g it is a decent weight and it’s a well-balanced
handset providing a relatively comfortable hold. We would have liked the back
to be a little more rounded so it hugged our palm better, but that’s a minor
blemish.
The phone has the same resolution as the
Lumia 620, but with its 3.8-inch display the 620 actually has a better pixel
density (246ppi compared to 217ppi), resulting in the Lumia 720 screen lacking
the sharpness and clarity of its smaller, cheaper brother.
The standard Windows Phone menu keys lie in
wait below the display, housed in a swath of black bezel, while above the
screen is a 1.3MP wide angle camera, allowing you to have video chats with your
nearest and dearest.
The
standard Windows Phone menu keys lie in wait below the display, housed in a
swath of black bezel, while above the screen is a 1.3MP wide angle camera,
allowing you to have video chats with your nearest and dearest
Interface
Windows Phone is getting better with each
iteration and while it may not be quite hitting the heights of Android and iOS,
we feel it could be there soon. What you do get is a platform that works
identically on whatever handset it’s on, unlike Android which can arrive in
many modified personas - some of which are better than others. At least this
means you know what you’re getting when you pick up a Windows Phone, and if
you’ve used one in the past you’ll have no trouble when it comes to using the
Lumia 720.
Performance and camera
The 1GHz dual-core processor and 512MB of
RAM is plenty for Windows Phone 8 to operate on and we were able to navigate
round the Lumia 720 smoothly without any hint of slowdown - making for a
pleasing experience.
The Nokia Lumia 720 has been equipped with
a 6.7MP rear facing camera and a front facing 1.3MP snapper. You also get a
single LED flash next to the Carl Zeiss lens on the rear of the 720 - which is
handy for low light conditions. Image quality on the whole is pretty good and
you’ll be able to take some decent snaps with the Lumia 720.
With its 4.3-inch display, microSD slot and
surprisingly loud rear speaker the Nokia Lumia 720 is ready to have a real
crack at being an all-round media player as well as a phone. The 8GB of
internal storage may turn some users off, especially when you consider that
over 2GB is take up by the operating system, but the relief in the form of a
microSD slot capable of handling cards up to 64GB in size puts early fears to
rest. The Lumia 720 didn’t have any trouble playing our AVI, WMV and MP4 file
formats, plus H.264 and H.263 are also supported.
The
Lumia 720 didn’t have any trouble playing our AVI, WMV and MP4 file formats,
plus H.264 and H.263 are also supported
Display and battery life
Although Lumia 720 has a good sized screen
it still has the same resolution as its smaller brother, the Lumia 620,
resulting in reduced clarity. You can notice pixels if you watch the screen for
a length of time, reminding you that this is not a high-end device, but it’s
not enough to put you off and with respectable viewing angles you and a friend
can comfortably gaze at the display.
Nokia reckons you can get up to 520 hours
of standby time or 79 hours of music playback from the 2000m Ah battery, and
while these figures are a little unrealistic you shouldn’t worry. With moderate
usage we were able to eke out two days use from the Lumia 720 before it started
pining for the charger.
We really like the Nokia Lumia 720, it’s a
great all round smartphone and while it doesn’t do enough for us to love it, we
would seriously recommend it. It falls into a difficult place in the market
with strong competition from the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini and HTC One S, but both
of those handsets are getting on a bit and the Lumia 720 has the vitality of
youth in its favor.
Nokia 720 specs
Body
·
Dimensions:127.9 x 67.5 x 9 mm, 78 cc (5.04 x
2.66 x 0.35 in)
·
Weight: 128 g (4.52 oz)
Display
·
IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
·
Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi
pixel density)
·
Multitouch: Yes
·
Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 2 -
ClearBlack display
Sound
·
Alert types: Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
·
Loudspeaker: Yes
·
3.5mm jack: Yes - Dolby headphone sound
enhancement
Memory
·
Card slot: microSD, up to 64 GB
·
Internal: 8 GB, 512 MB RAM
Data
·
GPRS: Class B
·
EDGE: Up to 236.8 kbps
·
Speed: HSDPA, 21.1 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
·
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
·
Bluetooth: Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
·
NFC: Yes
·
USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0
Camera
·
Primary: 6.1 MP, 2848 x 2144 pixels, Carl
Zeiss optics, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
·
Features: 1/3.6'' sensor size, geo-tagging
·
Video: Yes, 720p@30fps, check quality
·
Secondary: Yes, 1.3 MP, 720p@30fps
Features
·
OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 8
·
Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8227
·
CPU: Dual-core 1 GHz
·
GPU: Adreno 305
·
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, compass
·
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email,
Push Email, IM
·
Browser: HTML5
·
Radio: No
·
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
·
Java: No
·
Colors: White, Red, Yellow, Cyan/Black
Battery
·
Non-removable Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery (BP-4GW)
·
Stand-by: (2G) / Up to 520 h (3G)
·
Talk time: Up to 23 h 20 min (2G) / Up to 13 h
20 min (3G)
·
Music play: Up to 79 h
Misc
·
SAR US: 1.24 W/kg (head)
·
SAR EU: 0.76 W/kg (head)
Tests
·
Display: Contrast ratio: 1172:1 (nominal) /
2.512:1 (sunlight)
·
Loudspeaker: Voice 72dB / Noise 66dB / Ring
75dB
·
Audio quality: Noise -83.1dB / Crosstalk -80.9dB
·
Camera: Photo / Video
·
Battery life: Endurance rating 60h
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