Nokia has made sure that it offers prospective buyers, a choice of its Lumia smartphones in every price range and while we have already shared with you our views on the Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 820, Nokia lumia 620 and the Nokia Lumia 520, it is the Nokia Lumia 720 which was missing from the scene. We recently got our hands on the Nokia Lumia 720 which is a mid-range smartphone from the Finnish giant and this is what we think about the 4.3 inch smartphone.
I spent a very good time with the Lumia 720 and am here penning down my thoughts about what is a “beautifully packed mid-budget beast”.
Display:
The Nokia Lumia 720 packs a 4.3 inch IPS LCD capacitive display with a screen resolution of 800 x 480 pixels which gives us a decent pixel density of about 217 PPI. Thanks to the super sensitive touch display users can even use the Smartphone wearing gloves or even with their nails. The display is bright, colourful and the contrasts is good enough thanks to Nokia’s ClearBlack technology. The smartphone can be used easily outdoors which is a plus for users who spend most of their time travelling in the bright sun.
Body and Hardware:
The Lumia 720 is a true ‘Nokia smartphone’ as the device is well-built and arrives within a polycarbonate shell with non-removable battery. The device which never feels cheap is tough enough to survive the day-to-day rough usage. On the face of the device, we have the 4.3 inch display while on the top we have the 1.3 MP front camera which is capable of recording videos at 720p @ 30fps and has a wide-angle view. Alongside are the proximity sensor and the ambient light sensor.
At the bottom we have the three usual capacitive buttons which are in the back, the Home and the search functions.
On the top of the Nokia Lumia 720, we have the 3.5mm audio jack and the micro-SIM slot which had to be opened using a pin.
On the left of the device we have the volume rockers, the power/unlock button and the dedicated camera key. We wish the buttons were a little easier to access as sometimes you won’t even feel if the buttons are present or not.
On the right of the device, Nokia has placed the microSD card slot while on the bottom we have the microUSB 2.0 port which is used to transfer data and also charging the Nokia Lumia 720 alongside the primary microphone.
On the back, we have the 6.7 MP camera with LED Flash and a secondary microphone just next to which which helps in noise reduction. We can also see the presence of three pins which can be used for wireless charging the smartphone through the NFC and the speaker grill.
Overall the display and the hardware of the Nokia Lumia 720 is indeed impressive and given the price point the device arrives at, Nokia has indeed done a great job and kept up the tradition for which the Finnish company is known for.
Camera:
Well, the Nokia Lumia 720 goes on to pack in a 6.7 MP camera on the back which arrives with Carl Zeiss lens and performs impressively under low light conditions. The colours go on to look natural and do not appear saturated at any give point. But where there is good amount of brightness, the images look a little washed out. We did a little comparison of the Nokia Lumia 720 with the XOLO Q700’s camera and you can catch the verdict here and a few samples below (Click image to enlarge).
OS and Performance:
The Nokia Lumia 720 runs on the Windows Phone 8 OS which also runs on the other Lumia smartphones and there is nothing much to share on it as we have already covered it well in our other reviews. The OS is super smooth on the Lumia 720 and there is no moment went we found hiccups while using the OS on the 1 GHz dual-core processor which is coupled with 512 MB RAM. Unfortunately, there are a few apps which will not run on the smartphone because of the low RAM but developers are indeed tweaking them, for example, Temple Run has now been updated to run on devices with 512 MB of RAM.
A major plus of buying a Lumia is that Nokia bundles the exclusive apps like the Nokia Drive, Citylens, Nokia Here and more which enhance the overall Windows Phone 8 experience. Also Nokia has roped in popular developers to bring in their apps (like Viber) exclusively to Lumia smartphones (for the starting few months) which is also a plus.
As this was my first time with the Windows Phone 8 OS, I was really impressed with a few features like the Bluetooth sharing which is hassle free and is bring missed a lot on the older Windows Phone 7.8 running smartphones. The Kids Corner is a good addition to the OS.
Battery:
The battery on the Nokia Lumia 720 is the second best thing on the device, first being the camera. The 720 comes with a huge 2000 mAh battery which is the same which is found on the flagship Nokia Lumia 920 thus the backup which we get is just excellent. Nokia has made sure to fill in all the gaps where Android powered smartphones fail to fulfil the requirements of users i.e. the battery.
On heavy usage, the Nokia Lumia 720 lasted a little over 9 hours for us which included WhatsApp usage, Messages and decent number of calls. While with a little decent usage, users will be able to pull off the for almost 2 days without searching for the charger which is the need of the hour.
Verdict:
The Nokia Lumia 720 is priced at around Rs.18,000 which is a great price for the features and specifications the device comes packed with. If you are looking for a great camera and long lasting battery in comparison to the Android smartphones, we would advise you to spend a few more thousands and go in for the Nokia Lumia 720 as the build quality, the super-sensitive screen, the camera and the battery is the best combo for the price and no other smartphone manufacturer has been able to offer it yet.
The Nokia Lumia 720 is a beast in the mid-price segment and a GO AHEAD from us, if the Windows Phone 8 OS is not of much concern to us. Also we are sure, with the announced Nokia Amber update and the upcoming GDR2 update later this year, the Lumia 720 will shine.
Pros:
- Nice display
- Camera
- Battery
- Price
- Build quality
Cons:
- Low screen resolution
- 512 MB RAM
- Limited selection of apps
