Amidst the domination of Android and iOS devices in the smartphone
market today, Nokia’s Lumia series still manages to stand-out and keep
up. An obvious giveaway would be that the Lumia family is constantly
growing and trying to capture both ends of the market. With the 820 and
920 seizing the higher-range of the spectrum and the 620 and 520 pushing
harder at the entry level smartphone owners, Nokia Lumia 720 is the
soup that tastes “just right”.
The first time I got a hold of the Lumia 720, it immediately gave a good
first impression with its light weight and sophisticated design. With a
height of 127.9mm and width of 67.5mm, it’s remarkably effortless to
handle with a surprising weight of only 128 grams. It’s a bit of a
refresher from the large-screen smartphones we have in the market today
that requires both hands to properly handle.
Design
The factor that I think really gives the Lumia series its edge in the
extremely competitive smartphone arena is its chic, stylish figure,
having a curved unibody design that provides not just a comfortable grip
but a fun, creative look as well. If you’re getting bored with the
usual black and white colours we all have to put up with, Nokia answers
your call with the glossy yellow, glossy red, matte cyan, and matte
black colour variants of the 720. The glossy options are a bit slippery
to handle, and they leave fingerprints all over the device, so unless
your favourite colours are red or yellow, I suggest you go with the cyan
variants. The Live Tiles are also fun to navigate with. The screen
looks very interactive with the tiles flipping every now and then with
each update it receives.
Camera
I am very particular with a phone’s camera as it gives me an excuse not
to bring along a bulky DSLR for unexpected moments worth capturing.
Don’t expect Lumia 720’s 6-megapixel camera to be a good substitute
though, as its higher-end cousins provide better resolutions with a
higher MP. However, the 720’s Carl Zeiss optics and f/1.9 aperture
pretty much makes up for the low MP. For those who are not camera-geeky,
a wider aperture allows more light to get through the camera’s lenses,
which is particularly helpful when you’re taking pictures in low-light
conditions. 720 has the widest aperture among smartphones as of writing,
so you can probably say that right now, Lumia 720 is the king of
smartphone lowlight photography – or you can probably come up with a
better title than I did.
Hardware
Running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 720 gives you 512 MB of RAM.
Not bad, although not very competitive with other flagship phones in
the market either. But then again this unit targets the mid-range market
so it’s pretty much expected. Although you may find it a bit of a
downer that some games and applications (like Temple Run for example)
requires at least 1GB to work, so they’re not really going to run in the
720. It’s also got an 8GB Mass Memory and an expandable MiscroSD memory
of up to 64GB (again, not bad).
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| Micro USB slot for charging and media transfer |
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| MicroSD card slot on the left. |
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| Physical keys for volume, camera, and lock buttons |
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| Sim Card tray and Headphones Jack on top |
Kid’s Corner
Even if I’m not a daddy (yet) the Kid’s Corner feature may actually be
useful to me. Kid’s Corner basically lets you be confident about your
kids touching your phones without having to worry that they may delete
some data and see some…well “personal” files. It allows access only to
approved applications and documents while keeping your kids from getting
into the rest. It’s like having a built-vault in your phone for your
other precious files.
Wireless Charging
Although I wasn’t able to experience this first-hand, Nokia Lumia allows
wireless charging with the right accessories. I’m not sure how this
affects the charging time but this is actually handy, especially when
you’re playing with Candy Crush while in the toilet (not that I do
that). No need to be anywhere near a socket just to make sure your
battery doesn’t run out of juice. Speaking of battery, the Lumia 720
packs a 2,000 mAh battery, which is actually pretty powerful for a
mid-range device. I was able to go a few days before having to charge it
again, but that goes without mobile data of course.
Apps
Sad to say, the Windows Phone Store needs to work on their goods, as a
lot of apps that were already available on Android and iOS phones cannot
be found here yet. Instagram, for example is, not yet available on the
Lumia series as of writing. Also, as mentioned above, the availability
of apps on the Lumia 720 is further limited by its 512MB RAM, as some
applications require higher to run.
The Verdict
Nokia Lumia 720 is already more than decent as a mid-range device, and
it gives you a fitting value for money given that it’s relatively
cheaper than other flagship phones, but packing enough features to get
you going. Updates and availability of apps is a downer, but seeing the
rate that Nokia is going with the Lumia series, this might probably be
resolved soon enough. Would I want a Lumia device? Definitely.
The Plus Side:
Stylish design
Lightweight
User-friendly interface
Good Battery Life
Good low-light camera performance
Kid’s Corner
Wireless Charging
The Downers:
512 RAM
Limited apps
6MP camera
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