Nokia Lumia 620 - A perfect entry level WP

[bhushan2k]

Ok..here is short review of Lumia 620 which i bought 3 weeks back for dad. Actually, to be honest, I was really confused about buying new mobile for dad under 15k price bracket since he was going to experience touch screen for the first time. So, as a proud owner of Xperia P D), I searched for many droids out there. But, couldn't be able to find a perfect one. As we all know, 15k is not at all enough for droid having dual core proccy + at least a gig of ram memory to run JB smoothly. Then thought that Android has hell of customizations that dad is never gonna use those features. So I decided to buy sleek WP8. Still, i was confused among Lumia 520, 620, 720 and HTC 8S coz all share same internal specs sheet. Lumia 720 has comparatively good camera sensor (carl zeiss), IPS pannel, slightly bigger screen, gorilla glass 2 protection and 2000mah battery but no a gig of RAM when u spending 19k for it . HTC => no Nokia maps since dad is in civil, he wanted it badly. Then I looked for lumia 520 but found few cons like no LED flash, no clear back display. So, finally decided to buy lumia 620.

So, after 3 weeks of usage, trying here to write review as short and useful as possible. Please tell me if i missed any point or u want to know any specific.

Differences in Specs (added Xperia P just for a reference purpose):

	Nokia Lumia 520	Nokia Lumia 620	Nokia Lumia 720	HTC 8S	Sony Xperia P
Dimensions	119.9 x 64 x 9.9 mm	115.4 x 61.1 x 11 mm	127.9 x 67.5 x 9 mm	120.5 x 63 x 10.3 mm	122 x 59.5 x 10.5 mm
Weight	124 g	127 g	128 g	113 g	120 g
Display	4.0" IPS LCD	3.8" TFT ClearBack LCD	4.3" IPS ClearBack LCD	4.0" S-LCD	4.0" LED-backlit, LCD Bravia Display
Resolution	800 x 480 (WVGA)	800 x 480 (WVGA)	800 x 480 (WVGA)	800 x 480 (WVGA)	960 x 540 (qHD)
PPI	233	246	217	233	275
Operating System	Windows Phone 8.0	Windows Phone 8.0	Windows Phone 8.0	Windows Phone 8.0	Android 4.0.4 ICS (4.1.2 JB update coming in few days)
Processor	1 GHz Dual Core Krait	1 GHz Dual Core Krait	1 GHz Dual Core Krait	1 GHz Dual Core Krait	1 GHz Dual Core Cortex A9
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8227	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8227	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8227	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8227	NovaThor U8500
Graphics	Adreno 305	Adreno 305	Adreno 305	Adreno 305	Mali-400 (single core)
RAM	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	1 GB
Internal Storage	8 GB	8 GB	8 GB	4 GB	16 GB
Expandable	Yes, upto 64 GB	Yes, upto 64 GB	Yes, upto 64 GB	Yes, upto 64 GB	No
Camera (front)	No	VGA	1.3 MP wide-angle / 720p @30 fps	No	VGA
Camera (rear)	5 MP / 720p @30 fps	5 MP / 720p @30 fps	6.1 MP (Carl Zeiss) / 720p @30 fps	5 MP / 720p @30 fps	8 MP (Exmor-R) / 1080p @30 fps
NFC	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Battery	1430 mAh	1300 mAh	2000 mAh	1700 mAh	1305 mAh
Price	10000	14000	18000	18000	20000

See full specs of Lumia 620

Price => 14k

Place => Alfa store, Andheri, Mumbai

Interface => Windows Phone 8

Included in retail box => Lumia 620 (obviously ), ear-pieces, a/c charger, microUSB cable

Not included => Screen protector, dock, case, memory card

Spoiler

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10097&d=1366449203

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10098&d=1366449209

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10099&d=1366449217

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10100&d=1366449222

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10101&d=1366449231

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10102&d=1366449242

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10103&d=1366449249

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10104&d=1366449258

Build Quality:

Build is premium yet compact. I would not say an exceptional but still decent enough to give premium look and compact enough for one handed operation. Back is nice soft touch plastic which gives perfect grip on holding (though m missing aluminium unibody of XP ). One thing i noticed is the back panel is not comfortable to remove. You got to press camera sensor hardly and pull back the back panel to remove it. But, u got exchangeable back panel covers in variety of colors D). Additionally, Nokia launched durable back panel which will give extra protection against dust and water. You have got Volume Rocker button, dedicated Camera Shutter key, Power Down/Screen Lock key, 3.5mm audio jack, microUSB/charging plug, dedicated mic for active noise cancellation. Usual three capacitive buttons (Back, Start/Home, Search) are there which we find on all WP handsets. But, button sensitivity is not at its best. Button sensitivity vibration is bit low compared to Xperia P. It still does fair job. Also, the additional extra space around the screen could have been skipped to keep the device more compact.

Display:

Although it's not an IPS or AMOLED panel, it has really good sunlight legibility and viewing angles. Backed by Nokia's ClearBack technology, screen looks stunning. 3.8" size does the fair job considering the WVGA resolution it has got which gives decent 246 PPI.

Memory:

Even though it has just 512 MB RAM memory (which is quite low for today's standard), it gives decent, fluid UI experience. Full credits to Windows Phone ecosystem. But, still, low RAM is worry thing as you can not install big apps (like temple run game) which requires minimum a gig of RAM (on paper). So, that's worry thing. Internal memory is 8 GB in which u get around 5 GB free, rest is used by OS itself. Nokia hasn't provided memory card in retail box. Bought Sandisk 16 GB MicroSD class 10 card for 900 on flipkart.

Audio and Video:

Lumia 620 is one of the loudest performer I have ever experienced. Backed by Dolby technology, this device produces decent audio output considering its entry level tag. Lumia 620 can handle 1080p video as well. Sound is really good. You have got equalizers setting too. Video playback was the first test I wanted to perform. Transferred couple of 1080p game trailers and tried to play. When I saw the quality of the video and lag-free playback, I was amazed.

Camera:

Nokia is known for producing good camera performances since long time. 5 MP camera does the good job too. It produces decent snaps having enough details. Tried some macro shots too. Performed really well. Also, you have got EXCELLENT Lenses feature made by Nokia specifically for Lumias extending the capability of stock camera. Different kind of lenses (nothing but small applications) you can install and use them by opening directly or from Camera UI itself. Pics will be uploaded soon.

Some useful lenses:

Lens Name	Use
Bing Vision	for scanning QR codes
Cinemagraph	to make cool-funny animation of some part of entire pic
Panorama	as its name says
Smart Shoot	to bring perfect wanted pic from couple of burst shots
Photosynth	just like Photo Sphere panorama feature of 4.2 Jelly Bean
Blink	Burst mode, can take 15 snaps per second

It can even record HD video at 30 fps as we all know. Although, Nokia claimed its new innovation High Amplitude Audio Capture (HAAC), m bit disappointed in quality. Video bitrate is just over 10 Mbps and audio is mono. Still outdoor videos are decent enough.

Battery:

Battery is definitely low on paper. Just 1300 mAh. Still it gives fair backup for a day and half. Credits to WP.

Benchmarks:

Connectivity / Browsing:

Packed full of connectivity options for this price bracket. It can support GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA at 21 Mbps. Surely, it lacks LTE but that's ok since we don't have 4G working fully functional here in India. It also has dual band Wi-Fi supporting a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC. Disappointed in browsing. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is definitely not the best in loading pages as well as the kind of UI it has got which is not as fluid as Opera or Chrome. Tabs are not easily accessible. Surely you will miss Opera browser. But Opera promised to bring browser on this platform. So patience is a key.

Features and Performance:

It's definitely not as costomizable as Android but it packs with its own set of standard features such as Xbox gaming, Nokia Mix Radio, and most importantly its mapping services which was must having factor for dad. I must say, Microsoft did a great job by providing excellent Metro UI which is fast and fluid enough. No lagging no freezing at all. Again full credits to WP. Animations are super cool. Dual core Krait and Adreno 305 do fair job. Tried couple of games. Graphics are best at its class. UI is pretty smooth and fast enough.

Some useful Applications:

AnTuTu Benchmark (well known cross-platform benchmark app)
Rightware's Basemark X benchmark (coming soon)
Storage Check (to check detailed storage usage by app)
Skype
Whatsapp
Instagram (coming soon)
Opera Mobile (coming soon)
AccuWeather
Creative Studio (cool filters for pics)
eBay
ESPNcricinfo
Evernote
Facebook
Flashlight-X (LED torch)
LinkedIn
m-Indicator (famous Mumbai suburban local timetable app + BEST timetable + more)
NFC Writer
Nokia Pulse
Nokia Xpress (Nokia's browser having data compression technology at server side just like Opera Turbo feature)
Microsoft Office Suite
Microsoft OneNote
PDF Reader
Play To (DLNA streaming app)
Ringtone Maker
Shrink Storage (for removing unnecessary data which can be seen under Setting=>Phone Storage=>Other, but can not remove since there is no system-wide file manager and can not access system files from PC => big disappointment)
SkyDrive
Speedtest.net
StopWatch
The Times of India
Track My Life
Transfer my Data
Translator (lens)
Truecaller
Twitter
UC Browser
Unit Converter
WordPress
Youtube

Missing Applications:

System-wide or third-party file manager like Root Explorer
Image editor like PS Touch
Third-party video player like MX Player
Third-party music Player like Poweramp
Dedicated forum client app like Tapatalk
Dedicated torrent client app like uTorrent or tTorrent
Most of the popular games

Final words:

Package => 3/5

Build Quality => 3.5/5

Screen => 4/5

UI => 4.5/5

Camera => 4/5

Browsing => 3/5

Messaging => 4.5/5

Battery => 3/5

Sound => 4.5/5

Calling => 4/5

SNS Integration => 4.5/5

Gaming => 4.5/5

 

[Shah]

Nice Review; But, has a lot of errors.

 

[coderunknown]

nicely written. but a few errors are there:
1. Nokia 720 written as 520 in the table.
2. processor is 8227. there is nothing like 8277.

and compare it to your Xperia P. size comparison specially as well as video playback.

 

[Shah]

nicely written. but a few errors are there:
1. Nokia 720 written as 520 in the table.
2. processor is 8227. there is nothing like 8277.

3. Lumia written as Lumis

 

[bhushan2k]

Nice Review; But, has a lot of errors.

nicely written. but a few errors are there:
1. Nokia 720 written as 520 in the table.
2. processor is 8227. there is nothing like 8277.

3. Lumia written as Lumis

ohhh damm..extremely sorry for these errors..was typing some part on tapatalk forum client..guess those typo errors..interesting part was i checked specs of 8227 chipset by visiting wikipedia at the time of writing this review, still wrote 8277..rofl..seriously time to change my specs now actually thanks for pointing it out..

compare it to your Xperia P. size comparison specially as well as video playback.

sure man..will upload some picss too as soon as i get 3rd camera

Corrected errors and some details added..

 

[noob]

Gaming => 4.5/5

Are you kidding me ?
You said that popular games need 1GB RAM and phone has 512 MB. I think it should be 3-3.5/5 for gaming.

 

[bhushan2k]

Gaming => 4.5/5

Are you kidding me ?
You said that popular games need 1GB RAM and phone has 512 MB. I think it should be 3-3.5/5 for gaming.

U could have searched a bit on google or in this forum on why games require 1gb ram on wp before making this post.. Anyways..big game titles which are just came or yet to come are still new to this platform..u can't say they are well matured for this platform.. They are still on beta engine.. To switch on new platform, games require new compatible engine..so they are still testing their engines.. It takes a lot of time n coding to make any heavy coded software or game to work on all possible combinations of hardware of the device.. That is why game developers haven't made available their games for devices having 512mb of ram..does that mean lumia 520, 620, 720, htc 8s are not capable to run those games? These phones are based on dual core krait 1ghz + adreno 305 gpu the same is in newly launched Xperia L running on android 4.1.2... U can check xperia l benchmarks on phonearena..nenamark which shows gpu performance scored 60fps beating even galaxy s3. Tell me which phone under 20k or even 25k will beat this figure.. So those big games will come for 512mb ram devices soon..for me, till now, all available n compatible games what i have played ran smoothly..so the good score..