Nokia Lumia 720: A Specifications Review

Back in January, when Nokia was busy unveiling the Lumia 920 and 820, we tried our hand at gazing in the crystal ball to see how the inevitable Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 would shape up to be. Our speculation was confirmed at MWC when Nokia officially unveiled the Lumia 720, which turned out to be very similar to what we had imagined about this handset. The Lumia 720 looks like a mash-up between the Lumia 920 and the 820. The front is very much like Nokia’s flagship WP8 handset while the rest of the body is modelled around the 820. Given the specifications and its place in the hierarchy, we expect the Lumia 720 to launch at Rs 19,499 or something similar. Let’s break down the specifications and see what the 720 has to offer. 

OS – Windows Phone 8

You won’t find any difference in the UI as compared to the other WP8 handsets from Nokia. You get Windows Phone 8 as the OS of choice along with exclusive apps like CityLens, Nokia Maps and various lenses for the camera etc.

Cellular connectivity – Well catered for 

The Lumia 720 is more of a world phone than some high-end smartphones. Nokia hasn’t skimped here and you get full quad-band GSM and 3G support, allowing you to latch onto high-speed networks around the globe. The phone uses a microSIM like most of the newer handsets.

Display – Decently large

The display has the same size and pixel density as the Lumia, but rather than AMOLED, Nokia has gone with an IPS LCD panel. This is a smart move as you’ll get more accurate colours with an IPS panel and it’s cheaper to produce as well. The Gorilla Glass 2 protected ClearBlack display may have a low ppi count, but this doesn’t really matter on Windows Phone as the OS compensates very well for this. 

Lighter and slimmer compared to its elder siblings

Form factor – Should fit snugly in your hand

The Lumia 720 is the slimmest Lumia in the family at just 9 mm. It’s also a lot lighter than the Lumia 820 at 128 g. The rounded matte finish back should provide good grip for everyday use. Think of the Lumia 720 as a lighter and slimmer Lumia 820.

Wi-Fi and NFC – Dual-band support

The 720 is down the ranks in Nokia’s line-up, but we still have some of the high-end connectivity options like dual-band Wi-Fi. Like all Nokia handsets, NFC plays a big role here and makes the 720 compatible with all the accessories Nokia announced for the 920 back in January.

SoC – Qualcomm MSM8227

Our prediction of the SoC for the Lumia 720 was bang on. The 720 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon MSM8227 SoC. This consists of a dual-core ARM CPU running at 1GHz and Adreno 305 graphics. In fact, the Lumia 520 and the Lumia 620 also share the same SoC. 

Internal storage

There’s 8GB of internal storage with the option to expand it up to 64GB via a microSD card. The RAM has been halved to 512MB from 1GB on the Lumia 820. This shouldn’t cause much of an issue; however, the difference could be noticeable during app loading times.  

Primary camera – An interesting choice  

A post on Nokia’s official blog talks about why the company went with a 6.7MP Carl Zeiss sensor. Nokia’s goal was to use the largest aperture possible without reducing the resolution too much. The wide-angle 6.7MP sensor offered the best of both worlds and also captures images in true 16:9 aspect. The BSI sensor has a crazy aperture of f/1.9, which is even larger than the one on the 920. Nokia has also used the similar image stabilisation on the 720, although it’s not entirely certain if the floating lens has made it to the 720. This should give the Lumia 720 a huge advantage in low-light conditions and will rival many high-end smartphones twice its price. The front camera is also wide-angled and has an aperture value of f/2.4.

Sensors – Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass 

The usual array of sensors can be found on the Lumia 720.

GPS – Comes with GLONASS

Nokia hasn’t left out GLONASS when it comes to navigation, so you will get that added advantage over other handsets in the similar price range.

Could be the best Lumia yet

Battery – A decent capacity

We feel 2000mAh should be enough to offer a day’s worth of typical usage. We say this because the IPS LCD is not as demanding as an AMOLED panel, especially when displaying whites.

The bottom line

The Lumia 720 might just be the best WP8 handset Nokia has created considering the price it will launch at and the features it offers. If it does launch at around Rs 20,000, it could be one of the top handsets in that segment and should certainly be a big seller. The HTC 8S is not exactly competition anymore as it’s heavily compromised in terms of features and wasn’t very exciting to begin with. The 720 is the slimmest Lumia yet, borrowing design elements from the 920 and the 820. You get changeable covers as well as the option for wireless charging, an IPS display, a speedy SoC and what appears to be a very good camera. If you can see past the lack of popular Android and iOS apps for WP8, then the Lumia 720 has all the right boxes ticked and we can’t wait to get our hands on it.