Nokia Lumia 620 vs Nokia Lumia 720

Introduction

The Nokia Lumia 620 was the first revelation for Windows Phone - an affordable device that featured gorgeous design and a compact form factor, it opened up the platform to a wider audience. The Nokia Lumia 720 on the other hand raises the bar further. Another mid-range device, the Lumia 720 offers outstanding design in a slim body and a great camera that is especially good in low light conditions.

The two devices are different - the Lumia 620 extremely compact and pocketable, and the Lumia 720 slightly larger, but they both share a Windows Phone core and Nokia’s design excellence. Which one should you get? Let’s compare them to find out.

Design

Both the Nokia Lumia 620 and Lumia 720 are made out of plastic, but with a splash of color Nokia adds a lot of excitement and energy to their looks.

The Lumia 620 is the more compact of the two - it’s got a 3.8-inch display and is extremely convenient for single handed operation. The Lumia 720 in return has got a larger, 4.3-inch screen that makes it just a bit of a stretch to use with one hand.


The 620 has got replaceable back covers so you can easily change its color, while the Lumia 720 definitely feels more solid with its unibody design. The latter also supports snap-on wireless charging covers, while the 620 does not.

Size-wise, at 11mm, the Lumia 620 is a chubby little thing, especially when you compare it against the 9mm profile of the 720. However, the compact size of the 620 makes that less of a disadvantage. Both devices are in the featherweight division, tipping the scales at just 4.5 ounces.

A standard for Nokia, buttons are all located on the right hand side on both phones: on top is the volume rocker, the lock key is in the middle and the dedicated camera shutter button is at the bottom.

If we had to name a winner here, we’d pick the slim and stylish Lumia 720, but for those who value convenient single-handed use the compact Lumia 620 would be a better fit.


Display

Screen is one area where the two handsets rank great. While they both feature the same middling 480 x 800-pixel resolution, the Lumia 620 comes with a 3.8-inch ClearBlack TN LCD display while the Lumia 720 has a 4.3-inch ClearBlack IPS LCD screen.

In reality, both are extremely bright. The Nokia Lumia 720 is a bit more luminant scoring around 630nits, while the Lumia 620 trails close behind with around 590nits. Colors are vibrant and vivid on both devices, but the smaller and sharper 620 has an outstanding color balance and temperature.

Both do similarly well outdoors and even under direct sunlight you’d be able to easily see the content of the display.

While the Lumia 620 has a TN LCD and not an IPS LCD, it has good viewing angles. The Lumia 720 outdids with its IPS screen as colors almost do not shift at more extreme angles.

If we had to name a winner here, we’d give that award to the 620 for its excellent colors, but the 720 is very, very close behind.



Interface and Functionality

Both handsets run on Windows Phone 8 and since the platform allows for close to zero differentiation, the experience is almost identical.


Windows Phone 8 is characterized best by the dynamic looks of ever changing Live Tiles, and a smooth overall experience. Both the Lumia 620 and 720 feature Nokia’s signature Windows Phone applications: Nokia HERE Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and Nokia Music with free music streaming courtesy of Mix Radio. Microsoft’s platform also comes with pre-installed Office, a great productivity tool.

Speaking of Windows Phone, we ought to mention the brilliant keyboard. The typing experience is great on both, but the more compact Lumia 620 is once again better for single handed typing.


In terms of customization, good news is the colors of both devices can be matched to the color of Live Tiles, making for a neat effect of consistency.

Processor and Memory

Both the Lumia 620 and 720 offer buttery smooth performance throughout. It’s no wonder there is no difference between their performance - the two run on the same chip, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8277 with a 1GHz dual-core Krait processor and 512MB of RAM. Good news is that a lot of Windows Phone games like Temple Run have just been optimized to run on 512MB of RAM, so you’d able to play most games on these phones.

This pair of Nokia Lumias comes with 8GB of internal storage and on both it’s expandable via microSD cards of up to 64 gigs. Of those initial 8GB, only around 4GB are available to the end-user.

Internet and Connectivity

Lumias and actually all devices running on Windows Phone only support Internet Explorer for browsing the web. The lack of other browsers would be a huge problem if IE did not work good, but luckily it is a solid browser. Pages load at a near identical pace on both phones and once loaded scrolling and zooming around happened smoothly.

Both handsets support Wi-Fi connectivity and 3G at speeds of 21.1Mbps on the downlink. NFC, GPS and Bluetooth 3.0 round up the connectivity package.

Camera

The Nokia Lumia 720 takes pride in its wide-aperture 6.7-megapixel shooter and it is its one of its big advantages against the Lumia 620’s 5-megapixel shooter. Both devices come with auto-focus cameras with a single LED flash and are capable of shooting 720p HD videos.

Look at the actual images, though, and you’d almost instantly notice the difference. The Lumia 720 takes good images, but it behaves odd. Sometimes it overblows colors and sometimes it does the complete opposite, dumbing them down. The Lumia 620 is more consistent in its shots, but those shots are also a bit dull in color, noisier and less detailed.

Noise is really bad on the 620 when light gets scarce. In contrast, the 720 keeps noise in check. Detail on both tends to be smudgy, but the situation is again better on the 720.

Video capture maxes out at 720p, and we have the same gap in the quality of the recordings - the 620 suffers from noise and smudged detail, while the 720 offers a sharper, more pleasing footage. Sound capture is muffled on the 620, while the 720 records much cleaner sound.

Nokia Lumia 720 Sample Video:



Nokia Lumia 620 Sample Video:



Nokia Lumia 720 Indoor Sample Video:



Nokia Lumia 620 Indoor Sample Video:



We appreciate the fact that both have front cameras for video conferencing.

Finally, in the camera department the Lumia 720 emerged as a definite winner.

Multimedia

The larger screen of the Lumia 720 makes it a better device for enjoying videos on the go, but if you don’t care about size both devices easily play back AVI and MPEG files at 720p and even 1080p.


For music, we strongly recommend Nokia Music, a free download on the marketplace. It’s a great application for listening to music, superior to the stock Windows Phone app. Nokia Music has great looks and you get free music streaming with Mix Radio, a huge bonus.


For media playback, the Lumia 720 has got the upper hand with a manufacturer quoted longevity of nearly 80-hour of music playback and 8.3 hours of continuous video. In comparison, the 620 runs 61-hour music playback and 6 hour of non-stop video.

Call Quality

Nokia has long enjoyed the honor of providing top notch call quality, but that’s not exactly the case here. When we tested the Nokia Lumia 720, our callers easily recognized our voice and heard us loud and clear, but on our end of the line their voices sounded a bit dry and hissy.

Testing the call quality of the Lumia 620 right after the Lumia 720 was a shock, though. Callers on the other end of the line reported terribly muffled voices as they had trouble making out what we were saying. The earpiece on our side was loud but voices were on the dry side.

Battery

Both devices last a solid one day of average use, and might last into the second if you barely use them. The Lumia 720 does have the larger 2000mAh battery and it gives it a slight edge, but it’s larger power hungry 4.3-inch display compensates for that. Still, the 720 is longer lasting with an estimated video playback capacity of 8.3 hours against 6 houra on the Lumia 620, and the 720 also supports optional wireless charging. The 620 in contrast has a modest 1300mAh juicer and the convenience of easy battery replacement, something the Lumia 720 does not have.

Conclusion

Looking back through the comparison, it’s clear that the Nokia Lumia 720 gets the upper hand. It’s got a vivid and larger 4.3-inch display, but it’s biggest advantages come in camera performance, battery life and call quality. Its unibody slim design is also extremely nice.

What about the Lumia 620, though, should it be off your list? Not exactly. First, the device is a bit more affordable, and second it’s much more compact and friendly to single-handed use. It’s got an extremely bright and vivid display, and provides the same fluid Windows Phone 8 experience at a lower price. If you are ready to spend a little more though and would actually prefer a larger screen, the Lumia 720 is one step ahead.