Nokia Lumia 820 - The Capable 'Little' Brother

Nokia Lumia 820 - The Smaller Brother

The Nokia Lumia 820 will probably be in the shadows of its majestic Nokia Lumia 920 brother but rightly so. Like the Windows Phone 8S by HTC to its 8X's sibling, the Lumia 820 is what we would call an affordable version of the Finnish company's flagship Windows Phone 8 (WP8) device. Off the bat, there aren't that many differences - like the 920, the Lumia 820 comes with a powerful dual-core Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. If we take a closer look however, you see more glaring omissions like a smaller 4.3-inch (without Pure Motion), lower resolution screen and an 8-megapixel camera (without PureView), things that mattered on the Nokia Lumia 920. Still, the baby brother comes with plenty of attractive features, making it a tempting option for those looking to switch over to WP8 camp. Will there still be an audience for its smaller sibling then? Let's find out.

Design & Handling

While the Lumia 820 does bear significant resemblance to the Lumia 920, it certainly still holds its own. The Lumia series' classy polycarbonate body has been modified of sorts on the former, with it taking on a less angular form and sporting a removable back cover. Not that we are complaining anyway; its rounded edges make it much easier to hold compared to the Lumia 920 and beneath the cover lies an extra SD memory slot (which is not available on the 920). That plus its smaller frame and lighter 160g body makes handling an overall more positive experience. We could easily wrap our hands around the device and get a secure hold of it.

This, however, in no way plays down on the Lumia 820's sturdiness or level of construction - like its bigger sibling, it feels like it would be impervious to knocks and hits. Nokia has cut a fair bit of 'frills' on the 820 - the device looks much smaller than the 920 despite a slightly diminished 4.3-inch screen (920 comes with a 4.5-inch one) due to the fact that a significant amount of bezel space has been removed. As such, the three touch buttons are now given less real estate. We encountered no problems with usability in this area but users with bigger hands might find this to be an issue.

Otherwise, everything remains pretty much the same - small design touches extend to the buttons on the device as well, with silver-accented touch buttons framing the front when unlit. The black hardware buttons are all aligned on the right which makes for simpler operation; they include the volume rocker, power and camera functions. If there's something we have to complain about, it's in how ridiculously hard it is to remove the back cover to get to our micro-SIM and microSD cards. 

The Nokia Lumia 820 comes with the latest Windows Phone 8 operating system and the same software additions as its bigger sibling. Check back here for the software features you can find on the Lumia 820. As the device also comes with integrated Wireless Qi charging, it will work with the same pool of accessories that we have tested on the Lumia 920.

Performance

With its dual-core Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz processor and 1GB RAM, the Lumia 920 and likewise, the 820, lived to expectations. 1GB of RAM is good enough for multi-tasking, and as we mentioned earlier, task switching proved to be snappy and we saw no lags in performance even when we activated several applications (including more intensive game apps) in the background. 



Thanks to the new mobile Internet Explorer 10 within the OS, web browsing is extremely speedy. To give you an indication of how blazingly speedy it is, the Nokia Lumia 820 scored 907.6ms on the SunSpider Javascript benchmark test. As a point of reference, the test measures time taken to execute JavaScript routines such as encryption and text manipulation; a lower score is a better score as the results are in milliseconds. In comparison, the Galaxy S III LTE scored a higher 1216.4ms while the iPhone 5 fared better at 917.3ms. Traditionally, iOS devices have usually come up tops on the test with their Safari browser, but not this time. For those interested to know, the Lumia 920 scored a similar 909.2ms. This means users don't lose out in terms of general performance if they are also considering the lower-end WP8 devices like the Nokia Lumia 820.



With support for both 1800MHz and 2600MHz LTE bands, Nokia Lumia 820 users are ensured with LTE connectivity. We faced no problems with LTE connectivity on the phone, and had enjoyed blazing fast speeds for most part of our usage.

Multimedia & Imaging

The Lumia 820 comes with a standard 8-megapixel camera, which is definitely a notch ahead of HTC's equivalent device whose camera has a 5MP sensor. No doubt, it pales in comparison with its bigger and badder 920 sibling, it does retain a couple of things we liked on our photographic experience with the Lumia 820. Take for one, Lenses, a selection of photo apps that adds extra functionality to your photo-taking process on the Nokia WP8 device. You can add more apps via the Windows Phone marketplace, including Nokia's own Cinemagraph (creates GIF files), Panorama and Smart Shot apps. We also liked the inclusion of the Focus Assist Light which turns on the flash, meters, turns off the flash before taking the picture. To snap a photo, you either lightly tap on the touch screen on the area you want focused or press and release the shutter button located on the phone's right profile.

Based on photos taken of our indoor set-up, the Lumia 820 did a pretty good job. While colors appear to have a green tinge, details were crisp with little noise (for a smartphone).

The Lumia 820's 4.3-inch, 480 x 800 pixels AMOLED screen (217PPI) doesn't quite live up to the clarity of Lumia 920's PureMotion HD+ IPS, 1280 x 768 pixels screen (332PPI). Even so, it still managed to impress on its own as the display exhibited good color reproduction with deep blacks (though not as deep as the Nokia Lumia 920, we're happy with what we've observed). Ultimately, we were hoping for a screen with a higher resolution to provide users a better reading experience with more detail, crispness and more real estate while browsing the internet.



Nokia has also opted not to include Gorilla Glass on the Lumia 820, which might be a deterrent for those clumsy with their phones, but it seemed to hold up pretty well during our brief session with the device. Unless you are into extreme sports or anything more rigorous, we would say the 820 is sufficiently built for a regular day's usage.



Another thing to note is that while the Lumia 820 comes with a limited internal storage of 8GB, it does have the option to expand it affordably via microSD storage cards (which the Lumia 920 doesn't feature).

Battery Mileage

We put the Lumia 820 against other existing WP8 devices including the Nokia 920 and Windows Phone 8X by HTC. Using the same 480 x 800 pixels resolution video that we use across all our mobile device battery tests, we set the same test parameters which includes having the video looped under the following conditions:

• Brightness and volume at 100%
  
   
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
  
   
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter
  
   

Windows Phone devices, both old and new, haven't managed to impress us with their battery mileage (as far as the models we've tested). Thankfully, the Lumia 820 didn't let us down like the others did.



While the Lumia 820's battery mileage isn't exactly fantastic, it managed to beat the other two Nokia devices by almost twice their up-time at 400 minutes. Of course, this isn't quite surprisingly when you compare their screen sizes, resolutions and the type of screen technologies. For starters, the Lumia 920 comes with a bigger 4.5-inch IPS LCD screen with a higher 1280 x 768 pixels resolution. Similarly, the Windows Phone 8X by HTC comes with a 4.3-inch screen, a high resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels resolution on an LCD panel. 



In comparison, the Lumia 820 comes with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen with a lower WVGA resolution of 800 x 400 pixels. Traditionally, AMOLED displays are known to be more energy-efficient, which explains why the Lumia 820 fared so well despite a smaller battery capacity.



The results are likewise replicated in the portability index (battery to volume ratio). Given that the Lumia 820's AMOLED screen, superior battery time and mid-range dimensions, it is unsurprising that it came in first in this comparison.

Other than the above formal video-based battery test, we observed that the phone could last through a full day, with emails and Twitter feeds pushed constantly to it when using the phone in a casual manner for day-to-day needs. Other activities included occasional web surfing and phone calls. To conserve battery, do keep the brightness to a minimal level and switch off LTE when you find it unnecessary. We find that these few tips do help prolong the battery life by a substantial amount.

Conclusion

It's quite clear that the Lumia 820 is meant to be a more affordable companion to its Lumia 920 sibling. That doesn't mean that it is stripped off of whatever goodness that was found in the latter - in fact, there are areas where it actually did better. Take for instance, we actually preferred the handling experience on the 820. It is easier to wrap your hands around because of its rounded edges and smaller build. It comes with a removable battery and a microSD card slot. And of course, it did twice as well as the Lumia 920 did on our battery tests.



That's not forgetting that it is actually armed with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and 1GB RAM as its Lumia 920 sibling, along with the Windows Phone 8 OS and Nokia's suite of extra applications.



However, if you are looking for both superior screen and camera, the Lumia 920 is clearly the solution. However, if you are willing to forgo that little bit of incentive and prefer to shell out less from your wallet to enjoy the Windows Phone 8 experience, the Lumia 820 is your answer. Its 4.3-inch AMOLED screen is decent to say the least and the same can be said for its 8-megapixel camera. Its reduced internal storage capacity of just 8GB might seem too low, but thankfully it features a dedicated microSD slot for easy and affordable storage expansion.

In fact, we might actually recommend the Nokia Lumia 820 over the Windows Phone 8X by HTC if its price tag is right. And had the Lumia 820 shipped with a higher resolution display, it might have even been a better option than the Lumia 920 brother.

There's no local pricing at the moment but with a retail date fixed for early December, we expect it to be released soon. If you are open to other mid-range devices, you will be spoiled with choices by phones in the Android camp - the 4.3-inch Huawei Ascend P1 (S$648), the 4.55-inch Sony Xperia Ion ($798), the 4.3-inch HTC One S (S$748) and the 4.3-inch Motorola Razr Maxx ($749).

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