Quick comparison between my 800 and 620

[1101x10]

The 620 is the new entry level WP8 so how does it compare to the previous higher level 800.

Build and design

I like the 800, it's built like a tank and has a nice design with the rectangular edges and curved display. The screen has not got any scratches on it since I've had it.
The first thing you notice about the 620 is how light it is. The case it came in is the the matt black but the grip is more smooth than the 800 so you have to be a bit more careful it does not slip out of your hand. The build quality is good, it does bend or creak or anything, but I think it's more psychological that the 800 is a more solid device due to its extra weight.

Screen

Both have a similar size screen but the 620 is LCD while the 800 is AMOLED. The 620 is brighter and the whites are whiter than the 800. I don't really see any difference in the black where the Amoled is supposed to be better. Maybe the 800 is easier on the eyes, it's really down to your preference for screen technology. Both are fine though to me.
The 620 screen is not Gorilla Glass though so I expect to get some scratches on it.

Audio

The 620 has Dolby Headphone technology and an equaliser built in which are both a bonus. The phones speaker is also really loud.

Camera

The 800 has 8MP compared to the 5MP on the 620. In good light when the 800 gets the exposure right you get more detail if you want to crop the image. On the outdoor photo it was bad conditions with a lot of shade and winter light. I could not get to 800 to not overexpose the sky. When you view images at normal screen size you don't see much difference in detail but the 620 seems to add more saturation. The biggest difference is on low light as can be seen with the soft toy photo. On the 100% crop you can see the 620 does a better job with the image noise.

CPU

The 620 has a dual core running at 1Ghz compared to the single core on the 800 at 1.4Ghz. As both my phones are dev unlocked I ran a quick performance test to see how fast they perform 1000000000 integer additions and floating point divisions.

	620	800
Integer	16.22s	13.69s
Floating point	34.78s	48.14s

This loop would have been running on 1 core of the 620's CPU so the integer calculations are slower. The floating point calculations are faster on the 620 as it has a newer gen processor with better optimizations.

edit:

I updated the test to run two sets of loops on two independent threads at the same time. On the 620 this should balance the two threads between the CPU cores. Here are the results:

	620	800
Integer	14.46s 15.10s	25.94s 25.90s
Floating Point	34.54s 34.56s	1m37.80s 1m37.85s

So a big difference when both cores of the 620's CPU are utilized.
Interestingly running the loop in a separate thread is slightly faster anyway. Maybe it is because it is not running in the UI thread?


In real world use the 800 is slightly faster at starting apps but you would not really notice.

I haven't had it long enough to compare battery life yet.

Overall I'm impressed with this phone and it's great value for the price. I paid ?150 for it in the UK.

 

[Ozi1950]

I have L920, but would like to get 620 as a backup or maybe as a gift for my sister. Did you have any cases of apps crashing on 620? Also, thanks for this review.

 

[1101x10]

I have L920, but would like to get 620 as a backup or maybe as a gift for my sister. Did you have any cases of apps crashing on 620? Also, thanks for this review.

Not so far, but I've only had it for a couple of days so can't give you a real answer.

 

[Szefff]

Please tell us something about battery life after using it couple of days ..

 

[Laura Knotek]

Nice comparison! You did a great job showing the differences, especially with the camera.

I always like to see real people do reviews, not just tech site bloggers, and you did a terrific job. Kudos! :smile:

 

[TheLuminis620]

I have L920, but would like to get 620 as a backup or maybe as a gift for my sister. Did you have any cases of apps crashing on 620? Also, thanks for this review.

Apps do crash sometimes, especially Twitter but I don't have any issue with the others so far.

Please tell us something about battery life after using it couple of days ..

Been using my phone for 2 weeks already and I can easily get in the range of 15-24 hours easily with mixed use condition and WiFi always on.

_________

Great review by the way mate. My friend whose using the Lumia 800 is also considering switching to the newer Lumias, possibly the 620 since the price is really attractive for what it can do!

 

[anon(5353539)]

In real world use the 800 is slightly faster at starting apps but you would not really notice.

FOR REAL DUDE? @.@ SERIOUSLY? Whatsapp starts on my lumia 800 at a snails pace. and the lumia 620 with its dual core processor is SLOWER??

colour me seriously disappointed.

 

[TheLuminis620]

FOR REAL DUDE? @.@ SERIOUSLY? Whatsapp starts on my lumia 800 at a snails pace. and the lumia 620 with its dual core processor is SLOWER??

colour me seriously disappointed.

The Lumia 800 has a slightly higher clock at 1.4GHz though single core but the Lumia 620 clocked at 1GHz but with dual core. At the end, almost no difference between them.. It took me 3 seconds to load my WhatsApp on my Lumia 620 so I don't think it's slow.

Here's some basic stuff about processors. A Single-Core processor clocked in at 1.4GHz is actually faster compared to a Dual-Core 1GHz because it has a higher clock rate which means it's able to perform calculations of 1.4 giga in one hertz compared to the Dual-Core of 1GHz. However, when it comes to perform multitasking, you'll see the Dual-Core showing its true colours when it's able to divide the calculations in 2 separate cores instead of fitting it all into one Single-Core even if it's clock rate is higher than that of the Dual-Core.

 

[anon(5353539)]

The Lumia 800 has a slightly higher clock at 1.4GHz though single core but the Lumia 620 clocked at 1GHz but with dual core. At the end, almost no difference between them.. It took me 3 seconds to load my WhatsApp on my Lumia 620 so I don't think it's slow.

Here's some basic stuff about processors. A Single-Core processor clocked in at 1.4GHz is actually faster compared to a Dual-Core 1GHz because it has a higher clock rate which means it's able to perform calculations of 1.4 giga in one hertz compared to the Dual-Core of 1GHz. However, when it comes to perform multitasking, you'll see the Dual-Core showing its true colours when it's able to divide the calculations in 2 separate cores instead of fitting it all into one Single-Core even if it's clock rate is higher than that of the Dual-Core.

I understand what you mean. but seriously, still rather disappointed. haih.

I REALLY hope its down to optimization dude. Evernote on my lumia 800 is SLOW, and when i tried it on the lumia 920 in sunway, IT started at least 50% faster. I assumed all of the apps would act the same. sigh.

 

[CrazyWP8]

Hey , does the dual core in the L620 consume more power than a single core in the L800 , from what i know the snapdragon S4 krait processor is said be more energy efficient and the reason why the L620 is slower then the L800 is because windows phone 8 uses the same Windows NT Kernel same as Windows 8 , so more processing power .

 

[TechAbstract]

My 1.5Ghz dual core Lumia 920 is quite faster than the Lumia 900 with 1.4Ghz single core.

 

[Raghav77]

wow>!! amazing

 

[TheLuminis620]

I understand what you mean. but seriously, still rather disappointed. haih.

I REALLY hope its down to optimization dude. Evernote on my lumia 800 is SLOW, and when i tried it on the lumia 920 in sunway, IT started at least 50% faster. I assumed all of the apps would act the same. sigh.

And take note, the Lumia 620 has a the lowest recommended spec for a Windows Phone 8. What can you expect anyway? And the cheapest phone with Windows Phone 8 is the Lumia 620. As mentioned by CrazyWP8, your Windows Phone 7 is based on Windows CE kernel which means, if you are familiar, a mobile based which doesn't need high performance chipset and processor. However, the Windows Phone 8 is based on Windows NT kernel which is similar to those kernel running on Windows 8 RT and Pro on PC thus needing higher processing power. Also take note the Lumia 620 has a similar RAM to the Lumia 800 at 512MB.

The Lumia 620 is should be no difference to the Lumia 800 according to the spec and their current price point is also about the same. Comparing the Lumia 800 to the Lumia 920 is like comparing the sea and the sky because of its double price difference and pbviously, specs. Surely the Lumia 920 is faster but you should know that the Lumia 620 is not a flagship device.

I can definitely understand that you will be disappointed if the Lumia 820 or 920 perform worse and slower than your Lumia 800 but you're comparing it with the cheapest Windows Phone 8 device out there. I'm happy with my purchase, all the apps will open in 3 seconds including WhatsApp and I have no problem with it. I also realize that I can't have everything for the price of RM799...
______

The Dual-Core processor of the Lumia 620 does actually consume less power CrazyWP8. Proven that my Lumia 620 can last around 15-24 hours everyday easily with mixed use condition despite the phone's small battery capacity of 1300mah.

 

[Oseph]

I'm a Lumia 800 owner, and I just bought a Lumia 620 as I needed a second number anyway and the phone is just such good value for money in its price range.

Evernote and Whatsapp both open considerably faster on the 620. At first I thought the 800 might actually open Evernote faster because the animations play a little quicker, but the 620 had the app open and my notes loaded a few seconds before the 800.

Having used Windows Phone 8 on an 820 - and now the 620 - coming from Windows Phone 7 everything feels slightly slower because the animations have all been dialled back (not sure why the loading times aren't any longer and so don't need disguising), even the start screen scrolls a little more slowly which I can find quite frustrating as I've learned the behaviour to quickly flick to the bottom of a long start screen in optimum time. This behaviour has to be relearned.

Despite the OS upgrade I was certain I'd want to hang on to my 800 because of it's superior design & build quality, but I am so impressed with the 620 I'm considering it as my main device.

 

[TheLuminis620]

... even the start screen scrolls a little more slowly which I can find quite frustrating as I've learned the behaviour to quickly flick to the bottom of a long start screen in optimum time. This behaviour has to be relearned.

I agree, this is the first issue that I found in any Windows Phone 8 devices. Not just the Lumia 620, the 820 and 920 also suffers the same issue. While I don't find it too bothersome, but for some that move from Windows Phone 7 will definitely notice this and find this quite irritating. Since I've tried and pretty much used to the Lumia 800 before (although I never owned it, but use my friend's everyday), I can feel the difference and hopefully Microsoft fix this.

 

[anon(5353539)]

Evernote and Whatsapp both open considerably faster on the 620. At first I thought the 800 might actually open Evernote faster because the animations play a little quicker, but the 620 had the app open and my notes loaded a few seconds before the 800.

This gives me hope, but also worries me on why your result is different from 1101x10. is it due to Bad QC or perhaps what you guys do with the phone? At any rate thank you both for your feedback, would scrutinize the device more before plunking down money for it.

 

[anon(5353539)]

And take note, the Lumia 620 has a the lowest recommended spec for a Windows Phone 8. What can you expect anyway? And the cheapest phone with Windows Phone 8 is the Lumia 620. As mentioned by CrazyWP8, your Windows Phone 7 is based on Windows CE kernel which means, if you are familiar, a mobile based which doesn't need high performance chipset and processor. However, the Windows Phone 8 is based on Windows NT kernel which is similar to those kernel running on Windows 8 RT and Pro on PC thus needing higher processing power. Also take note the Lumia 620 has a similar RAM to the Lumia 800 at 512MB.

The Lumia 620 is should be no difference to the Lumia 800 according to the spec and their current price point is also about the same. Comparing the Lumia 800 to the Lumia 920 is like comparing the sea and the sky because of its double price difference and pbviously, specs. Surely the Lumia 920 is faster but you should know that the Lumia 620 is not a flagship device.

I can definitely understand that you will be disappointed if the Lumia 820 or 920 perform worse and slower than your Lumia 800 but you're comparing it with the cheapest Windows Phone 8 device out there. I'm happy with my purchase, all the apps will open in 3 seconds including WhatsApp and I have no problem with it. I also realize that I can't have everything for the price of RM799...

Lets just say i agree to disagree. =)

At any rate,

As mentioned by CrazyWP8, your Windows Phone 7 is based on Windows CE kernel which means, if you are familiar, a mobile based which doesn't need high performance chipset and processor. However, the Windows Phone 8 is based on Windows NT kernel which is similar to those kernel running on Windows 8 RT and Pro on PC thus needing higher processing power. Also take note the Lumia 620 has a similar RAM to the Lumia 800 at 512MB.

I doubt that is true, especially since a while back this video was posted.
http://youtu.be/a1oMa3ZJt5M

"Dubbed "Experiment 19", the prototype system on the right proved that the Windows NT system could achieve better performance than Windows CE on identical hardware."

 

[TheLuminis620]

Lets just say i agree to disagree. =)

I doubt that is true, especially since a while back this video was posted.

"Dubbed "Experiment 19", the prototype system on the right proved that the Windows NT system could achieve better performance than Windows CE on identical hardware."

Well, I'm just stating the logic anyway of how processor works. I've never seen that video before so I'm quite surprised actually, as a fact that both are the same exact prototype phone. Have you tried the HTC Windows Phone 8S? That one has got a very similar processor, GPU and RAM at 512MB... Interested to know if it performs similar or perhaps faster than the Lumia 620.

EDIT:

From this video, the scrolling, speed to access Settings and all seems to be similar to my Lumia 620. One thing I notice from the 8S is video playback issue. As you can see in that video, the video playback sort of lag a bit and a lot seems to be complaining about it. Lumia 620, despite the same spec is free from this issue..

 

[anon(5353539)]

Well, I'm just stating the logic anyway of how processor works. I've never seen that video before so I'm quite surprised actually, as a fact that both are the same exact prototype phone. Have you tried the HTC Windows Phone 8S? That one has got a very similar processor, GPU and RAM at 512MB... Interested to know if it performs similar or perhaps faster than the Lumia 620.

EDIT:

HTC Windows Phone 8S Review - YouTube

From this video, the scrolling, speed to access Settings and all seems to be similar to my Lumia 620. One thing I notice from the 8S is video playback issue. As you can see in that video, the video playback sort of lag a bit and a lot seems to be complaining about it. Lumia 620, despite the same spec is free from this issue..

Oh lumia 620 is MUCH better alright. on the browser front. At least gsmarena thinks so.

Nokia Lumia 620 preview: First look - GSMArena.com

a tiny excerpt:

In the beginning, we likened the Lumia 620 with the Windows Phone 8S from HTC, as both devices feature the same amount of RAM, the same dual-core Krait processor, and even the same WVGA screen. As such, we were pleasantly surprised to see some great browser performance figures out of the Luma 620 - markedly better than those of the 8S, and in fact scoring closer to some of the more powerful Lumia devices.

 

[1101x10]

I've updated the first post with another CPU test to show the multi-core performance difference :smile: