Is 512 ram an issue?

Cheewii Poon

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Hi guys!

I'm currently having a hard time deciding between the Lumia 820 and the 720...

First of all, some things I don't care for:

3G/4G connectivity. I run on a 2G network almost all the time.

Super sensitive touch. Its a;ways warm where I am, so no need for gloves :)

Front facing camera. I hardly do video calls except occasionally with relatives and friends of family so...the VGA of the 820 doesn't bother me :)

High-end, intensive gaming, like 3D graphics and whatnot. Kind of stopped playing them after my old phone (Arc S) didn't hold up well against any kind of game. Normal games like Puzzle games and Angry Birds, the less intensive kind...sometimes.

Things that matter the most to me:

Camera. I wouldn't say I'm an avid photographer, but I like to take some nice shots when I see the beautiful moments in life, and that being said I do like those shots that I take occasionally to be perfect. So camera quality is a big thing for me. (The 920's price isn't worth it though)

Samples of photos I'd like to be able to take with my new Lumia:

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=f9b7...44A25FBE49!118&sff=1&authkey=!AO0kHXQUoVYR-GY

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=f9b7...44A25FBE49!115&sff=1&authkey=!AB3FnlIp523JeA8

Battery life. My battery life on my old Arc S was horrible, charge it twice a day. And I didn't even use it that much! So the 720 will obviously have a better battery life, but will the 1650mah on the 820 last me a day?

Lag. On my previous phone...lag was EVERYWHERE. Even opening up my keyboard to reply to a message took at least two seconds. Which is why I went for the 820 at first because it is obviously better than my old 1.4ghz single core and 512 ram phone. But I was wondering: WP8 is supposedly lighter on the phone than Android, so if I get the 720, will I also have lag everywhere? If there is lag (at all), is it often or just occasional?

So...yeah. I'm basically wondering if the 6.1mp camera on the 720 is better than the 8 one of the 820? I know the aperture is 1.9 on the 720 which is great, but how about normal daylight photos? Is the 6.1mp limit going to affect anything?

And will the 512 ram and 1ghz dual cause me constant lag? Occasional (1 or twice per day) is fine. The apps I use the most are messaging, Facebook, camera and browser so...how is the experience on the 720?

I kind of am swaying to the 720 right now because of the Gorilla Glass, bigger battery and lower cost. The deciding factor now is if the RAM and CPU and the Camera are up to my expectations.

Thanks for reading! :)
 

AUCLABruin

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Some apps won't run on 512 MB of RAM, like Asphalt 7. Look at apps that run on 1GB of RAM only, and if any are ones you want, go for the 820. However, there should be no difference or lag with apps that run without any RAM restrictions.
 

anon(5354967)

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Most of the limitations of having 512mb of RAM comes down to being unable to download apps that require 1GB of RAM, however most of these are intensive games.
Judging from your requirements (photos and battery life), the 720 seems like a much better choice for your needs.
 

Cheewii Poon

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Thanks for the response guys! I didn't realise that apps had RAM requirements, is there any way to check if an app can be used on a 512 RAM or if it requires 1GB?
 

Cheewii Poon

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Some apps won't run on 512 MB of RAM, like Asphalt 7. Look at apps that run on 1GB of RAM only, and if any are ones you want, go for the 820. However, there should be no difference or lag with apps that run without any RAM restrictions.

Most of the limitations of having 512mb of RAM comes down to being unable to download apps that require 1GB of RAM, however most of these are intensive games.
Judging from your requirements (photos and battery life), the 720 seems like a much better choice for your needs.

Thanks for the response guys! I didn't realise that apps had RAM requirements, is there any way to check if an app can be used on a 512 RAM or if it requires 1GB?
 

broar94

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If you are wondering about LAG on WP , then I guess you havent tried it out! Check out at Best buy or someplace!!

There's absolutely no lag anywhere,, sometimes there is some kind of slowdown on my 620 especially going to the contacts screen and multi tasking(620/720 share same specs- 1Ghz dual core, 820 has a 1.5Ghz which will make it faster and also comes with a 1GB of RAM). Browser experience on 620 is slower, tabs take a while to switch, this might be attributed to the 512MB RAM OR any some reason, if I have multiple pages on IE, each page will reload when I switch to it, very irritating. Never had this issue with my previous Android LG Optimus One(600Mhz A6, 512MB RAM, 2.3.6 Android) although browing heavy pages was a lot slower back then. Very laggy :)
 

WanderingTraveler

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Rule 1 of WP: Lag outside of apps is a unicorn (i.e. nonexistent)
Now that I have that covered, I suggest you go for the 720.
Let's face it, you prefer a better battery life and camera. You'll get those in the 720.
None of the advantages of the 820 apparently appeal to you, though you might need the Xpress Browser, seeing as you are mostly on 2G.
 

coconutxyz

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Im in the exact same situation as you, but for me i prefer 820 even though 720 has bigger battery, camera, gorilla glass and also the sexy design. I hate apps take more than seconds to load and i want it instant, i don't use camera that often(i keep my lunch as a secret), i charge it everyday with little usage due to work, 820 comes with here drive + and im not sure if here drive will lag on devices with 512ram when panning around(hate papago on 3gs) and multitasking several app(my habit) will surely be better on 1gb ram..all these are personal opinion and im fairly certain that 1gb ram will get longer support or more features being available in future updates.
Tldr: i am tired with slow loading of 3gs that's why speed is the most important criteria for me.
 
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The 512MB issue will eventually drive you insane. You're paying good money to buy a phone, it makes no sense for you to not be able to play new games. Get a L820.
 

donoester

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I haven't got the 720 (yet). But people often seem to wonder whether 1 GHz dual core is sufficient. I'm developing embedded software for an ARM 7 based controller running FreeRTOS at 48 MHz - i.e. miles away from the processing power available in a WP8, and honestly, it is amazing the amount of tasks it carries out without a hitch.
I really don't see the point of going above 1 GHz dual cores for your uses (or anyones uses). It would make more sense to increase the GPU performance, but for some reason they always combine slower processors with the slower GPUs.

By the way, Asphalt 7 seems to run om 512 MB.

My own personal reasons for not just buying the 820 was: No use for LTE, screen has very inaccurate colors (not even close to sRGB), no gorilla glass, low-ish battery life... and that feeling that they intentionally tried to make it not steal any sales from the 920. A recent test carried out locally ( Google Overs?t ) showed that the 920 manages barely 25 Mbit/s DL on LTE while the HTC One V managed above 70 Mbit/s makes me think I shouldn't go for either of the 820 or 920 if I wanted LTE in the first place.
 

theotherskipper

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As others pointed out, I think you'll find the 720 better suits yer needs. IMO, although possibly not relevant for you, the design of the 720 with its curved glass, curved chassis, and tall body is much more appealing than the 820.
With regards to the RAM, I've read in some places that you *might* see the loading screen for a second or two longer than the 820/920, but that's it... and even this is not across the board. WP is very efficient.
 

Cheewii Poon

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Now that you mention it donoester I think right on that, that Nokia doesn't want the 820 to compete with the 920 so they gave it sub par hardware other than the processor even though they could very well do so.

If that's really true, WP is great! I think I'm going for the 720 soon, even if it 'seems' like a downgrade from my previous phone but WP for the win!
 

Sanjay Chandra

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Now that you mention it donoester I think right on that, that Nokia doesn't want the 820 to compete with the 920 so they gave it sub par hardware other than the processor even though they could very well do so.

If that's really true, WP is great! I think I'm going for the 720 soon, even if it 'seems' like a downgrade from my previous phone but WP for the win!

I suggest 820 for 2 simple reasons :
1.Next Windows Phone update will be coming soon by end of the year.All these 620/720/520 won't support all features.If 820/920 get 10 features , 720/620 will get only 6-7 of them with limitations.
2.More Tabs , more apps , more background tasks can be handled by 820 due to more than double RAM

If u want phone just for looks and thinness , 720 is a go but if u are serious user who want to use device for next 2 years , you will be better with 820.

For extra price , you get better processor , AMOLED display and 8 MP Camera (more sharper images).

Even 800/900 had AMOLED display :) its lovely when using black theme with infinite contrast ratio.
 

Cheewii Poon

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I suggest 820 for 2 simple reasons :
1.Next Windows Phone update will be coming soon by end of the year.All these 620/720/520 won't support all features.If 820/920 get 10 features , 720/620 will get only 6-7 of them with limitations.
2.More Tabs , more apps , more background tasks can be handled by 820 due to more than double RAM

If u want phone just for looks and thinness , 720 is a go but if u are serious user who want to use device for next 2 years , you will be better with 820.

For extra price , you get better processor , AMOLED display and 8 MP Camera (more sharper images).

Even 800/900 had AMOLED display :) its lovely when using black theme with infinite contrast ratio.

1) I don't really see why they won't roll out the same updates for all the Lumias...and what stock feature could possibly require 1GB ram? But if there's any actual evidence on this I'd reconsider.

2) I know, but I usually don't open much tabs or have many background tasks running. Live tiles don't really count, do they? (I hope not)

I'm fine with both their looks, but I'm not really a power user so I think I'll be fine. The price is always a plus!

I don't think I need that beefier CPU with WP8 on board, and I actually dislike AMOLED's over saturation as it makes photos and stuff look unreal. I would hate to take an 'amazing photo' and then look at it on my laptop and be disappointed LOL oh and resolution isn't everything 720's 6.7 is actually a better camera.

Lastly...BATTERY LIFEEEEEEEE
 

jedyrokz

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I'm using the Lumia 720 still no lags no bugs till yet.
Asphalt 7 is now also available don't worry now all the 1Gb games will be ported to 512Mb ram buddy....as per battery life my phone works nearly 1 and half days on wifi all the time only it drains faster while playing games it last for a day . Lumia 720 is epic at its current price point....
 

AngryNil

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1) I don't really see why they won't roll out the same updates for all the Lumias...and what stock feature could possibly require 1GB ram? But if there's any actual evidence on this I'd reconsider.
I can see future background processes requiring more than 512MB of RAM. Right now, applications can't do much in the background – there are two "scheduled tasks" (and an audio agent).

  1. Periodic task: runs for 25 seconds, every half hour or so. (This is how most applications update their tiles.)
  2. Intensive task: run for 10 minutes, when the phone is on WiFi and charging and over 90% charge and locked
    Both are restricted to 11MB of RAM.
In my opinion, both tasks are unreasonably restrictive – even iOS has more ways and better ways to enable background updates. Developers have run into problems refreshing simple RSS feeds in the background, and I don't think I've ever used an app that utilises the intensive task because its constraints render it essentially useless. If Microsoft decides to enable less restrictions on these processes or add more powerful ones, I can see them designing around 1GB as a baseline. 512MB is really rather restrictive when you consider what is kept in RAM: the OS, the foreground app, the apps frozen in the background, background tasks that are running, etc.

Of course, this is just speculation. I would personally rule out the 720 because the internals aren't up to scratch for the asking price, whether considering it from a bang-for-your-buck perspective or a future-proofing one. If you're happy with where Windows Phone is now and don't really see the need for intensive games and new multitasking scenarios, you probably won't be bothered much at all.

As for battery life, the 720 is going to be really nice. It's compact and still packs a larger battery. While much more inconvenient, the 820 does have a removable back, which means you can carry additional batteries or use an extended one.
 

Cheewii Poon

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I can see future background processes requiring more than 512MB of RAM. Right now, applications can't do much in the background – there are two "scheduled tasks" (and an audio agent).

  1. Periodic task: runs for 25 seconds, every half hour or so. (This is how most applications update their tiles.)
  2. Intensive task: run for 10 minutes, when the phone is on WiFi and charging and over 90% charge and locked
    Both are restricted to 11MB of RAM.
In my opinion, both tasks are unreasonably restrictive – even iOS has more ways and better ways to enable background updates. Developers have run into problems refreshing simple RSS feeds in the background, and I don't think I've ever used an app that utilises the intensive task because its constraints render it essentially useless. If Microsoft decides to enable less restrictions on these processes or add more powerful ones, I can see them designing around 1GB as a baseline. 512MB is really rather restrictive when you consider what is kept in RAM: the OS, the foreground app, the apps frozen in the background, background tasks that are running, etc.

Of course, this is just speculation. I would personally rule out the 720 because the internals aren't up to scratch for the asking price, whether considering it from a bang-for-your-buck perspective or a future-proofing one. If you're happy with where Windows Phone is now and don't really see the need for intensive games and new multitasking scenarios, you probably won't be bothered much at all.

As for battery life, the 720 is going to be really nice. It's compact and still packs a larger battery. While much more inconvenient, the 820 does have a removable back, which means you can carry additional batteries or use an extended one.

I see what you mean...But as you said I probably won't be using these multitasking features if they come out, heck I don't even have 3G, so hardly any updates! But just to clarify, do live tiles eat up more ram? For example if I have a VERY VERY long list of live tiles, all updating constantly, will the home screen lag? Or is there a limit, or an option to make them static? But Whatever the case I am set for the 720, nothing's gonna change my mind now, even though the 720 hardware is really not worth it's price. But it suits me, why get a faster more worth 820 when I don't even like it? Thanks for the feedback guys! Now comes the horrendously difficult task of choosing between glossy white and matte white :p
 

hirawan77

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Get Lumia 720. I just got it yesterday and I love it. It's very smooth and no lag at all despite with 512 mb ram. Camera in 720 is better than in 820, not to mention about battery life L720 is the best. I can get 1.5 - 2 days with my normal usage.
L720 is look better than L820.
 

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