Buying a Lumia 820 now?

[LilithElina]

I might even add that you can even go for 730, it has good dimensions, 830 is also thinner, longer(not much wider) Why do you want a X20 series phone? 820/720 have 4.3", 730 has 4.7". I don't think that 0.4"(1cm) should matter much. Also its not sure for how much time will MS support X20 series, so go for 730.

I don't necessarily want to go for an X20 phone. It would surely be nice to get a newer one.
Thing is, the 8S is 120.5 x 63 x 10.3 mm and fills my pockets pretty much. There's not enough room for e.g. 134.7 x 68.5 x 8.7 mm (730) or even 139.4 x 70.7 x 8.5 mm (830)! I know I have to take the thickness into account as well, but if the height is already too much, it doesn't really matter any more...
Even the 630 (129.5 x 66.7 x 9.2 mm) sounds depressingly high, even if it's just 1 cm.

 

[psoham777]

I don't necessarily want to go for an X20 phone. It would surely be nice to get a newer one.
Thing is, the 8S is 120.5 x 63 x 10.3 mm and fills my pockets pretty much. There's not enough room for e.g. 134.7 x 68.5 x 8.7 mm (730) or even 139.4 x 70.7 x 8.5 mm (830)! I know I have to take the thickness into account as well, but if the height is already too much, it doesn't really matter any more...
Even the 630 (129.5 x 66.7 x 9.2 mm) sounds depressingly high, even if it's just 1 cm.

So even 720(127.9*67.5*9) or 820(123.8*68.5*9.9) won't be good enough for you. The low end phones(520,525,630) are a bit thicker. No Lumia phone might be perfect for you, so I might say go for 730. If you are willing to wait, wait until 630/530 successors are announced, but that could take many months. Choice is yours

 

[kingenu]

get a 925 simples

 

[fdalbor]

I own a 820, 520 and a Moto G LTE. I took a look at the 830 and decided it is not much of an upgrade over the 820. The 820 is a thick phone; but its one of the smaller phones with a 4.3 inch screen, its fit is so good it appears to be a unibody phone. For the money you would pay for a 820 it is the best for your needs. Remember also that the 820 has buttons that are not on the screen so you get the full 4.3 inch screen for use. My Moto G has a bigger screen 4.5; but beause of the on screen buttons it actually has less usable screen than the 820. Also the 820 has the same cpu etc as the 920/925/1020, removeable battery, wireless charging,changeable back covers, dual band wifi, SD card slot etc. The 520 with a smaller screen is about the same size as the 820, but the 820 is a much, much better phone. I decided for my own needs none of the new Lumias are better than the 820 I already have. Going to wait before I upgrade my 820. I think a 820 would fit your needs quite well especially for what you can get one now.

 

[worldspy99]

I don't necessarily want to go for an X20 phone. It would surely be nice to get a newer one.
Thing is, the 8S is 120.5 x 63 x 10.3 mm and fills my pockets pretty much. There's not enough room for e.g. 134.7 x 68.5 x 8.7 mm (730) or even 139.4 x 70.7 x 8.5 mm (830)! I know I have to take the thickness into account as well, but if the height is already too much, it doesn't really matter any more...
Even the 630 (129.5 x 66.7 x 9.2 mm) sounds depressingly high, even if it's just 1 cm.

If at all try out the Lumia 925, it might be slightly taller 0.4cm greater than your requirement but is thinner than the Lumia 820 and will support newer OS features for a bit longer than the 820.

 

[Solidgamez]

go for 830 or 73X because the 820 is pretty outdated, to buy new that is rly:

 

[GerOrBa]

I don't think it is outdated at all.

First the Bad:
-Battery Life is not good. It can last for the day with moderate use but for heavy use you may need to be near a charger.
-It is a little on the thick side and also a little bit heavy
-Front camera is a joke, it only gives usable pictures in the brightest of days.
-Main Camera: Good. but not that good.

And Now the Good:
-Same internals as the last generation flagships, so this phone CPU and Graphic performance is comparable to current midrange window phones (considering that 2 years ago this was released as a mid range phone that is saying something). It will go as far along in windows as the 920, 925 and 1020 (most probably all the way to Windows 9). Lumia 830 is not an update in this regard.
-Screen Quality: I know is low resolution... but it is RGB stripe AMOLED unlike any other screen in the windows 8 world. I love this screen and looks great for windows (deep blacks and rich colors).
-Dimensions: height and wide dimensions make this phone very pocketable and with a great grip.
-1 gig of RAM so there is access to the whole win8 ecosystem of apps
-hardware buttons (camera and capacitive)
-Wireless charging with the optional back Cover

In my opinion, this phone is still a powerhouse on it's still worth buying (if found at the right price). If only the battery was better =S

 

[Bruce Moellendick]

any of the older or new lumias that don't have the snapdragon 800 will be getting left behind in the coming updates. It has been clearly stated here that he passive voice activation for Cortana and the camera speed improvements that aren't running the s800 won't be getting those improvements.

 

[iamtim]

If you can get the 820 dirt cheap, it's a workhorse and will serve you well. If you can't get it dirt cheap, it'd probably be better to hold out for a newer phone. I have Cyan/8.1 on mine, and while it's not my daily driver, it works perfectly well.

 

[worldspy99]

One interesting thought. For a few years the iPhone users and Apple themselves kept saying the screen size is perfect and now all of a sudden they break all sorts of records when they launch iPhone 6 with larger screens. I think the big screen is here to stay so if you keep asking for a smaller screen it is not going to happen, might as well find the best compromise in terms of size and hardware. Even an Apple fan needs to get either a 5S (now 1 year old) or 5C (same as iPhone 5 which is 2 year old hardware) so this dilemma is pronounced across the board....

On a side note one of my friends noted that in the early days cellphones were huge until flip phones came along and they became small and now they are again becoming big in size....interesting, isn't it?

 

[fdalbor]

I think you are dead on about the size of smartphones and where they are heading. As we are seeing tablets are starting to slow down as the larger phones have gotten more popular. I firmly believe a lot of people are trying to make their phone be their phone and tablet. I prefer a smaller phone, 820 (4.3) and Moto G LTE (4.5), but I also own two Kindle Fires (7" and 8.9) so if I want to use something bigger I use my tablets. But for carrying around I use the phones. I guest I could live with a 5" phone. But I really don't want to carry around anything bigger than that. I would really love to upgrade to the 830; but I just don't believe its that much of a upgrade over the 820. Especially at the price they seem to be asking. I also think if they had put even a 600 or 800 quad core in them they would appeal to alot more people. I hope I am wrong and they sell real well, but I am going to pass until something better comes along. I would love to see Microsoft make the 830 like the HTC 820 (but on Windows), would get it tomorrow.

 

[worldspy99]

I think you are dead on about the size of smartphones and where they are heading. As we are seeing tablets are starting to slow down as the larger phones have gotten more popular. I firmly believe a lot of people are trying to make their phone be their phone and tablet. I prefer a smaller phone, 820 (4.3) and Moto G LTE (4.5), but I also own two Kindle Fires (7" and 8.9) so if I want to use something bigger I use my tablets. But for carrying around I use the phones. I guest I could live with a 5" phone. But I really don't want to carry around anything bigger than that. I would really love to upgrade to the 830; but I just don't believe its that much of a upgrade over the 820. Especially at the price they seem to be asking. I also think if they had put even a 600 or 800 quad core in them they would appeal to alot more people. I hope I am wrong and they sell real well, but I am going to pass until something better comes along. I would love to see Microsoft make the 830 like the HTC 820 (but on Windows), would get it tomorrow.

I believe it will sell for a reasonable price in the USA and not the 330 EUR they announced. If that is the case, I do intend to get one.

 

[Karthik Naik]

NO
Don't do this it's processor is old. Therefore will not have few features of windows phone 8.1 update 1,2 and so on.
Don't do this at any cost

^^not true at all

 

[Karthik Naik]

get an 830 or a 820
i have both an 820 and a 720 but 730 really is a downgrade over the 720 in a lot of ways except for the front cam and cpu and ram
820 is a tank like an absolute tank!! its well built good looking and powerful enough
i can safely say the 820 and even the 830 will be safe buys

 

[anon8855939]

get an 830 or a 820

i have both an 820 and a 720 but 730 really is a downgrade over the 720 in a lot of ways except for the front cam and cpu and ram

820 is a tank like an absolute tank!! its well built good looking and powerful enough

i can safely say the 820 and even the 830 will be safe buys

No you are wrong .
Don't compare an old s4 dual core with new s400 quad core.
A carl Zeiss 8.7 with Lumia pure view 10 mp camera
Maybe after sometime Cortana get passive voice support for s400 but s4 will never get it.

You will get bigger screen in Lumia 830 as compared to 820 and if the rumours are true . You will also get support for split screen(that will only be available to devices of 4.7 inches and more).

 

[Karthik Naik]

No you are wrong ��.
Don't compare an old s4 dual core with new s400 quad core.
A carl Zeiss 8.7 with Lumia pure view 10 mp camera
Maybe after sometime Cortana get passive voice support for s400 but s4 will never get it.

You will get bigger screen in Lumia 830 as compared to 820 and if the rumours are true . You will also get support for split screen(that will only be available to devices of 4.7 inches and more).

im not wrong
this is windows phone not android where older cpus are put down
the 730 has a 6.7 carl zeiss not a 10mp -_- thats the 830
passive cortana and split screen concepts are already present on android and not many people use it
also s400 gpu is slower than s4
the 820 is still a great buy,dont mislead

 

[LilithElina]

Thank you all for the input! :grin:

I know we're heading towards bigger phones, and that sooner or later I have to come to terms with that. Maybe I'm just not ready yet, though...

In general, just see where I'm coming from: my first smartphone was/is the HTC 8S. It was nice for a few months, until I started to run into storage issues almost daily (e.g. when I checked my RSS feeds). Then I installed the dev. preview of WP 8.1, moved many apps to my SD card and was perfectly happy for a few weeks; until my phone stopped working completely. Tech support put me back to WP 8 - welcome back storage issues! I returned to the dev. preview despite knowing better... And it worked really well for quite some time.
Guess what the problem is now? The native email app won't open any more! I get notifications, but I cannot see the emails most of the time. Plus, if I do manage to get there, downloading pictures or opening external links brings everything down to crash.

SO. From my point of view, the 820 looks like a HUGE improvement (and I found it for as little as €167) as it at least supports WP 8.1 and doesn't look like it'll loose basic support right now. Plus it has a better processor and more storage.
Additionally, Cortana hasn't even arrived in Germany yet, and, anyway, I like my phone silent and don't expect to talk to it much. I don't use my phone to take great pictures, either...

 

[Mohd Saif]

Before buying Lumia 820 read this forum http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-820/239019-lumia-820-screen-problem.html

Note: I own Lumia 820 and replaced its lcd 2 times, because display of lumia 820 broke easily when it fall. Replacement cost me 5,000 INR 2 times.

 

[Karthik Naik]

ive dropped my 820 many times without a cover and scratch gard
no issues at all
screen issues (defects) are purely based on luck and not on model no etc
you can buy the most expensive phone today and still have screen issues or a one-fall screen shatter,cant generalise

 

[Karthik Naik]

Thank you all for the input! :grin:

I know we're heading towards bigger phones, and that sooner or later I have to come to terms with that. Maybe I'm just not ready yet, though...

In general, just see where I'm coming from: my first smartphone was/is the HTC 8S. It was nice for a few months, until I started to run into storage issues almost daily (e.g. when I checked my RSS feeds). Then I installed the dev. preview of WP 8.1, moved many apps to my SD card and was perfectly happy for a few weeks; until my phone stopped working completely. Tech support put me back to WP 8 - welcome back storage issues! I returned to the dev. preview despite knowing better... And it worked really well for quite some time.
Guess what the problem is now? The native email app won't open any more! I get notifications, but I cannot see the emails most of the time. Plus, if I do manage to get there, downloading pictures or opening external links brings everything down to crash.

SO. From my point of view, the 820 looks like a HUGE improvement (and I found it for as little as €167) as it at least supports WP 8.1 and doesn't look like it'll loose basic support right now. Plus it has a better processor and more storage.
Additionally, Cortana hasn't even arrived in Germany yet, and, anyway, I like my phone silent and don't expect to talk to it much. I don't use my phone to take great pictures, either...

its a great phone,only battery life is bit lesser compared to my other phones but it lasts a day easily
plus at the price you are getting it for,its totally worth it