Lumia 520 and 720 - initial thoughts?

[cyber_k9]

I agree, the 720 looks fantastic and I would love to get one - if it became available in Canada, and had AWS/Band IV support (I'm on Wind Mobile). The 512MB vs 1GB is the only negative I see about it, and I don't think it's that big a deal. Nokia's exclusive apps will all work, and as we see with "Asphalt 7" (which currently needs 1GB, but Gameloft has said they're working on a version for 512MB devices), companies will try to accommodate them if they're popular.

But it has NFC, super-sensitive screen, a gorgeous design, SD-card support, and a good sized battery... that's awesome.

Come on, Nokia... obviously Asia's important, but there's people in N. America eager for these devices too! :^)

 

[pavvento]

The pricing of Nokia's lower end is a little disappointing. Comparing the 720 against the Nexus 4 (I'm not debating which OS you like better) The N4's hardware specs appear more future proof. I can see giving 512 RAM for the 520, 620 but for $350 they should have shot that up to 1GB. Whether you like Android or not, you're still also getting access to all the apps on Play, first crack at OS updates with no carrier interference, as well as Google Maps, Youtube support etc. but both devices will cost you the same. They should've undercut the Nexus 4 by $50. As was mentioned above, the 720 could be considered the poor man's 920, but given that the 920 has been just a tad more problematic than I would hope for and WP8 is still new I'd be more comfortable with a smaller investment into their phones and the WP8 OS until those things change.

It will be tough for Nokia to compete with Google made products since Google recoups a lot of money through app sales and advertising via that specific phone. Nokia only makes money on the sale of that phone so they can't sell it at a loss or at tiny margins.

 

[jabtano]

I like the L720 in fact I like the looks of this device much better than that of the L810. Sort of wish that T-MO didn't pick this up....

 

[gedzum]

The 720 seems interesting to me. I'm curious to see how the reviews will turn out, particularly with regards to the camera. I'd like a 920, but it's expensive. I wish they kept the Lumia 800 design for the WP8 Lumia 8XX line, but with some of the refinements the 920 got in relation to the 900.

 

[Juzz Tianz]

I bought my Lumia 620 earlier on February (near Chinese New Year), and still it's fit a lot with all I wanted in a smartphone. Then, in MWC, Nokia announced these two eye-catching Lumias, the 720 and 520. Some of friends said that my 620 is a joke, as the higher one (with mostly camera capabilities) is released just weeks after I bought the 620. Okay, I can see that the 720 is well-known for its perfectly-designed-FFC in mid-range Lumia and my 620's FFC is really awful in capturing picture. But, after all, I really don't care with this, I don't care with 620's 5MP camera (cause it's been enough for me) and 720 gets better camera, cause what I love the most is: Lumia 620 has a dual shot color casing, and I can change the color. When those colorful casing available in Indonesia, I will grab the orange and the blue one, and I can change the casing whenever I want. :]

By the way, 520 is nice affordable WP8 phone. This phone will be the best choice for first-user of WP8 who just jump from Android and iOS ships. I recommend this phone for my friends who never cares about flash, FFC, and NFC, and the ones who going to give a try WP8 as their daily phone.

 

[PeltFrelken]

520 looks terrific. You get a lot for the money, and for people on a budget it's very nice quality. Looking fwd to kicking the tires when the 521 launches.

 

[Mirtas]

The 720 looks great and coming from a dual-core Android phone that I bought in May 2011, the screen resolution and specially the ram can be disappointing. I think they should have gone with 768mb and a 960x540 (which unfortunately is not possible with WP8).

When I had Android 2.3.5 I played with the Nokia Lumia 800 for a week. I did not like the phone, but loved the software user interface graphics and friendliness of WP7.5 and the speed. The apps where limited but they looked much better than on Android.

About 14 months have passed and I am now using Android 4.1.2 and have used a WP8 Lumia 920 for a few hours and it seems that not much has changed in Windows Phone in the last 14 months, yet the graphics and user interface of Android looks much better. Especially on a device like the S3 with customized software.

It seems that Windows Phone software has not moved ahead as fast as Android has and this, plus the limited hardware on the 720 makes me wonder if buying a 720 is going to be a good idea.

Yet I hope that Nokia and Microsoft promote the 520,620 and 720 heavily and sell 10+ million phones.

 

[Daniel Sundersingh]

I still wonder why Nokia limited the RAM of Lumia 720 to only 512MB?!!

 

[Gaichuke]

I still wonder why Nokia limited the RAM of Lumia 720 to only 512MB?!!

I read from some interview (I think it was a interview of the product manager of Lumia 720) that they tested Lumia 720 with both 512MB and 1GB of RAM. They could not find any performance difference between those two even after extensive testing so they chose the 512MB for it being the cheaper option.

 

[nube_android]

I switched from my NL920 to an optimus G, because I wanted to use both ecosystems. SO, I realized Android is only good on high end while WP performs well (Even better than Android) on ALL devices. So i'll be buying a 520 or 720 in addition to my LOG. (Don't like the 620 design)

 

[Mirtas]

I read from some interview (I think it was a interview of the product manager of Lumia 720) that they tested Lumia 720 with both 512MB and 1GB of RAM. They could not find any performance difference between those two even after extensive testing so they chose the 512MB for it being the cheaper option.

Or perhaps cannibalization? They don't want the 720 to be better than the 820 at a much lower price! But they could have gone with 768MB if WP8 supports it.

 

[boxa72]

I'm getting 1 as soon as launched in Aussie but am hoping it can b bumped up 2 4G.

P.S got impatient n bought 820 n am stoked with it