Review: Nokia Lumia 720

New Delhi, April 19: Nokia is betting big on its more than 10 Lumia devices priced between Rs 10,500 and Rs 38,000 (approximately). The Lumia series were aimed at young customers who wanted newer operating systems. Initially, Nokia positioned Lumia on the high value segment, and slowly extended the range to the other segments of the smartphone market. Besides getting Priyanka Chopra to endorse Lumia, the company has also launched a digital marketing campaign that communicates directly with the youth.The Finnish handset maker, which sold a record 5.6 million Lumias, as compared to 4.4 million in the previous quarter, recently launched its 720 smartphone in the country at a price tag of Rs 18,999. The buyers can now get the device within seven working days of booking it. While the Lumia 920 includes high-end specs and an impressive camera, it's a bulky and heavy device that doesn't appeal to everyone. Likewise, the Lumia 820 lacks any wow factor with a bland and hefty design and mid-range specs. But the 720 appears to combine the right size with the right design, something the middle of Nokia's lineup has lacked.Here are some of its features: Design The 720 has a simple, stylish, and practical design. The Nokia Lumia 720 follows the design language of the company's Lumia 920 flagship, employing a similar polycarbonate unibody. Nokia is also offering a range of snap-on covers too, which will enable wireless charging. Depending on the color you choose you will either get a glossy (like our white review unit and the red version) or matte (the blue and black versions) finish. At 128mm long and 68mm wide, the Lumia 720 is much easier to hold in one hand as compared to a giant like Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The glass at the front of the smartphone curves attractively at the sides to join the rounded back – reminding you of the HTC 8X.Build QualityAt 9mm thick, it's slimmer than the 11mm Lumia 920, and considerably lighter too, making it a much more pocket-friendly device all round. On the sides there's a volume rocker, power button and dedicated camera shutter button. There's a micro-USB port at the bottom and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top. Both the micro-SIM and microSD card slots are hidden in trays.DisplayThe Lumia 720 has a 4.3-inch screen offering a resolution of 480x800 pixels, which is the same as the resolution on the 620. The upside is that the contrast is good from Nokia's "ClearBlack" display and the colour reproduction is good. The swiping on the screen is easy and pleasingly, Nokia has made the touch input extremely sensitive. That makes the smartphone easy to operate while wearing woollen gloves or even using the back of my fingernail. The display is topped with Gorilla Glass 2, which looks great, but is very glossy. CameraThe 720 has a 6.7-megapixel camera. The Lumia 720 is not “PureView” branded – a term used by Nokia on high-end devices that include features like optical imaging stabilisation and improved low-light performance. The smartphone comes with Carl Zeiss optics (and branding) and an f1.9 aperture that allows in lots of light to boost low light photography performance. The front-facing lens is a 1.3 megapixel HD wide angle lens, which allows for up to three people to squeeze into a shot. Nokia has also added a new Lumia digital lens — called ‘Glam Me Up' — which lets 720 users snap an enhanced self portrait using the front-facing lens, which then auto processes their photos to make it look more polished.Like other smartphones in the Lumia range, the 720 comes with a host of Nokia camera software. You'll get a panorama function, a best-shot mode, which lets you take multiple shots of a group and merges the best faces into one good image. Cinemagram mode allows you to selectively animate a small section of an image to create a creepy little gif.Hardware and performanceSitting at the core of the 720 is a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, clocked at 1GHz, with 512MB of RAM. While this was sufficient in the Windows Phone 7 era, Windows Phone 8 apps and games are starting to push the boundaries of this amount of RAM.Other options include: quadband 21.1Mbps HSDPA, quadband GSM/EDGE, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, and NFC.Internally there's 8GB of storage, which can be expanded via microSD, to 64GB. In addition there's a 2000mAh battery which will keep you going through most of the day. However, on a busy day you may need to return to a charger for a top-up early evening. The Nokia Lumia 720 is wireless charging ready, in that the hardware is in place, but you need to add the charging cover (not available yet) to be able to use Qi standard chargers with it.Call Quality The call quality of the Nokia Lumia 720 is good, although the ear speaker is a little boomy. Reception, as well as Wi-Fi reception, both seemed to be okay. At the same time, the external speaker offers plenty of volume.SoftwareIt's a standard Windows Phone 8 and you won't find many surprises here. Nokia brings a lot of extras to Windows Phone 8 and in addition you've also got a whole suite of Nokia applications. The OS is easy to use for first-time smartphone buyers, as it offers all the information in an easy to use and digest Live Tiles system – where each of the resizable blocks can cycle through recent updates, media previews, upcoming events, new messages, and other information. If you want to fill the homescreen with a grid of contact shortcuts, you can, or alternatively you can replicate an iOS-style layout with simple app buttons.The usual Here Maps and Here Drive are present, along with Nokia Music, but all of these apps can be found on all Lumia handsets. The maps app allows you to quickly search for local businesses -- restaurants, bars, shops, hotels etc -- and provides a wealth of information. Click on a result, and it'll show you contact details, directions on how to get there and reviews from previous customers and industry guides, if available. Nokia's Drive app provides turn-by-turn GPS satellite navigation.On the other hand, Nokia Music offers a compelling alternative to Spotify. Sign-up free and it offers 100 Mix Radio playlists that Nokia updates weekly, picking from a catalog of 22m tracks, the ability to create your own custom playlists triggered from an original “seed” track, and support for a limited number of offline playlists. The Nokia Music+ subscription service – an in-app upgrade – unlocks unlimited offline playback on WiFi connections, and unlimited track-skips.Apps In terms of apps, the Lumia 720 is still some way behind Android and iOS in terms of sheer numbers. If you're looking for the latest apps and games, then that might be a problem, but for some people, that's not the core priority. This is a big drawback to Windows Phone if you're addicted to apps and games.VerdictThe Nokia Lumia 720 is slim and attractive. It comes with fantastic build quality, decent camera, and is is nice to hold in day-to-day use. However, it's let down by its screen resolution. It you're really keen to step in to the world of Windows Phone and doesn't want to shell out big bucks for the likes of 920, then 720 offers a pretty decent option.