Performance and battery life
There’re 2 separate floors of the WP8
devices. At higher floor are the phones such as 820, 920, HTC 8X and ATIV S of
Samsung- with 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus chip/Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB
RAM. However, 720 belongs to a lower class, along with 520, 620, and 8S, which
share 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus with Adreno 305 GPU and 512MB RAM, as
well as 800x480 res. Ascend W1 of Huawei is an abnormal kind of thing, sitting
at low floor on most of the technical specs, but its S4 Plus runs at 1.2GHz. like
520, 620 and 820, 720 has 8GB of internal storage, which is expandable through microSD,
with 7GB of free SkyDrive storage.
However,
720 belongs to a lower class, along with 520, 620, and 8S, which share 1GHz
dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus with Adreno 305 GPU and 512MB RAM
The tests show that, there’s nothing to
separate 720 from other peers in the entry-level category. There’s no other
differences what is expected – it’s the same SoC in another case. That means
there’s nothing to say about the performance of 720 which hasn’t been told at
the competitive devices. It boots from cool in about 30 seconds. You can jump
straight to the core features (message, settings, etc.) within almost 1 sec,
the lighter apps such as Music + Video in 3 to 4 sec and the heavier software
such as Nokia Music can be loaded in within 5 seconds. There’s no slow feeling.
Anything that doesn’t appear instantly will show you loading animation, so whatever
shortcomings of the hardware are hidden by these smooth animations – you won’t see
the app stutter, freeze or seems to be recognizably slow.
Lumia
920
·
WPBench: 227
·
Battery: 2:36
·
SunSpider (ms, lower is better): 914
·
AnTuTu (*no GFX test): 10,957*
Lumia 820
·
WPBench: 224
·
Battery: 2:07
·
SunSpider (ms, lower is better): 909
·
AnTuTu (*no GFX test): 11,506
Lumia 720
·
WPBench: 179
·
Battery: 4:36
·
SunSpider (ms, lower is better): 1,440
·
AnTuTu (*no GFX test): 7,348
Lumia 620
·
WPBench: 180
·
Battery: 3:41
·
SunSpider (ms, lower is better): 1,443
·
AnTuTu (*no GFX test): 7,479
Lumia 520
·
WPBench: 178
·
Battery: 2:41
·
SunSpider (ms, lower is better): 1,400
·
AnTuTu (*no GFX test): 7,350
HTC 8S
·
WPBench: 180
·
Battery: 3:30
·
SunSpider (ms, lower is better): 1,415
·
AnTuTu (*no GFX test): 7,333
Make no mistake. When running WPBench battery
test (it still provides email through WiFi), the 2,000mAh battery of 720 lasted
4 hours and a half. It’s the largest battery in any 1GHz WP8 phone till now,
with the closest competitor of the 1,700mAh battery powering 8S (though the 1,300mAh
battery of 620 beats 8S in the battery test). Its victory in the test is
reflected in regular use. You can get over a heavy-use day from the battery,
but under normal cases, it will be fine in 36 hours without socket. With the
charger included in the box, it can recharge for about 50% per hour.
When
running WPBench battery test (it still provides email through Wi-Fi), the
2,000mAh battery of 720 lasted 4 hours and a half
We want to test some games which push the
hardware of 720 to its limits, but as mentioned before, we don’t actually have
that option with only 512MB RAM. The apps are beginning to appear with the
minimum requirement of 1GB. Asphalt 7: Heat, Modern Combat 4 racing game
and compressed cloud Xpress browser of Nokia are on these lists, as well as the
recently released and original Temple Run version. As the platform of Microsoft
is growing up, we can only think that the 1GB requirement will be more common.
Hope that Windows Phone 8.1 with have 512MB compatibility, or many will be
disappointed.
Browsing internet is pretty fast on the
phone, even the mobile websites and desktop computer. Zooming is performed
quickly with no delay. Actually it’s hard to be blamed. To access web, you will
use WiFi, which maintain stable connections at far distance, or through HSPA+ with
the max speed of 21.1Mbps. sorry, there’s no LTE chip. Radio waves are pretty
good for GSM network (850/900/1,800/1,900) and WCDMA (850/900/1,900/2,100).
Audio quality through headphones are rich
and well-balanced (though not as good as iPhone 4S), but don’t turn it too
loud, because it will increase to the 11 and 30 level. Speakerphone will also
deliver noise, though noise is low. Call quality are sharp, basically locking GPS
is instant; and Bluetooth connection is stable when 720 finds any accessories
you intend to pair with it. using NFC to combines with a 620 phone for beaming
has speeded up the process remarkably.
Competitors
We actually try to find the hook which
makes Lumia 720 more prominent than other phones with the same technical specs,
so let’s consider its position in England (note: there’s no sign considering
the American carrier choosing it). O2 has chosen all the WP8 devices we
mentioned in this review, and they’re all available on PAYG to make the
comparing process easier. 8S of HTC has the price of 260 USD, 620 is 229 USD;
520 costs 183USD; and Ascend W1 of Huawei is only 167USD. however, 720 has the
price of 458 USD – in other words, there’s not much disparity with the price of
the 3 W1phone, which has 1.2GHz S4 Plus processor.
Conclusion
Can these special favors be remarkable for 720
to excuse for that price? You have a slightly better camera than all other
models, larger screen with the same res and the wireless charging capability
supported by the accessories. The only technical spec give an incentive to us
is longer battery life, but currently we’re all familiar with nightly charging,
so we don’t think it worth for the high price. We can’t pass the additions – each
of which has its own price, and we understand that it will increase the price a
lot. However, it’ll be wise to let the half-way Qi integration go and upgrade RAM
instead of that. We realize the seduction of 520: it appears as a cheap-priced
way to have that mannered Lumia style. We think that Nokia is trying to
position 720 as a middle-class device, but the essential mistake with the phone
is that it presents the slowly obsolete hardware in a nice case, with some
eye-catching slogan attaching with it.
You
have a slightly better camera than all other models, larger screen with the
same res and the wireless charging capability supported by the accessories.
Info
·
Price: 458 USD
Advantages
·
Attractive design
·
2,000mAh battery
·
Nice lowlight images
Disadvantages
·
Obsolete from the inside
·
Quite expensive
Key point
·
Nokia Lumia 720 is an incredibly desirable on
the outside, but the inside shortcomings make it hard to excuse for the price.
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Technical
specs
·
Size: 127.9x67.5x9mm (5.04x2.65x0.35 inch)
·
Weight: 4.5 ounce (128g)
·
Screen size: 4.3 inch
·
Screen res: 800x480 (217ppi)
·
Screen type: IPS LCD, ClearBlack, Sensitive
Touch
·
Battery: 2,000mAh Li-Polymer (non-detachable)
·
Internal storage: 8GB
·
External storage: microSD (max 64GB)
·
Rear camera: 6.7MP, BSI, f/1.9, Carl Zeiss
lens
·
Front camera: 1.3MP, f/2.4
·
Video recording: 720p (front and rear)
·
NFC: Yes
·
Radio: GSM (850/900/1,800/1,900); WCDMA
(850/900/1,900/2,100)
·
Bluetooth: V3.0 with EDR, A2DP
·
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (MSM8227)
·
CPU: 1GHz dual-core
·
GPU: Adreno 305
·
RAM: 512MB
·
Wi-Fi: 2 bands, 802.11b/g/n
·
Wireless charging: Yes (with optional case)
·
OS: Windows Phone 8
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