At this point it should be clear that the future of Nokia rides on the success of the Windows Phone 8 platform. The Fins need the
second major WP release to work as the Lumia lineup is Nokia's only shot at staying afloat in the long run. Samsung and Apple's onslaught is strong - almost brutal when looking at Samsung's numbers in the Android camp - and a previous go-to manufacturer like Nokia can only have one thing in mind: revenge.
Nokia Lumia 620 official photos.
Nokia is the first manufacturer to go all in with Windows Phone, using its mapping and multimedia strengths to help the platform gain momentum. The last quarterly results were certainly encouraging, but we'll have to wait another three months to see if that was actually a blip or a hint of things to come.
Nokia will certainly be hoping that the global launch of the Lumia 620 will help it push more WP smartphones in the first three months of the year, despite the weaker seasonal demand, as It makes the platform more affordable than ever.
Besides, the Lumia 620 holds a less vulnerable position in the midrange market, leaving it to worry about only two rivals - the Huawei W1 and the Windows Phone 8S by HTC. Let's have a look at the colorful Lumia 620's strengths and weaknesses:
Key features
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
- Quad-band 3G with 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
- 3.8" 16M-color ClearBlack LCD display with WVGA resolution
- 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, 720p@30fps video recording
- VGA front-facing camera
- Windows Phone 8 OS
- 1.0 GHz dual-core Krait CPU, Adreno 305 GPU, 512 MB of RAM
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
- GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS support
- 8 GB of inbuilt storage, expandable through the microSD card slot (up to 64 GB)
- Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
- Built-in accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- 1300 mAh user-replaceable battery
- microUSB port with file transfers
- Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and EDR
- NFC support
- Full Office Mobile experience
- Great build quality
- Free lifetime voice-guided navigation via Nokia Drive
- Excellent social integration
- Xbox Live integration and Xbox management
- Nokia Music streaming service
- FM Radio
- 7 GB worth of SkyDrive storage
- Attractive price
Main disadvantages
- WP app catalog falls short of Android and iOS
- No system-wide file manager
- No lockscreen shortcuts
- Removing the back panel is testing
The Lumia 620 is priced at €250 off contract so it's easy on your wallet. It offers Nokia's full-fledged turn-by-turn navigation Drive app, Nokia Music for offline listening to radio mixes, App Highlights for app recommendations, Cinemagraph, the list goes on. And while there are alternatives in the Marketplace, few are as high quality as Nokia's, while Drive+ beta is only available in three countries for WP devices different than Nokia's, meaning the majority of users are on their own in regards to voice navigation.
The Lumia 620 runs on capable hardware as well. The 5 MP camera and microSD card support are a welcome bonus, but it's the dual-core Krait chip and ClearBlack 3.8" display that shine the most, while the colorful and almost unibody-like chassis sets it apart in a crowd.
The Lumia 620 at HQ.
And finally, we come to the OS itself. Windows Phone 8 is behind on the quality app count but it's quick to catch up and doing a pretty good job of getting developers interested. It's also a breath of fresh air for all those tired of the iOS and Android way of doing things - swipe-able homescreens, folders, notification areas, etc.
To sum it all up, the Lumia 620 has a nice set of assets to woo newcomers and gather back some of the lost momentum for Nokia - there's only the users to convince and the HTC Windows Phone 8S and Huawei W1 to beat. We'll endeavor to see if the Lumia has what it takes - starting with a tour of the hardware.
Retail box on the modest side:
The Nokia Lumia 620 retail box is nothing special. You get a standard set of headphones, an A/C adapter, and a standalone microUSB cable. After you've removed the various protective stickers off the Lumia 620, a number of leaflets complete the tally.
We would've liked a second color option for the back panel or a complimentary microSD card, but given the Lumia 620's relatively low off-contract price, we're happy with the set overall.
Retail box.
Nokia Lumia 620 360-degree spin.
Nokia have done a good job keeping the Lumia 620 grounded in terms of dimensions. At 115.4 x 61.1 x 11 mm the only place where it isn't all that great is the thickness, but that's still easy to live with. Weight is also kept under wraps tipping the scales at 127 g, which is reasonable.
In these size-tolerant times the Lumia 620 may even be called tiny - compared to the iPhone 4S it's an almost identical match in length, while managing to add a bigger 3.8" screen into the mix.
Design and build quality
The Lumia 620 is attractively priced so its needs to cater to all audiences equally. We like what Nokia have done to please all manner of buyer, young or old, while the flashy lime green, orange, magenta, yellow and cyan are in keeping with the Lumia line's flamboyant side. For a more professional look, the white and black versions are subtler and more adult-like in their demeanor.
Ours was a black review unit this time around and Nokia has kept the gloss in the paint shop, leaving this one with a nice conservative matte finish.
The front is entirely covered with glass and wrapped around by the back panel. Under the glass hides a 3.8" ClearBlack LCD screen of WVGA (480 x 800) resolution. Under it lies the WP-rudimentary three-button combo of a capacitive variety while above the screen, stacked together in the limited available space, we find an ambient light sensor, front-facing camera, proximity sensor and the earpiece.
The Lumia 620 up front.
The right side plays host to the single-piece volume rocker and identical power and camera buttons. Distinguishing the camera from power button takes some getting used to, but we caught on fairly quickly. The buttons themselves are nicely clickable but glossy, meaning they tend to get smudgy in contrast to the otherwise matte body.
The left side is completely bare on the Lumia 620
The right side is where you'll find all the buttons.
The top is where the 3.5 mm headphones jack resides alongside the second noise-cancelling microphone.
At the top.
Right at the center of its bottom the Lumia 620 has a microUSB port
for charging and data transfers and the primary microphone pinhole.
The microUSB and microphone pinhole at the bottom.
The wrap-around back panel employs a two-layer finish, similar to the
Galaxy S III's hyperglaze back. There's a transparent layer on top of
the base one, which is colored in one of the six colors the Lumia 620 is
available in.
On the panel itself Nokia has placed a logo, the 5 MP camera with a
single LED flash and a tiny loudspeaker hole, under which lies the
grille itself.
The back panel.
Surprisingly, removing the back panel is not among the easiest of tasks even for experienced chaps such as ourselves. To get it off, you need to grab the top of the back panel with your fingernails from the front of the device and apply pressure over the camera module with your thumb while pulling back with your fingers. The panel can only slide out from the top as on the bottom the microUSB holds it in place.
With the panel out of the way, we find the battery, the microSD card slot (up to 64 GBs), and a peculiar slide-out micro SIM slot. We see the latter more and more in devices these days. It seems there's a war going on between manufacturers for the most ingenious SIM card slot, but for now we only see increasingly more ridiculous designs instead.
Under the hood.
We have two issues with the battery of the Lumia 620. First, it falls out of its place as soon as you tilt the phone, which isn't ideal for people that like to access their memory card slot often.
The 1300mAh capacity is getting us a bit worried, but we'll have to wait until we've concluded our battery tests on the Lumia 620 tomorrow until we know for sure if that's really a problem.
The battery.
UPDATE: Here go the results. The Nokia Lumia 620 got an endurance of 36 hours - that means you'll need to charge the phone every 36 hours if you do one hour of calling, web browsing and video playback a day.
Source: GSMarena.com
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου