Nokia Lumia 620 - Lumia 800 Replacement?

The Nokia Lumia 620 was recently launched to replace the aging Lumia 610. However, I believe that the Nokia Lumia 620 is just more than just a replacement unit. In fact, the Nokia Lumia 620 could be a replacement for the Nokia Lumia 800!

What I am most impressed with the Nokia Lumia 620 is that it comes with a VGA camera in front of the mobile phone. There is also a 5MP camera shooter at the back but the lens are not produced by Carl Zeiss. The digital camera does not have Pureview just like the Nokia 808 or the Nokia Lumia 820 or 920. What makes it stand out from the crowd is that the price which one needs to pay to get their hands on the Nokia Lumia 620.

If you shop around, you could get a brand new Nokia Lumia 620 for £200 SIM FREE (ie: Carphonewarehouse). With that, you will have access to an external memory card and the phone comes with all the 2012 specifications including NFC and bluetooth. Obviously, with the cheaper price tag, Nokia would have to save cost. One of the departments where the Lumia 620 had to compromise on will be the screen size. The 3.8" display with Clear Black Display is a reduced screen size of 4.5" with PureView HD and Clear Black Display on the Lumia 920. Apart from that, the internal memory on the Lumia 620 is only 512MB where else the Lumia 920 has 1GB. The Lumia 620 is also equipped with an internal memory of 8GB which is insufficient to install maps and apps which I have at this moment. I will have to delete some of the maps and apps which is not necessary.

In addition to this, the main camera on the Lumia 620 could only manage 5MP as mentioned as compared to the mighty 8.7MP digital camera on the Lumia 920. I have tried taking some pictures with the Nokia Lumia 620 and the quality of the picture is pretty decent during the day with ample sunshine. However, it does not do well under poor lighting as the videos and pictures will be pixelated.

The Nokia Lumia 620 seemed to be doing alright with a 1Ghz dualcore cpu by Qualcomm. I have no issues with it although you will notice the delay in executing a command if you are comparing the Nokia Lumia 620 to the Lumia 920. However, you need to bear in mind that the Lumia 920's cpu is 500Mhz faster than the Lumia 620 and the Lumia 920 has 0.5GB more memory so the slight delay is understandable.

Apart from that, I'm enjoying the changeable back facie of the Lumia 620. Moreover, I find that it is a novel way of removing the back facie by pressing onto the single LED flash on the Lumia 620 to remove the back facie. Once you have opened the back, you will see a removeable 1300mAh battery. I would really appreciate that Nokia would supply a bigger capacity battery but it last me for one day before I need to recharge the battery again.

Personally, I feel that Nokia has done it again where they have released a mobile device which is affordable and yet a device which is packed with serious hardware which I am totally impressed by them. However, the software on the Lumia 620 is not what I am looking for though.

If you are well versed with Windows Phone 7, it will come as no surprise for you in using the Lumia 620 as it runs on the Windows Phone 8. I like the live tiles but I find it quite difficult to get adjusted to it as I am so used to the iOS. However, I have started to feel comfortable in using a Windows Phone device. There is only one issue which I have with the Nokia Lumia 620. I can't install apps including Nokia's maps on the SD card!!!

I have raised this issue with Nokia but they pointed the finger to Microsoft. Unless Microsoft allow users to install apps on the SD card, users of the Lumia 620 will have a smaller capacity to install the many apps which they like. As for me, I like to install maps on the Lumia 620 but the system is saying that the device is running out of space even though I have just inserted a 32GB microSD card in it. What a shame! I hope that Microsoft will allow users to install apps on Windows Phone 8 enabled devices in general. At least Google will allow users to install apps on the microSD card on certain devices. Why not Microsoft?

Overall, the Nokia Lumia 620 is a very affordable smartphone at this moment. I think users should just avoid buying the Lumia 800 and stick to the Lumia 620 even though the price for a brand new Lumia 800 is selling at £150 SIM Free.

Update:
24 February 2013 - I have experienced a slight freezing of the menu whenever I am trying to move between two windows at one time. I think it is due to the fact that the Lumia 620 is only euipped with 512MB of memory, unlike the Lumia 920 where it is equipped with 1GB of memory. Perhaps Nokia should work on an update in the firmware to address this problem.

27 February 2013 - I have realised that the image of yours will be blurry if you use the front camera for video Skype. This is true as I am so disappointed with the quality of the image! I have not experienced any problem when I tried using video Skype on an Iphone 4 which has a VGA front camera. Shame on you, Nokia!

03 March 2013 - The Nokia 620 just frozen for the fifth time for the day. I feel that Nokia software engineers should release a bug fix as I had Skype and Whatsapp working at the background when it crashed. Since we know that Microsoft is going to release an update to WP8 devices in the near future, Nokia should take the opportunity to fix the fast draining of the battery too. I am not too impressed with the Whatsapp app on WP8 devices like the Nokia 620 as it will not allow uses to send videos being stored on the phone.