The new Nokia Lumia 820 is a 4G smart phone powered by the Windows 8 OS. It is not a phone that sets your world on fire but it some great aspects that will grab your attention. It weighs 160 g with dimensions of 123.8 x 68.5 x 9.9 mm, 83.5 cc, 4.3 inches AMOLED Capacitive touch screen that displays 16 million colors, 8GB storage, 1GB RAM, 8M primary camera with dual LED flash, Dual Core Snapdragon processor, Li-Ion 1650 mAh standard battery. The following are its Pros and Cons and its features in detail.

nokia lumia 820

Pros                

  • Dual core processor allows faster mobile browsing
  • Expandable memory of up to 32 GB with microSD cards
  • Wireless charging feature
  • New Windows 8 OS from Microsoft
  • 4.3” huge screen display
  • 8MP High resolution camera
  • 4G network
  • NFC
  • Nokia’s additional apps and services are worth having

Cons

  • Innovative technology like Pureview technology is missing
  • Features and specs are only mid range
  • Design is downgraded
  • Thick and heavy
  • Low battery life

Features

The Nokia Lumia 820 has a luxurious build. What is so exciting about this phone is that the covers which are made of tough material can be swappable. When you handle the phone for the first time you will hardly believe you can change the cover because it is fits so snugly against the phone. However, these covers are expensive. Behind the cover is the swappable battery and Micro SD slot. This is the first time a windows 8 phone has expandable memory and this feature is very much welcomed.

This phone is thick and heavier than other mid range phone especially its competitors, the Android smart phones. It is robust and heavy and looks like a phone the age where cutting edge technology was only a distant vision.

Lumia 820 is visible in wide range of colors and since you can change the covers you do not have to carry the same colored phone with you everyday. You can match it with your mood or dress.

The 4.3” screen is bit smaller than Lumia 920 and Samsung galaxy S3, making it easier to hold with one hand and operate it easily. This phone has good button placement. Power switch  and the volume switch are on the right side of the phone with the camera button below them, head phone jack is at the top of the handset. All these features make it easier to operate this phone easily.

Software

Lumia 820 runs on the latest Microsoft OS, Windows 8. It has a different fell when compared to iOS and Android OS’s. It has home screen filled with colorful tiles, 3D effects and transitions that gives a contemporary and Intuitive feel. However, the software is slow when the apps are opened and windows need to pace up in this issue. The tiles on the home screen represent the different apps on the phone, they can be resized.

People’s Hub is the best feature of Windows 8 phone. It pulls all your contacts from twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, email and phone to one place. So, you can view their contact number, email id and also their posts on social networks when you click the tab “what’s new”.

Nokia Apps

The Lumia 820 has additional Nokia apps that you cannot find in a non-Nokia Windows phone. Some pre installed apps are Nokia Drive that offers voice guided navigation, Nokia music app that has very broad music genres and allows you to stream the playlists.

There is also augmented reality app called “City Lens” which uses GPS and phone’s compass and gives you info of the train stations, hotels, restaurants etc.

However the range of app that are available from Windows App market is very less when compared to the Apple apps and Android apps.

Performance and Battery

Lumia 820 has a 1.5 GHz snapdragon dual core processor that is very quick in performance, paired with 1 GB RAM, has 8GB in built memory which can be expanded up to 64 GB with Micro SD cards.  Apps cannot be stored on these cards, but you can store music files, movies, photos, documents etc. Microsoft offer 7GB Skydrive cloud storage apace, for storing stuff like photos, documents on web.

The Lumia 820’s battery can be removed unlike Lumia 920. It is a lithium ion battery with 1650 mAh. If you are a heavy phone user then you will find the battery power draining very fast, so you have to keep it charging often.

Screen

The Lumia 820’s screen in some ways a disadvantage for Nokia. Its pixels are so low and lacks the sharpness that can be found in cheaper phone. Even cheaper phones have small display but high resolution. It is a little disappointing with the Lumia 820’s screen resolution.  However, the screen brightness is good. All thanks to the OLED technology. The screen sensitivity is good and you can even use it when you wear gloves while you are operating the phone, you just have to set the sensitivity levels to high.

Camera

The drawback with Lumia 820 when you compare it to Lumia 920 is, it lacks Pureview technology, however the camera has very impressive camera. It has 8MP  primary camera with Carl Zeiss Lens and dual LED flash that clicks great pictures even in poor lighting conditions.

There is also a front facing camera with 1.3 MP resolution which is great for video calling. You can click high quality pictures even in indoors.  Cool apps like “Smart Shot” which takes a series of photos and allows you to remove unwanted people from the background. You can record videos of 720 p and 1080 p.

Conclusion

The Noka Lumia 820 has lot of good things about it like the swappable covers, good camera and the new Windows 8 OS. However it also has downside to it like the battery life and the screen.  For the same price you can get a Android Smartphone with lots more apps. It costs 360 pounds or a 25 pounds per month contract.

It is not a basic phone though and has some great features . So, if you want a Windows 8 phone and are not bothered by its weight and comparatively higher price, then Nokia Lumia 820 is a good option for you as it is the only Windows phone with a micro SD card slot.