The Nokia Lumia 720 Experience

The Nokia Lumia 720 is not a new smartphone in the market and many may think why now only share about this phone experience. Yes, the 720 was released quite sometime ago but I just got it exactly 2 weeks ago, switching over from Android platform. Previously, I used the Samsung Galaxy Note model. No doubt it was a good phablet, but it was not without limitations (basically, every models comes with pros and cons).

Firstly, I want to share about my smartphone usage. The main purpose for me using a smartphone, is for communication. Making calls, SMS, Whatsapp, Wechat, and Line are the common stuffs. Social network is a must in smartphone today, as it is now part of our life...so, Facebook and Twitter. I do blogging too. A browser to login and post on my blogs is a must. Lastly, photography. I like to take photos and share it on my blogs and Facebook walls; and share with with my friends and family on the communication apps.

To do all these, I just need a smartphone that supports the apps I frequently access to, a good camera with ease to operate in any condition, the screen size that is large and good resolution for viewing, ergonomic enough to hold and pocketed, hassle free in settings, and most important, long battery life.

The main reason that causing me to scout for another option of smartphone is when the Galaxy Note slowdown after I have upgraded it to Jelly Bean. Also, the battery drains extremely fast after a year usage, especially lots of apps being loaded as the running apps. Sometime, I don't even know what are all these apps for as it was preloaded and started automatically. Some may say it will be better in performance if the android phone is rooted. For me, I don't see a reason why I need to go through the hassle and lots of setting involves. A smartphone should be smart enought to handle all the settings to the best performance for the user, that's the reason why it is called smartphone. Anyway, I got frustrated the process of shutting down all the apps like "auto updates, google map, learning hub, etc" which consume my battery like crazy.

Why I was scouting around, I read lots of review about how Windows 8 phone is maturing as a competitive smartphone platform. I was thinking to give it a try and see if the review were real, reason being I was frustrated with the intensive settings of Android, and the cost of iPhone 5 which I think it is unreasonable for a facelift from their previous models (too expensive for the same old design - reminds me of the Proton Iswara, after years of production and face lifting...the price should be lower).

Since first time trying out the Windows 8 and poor experience of my previous Nokia E6 (Symbian platform), I gave myself a budget of RM800 - RM1,000. This range of budget has a lot of options but I narrow down the options based on my usage criteria, the camera, screen size and battery consumption.

I find Nokia and HTC offers good built and features of Windows 8 smartphone but because of the commitment and specialization of Nokia on Windows platform, I think it is better to go for Nokia (furthermore, Microsoft have announced the take over of Nokia phone business).

With the few criteria I have set earlier, it narrow down to Nokia Lumia 720 and 625 (new release last month). In comparison, Lumia 625 have some advantages in terms of screen size and running on LTE. However, these are not my concern as I have been using Galaxy Note for a larger screen and I always set my data network on 2G for battery savings (no different in speed when it comes to communication apps, unless for uploading pictures).

Finally, I have decided on Nokia Lumia 720 (Retail Price: RM899 - you can bargain with the shop) with a few distinct features worth highlighting:

1. Setting up the phone is so easy as it can connects to my Gmail accounts and sync my contacts. No hassle in retrieving anything I need, as long as I can connect to the Internet (smart!).

2. Impressive built, the phone looks solid and luxury feel althought it is plastic but feel like steel when I hold it. The rounded edge reminds me of the Canon Ixus camera. Now, I can easily slip my phone in my pocket even if I wear jeans (previously with Galaxy Note, it's a challenge).

3. Operating the Windows 8 is extremely easy. Within a day, I got familiar with the interface, since there are only 2 main page. The blocks page and the apps page. The main blocks page can be fully customized, color, size, arrangement and pin (placing) any apps to the block page. If you think iOS interface is easy, this is as good as iOS.

4. Snapdragon processor is fast. Running on dual core processor, I just couldn't be bother how many GHz is it. Even on 512MB RAM, it is far more faster and as smooth as an iPhone, not to mention the Jelly Bean. Thumb up to the Lumia and Windows!

5. Using a low voltage processor, 4.3" screen with 800x600 resolution (I don't see any different when compare to super AMOLED on my Galaxy Note - maybe you can but not me), the battery is out of this world! Super power saving. Easily, I get more than one day of usage (as mentioned earlier). In average, I charged only once in 2 days, with 2G data turned on.

6. The camera is the best feature so far. With a dedicated camera button and half press focus feature, the Lumia 720 is like a compact digital camera. Full press of the camera button when phone is on standby can start the camera function in 5 seconds. The Carl Zeiss lense capture clear picture, vibrant color and extremely good for low light environment because it has an aperture of F1.9, the best even if compare with Lumia 925 with F2.0.

This is a low light picture taken around 7.00pm, using ISO100:

Some of the photos taken by my Lumia 720 without filters or editing:

7. Most of the apps I need can be downloaded from Windows Apps Store. Many developers are good in designing cross-platform apps, so I am not worry at all. Maybe I don't really play games with my phone but I think the apps should not be a major concern in the near future. Android started with few apps but they grow into major platform in a short time. I belief it will be the same for Windows platform. Anyway, most productivity apps were preloaded. I got Microsoft Office Words, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote pre-installed. There were lots of camera apps too.

8. Nokia Map is a must have. You can download any country maps and installed it in your Lumia phone. So, when you travel to overseas and don't have data access, you can still use the navigation with the map installed. GPS is ready then!

I think I have shared more than enough of my experience using the Lumia 720. If you are using the smartphone like how I use it and don't want to spend more than RM1,000 on a smartphone, yet want to get a solid build like premium smartphone that cost you RM2,000 and above, this phone is definitely an option for you to consider. Personally, I think Nokia Lumia smartphones are strong contenders to other brands and the Windows platform will be giving hard time to both iOS and Android...pops, not to forget, we still have something call BlackBerry that struggling out there :P

Others photos with some editing using the Nokia Creative Studio (bundled apps):