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.
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
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
7 GB worth of SkyDrive storage
Attractive price
Main Disadvantages :
WP app catalog falls short of Android and iOS
No FM radio
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.
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.
The Lumia 520 has to make do with a smaller, garden variety LCD (no ClearBlack) and an inferior imaging package. The wide aperture lens of the Lumia 720 had to go, too, while the LED flash and the front-facer went with it. The battery is of lesser capacity too but other than that, we're looking at two very similar packages priced some way apart. And we do think the actual price cut is well worth the features that got slashed.
Key Features :
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Quad-band 3G with 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
4.0" 16M-color IPS LCD display of WVGA resolution
5 megapixel autofocus camera with 720p@30fps video recording
Windows Phone 8 OS
1 GHz dual-core Krait CPU, Adreno 305 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8227 chipset, 512MB of RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS support
Free lifetime voice-guided navigation (with a twist)
8GB of inbuilt storage, expandable via a microSD card slot
Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
microUSB port
Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and EDR, file transfers
SNS integration
Xbox Live integration and Xbox management
Nokia Music
Extremely competitive pricing
Main Disadvantages :
Common LCD lacks the punch of CBD
A few prominent apps still missing, some apps incompatible due to 512MB RAM
No FM radio
No front-facing camera
No LED flash
No system-wide file manager
No lockscreen shortcuts
Voice-guided SatNav license limited to a single country
Nokia has rolled out a few devices of proper flagship pedigree since going all-in with Redmond, but the Finns must see plenty of awareness-raising value in devices like the Lumia 620 and 520. And we can't help but be impressed with the fact that the Lumia 520 shapes up to be the cheapest of them all at launch - considering it's the only one of the three powered by a couple of Krait cores.
Of course there're things missing but if you can live without an FM Radio and a front-facing camera, the Lumia 520 is an extremely tempting package. We don't think the 512MB of RAM is as big a disadvantage as it was for the clearly more costly Lumia 720. The screen isn't particularly impressive but the thinking must've been that potential users would care more about being able to use it with gloves on than the actual image quality.
"Mini" is the hot keyword for phones - a natural response to the pocket-busting 5" inch trend of this flagship generation. With the same premium aluminum unibody, the UltraPixel camera and BoomSound speakers, the HTC One mini can proudly bear its father's name.
The screen has come down from 4.7" to 4.3" and the height and width of the device have shrunk accordingly. Combined with the lower weight, the One mini feels much smaller than the One, maybe even enough to seduce some iPhone users who have had it with the small 4" screen. The screen resolution of the One mini is 720p, which still helps it to 342ppi density (better than Retina).
A smaller phone means less space for components. The first piece to feel the effect is the battery which has lost 500 mAh of its capacity and is down to 1,800mAh. HTC also went with a Snapdragon 400 chipset, which offers a dual-core Krait 300 CPU downclocked to 1.4GHz (it's typically at 1.7GHz) and an Adreno 305 GPU. The RAM has also got cut down to 1GB, which would have any multi-tasker raise an eye-brow.
There are a few other pieces missing, here's the rundown of both the good and the bad.
Key Features :
Premium aluminum unibody
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with HSPA; LTE
4.3" 16M-color 720p Super LCD2 capacitive touchscreen with 342ppi pixel density; Gorilla Glass 3
Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Sense UI 5.0
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset: dual-core 1.4 GHz Krait 300 CPU, 1 GB RAM, Adreno 305 GPU
4 MP autofocus "UltraPixel" camera with 1/3'' sensor size, 2µm pixel size; LED flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps with HDR mode, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
HTC Zoe
1.6MP front-facing camera, 720p video recording
Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
16GB of built-in storage
Bluetooth v4.0
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
Front-mounted stereo speakers with BoomSound tech
Class-leading audio output
1,800mAh Li-Po battery
Main Disadvantages :
Relatively slow chipset with limited RAM
4MP camera has disappointing performance in good lighting conditions
No optical image stabilization that made the HTC One camera special
No microSD cards slot, only 12GB user available storage on the 16GB model
No NFC or MHL
Non user-replaceable battery
Poor video and audio codec support out of box
No IR blaster
We understand the chipset choice (though the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini runs the CPU at 1.7GHz). We even understand dropping the Optical Image Stabilization, as even the big HTC Butterfly S doesn't have it. The company also dropped the NFC and MHL connectivity along with the IR blaster. The non-expandable 16GB of storage makes us wish HTC would offer a 32GB version, even if it's just to know we have options.
Individually, those are understandable choices, but the Galaxy S4 mini has expandable storage, NFC and IR. Do all the dropped features mean the One mini is really just a fancier midrange phone rather than the compact high-end phone
The aluminum unibody of the HTC One mini is great - it screams "premium" more than the big Galaxy S4, let alone its mini version. And the stereo BoomSound speakers on the front deliver an excellent audio experience, coupled with high-quality audio hardware for the 3.5mm audio jack and Beats audio tuning.
Throw in an UltraPixel camera sensor and the latest Android 4.2.2 with Sense 5 (on par with the just updated regular One) and the feeling that HTC shortchanged the One mini almost subsides.
Dual-SIM devices are almost exclusively a money-conscious affair and the Samsung Galaxy Core sticks to the playbook. It's just that when you look to optimize you monthly mobile spending by taking advantage of two different contracts, you don't usually want to spend big on a high-end smartphone and look for value-for-money offerings.
Despite its sub-€200 price tag the Samsung Galaxy Core, which also comes in single-SIM flavor, still offers a dual-core CPU, very reasonable 217ppi screen and a 5MP camera, as well as a styling reminiscent of the Galaxy S4 flagship. And it's all squeezed in a 9mm slim body, which while no longer impressive in the higher market tiers is quite the feature with entry level smartphones.
The Android version is charge of the Samsung Galaxy Core is also very respectful - 4.1 Jelly Bean is basically as good as it gets in this price range. It should keep things nicely smooth thanks to its Project Butter Optimizations and it's easily more functional than Windows Phone 8, which is the main Android rival in the lower market segments.
The spec sheet is often louder than words so check it out.
Key Features :
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE; quad-band 3G with HSPA; optional Dual-SIM with dual stand-by and 3G on both SIMs
4.3" 16M-color WVGA TFT capacitive touchscreen; 217ppi
Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI
Dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A5 CPU, Adreno 203 GPU
1GB of RAM
5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, 480p video recording @ 30fps
VGA front-facing camera
Wi-Fi b/g/n, hotspot
GPS with A-GPS
8GB of built-in storage
microSD card slot
microUSB 2.0 port
Bluetooth v3.0
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
1,800mAh battery; user replaceable
Main Disadvantage :
No HD video recording
No NFC
No ambient light sensor
Feeble chipset
Of course the dual-SIM smartphone market is no longer the wasteland it was a couple of years ago, so the Samsung Galaxy Core will face some stiff competition. Devices like the HTC Desire 600 or Sony's Xperia M are ready to take advantage of any chinks in the Galaxy Core armor and when you read the fine print you realize there are quite a few those.
The CPU core count and clock speed are quite nicely sounding, but its Cortex-A5 nature certainly puts a big question mark over the performance. And while we have seen some pretty good 5MP snappers from Samsung this particular one fails quite miserably on the video front.
Then again it's not about setting benchmark or pixel density records in these parts of the market. What matters here is that least corners are cut and the smartphone performance is well balanced.
2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
Announced 2011, October
Status Available. Released 2011, December
Dimensions 115.4 x 61.1 x 14 mm, 47.7 cc
Weight 105 g
Keyboard QWERTY
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 320 x 240 pixels, 2.4 inches (~167 ppi pixel density)
Alert types Vibration, Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB.
Phonebook Yes, Photocall
Call records Yes
Internal 10 MB, 64 MB ROM, 32 MB RAM
Data GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 12
Speed No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, HS
Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
Video Yes, 176x144@10fps
Secondary No
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Adobe Flash Lite
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM recording
Games Yes + downloadable
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.1
Colors Graphite, Green, Blue, Aqua, Pearl White, Light Pink, Pink, Orange
- Dual SIM (dual stand-by)
- SNS integration
- MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player
- MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC player
- Organizer
- Voice memo
- Predictive text input
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1430 mAh (BL-5J)
Stand-by Up to 552 h
Talk time Up to 7 h
Music play Up to 52 h
Announced 2011, October
Status Available. Released 2011, December
Dimensions 115.4 x 61.1 x 14 mm, 47.7 cc
Weight 105 g
Keyboard QWERTY
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 320 x 240 pixels, 2.4 inches (~167 ppi pixel density)
Alert types Vibration, Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB.
Phonebook Yes, Photocall
Call records Yes
Internal 10 MB, 64 MB ROM, 32 MB RAM
Data GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 12
Speed No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, HS
Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
Video Yes, 176x144@10fps
Secondary No
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Adobe Flash Lite
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM recording
Games Yes + downloadable
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.1
Colors Graphite, Green, Blue, Aqua, Pearl White, Light Pink, Pink, Orange
- Dual SIM (dual stand-by)
- SNS integration
- MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player
- MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC player
- Organizer
- Voice memo
- Predictive text input
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1430 mAh (BL-5J)
Stand-by Up to 552 h
Talk time Up to 7 h
Music play Up to 52 h
Also known as Samsung GT-S6102, Samsung GT-S6102B
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 - GT-S6102
HSDPA 850 / 2100 - GT-S6102B
Announced 2011, December
Status Available. Released 2012, February
Dimensions 109.8 x 60 x 12 mm
Weight 109 g
Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 3.14 inches (~127 ppi pixel density)
- Samsung TouchWiz
Alert types Vibration; MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included.
Internal 512 MB ROM, 384 MB RAM
Data GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
Features Geo-tagging
Video Yes, QVGA@24fps
Secondary No
OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
Browser HTML, Adobe Flash
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Black
- Dual SIM (dual stand-by)
- SNS integration
- MP4/WMV/H.264 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Organizer
- Image/video editor
- Document viewer
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- Voice memo/dial
- Predictive text input
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1300 mAh
Stand-by Up to 360 h
Talk time Up to 9 h
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 - GT-S6102
HSDPA 850 / 2100 - GT-S6102B
Announced 2011, December
Status Available. Released 2012, February
Dimensions 109.8 x 60 x 12 mm
Weight 109 g
Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 3.14 inches (~127 ppi pixel density)
- Samsung TouchWiz
Alert types Vibration; MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included.
Internal 512 MB ROM, 384 MB RAM
Data GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
Features Geo-tagging
Video Yes, QVGA@24fps
Secondary No
OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
Browser HTML, Adobe Flash
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Black
- Dual SIM (dual stand-by)
- SNS integration
- MP4/WMV/H.264 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Organizer
- Image/video editor
- Document viewer
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- Voice memo/dial
- Predictive text input
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1300 mAh
Stand-by Up to 360 h
Talk time Up to 9 h
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 - GT-B5512
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - GT-B5512B
Announced 2011, December
Status Available. Released 2012, January
Dimensions 110.8 x 63.5 x 11.9 mm
Weight 112.3 g
Keyboard QWERTY
Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Size 400 x 240 pixels, 2.6 inches (~179 ppi pixel density)
- Optical trackpad
- Samsung TouchWiz
Alert types Vibration; MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included.
Internal 512 MB ROM, 384 MB RAM
Data GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
Features Geo-tagging
Video Yes, QVGA@24fps
Secondary Yes, VGA
OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
CPU 832 MHz
Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
Browser HTML, Adobe Flash
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Black
- Dual SIM
- SNS integration
- MP4/WMV/H.264 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Organizer
- Image/video editor
- Document viewer
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- Voice memo/dial
- Predictive text input
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1350 mAh
Stand-by Up to 528 h
Talk time Up to 9 h
