Nokia Lumia 720 review: On target

Introduction

Having covered the premium and the entry-level segment, Nokia is paying due attention to the midrange and hoping that it will pay off handsomely. The Lumia 720 was the leader of the company's lineup at this year's MWC and is arguably the company's best shot at extending its growth streak over the second quarter of this year.

The Lumia 720 is probably the most sensible WP8 package the Finns have designed so far. For all its progress over the past year, Windows Phone is still largely considered as a distant third in the smartphone race, which is dominated by iOS and Android. That's painfully true in the premium class where Microsoft and Nokia have no meaningful response to multiple-core CPUs and 1080p screens.

   
Nokia Lumia 720 official images

The midrange however, is a more friendly game, giving the good-looking and decently-equipped Lumia 720 a reasonable chances for a shot at top spot.

Besides, the Lumia 720 even has a couple of advantages over its premium sibling, the Nokia Lumia 920. First of all, the slimmer waistline brings out the best in the handset's design and the significant loss of weight is the best thing that could happen to the Lumia 720.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Quad-band 3G with 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
• 4.3" 16M-color ClearBlack IPS LCD display of WVGA resolution
• 6.1 megapixel autofocus camera with super-fast F/1.9 lens and LED flash, 720p@30fps video recording
• 1.3MP front-facing camera
• 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
• 8GB of inbuilt storage, expandable via the microSD card slot
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
• Built-in accelerometer, gyroscope 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
• NFC support
• Digital compass
• Nokia Music

Main disadvantages

• A few prominent apps still missing, some apps incompatible due to 512MB RAM
• No FM radio
• No system-wide file manager
• No lockscreen shortcuts
• Voice navigation is limited to only a single country

Obviously the reduced price tag, required some corners to be cut and the Nokia Lumia 720 wasn't treated to a 720p screen like the 920 or even to the WVGA AMOLED display of the Lumia 820. Yet, the ClearBlack IPS LCD technology has done reasonably well for the Finns, so the Lumia 720 shouldn't be written off on account of having a screen that's just too ordinary.

   
Nokia Lumia 720 studio shots

The other line on the specs sheet that might cause concern is the downgraded chipset. While the 1GHz dual-core Krait CPU should be perfectly capable of ensuring a smooth sailing around the user interface and decent loading times, the 512MB of RAM mean that some application titles in the Windows Phone Store will be out of the Lumia 720's reach.

Still, the Nokia Lumia 720 seems to check more than enough boxes for its price tag, so it has every chance of selling big. It seems to have enough character, which is a rare commodity in the midrange, but we're also interested in its talents too. Join us as we set off to explore them. The hardware inspection starts right after the break.

Nokia Lumia 720 360-degree view

At 127.9 x 67.5 x 9 mm, the Nokia Lumia 720 certainly feels like it could've been at least a little more compact for a smartphone with a 4.3" display. The Motorola RAZR i, which is probably our favorite reference, is half a centimeter shorter in each direction, which makes quite the difference in handling.

However, the Nokia Lumia 720 handles reasonably comfortably and is actually the slimmest Lumia smartphone to date. Considering the screen size, the less than perfect use of the available space is something you can quite easily live with, even if you don't have particularly large hands.

   
The Nokia Lumia 720 sized up against the Lumia 520

As for the weight, at 128g the Lumia strikes a great balance. It's not overweight like the Lumia 920 and yet it manages a reassuringly solid feel in hand.

Design and build quality

The Nokia Lumia 720 follows the design language of the company's Lumia 920 flagship, employing a similar polycarbonate unibody. Nokia will be offering a range of snap-on covers too, which will enable wireless charging. Depending on the color you choose you will either get a glossy (like our white review unit and the red version) or matte (the blue and black versions) finish, but they both look pretty sleek.

   
The Lumia 720 is quite the looker

The visual appeal of the smartphone gets a boost of its pleasingly slim waistline. The subtly rounded Lumia 720 fits nicely in the hand and looks even slimmer than it actually is. The curved screen, a la Nokia N9, is much appreciated too, especially in sideways swipes, which are frequently used in the Windows Phone UI.

Overall, the Nokia Lumia 720 is certainly among the most attractive offerings in its class. It's a gadget you won't mind being seen with and one that might even make a few Lumia 920 owners a little jealous. And that's as good a compliment as a mid-range smartphone can hope to receive.

Display

The Nokia Lumia 720 comes with a 4.3" ClearBlack IPS LCD of WVGA resolution. In the day of 1080p screens, its pixel density of 217 ppi doesn't sound particularly exciting, but the Windows Phone 8 platform is designed in such a way that the relatively low pixel density doesn't really show.

Of course when browsing images or surfing the web the Lumia 720 won't be able to provide as much fine detail or fit as much content, but on most occasions the WVGA resolution feels perfectly adequate. Besides, there are only a handful of smartphones in the Lumia 720 price range to offer even 720p screens, let alone 1080p displays, so the Nokia mid-ranger has little to worry about.

The display has excellent image quality

Even more so, when you consider that its ClearBlack screen is excellently bright and provides very good contrast, as testified by the measurements in our test. Viewing angles are splendid, too, and while there's some color shift when you reach extremes, everything on the screen remains perfectly legible at all times.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Nokia Lumia 720	-	-	-	0.69	813	1172
Nokia Lumia 620	-	-	-	0.72	762	1068
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III	0	174	∞	0	330	∞
HTC One X	0.15	200	1375	0.39	550	1410
Nokia Lumia 920	-	-	-	0.48	513	1065
Nexus 4	0.22	314	1447	0.45	608	1341
LG Optimus G	0.14	197	1445	0.33	417	1438
Apple iPhone 5	0.13	200	1490	0.48	640	1320

Sunlight legibility turned out pretty good, too, with the Lumia 720 easily ranking in the upper half of our chart.