Nokia Lumia 620, a great little phone

So about a week ago I received a parcel through the post ( that is actually a lie !! The parcel arrived at work last Tuesday whilst I was on my one day off, so I actually got hold of it on Wednesday the 20th of March ! Lol) it contained a phone which was being loaned to me from the fantastic people at Nokia Connects. That phone was the Nokia Lumia 620, a new phone to me, although I have been using Windows Phone since Nokia adopted it as it's main operating system and although the 620 has been on the market for a few months, it's the first time I have used one.Nokia Connects were kind enough to respond to a request to trial the 620, and even though I use the Nokia Lumia 920 as a 'Daily Driver' (god I'm so Transatlantic and cool :-D) I had read nothing but good things about the 620 and wanted to compare it to what most consider to be the Flagship of Nokia's Lumia Windows Phone series (well for now anyway).

This isn't a review as such, because I'm not very good at reviews, bit better at copy and paste and links really, more just a few thoughts and photos that I have created and some stuff I've stolen from the interweb. One of the best professional reviews of the 620 is probably the one by Mat Smith here on Engadget so clicking the link may be a wise move if you want some professional journalsim.

So the 620 is possibly aimed as an entry level 'Smartphone' I would say it was MUCH more than that, as I say I use the Nokia Lumia 920 on a daily basis and have done for several months, and even though the specs are lower on the little 620, I really don't think I've missed out on much at all, in fact , were this my first venture into the Lumia range, I doubt I was actually missing out on anything at all. The only issues that I have come across I believe are purely personal or application specific. My eyes do not provide 20/20 vision so the move down from a 4.5" screen to a 3.7" screen was quite a change, not that there is anything wrong with the smaller screen, it's just for me big is better, the screen itself is actually good on the 620 !

My only other issue with the phone is that on a couple of occasions when returning to either Twabbit (a Twitter app I use) or the official Facebook app from looking at a link on the browser the apps have failed to open again and I have had to re-launch them, but as I say this may be app specific as not had it with other Twitter apps. If compared side by side, which is hardly real life, then opening web pages or staring up games takes a few seconds longer on the 620 than it does on the 920, but in daily use this is in no way problematic or even noticeable, the little Lumia generally flies, everything works really well and I have been extremely impressed with streaming Sky News and Catchup TV on the 620, it is extremely watchable and sounds great on the mono speaker on the back of the phone. Web browsing is also on par with the larger phone , though obviously the physical size makes a difference. Music also sounds great on the 620, whether using wired or wireless headset (the 620 pairs with and works great with all my Nokia and non-Nokia headsets and connecting via NFC works faultlessly) Also , if you are into carrying a lot of media on your phone, because the 620 has a memory card slot, it is actually to carry more data on the little phone than the 'Flagship' as it supports up to 64 gig cards on top of the 8 gig built in memory. If however you don't want to load your own music on the phone , you have the choice to use Nokia Music or Nokia Music + to stream mixes or to save for offline listening. Gaming, although I am not a big gamer, has also been very good and smooth on the 620.

As pretty much everyone will know, a big thing with the Lumia range is colour, and the 620 has a removeable and changeable back on it so more colour choice than some of the other phones in the range, the handset I have been loaned only came with one, but I think it's probably one of the most popular, as you can see it's a bright green. However, the 620 is the first phone for years that I had to check the instruction manual on how to remove the back and to insert the sim card, very simple when you know and maybe I was a little nervous to force things as its not actually my phone, but just thought I'd mention that it is sometimes a good idea to have a quick glance at a phones paperwork before actually diving in !!

I really don't think the 620 is aimed specifically at any particular section of society, but I certainly think almost anyone could use it as either a main phone or backup, it is quick, cute, funky, great to hold, has really good battery life and a really great user experience.

The last thing I am going to babble on about is the camera, obviously the 620 at about a quarter of the price of the 920 doesn't have the same camera tech, however I have tested the camera a good bit and the 5 megapixel unit on the 620 stands up really well for itself and the end of this piece is a set of comparison photos from the 620 and my Lumia 920, I really think the little 620 does really well, in fact, it does just about everything really well, the experts were right :)

So that is about it, I have another week to play with the little green bombshell, and am looking forward to it, I need to thank you for bothering to read to the end and I need to thank Nokia Connects again for allowing me to use the phone. I have enjoyed using the 620 and writing this nonsense, so cheers :-)

Stephen Quin

26/03/2013