The Glance Screen ‘Beta’ app will sit on top of the standard Windows Phone lockscreen, and there will be a clock that will be visible all the time. It should take very less power on devices with LED screens, but nothing is known yet about the ones with LCD units. At this moment, the app is exclusive to the Lumia 925, but will soon be available to most of the Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8. That will happen after the Amber update that Nokia’s preparing for its devices, which is reported to come in July.

And oh yes, the Nokia Lumia 925 goes on sale today, starting in Germany.

via Nokia

The good part though, apart from the assumed entry-level price, is that the Galaxy Ace 3 comes with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. We’re not sure if it’s Android 4.2.2 yet, but it’s in line with all the recent Samsung launches. They all have come out with the latest Android version post Galaxy S4 if my memory serves me well, and that’s a good thing.

Now the specs -

• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz on top
• 4.0″ TFT LCD display of WVGA resolution (800×480 pixels)
• 1 GHz dual core processor in the 3G version, 1.2 GHz dual core processor in the 4G version
• 5 MP main camera, LED flash, front facing VGA camera
• 1 GB RAM, 4 GB / 8 GB internal memory (3G / 4G respectively), expandable up to 64 GB with a microSD card
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi Direct, GPS, Dual SIM (optional)
• 1,500 mAh battery

The availability of the 3G and 4G versions will vary by market, as is normal. There’s no word on the availability part itself as of now, but the official unveiling should happen, most probably, in the London event, which is going to be held on June 20th.

via Samsung

Devices from this Galaxy Note series have always followed launches of Galaxy S flagships, since Galaxy S2. The Note 3 continues in the same fashion, and is supposed to launch sometime in September, and while that’s still quite a while away, here’s some hint of the direction Samsung could be going in.

Of course, this could only be a hogwash, and the final design of the Galaxy Note 3 could very well be entirely different from this one. It is expected that the Note 3 will come with a 5.99″ Super AMOLED display, all the S-Pen goodness as usual, Snapdragon 800/Exynos Octa-core processor and the latest TouchWiz niceties. In other words, an enlarged Galaxy S4 with an S-Pen.

Source

Here’s our review. It’s been broken into 3 parts – Design, Hardware and Experience, with one short sub-point talking briefly about the camera. It’s not our usual review scheme, but you should like it nonetheless – it’s straightforward and not a wall of text. Don’t skim through!

Design:

The one thing that Windows Phone, especially Lumia range, is exceptionally good at is the design. Minimalism is the key..

..and the very first thing to be noted, or rather noticeable, is the design of this phone. Looks smart, fits nicely in hands for a good and firm grip, no awkward curves. Unlike the other phones in Windows Phone family, this one doesn’t have a screen that would give it a unibody-feel but for this level, it’s perfect. Even the back cover snaps onto it nicely, reassuring the solid build of Nokia.

The device we got is a yellow Lumia and the yellow back of this phone adds a nice contrast with the black front of the phone. A very well placed camera and charging port and like other Lumias, all the hardware buttons placed on the right of the phone: Volume rocker, Lock/Unlock/Power and Camera buttons respectively. Even the speaker has been seamlessly dragged onto the top-edge for a neat look. In my opinion, even the audio jack could have been pushed onto the center for balance but the present position works as well.

So while holding this phone in public, it does get some heads turning. And at this price range, it turns more heads than any other device might.

Hardware:

The part everyone skips onto. This device offers a classic mid-range specification.

• Windows Phone 8
• 4.0″ LCD display, super sensitive, WVGA resolution (800×480)
• 1 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 processor  (MSM8227 and Adreno 305)
• 5 MP main camera, 720p aka HD recording at 30 FPS
• 512 MB RAM, 8 GB internal memory, expandable with a microSD card up to 64 GB
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi b/g/n
• 1430 mAh battery

The dimensions of the phone are 119.9 x 64 x 9.9mm and it weighs approximately 124g. At this price range it offers a powerful and durable Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Processor at 1 Ghz with a not-so-happy RAM of 512MB. Also, you get  8 GB of internal storage along with a Micro SD card slot which is expandable up to 64 GB where you can store all your media.

On the camera front, there’s some cost-cutting visible – no front-facing camera and 5 MP shooter on the back with no flash included might make the owner sad once in a while. But it’s okay looking at the overall package.

The Lumia 520 comes with a 4″ IPS LCD screen with a pixel density of 233 PPI and a screen resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. So, at least the screen won’t disappoint you even though the blacks aren’t at their ‘blackest’, seeing it’s an LCD panel. One good feature here is Super Sensitivity – use the phone with your hand gloves on. Also good to use with gloves on. But at one point it starts acting way too sensitive and you might actually be able to scroll by just hovering the object over the screen. Nah, I’m kidding. Disabling it could help in saving some battery juice, in case you don’t need this feature.

Camera Samples:

The Lumia 520 doesn’t come with a really good camera – it’s something that should get you by in normal situations, and let’s be fair, it’s pretty good for the price. At this price range, everything boils down to this one bit – price.

Have a looksee at the samples below. In my opinion, it fares pretty okay.

Experience:

As I’ve mentioned before, this phone has a perfect grip in hands, you can see the pictures for a better proof. Perfectly easy to use. Here’s another video I had made before. That should give you a good idea of the user experience.

Apart from the fact that user experience gets similar on all Windows Phones, it’s a nice and smooth experience for the asking price of 10,000 INR.

Final Verdict:

At 10,000 INR, this phone has a lot to offer. Windows Phone not being a power-hungry operating system, this phone can do a lot that other smartphones do 4 times its price range. If regular photography or gaming isn’t your thing, all you need is quick emails, calls, etc. this is a perfect phone for you. Its a perfect work phone which can also double up to be fun in parties. I would definitely recommend this one to my parents, or yours.

That’s what I’d been using alongside my Galaxy Nexus for the past few weeks. We received the Yellow unit, and boy oh boy, it is a looker. I thought the colour would look a bit unprofessional in my office, but everyone who saw it, liked it.

With the Lumia 720, Nokia aims to take on the Galaxy devices, the Xperias and the Desire series from HTC with added help from the Lumia 620, which unfortunately seems to have been forgotten. Rightly so, but back to the Lumia 720. It comes in some nice colours, the standard Nokia spread of White, Black, Cyan, Yellow and Red. The Yellow looks the best among the lot, next being the one in White.

Hardware

Talking about the device’s specs, it screams mid-range with its display size right away -

• Windows Phone 8
• 4.3″ IPS LCD display with ClearBlack technology, super sensitive, WVGA resolution (800×480)
• 1 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 processor (MSM8227 and Adreno 305)
• 6.7 MP main camera, LED flash, 720p aka HD recording at 30 FPS; front facing wide-angle 1.3 MP camera
• 512 MB RAM, 8 GB internal memory, expandable with a microSD card up to 64 GB
• NFC, Bluetooth, Wireless charging, Wi-Fi b/g/n
• 2000 mAh battery

Display

Starting with the most important part of a device – the display. The Lumia 720 comes with a 4.3″ TFT LCD display, with Nokia’s stellar ClearBlack technology. And as has been the trend so far with Lumia devices running on Windows Phone 8, Nokia has added the Super Sensitive mode to the Lumia 720 as well, so people in cold regions can still use the device with their hands in the gloves. I’d disabled it, since I live in an area where the sun shines as if there’s no tomorrow. Note that disabling it helps the battery.

The Lumia 720 comes with non user-removable battery, so you’ve to insert the microSIM and memory card by popping out the trays on the top and the left sides of the device. I always end up freaking out a bit when these delicate things are involved, scared that I’ll harm the damn thing, but it’s pretty sturdy on the Lumia 720.

The left side of the device is bare except for the memory card tray. On the top, there’s the SIM card slot, and the 3.5mm headphone jack, and that’s about it. The right side of the device is again the standard fare – there’s a volume rocker, the lock/power button, and the camera shutter key.

The bottom has the microUSB port and a mouthpiece, and on the back, there’s the camera sensor and the LED flash, besides the speaker near the lower end of it. And oh yes, there’s pretty neat Nokia and Carl Zeiss branding, too.

How does it look? My favourite Lumia design thus far. And that’s an understatement. It looks very pretty in yellow, and add the minimalism Nokia’s bringing in with its designs – great combination. Then, there’s the added beauty of Microsoft’s Metro design language. In short, great blend of colours, hardware design and the software design too.

Camera

The Lumia 720 comes with a wide F/1.9 aperture, supposedly the widest on a mobile phone yet. It’s a 6.7 MP camera, so there will be some grainy images, yes, but the colours are pretty good, and in my experience, they’re truer than say, the HTC (Windows Phone) 8X, the camera of which I want to forget.

Per usual, there were some images with a light yellowish tint, as seems to be a peculiarity with many Nokia phones. I haven’t included those in the samples below, because I could get more truer images of the same subjects after trying again.

Below are some images clicked in good light, low light and zero light, showing how the Lumia 720 performs in the said three conditions.

Battery Life

One of the most important concerns these days with smartphones is the battery life. Thankfully, the Lumia 720 is excellent in this department. It even exceeded my expectations, sometimes lasting more than 2 days.

To give you an idea of the backups I got, here are a couple of screenshots.

If you want to read more about Windows Phone 8 and the Nokia niceties in the Lumia devices, please check out our coverage in the Lumia 820 review.

Conclusion

The Lumia 720 lacks in a couple of departments, but I’ll cut some slack when it comes to the internal memory – it’s 8 GB, but the usable amount of memory comes down to ~6 GB. Still okay, seeing that you can expand it using a microSD card. However, the second area where the phone lacks is the RAM department – 512 MB. Sure, it is just about enough, but you’re going to have to let go of some apps, or as more likely will be the case, games. I haven’t found any app or a game that I’d want to use but couldn’t because of low RAM yet, though.

The second disadvantage of less RAM is the smoothness of operation, although it’s a combination of the processor, clock-speed and the GPU – in the Photos app, for example, the options animation is not smooth. I also found that many apps showed ‘Resuming..’ when I’d switch back to them by long-pressing the back button. There were some scrolling issues at times, however, it was smoother than what I experience on the Galaxy Nexus.

To top it off, the battery performance is excellent.

The camera, on the other hand, is very dandy for a device that costs INR 17-18,000. That’s about $300-325, unlocked.

My verdict – the Nokia Lumia 720, for its price, is a great device. If you’re looking to buy a new smartphone, give this one a serious consideration. And if you’re going for it, check out the Yellow and White versions, they look very good.