Lumia 820 vs 720: Is it the Best Time to Buy Price Cut WP8 Handset or Wait for New One to Release?

There was a feeling in the tech world that sales for the Finnish handset maker Nokia, has been on a decline. This might not entirely be true, as the company has seen a considerable growth in 2012. Gizbot earlier, told you about Nokia, being the second most popular brand in developing markets such as India, Brazil, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, as per the survey by Upstream.

New studies carried out by CyberMedia Research suggests that Nokia is the most popular brand in India. According to the studies, the company holds a comfortable lead over other handset-makers, with a overall market share of 21.8 %. The South- Korean giant Samsung came in at second with 13.7 % and the local handset maker Micromax came in at third with 6.6 %.

This solidifies the fact the India is still a growing market for smartphones. More time might be required for the new market to really pick up the pace.

Also recently, Microsoft announced that the Windows Phone based handsets have been shipped more than iPhone in several markets across the world in 4Q12. At the same time, the Finnish vendor is also on a campaign to improve the sales of its Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 smartphones launched in January. Recently, Nokia announced a massive price cut on Lumia 820 making the handset available at Rs 23,969, which is a move to trigger the consumers to buy one.

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While the price cut of Lumia 820 could be done to make the handset compete with other smartphones in the similar price range, it could also hint at the company's preparation to launch the Lumia 720 with almost similar specs and features.

It is quite common for smartphone manufacturers to slash the price of the older models before the new ones could hit the market and is also adopted by market dominators including Samsung and Apple.

Speaking of Lumia 720, the mid-range Windows Phone 8 offering is estimated to cost Rs 17,500 approximately and comes similar features as the Lumia 820. Hence, consumers who are looking forward to buy a Lumia smartphone might be confused on what could be the difference between the duo. For them, Gizbot is here with a comparison between Lumia 720 and Lumia 820. Read it below!

Form Factor: Lumia 720 carries a dimension of 127.9 x 67.5 x 9 mm and weighs around 128 grams, whereas, the slightly thicker and heavier Lumia 820 boasts a dimension of 123.8 x 68.5 x 9.9 mm and weighs in at 160 grams.

Both Lumia 720 and Lumia 820 house a 4.3 inch multi-touch ClearBlack capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, 217 ppi pixel density and Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection.

Both the smartphones fare the same in terms of display as the ClearBlack display technology reduces the reflections and improves sunlight legibility.

Processor: When it comes to processor, both Lumia 720 is powered by a 1GHz dual core Qualcomm MSM8227 Snapdragon S4 processor and Lumia 820 is equipped with a faster 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm MSM8227 Snapdragon S4 processor. The Snapdragon S4 chipset uses Krait processor and enables the devices to communicate quickly, efficiently and most importantly reduces the heat, thereby allowing the handsets to have enhanced battery life by reducing processing power wastage.

Operating System: In this segment, both Lumia 720 and Lumia 820 come loaded with Windows Phone 8 operating system with improved features like dynamic Live Tile Information, social network integration in the People hub, Skydrive and Office 365 documents synchronization, Facebook-events integrated calendar, visual voicemail, threaded email conversations support and more.

Camera: Lumia 720 comes with a superior 6.7MP camera equipped with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and LED flash and has a 1.3MP front camera capable of recording 720p videos.

On the other hand, Lumia 820 features an 8MP rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and dual LED flash and a VGA front camera for video calling.

Storage: In this segment, both Lumia 720 and Lumia 820 come with 8GB internal storage and a micro SD card slot supporting up to 64GB additional storage. However, Lumia 820 comes with a 1GB RAM as compared to the 512MB RAM in Lumia 720.

Connectivity: When it comes to data connectivity, both the smartphones come packed with decent connectivity features including dual band Wi-Fi, average 3G download speeds, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and micro USB 2.0. However, Lumia 820 and Lumia 720 score more with NFC connectivity for easier mobile payments.

Battery: Lumia 720 is powered by a 2,000 mAh battery with a greater backup of 520 hours, Lumia 820 comes with a lean 1,650 mAh battery offering up to 330 hours standby.

Price: While Lumia 820 is priced at Rs 23,696, Lumia 720 is estimated to cost Rs 17,500 approximately.

Verdict

There's a very simple verdict to the buying decision between Lumia 720 and Lumia 820. As Nokia must be having something in mind before integrating the huge price cut of Lumia 820. This is a fact, there are minimal specs and features differences between Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, hence, its the best time to buy Lumia 820 at such less price.

As the moment, Lumia 720 will be launched in India, Nokia will again hike th eprice of Lumia 820. So that, it can continue with the campaign saying that Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are high end brands, while Lumia 620 and 720 will become the mid range selling models.

But at the same time, you should also know that Lumia 720 comes with a better battery backup, while Lumia 820 has a faster processor. So what do you wish for? Let us know in the comments section below.