Review of Nokia Lumia 620

Assalam-o-Alaikum
My name is Ameer Hamza and this is my review of the nokia lumia 620.
Let's start with the specs.

3.8" 800x480 Res ClearBlack LCD (Gorilla Glass protected)
5 Megapixel Camera with 720p Video recording as well as a VGA front facing camera
1.0 GHz Snapdragon S4 chipset with Adreno 305 GPU and 512 MB RAM
8GB of internal storage (including the ROM)
Micro SD card slot with support unto 64GB
Wi-Fi

GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS
Bluetooth 3.0
Ambiant Light Sensor and Proximity Sensor
Accelerometer
1300mAh Battery

Running Windows Phone 8

And comes in White, Black, Cyan, Yellow, Green, Pink

 Let's Talk Hardware
This Phone is running the Snapdragon S4 chipset with Adreno 305 GPU and 512MB RAM on hand to help.
I should tell you that Snapsdragon S4 is one capable chipset, even this basic version can easily run latest Android, but since it's running WP8, so it will be a blast, and it is.
The body is made of soft touch plastic and has a grippy feel without feeling cheap, The back cover has a sort of 2 tone touch to it, underneath is a non transparent White plastic covered by a semi transparent White cover, giving it a sort of floating effect, I like the body very much.

Front is dominated by a sheet of Gorilla Glass which is very scratch resistant and hard to break.
However after using it for a month, fingerprints have started to stay on the screen for good which can ruin the looks a little bit, but not much.
On the right side of the device we have the buttons.


-Volume Rocker on top
-Screen Lock
-Camera Key with dual action

The Keys are nice to touch and I can assure they can survive a long period of usage with ease.
Camera Key can also launch the Camera App at anytime with a long press in the 2nd position (1st one is for AF)

On the top of the screen we have the usual Sensors found in all of Modern Phones.
-Ambient Light Sensor
-Proximity Sensor to turn the screen off when you put it to your face while calling
and there is also a VGA front facing Camera for Video Calls, The Quality of this Camera is very very questionable.Speaking of Camera, lets Talk about the Main Rear facing Camera which is a 5Megapixel Unit with AF and ability to shoot 720p video(without AF)
The quality of the Camera is OK under bright conditions but it can take a hit under low light.
Of Course Hamza we can always use the LED flash to brighten our pics with usable light, yes you can.
But only if you want your subjects to look like Zombies, for some reason when you turn on the LED it cranks the White Balance all the way to Yellowville Warm Colors resulting in Yellowish, forget it, YELLOW skin tone. which looks absolutely Hideous. But hey, this is a cheap phone so I'll go with it.
And Mostly I believe it is the Software's fault, I m sure Nokia will roll out an update real soon.

 Now, it's Screen Time.
The screen is as I said, a 3.8" ClearBlack LCD with WVGA Resolution(No Mention of IPS though)
and how does it look like?
Brilliant, Even with no IPS tech mentioned, this screen can easily roll with the big boys. Under the sunlight it is quite easily Readable and under indoor lighting it shows amazing contrast for it's price. Pixel Density is very much acceptable, hovering around 240ppi.
Over all I believe this is the best you can get under this price point.
Well Done Nokia.
Let's Wrap up the Hardware Section with a little mention of Sound Quality and Call Quality.
Super
Loud speaker is loud and very clear. Very little distortion.
Call Quality is NOKIA standard but it also has fancy noise cancelling mics like the Lumia 920 which means Great News for the ones you are calling.
Overall I found the Screen and Sound bit above the competition.

NOW
Software TIME.
This like all the other Lumia Phones is Running Microsoft's Windows Phone OS.
In case of this new Lumia 620, Windows Phone 8.

When you first unlock the screen, the first word that comes to your mind is WOW.
WP8 is one slick and smooth OS. Transitions and animations are something to match Apple's iPhone and then some :)

Of course you can always swipe to right for all the Apps stored on your Phone, very conveniently arranged in Alphabetical Order. Overall the look and feel of the OS is very positive.

 You have the usual WP buttons at the bottom, which are
Back
Home(Start)
Search
The search always takes you to the bing's site and doesn't work as a general search button for looking up any section of the phone, which is a shame.
bing is slow and very much inaccurate.



Thats's Enough buttering and sugar talk, let's talk about the Flaws of the OS, which, mind you, are too many.
First of all, the battery, Signal status disappears and has to be called back by a swipe on the top of the screen, which can be annoying at times.
Notification shall appear on the top when fresh, after that you have to cruise the Live Tiles to look for Notifications, which doesn't sound that bad, BUT if you don't have the Live Tile Set for that specific App, you are out of luck.
There are not icons or notification trays to help you look for them. That said however the banner notification is the smoothest That I have seen in nearly any OS.
Normally when a Message arrived the OS stutters, Not WP8, it keeps on running like there is no problem what so ever, that I found to be very very useful. and another neat trick is when I hear the message tone and if I take out my phone from my pocket in few seconds time the screen automatically turns on so that I can click on the notification without going for the screen lock, I found it to be very useful.

Messaging is super, I love the QWERTY keyboard, it's simple slick and has a very good prediction service, rotate the phone and the landscape keypad is centred and very very very easy and fun to use.

Phone App does miss the Smart Dial option which is a shame.

People app can show Twitter, Facebook, Google Contacts and Skydrive contacts all under one sexy looking interface, but Facebook has limited functionality so it's limited to just showing the News Feed.

Sadly there was no integration of the birthdays with the Calendar which to me was a big downer.

All said, this OS does Freezes at times. it happened to me 3 times in 2 days when I had to remove the battery in order to revive it, which is something that I hated about Nokia's Symbian Dead Phones.

Now is the time to discuss the apps, which I believe is the biggest kink in it's armour.

I m not saying that apps are bad or they have low standards, every app on WP8 has a certain refinement level which is easily up to iOS standards and in some cases even better, but what bothers me is not what it has but it can offer and refuses.
For instance, there isn't even a single Google app, no maps, no Gmail, no Blogger app, not even Youtube
However you can sync your google contacts in this phone with ease. you can also find apps that can provide these services but still they are not that good.
Ok, I can live with no navigation (It has HERE maps services which doesn't work in Pakistan, but it works in Botswana, and every nation that is below Pakistan's standard)

The services that are owned by Microsoft should be a blast in WP8, no?
Facebook and Skype is owned by Microsoft, so the apps should have the braggin' rights in this eco system, right?
Wrong!!!

Facebook app is among the worst found in the smartphone world, OK it has nice and smooth transitions and animations but simple tasks like Sharing or even quickly liking or viewing the post is a chore. I m not just saying it has less features I m saying it is among the least refined Facebook apps. it's slow and sluggish and HATEFUL.

I opened the fb app and I was like WTF MS.

Skype is cute but that's all that it is.

and nearly all the useful app ever invented is missing from the Market.

HUGE disappointment in this regard.

Anything remotely useful is not just paid, it's over priced. A app which can be had for free in Android, for a dollar in iOS, can bought for 380 Rupees in WP Market.

And for some wierd reason the files your download using Bluetooth (Yes it does support Bluetooth Transfers) for instance a video, you download it watch it close it, watch it again ... wait .... where is it?
it's taking up space on my memory but it's not there, huh
Connect it to my Mac using a Software (Its mass storage on Windows) and here it is, it's in the memory.
I import the video to my Computer and Export it back to Phone and Voila here it is in my Videos Section. It wasn't all that bad.... It WAS. Who the hell is responsible for injecting some common sense in to the developers. They might as well not allow it at all.

And oh, the Battery is quite good for it's size, only if you stay away from the Internet Explorer, it's cute and all, but it doesn't support anything (Even some Java scripts are lost) and it can drain the battery in a couple of Hours, which is Again a Huge Downer for me.

Conclusion

So to sum things up, Nokia Lumia 620 has the hardware to love and the software to lust after but is let down by very short list of apps and some obvious omissions.
I love Windows Phone UI, but sadly I can't live with this level of stupidness.
So my heart is still hoping for the best in WP, but my brain is definitely not recommending this Phone.

In the End, I would not Recommend buying this phone if you are a remote bit technical and tech savvy.
for normal users who do not want any technical help or are not among the most annoying friend's circle who even laugh at you if you missed one tech beat then I'd say, Go for it.
It's a slick looking phone with great Talk Time and cool messaging but for a smart phone, you better off else where.

Hope that helped :)

Sincerely
Khawaja Ameer Hamza