HTC Windows Phone 8S vs Nokia Lumia 820
Windows Phone operating system is going to be a game changer for both Android and iOS Operating Systems. It’s not that Windows Phone is going to conquer the market in a single day, but Microsoft is strategically pushing their mobile OS and gaining more and more support from different vendors out there. Their brand new release is the Window 8 operating system which seems to picturesque as well as smooth and seamless. It adapts the famous metro style UI and Microsoft keeps strict tabs on the hardware that is allowed to run under the OS. Today we will discuss two of those strictly controlled hardware sets. HTC released their Windows Phone 8 smartphone only a few days back while Nokia released their few weeks back. Both seems to be great products at a glance and let us dive in and check whether they are as good as vendors promise.
HTC Windows Phone 8S Review
HTC Windows Phone 8S is the younger brother of Windows Phone 8X. Hence it is basically the budget version of Windows Phone 8X like Xperia V or HTC One S. At a glance, it follows the design of the Xperia line with a separate chunk at the bottom of the device. The budget smartphone comes in two tone color combinations you can choose from; California Blue and Graphite Black with Flame Red and Limelight Yellow. It doesn’t have a unibody chassis, but you don’t have access to your battery either. HTC has made this smartphone rather light at a weight of 113g and included a 4 inch S LCD capacitive touchscreen that features a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 233ppi. The corning gorilla glass reinforcement ensures a scratch resistant surface.
HTC Windows Phone 8S is powered by 1GHz Krait Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset with Adreno 225 chipset and 512MB of RAM. The smartphone runs on Window Phone 8, but we can’t comment on the performance yet since the build included wasn’t finalized at the moment. However, we assume it would run seamlessly with the available configuration of this device. The internal storage is at 4GB with the option to expand using microSD card up to 32GB, unlike the HTC 8X. The optics rest at a 5MP camera with a single LED flash that can capture 720p HD videos at 30 frames per second. There is also a secondary camera in the front for video calls. Like its bigger brother, HTC 8S doesn’t feature 4G LTE connectivity, and 3G HSDPA connectivity is the only available option with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n for continuous connectivity. Bluetooth is also available although there is no indication on NFC. The battery is said to be at 1700mAh and we assume it would score a talk time of 6 to 8 hours.
Nokia Lumia 820 Review
Nokia Lumia 820 certainly looks like a budget smartphone, as opposed to the premium predecessor it has. This is basically because of Nokia’s decisions on the design of this smartphone. Nokia has abandoned their famous Unibody design in Lumia 820 which demotes it from the iconic design pattern possessed by Lumia 800. It has a rounded look with a limited number of ports and side buttons and users can choose the back plate they want for Lumia 820. There are various choices for the cover and one including support for Wireless charging, which is pretty cool. However, the glossy back plate can be prone to fingerprint as opposed to the matte back plate of Lumia 800. The ceramic volume rocker and the lock button had a nice tactile feedback we liked. Nokia has included a physical camera button on the side as well although it becomes unresponsive at times. This may well be accredited as a firmware problem because this smartphone still needs to be dusted and polished before been released to the market.
However, the internals of the device certainly compensates for the flows in the external casing. Nokia Lumia 820 is powered by 1.5GHz Krait Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM. It runs on the brand new Windows Phone 8 operating system which performs great in this device. Windows Phone 8 comes with the tile interface which was known previously as the Metro UI. The visual effects were rather appealing although when it comes to the number of apps available, Windows Phone 8 has a long way to catch up to Android or iOS. Let us hope Microsoft will find some ways to encourage developers to develop apps for Windows Phone devices, as well. Lumia 820 has 8GB of internal storage with the option to expand it using microSD card up to 32GB. Unfortunately, Nokia Lumia 820 doesn’t feature the Nokia PureView technology and features only an 8MP camera with autofocus and an aperture of f2.2 with dual LED flash. This camera can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 frames per second, which is an improvement. It also has a secondary VGA camera for video conferencing purposes.
Nokia Lumia 820 defines its connectivity with 4G LTE connectivity which enables you to experience a super-fast internet connection. It can also gracefully degrade to HSDPA when LTE connectivity isn’t available. Lumia 820 also has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n for continuous connectivity with Wi-Fi direct. It is somewhat on the hefty side of the spectrum having a weight of 160g, but Nokia has managed to keep it thin below the 10mm line scoring a thickness of 9.9mm. The 4.3 inch display panel doesn’t necessarily amaze the customers in any way for it only features a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 217ppi. The WVGA display places Lumia 820 in the old generation of smartphones which we really didn’t expect Nokia to do. It looks like a good display, but the AMOLED capacitive display just isn’t good enough to compete with the high end display panels out there. Nokia has included 1650mAh battery in Lumia 820, which they claim to have a talk time of 14 hours (in 2G mode).
A Brief Comparison Between HTC Windows Phone 8S and Nokia Lumia 820
• HTC Windows Phone 8S is powered by 1GHz Krait Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset with Adreno 225 GPU and 512MB of RAM while Nokia Lumia 820 is powered by 1.5GHz Krait Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM.
• HTC Windows Phone 8S has 4.0 inch S LCD capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 233ppi while Nokia Lumia 820 has 4.3 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display featuring a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 217ppi.
• HTC Windows Phone 8S has 5MP camera that can capture 720p HD videos at 30 fps while Nokia Lumia 820 has 8MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps.
• HTC Windows Phone 8S has 4GB of internal storage with the option to expand using microSD card while Nokia Lumia 820 has 8GB of internal storage with the option to expand using microSD card.
• HTC Windows Phone 8S only features 3G HSDPA connectivity while Nokia Lumia 820 features 4G LTE connectivity.
• HTC Windows Phone 8S is smaller, thicker but lighter (120.5 x 63mm / 10.3mm / 113g) compared to Nokia Lumia 820 (123.8 x 68.5mm / 9.9mm / 160g).
• HTC Windows Phone 8S has 1700mAh battery while Nokia Lumia 820 has 1650mAh battery.
Conclusion
Sometime it’s rather difficult to come in to a conclusion when we compare two budget smartphones, but in this case, it is rather eminent. Don’t get me wrong, both are bound to have the same performance matrices since they both have same architecture with somewhat overclocked processor and better memory in Nokia Lumia 820. Other than that, there are some features that differentiate HTC Windows Phone 8S from Nokia Lumia 820. For instance, the optics is better claimed in Nokia even though Lumia 820 doesn’t have PureView technology. Nokia Lumia 820 also features 4G LTE connectivity which pushes the HTC Windows Phone 8S back a generation. So our advice for you is to weigh your options and understand whether you would need 4G and better optics (Who wouldn’t?). Then wait for the respective vendors to release the prices and go for the one you prefer.