The Nokia Lumia 820 may be overshadowed by the 920 but this Windows Phone 8 smartphone shouldn't be overlooked. See Group test: What's the best smartphone
It's about as tall as the iPhone 5 but a bit wider. It's also quite a bit thicker and weighs a hundred and 75g. We got used to the Lumia 820's weight but it seems chunky and dated compared to the slender competition these days.
A nod to Nokia's past is the revival of interchangeable rear covers, or 'shells', in various colours. Build quality is very good. Once the shell is clipped into place the entire device feels solid and robust.
The Lumia 820 may be a cheaper alternative to the 920 but the processor and memory remain the same with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor and a gig of RAM. We found performance to be smooth on the whole but some apps take a frustrating amount of time to load.
Storage is the first sign of cost cutting - there's just 8GB on board, but it does have a microSD slot to compensate.
By today's standards the 4.3in is relatively small. This is no problem but the resolution of 480 x 800 and the resulting pixel density of 217ppi leaves a lot to be desired. We love the fact that you can use the screen while wearing gloves, though.
The Lumia 820 is packed with features including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC and Qi wireless charging (as long as you use the correct shell). It also supports 4G LTE in the UK.
We like the dedicated camera button on the 820 but we were disappointed with the photos from the 8.7Mp snapper which had less detail and sharpness than photos from the Lumia 920 and other 8Mp phone cameras. However, video footage was smooth and detailed at Full HD resolution.
The Lumia 820 runs Windows Phone 8 but Nokia adds many of its own apps to improve the experience. There's the Nokia Drive satnav, Nokia Music and plenty of photography apps like Creative Studio and Cinemagraph.
We were pleased the 820's battery life. After 24 hours of use, it still had 40 percent remaining. The wireless charging feature means it's easy to keep the phone topped up as well.
Nokia's Lumia 820 has an attractive design but doesn't pack the punch we expect from a phone costing this much, with key areas such as the screen and camera letting it down.
Nokia Lumia 820 script
