Nokia Lumia 620

G-Rating

Rating of 5

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The basics

With the Nokia Lumia 620, Windows Phone 8 is heading downmarket. No longer just the domain of flagship phones with giant HD screens and pricetags to match, you can now get Microsoft’s latest and greatest on a charming little phone with a 3.8-inch screen that costs just £150. If you’re stuck firmly with pay as you go, is this your next upgrade? Let’s find out.

The good

Cheap phones need cheap materials - but Nokia’s managed to use them to its advantage. The robust Nokia Lumia 620 is a cracking piece of hardware that succeeds because it goes against the flow. It’s not especially thin, so Nokia gave it a curved shape with a flat top that disguises this. It’s made of plastic, so Nokia gives you a range of different, beautifully coloured shells to snap on.

You can tell Nokia’s put some serious thought into the Lumia 620’s design, from the positioning of the power button to the fact that the changeable covers have the headphone jack built into them so it won’t break when you switch. And though the 3.8-inch screen is small, it’s sharp, easy to use one handed, and seems to take up most of the front face because it’s placed so close to the top edge.

The 620’s predecessor, the Lumia 610, sadly ran a crippled version of Windows Phone which couldn’t cope with all apps and games on the Windows store. No such problems for the Nokia Lumia 620, which runs full fat Windows Phone 8, and can do almost anything its bigger brothers, the 820 and 920 can - including video chat via a front facing camera.

Windows Phone’s easy to use live tile screen and People hub meanwhile are a perfect fit for first time smartphone owners, letting you see what your friends are saying and get up to date info without the complications of setting up widgets on an Android homescreen. Nokia’s excellent services on top of this - free satnav with Nokia Drive, free tune streaming with Nokia Music - are the icing on the cake. This is the perfect, no-fuss, My First Smartphone.

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The bad

You probably don’t need us to tell you this, but when the price is this low, the camera’s not great. The mediocre five megapixel snapper on the back is a far cry from the amazing PureView sensor on the top of the line Nokia Lumia 920. But you expected that, right? There’s also the issue of apps for Windows Phone 8. While many services are covered in one form or another these days - save for Instagram - Windows Phone isn’t a top priority for many developers - updates are infrequent, ports slow to arrive. It’s not a platform that can do everything, where iOS and Android can be. Let’s put this in context though. If you’re paying this little - and you can bet the cost will fall even further - your options are limited. iPhones don’t come cheap, so that leaves Android - and all those £50 bargain bin Google blowers are garbage, with out of date software, tiny screens and achingly slow processors. By contrast, Windows Phone is a breath of fresh air. We’ve gone over Windows Phone 8’s problems before (Internet Explorer’s fiddly, multi-tasking even more so), but they simply don’t seem to matter on a phone of this size, and a phone of this price. On the dual-core 1GHz processor, Windows Phone never ever stalls, and Microsoft’ proved extremely good at delivering software updates so you can bet the Lumia 620 will stay on the cutting edge for a while, unlike that crusty little Samsung which has never even come close.

The bottom line

It’s rare that a Windows Phone blows us away, but the Nokia Lumia 620’s done it. Put simply, this is the best budget smartphone we’ve ever tested. All of Windows Phone 8’s problems melt away in the face of such a low pricetag. Between the superb build quality and Nokia’s rock solid app suite, this is simply the best option if you want apps without breaking the bank - by a very, very long way. The Nokia Lumia 620 is available to buy now on Three

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