Lumia 820 vs. Lumia 920 Spec Shootout: Nokia's Double Whammy

By Anu Passary | Sep 06, 2012 03:08 PM EDT

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With Finnish smartphone maker Nokia announcing two new Windows Phone 8 devices, Lumia 820 and Lumia 920, fans are in for a double treat.

The smartphones pack in several firsts like wireless charging and are touted as the next big thing. Here's a detailed look at the specs and features of both devices.

Display

The Lumia 820 sports a 4.3-inch AMOLED WVGA display with 800x480 pixels resolution. The Lumia 920, on the other hand, has a fractionally bigger 4.5-inch curved glass WXGA LCD display with 1280x768 pixels resolution. It boasts of PureMotion HD+, which has a superfast refresh rate and according to Nokia, "is better than HD resolution." The Lumia 920's touchscreen "detects bare skin and gloves" and allows the use of touchscreen even while wearing gloves. Nokia has also upgraded ClearBlack for both smartphones, which now uses polarizers to block sunlight and make the screen readable even outdoors.

Size and Weight

The Lumia 820 measures 123.8 mm x 68.5 mm x 9.9 mm, whereas the Lumia 920 is 130.3mm x 70.8mm x 10.7mm. At 160g, the Lumia 820 is considerably lighter than the 185g Lumia 920.

Processor and OS

Both smartphones feature a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Processor with 1GB of RAM and run on the Windows Phone 8 operating system.

Battery and Connectivity

A 1650mAH battery, with support for Qi wireless charging, will power the Lumia 820. By contrast, the Lumia 920 features a 2000mAh battery with Qi support, which Nokia claims is the biggest battery it has ever installed in a smartphone. The Lumia 820 will support up to 8 hours of 3G talk time and nearly 55 hours of music playback; the Lumia 920 will support up to 10 hours of 3G talktime and nearly 67 hours of music playback. Both Nokia phones will pack in wireless charging and will have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE, and NFC support.

Camera

The Lumia 820 features a front-facing VGA camera and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. By contrast, the Lumia 920 has a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera and an 8.7-megapixel rear-facing one with the much-touted PureView technology. Contrary to popular belief, PureView is not all about a high megapixel count; the software is what makes the technology so effective. The technology enables the smartphone to capture between five and ten times as much light, when compared to existing ones, which means that users need not resort to the flash mode to take clearer and brighter images.

Memory and Storage

The Lumia 820 has 8GB of on-board memory with an expandable memory option of up to 32GB via the microsSD card and 7GB of SkyDrive storage. On the other hand, the Lumia 920 packs in 32GB of internal storage, but unlike the Lumia 820 it does not have a microSD card slot. The Nokia logic is that a memory card slot would have compromised the smartphone's clean design.

"We started with the premise that we wanted an uncompromised physical form," stated Nokia's executive VP Kevin Shields. "To put an SD card slot in it would have defiled it." Shields also feels that a microSD card slot is not a necessity since "most people aren't using the storage in their phone, anyway." However, Lumia 920 fans need not be disappointed as the smartphone offers 7GB of SkyDrive storage.

Colors, Pricing, and Release

The Lumia 820 will include removable shells, which will allow users to swap the smartphone's back panel with several color options like red, yellow, grey, cyan, purple, white, and black; according to Shields, some covers will also support wireless charging. The Lumia 920 will come in five colors: yellow, red, white, grey, and black. Nokia is yet to disclose the pricing, carriers, and a release date for both smartphones.