Alongside the Lumia 720, Nokia launched a new super-budget Windows Phone 8 device called the Lumia 520. Priced at just €139 (pre-tax), the Lumia 520 is a fourinch slab of colour,  with bright removable backs that can be swapped depending on your mood. It’s a chunky little beast, but doesn’t feel too heavy in the hand. he back pops off easily, giving you access to the battery and SIM/ memory card slots, and allowing you to swap to a whole new colour. 

                               The Lumia 520’s 1GHz processor is basic but does the job, keeping Windows Phone 8 running smoothly. The screen isn’t as vibrant as the Lumia 720’s, but it’s reasonably  crisp and bright and pretty good  for the cash. You get a capable five-megapixel camera that packs a Carl Zeiss lens, the same as the Lumia 920, and the Lumia 520 seemed to take decent low-light shots in our brief fiddle. 

                                 You get all of the great camera features too, such as Cinemagraph (which allows you to animate parts of a photo, with creepy results), but no front-facing lens. Expect a full review soon, with the Lumia 520 to hit UK stores in Q2.

The first new Lumia smartphone is the 720, a budget-friendly Windows Phone 8 device that will hit stores in Q2 for €249. The 4.3-inch Lumia 720 retains the classic curved body and full-glass front we saw on the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, but thankfully the heft and size are reminiscent of the Lumia 820’s well-weighted design, rather than  the Lumia 920’s bulky, incredibly cumbersome build. 

                           It feels great in the hand; just the right size to comfortably operate one-handed. We immediately drooled all over the colour-rich screen, which at first play seems to be just as sharp and vibrant as the Lumia 820’s. It’s a ClearBlack display, which means blacks look truly black,  rather than a dark shade of grey. It also allegedly gives great visibility in the sun, and we certainly  had no trouble reading text under the intense  MWC lighting. 

                   The Lumia 720’s 1GHz dual-core processor keeps things running smoothly, so zipping around Windows Phone 8 is a satisfying experience. Nokia’s excellent ‘Here’ suite is present as always, so you get the brilliant Music, Maps (now with augmented reality support, which throws places onto the screen as you wave the phone around, so you know exactly which direction to head in), Drive and Transit apps. 

                   Another highlight is the 6.7-megapixel camera rocking a Carl Zeiss lens. The f1.9 aperture is one of the largest found on any smartphone, which means the Lumia 720 pulls in plenty of light for shots in gloomy conditions. It seemed to do an admirable job at the Nokia stand, but we’ll need to find a dingy pub to properly test this out. 

                          The front-facing camera has a wide-angle lens which makes it easier to capture group shots. Rounding off the Lumia 720 features are 8GB of storage and a memory card slot, plus NFC support. You can also charge the Lumia 720 wirelessly, and Nokia launched a new wireless car dock that charges your phone as you use the Drive app.