Nokia Lumia 720: A Windows Phone with Carl Zeiss and wireless charging
The Nokia Lumia 720 arrived in early 2013 as one of the slimmest unibody smartphones Nokia had ever produced, slotting comfortably into the mid-range segment of the Windows Phone lineup. With a 4.3-inch ClearBlack display, a 6.7-megapixel camera bearing the famous Carl Zeiss name, and built-in support for Qi wireless charging, the device offered a feature set that punched above its asking price. For buyers in Australia looking for something different from the dominant Android ecosystem, the Lumia 720 provided a refreshing alternative wrapped in colourful polycarbonate.
Announced at Mobile World Congress in February 2013 and rolled out across Asia, Europe, and Oceania in the following months, the handset targeted style-conscious users who wanted premium touches without paying flagship prices. While our site has historically focused on releases from the Indian market, the Lumia 720's arrival in Australia through Telstra and Optus stores gave local shoppers a unique chance to experience Microsoft's mobile platform in a slim, well-built package. The phone stood out not just for its specifications but for the thoughtful design choices that made daily use genuinely pleasant.
Design and build quality
The Lumia 720 weighed just 128 grams and measured 9 millimetres thick, making it one of the thinnest phones Nokia had ever crafted at the time. Its polycarbonate unibody shell felt solid in the hand, with the kind of reassuring rigidity that plastic-bodied competitors often struggled to match. Colours played a big role in the phone's identity, with Nokia offering the device in glossy white, matte black, red, cyan, and yellow finishes that caught the light beautifully on a sunny afternoon in Sydney or Melbourne.
The 4.3-inch screen size struck a balance that suited many users in Australia who wanted a phone large enough for maps and web browsing but compact enough to slip into a pocket during a trip to Bondi Beach or a hike in the Blue Mountains. Curved edges along the sides gave the Lumia 720 a friendly appearance, while the ceramic-like finish on certain colour variants resisted fingerprints better than the glossy alternatives. Physical buttons for volume, power, and camera sat on the right edge with satisfying tactile feedback, and the micro-SIM tray was tucked neatly into the top of the frame.
Display and visual experience
The ClearBlack AMOLED display measured 4.3 inches diagonally and ran at a resolution of 480 by 800 pixels, producing a pixel density of around 217 pixels per inch. While those numbers might sound modest by modern standards, the technology behind the screen delivered genuinely impressive blacks and excellent sunlight readability, which Australians enjoying outdoor barbecues or cricket matches would have appreciated. Nokia's ClearBlack polarising layer reduced glare significantly, making the Lumia 720 easier to read in bright conditions than many of its LCD-equipped rivals.
Colours appeared saturated without looking cartoonish, a hallmark of well-tuned AMOLED panels, and the display responded quickly to touches even with light gloves on during a chilly winter morning in Hobart. Gorilla Glass 2 protected the surface from scratches, and Nokia included a super-sensitive touch mode that allowed users to operate the screen with fingernails or capacitive styluses. Watching short videos, scrolling through photos taken at a weekend market in Fremantle, or navigating with HERE Maps all felt smooth and visually engaging on this display.
Camera performance with Carl Zeiss optics
The rear-facing camera carried a 6.7-megapixel sensor paired with a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, a collaboration that gave the Lumia 720 one of the most capable shooters in its price bracket. The f/1.9 aperture was unusually wide for a mid-range device, allowing more light to reach the sensor and producing brighter images in dim environments such as a candlelit dinner in Adelaide or a late-night gig in Brisbane. Nokia also included its own imaging apps, such as Cinemagraph and Smart Shoot, which added creative tools that stock camera applications often lacked.
Sample images showed accurate colour reproduction and pleasing sharpness in daylight, while low-light performance benefited from the bright lens and a proper xenon flash rather than a single LED. Video recording topped out at 720p at 30 frames per second, which was adequate for casual clips but fell short of the 1080p capture offered by some Android contemporaries. The front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera handled video calls and the occasional selfie adequately, and the wide-angle lens made group shots easier to frame.
Performance and software
Under the hood, the Lumia 720 ran on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset with a 1GHz dual-core Krait processor and an Adreno 305 GPU. Paired with 512MB of RAM, this combination delivered the kind of fluid experience that Windows Phone had become known for, thanks largely to the operating system's lighter multitasking demands compared with Android of the same era. Apps opened quickly, transitions felt snappy, and the Windows Phone 8 interface scrolled smoothly through the Live Tiles on the home screen.
The Windows Phone Store offered the essential apps most Australians needed in 2013, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and HERE Maps with offline navigation. Banking apps and some local services took longer to arrive on the platform, which remained a sticking point for potential buyers weighing their options. For users who primarily needed messaging, email, social networking, photography, and reliable navigation, the Lumia 720 covered the bases competently. Those curious about how Windows Phone stacked up against competing ecosystems can explore our Android coverage for broader context.
Wireless charging and battery life
One of the Lumia 720's standout features was its built-in support for Qi wireless charging, a convenience rarely found at this price point in 2013. Placing the phone on a compatible charging pad on a bedside table in Perth or a kitchen bench in Canberra eliminated the need to fiddle with cables each evening. The technology operated at a modest charging rate, but for overnight top-ups the convenience easily outweighed any speed penalty. Nokia sold matching wireless charging pads in matching colours, and third-party options from brands like Energizer and Nokia's own accessories line became widely available across Australian electronics retailers.
The 2000mAh battery delivered respectable endurance, comfortably lasting a full day of moderate use including calls, messaging, photography, and some video streaming. Standby performance was particularly strong, thanks partly to the AMOLED screen's ability to disable individual pixels when displaying black backgrounds in the Windows Phone interface. Heavy users who streamed music during long commutes or relied on GPS navigation across regional roads in the Northern Territory would still find themselves reaching for a charger by late evening, but the wireless charging option meant topping up at a café or airport lounge became effortless.
Connectivity and storage
The Lumia 720 supported quad-band GSM and HSPA+ networks, with theoretical download speeds of up to 21Mbps on supported 3G connections. Telstra's 3G coverage across regional Australia made this a practical handset for travellers heading inland, although LTE support was absent on this particular model. NFC capability opened the door to contactless pairing with accessories like the Nokia Luna Bluetooth headset and to early mobile payment experiments that were beginning to emerge in the Australian market.
Internal storage sat at 8GB, which filled up quickly once users installed a handful of games, captured a few videos, and downloaded offline maps. A microSD card slot accepting cards up to 64GB solved this limitation, and HERE Maps freely downloaded Australian state maps for offline navigation across wide stretches of outback road. Wi-Fi followed 802.11 a/b/g/n standards with Bluetooth 3.0 handling wireless audio and accessories, and a micro-USB port handled wired charging and data transfer.
Pricing and market position
At launch, the Nokia Lumia 720 carried a recommended retail price of around AUD 399 outright in Australia, putting it firmly in mid-range territory. Carrier-subsidised plans through Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone brought the upfront cost down considerably, with monthly contracts starting from around AUD 35 on a mid-tier plan. Buyers comparing the Lumia 720 against Android alternatives like the HTC Desire 600 needed to weigh operating system preferences alongside hardware features, since the two ecosystems offered very different app experiences.
The Lumia 720 competed with devices like the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, the HTC One S, and the Sony Xperia P, all of which offered different strengths in design, camera capability, or processing power. Where the Lumia 720 truly stood out was in its combination of wireless charging, Carl Zeiss optics, and a premium unibody build at a price below the flagship tier.
| Feature | Nokia Lumia 720 | Samsung Galaxy S3 mini | HTC One S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 4.3-inch AMOLED, 480 x 800 | 4.0-inch Super AMOLED, 480 x 800 | 4.3-inch Super AMOLED, 540 x 960 |
| Processor | Snapdragon S4 Plus, dual-core 1GHz | NovaThor U8420, dual-core 1GHz | Snapdragon S3, dual-core 1.5GHz |
| RAM | 512MB | 1GB | 1GB |
| Rear camera | 6.7MP, Carl Zeiss, f/1.9 | 5MP, f/2.6 | 8MP, f/2.0 |
| Battery | 2000mAh, removable | 1500mAh, removable | 1650mAh, non-removable |
| Wireless charging | Yes (Qi built-in) | No | No |
| Storage | 8GB + microSD up to 64GB | 8/16GB + microSD up to 32GB | 16GB, no microSD |
| OS at launch | Windows Phone 8 | Android 4.1 Jelly Bean | Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich |
| Approx. AUD price | AUD 399 | AUD 349 | AUD 449 |
Looking back, the Nokia Lumia 720 represented a thoughtful blend of style, imaging capability, and convenience that deserved more attention than it received in the Australian market. Its wireless charging and Carl Zeiss optics delivered genuine premium experiences at a mid-range price, and the unibody design held up remarkably well over years of daily use. For readers who owned one of these devices or who remember considering it back in 2013, the Lumia 720 remains a worthy reminder of what Nokia could achieve when hardware craftsmanship met the right software partner. Share your memories of the Lumia 720 in the comments below and tag fellow owners who still cherish this mid-range classic. Subscribe to our newsletter for more deep dives into the smartphones that defined the early 2010s, and bookmark the site as we revisit other forgotten favourites from that era of mobile innovation.