HTC Windows Phone 8S review

The phone doesn’t have a huge amount of room for apps, anyway, as there’s just 4GB of storage built in, compared to 8GB on the Lumia 620. There is a microSD card slot for further expansion, however. Unlike on Nokia’s handsets, you don’t get Nokia’s superb free app suite, with its useful free offline navigation and music apps. Instead, you get the HTC app, which gives you weather, stocks and news, a converter app, a flashlight and a photo enhancer app, which adds effects to your photos. It’s not a patch on Nokia’s offering, unfortunately.

The 8S’s 5-megapixel camera produces detailed daylight shots

One area where the HTC 8S pulls ahead of the Lumia 620 is its camera. It’s a five-megapixel model, and we found it captured significantly more detail in outdoor shots, with far less obvious noise reduction. However, we found it harder to capture sharp shots under indoor lighting than on Nokia’s handset.

Before the Lumia 620 came along, we were preparing to give the HTC Windows Phone 8S a Budget Buy award, thanks to its pleasing design, good camera and low SIM-free price. However, Nokia’s Lumia 620 just edges ahead thanks to its more fun design and excellent free apps.