How the T-Mobile Lumia 810 differs from the Lumia 820

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

The T-Mobile-exclusive Lumia 810

With the announcement today by T-Mobile of the Lumia 810, the question that follows next regards differences between it and the Lumia 820.

At first glance you may think that these are the same phones just with a name change. But they are not.

While the “guts” and main features are overlapping, the physical design of the 810 is more “blocky” than the Lumia 820. In addition, the sizes of the devices are slightly different as well, with the T-Mobile 810 being a tad larger, but weighing 15 grams less.

Key differences between the Lumia 820 (L) and the T-Mobile Lumia 810 (R)

Finally, talk-time is also rated higher with the Lumia 810 boasting a 10.2 hour span versus the AT&T Lumia 820 at just 7.5 hours (both over 3G). That key difference is because the Lumia 810 has a larger battery (1800 mAh) than the AT&T Lumia 820 (1650 mAh).

Though subtle, the Lumia 820 (L) is different than the 810 (R)

Hopefully we’ll have more on the subtle design differences soon. But as far as we can see, Nokia is able to make minute adjustments their phone designs for carriers, giving each an “exclusive” device while not compromising in terms of appearance or features.

We predicted this to be the case in our earlier editorial where we speculate about Verizon's Lumia 822.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Executive Editor

Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.

112 Comments
  • The 810 looks a lot better in my opinion. Always thought the 820 was ugly but this is actually a sleek phone even without the traditional lumia design.
  • Have you seen the 820 in person? It is not ugly
  • This article fails to mention that the front camera has also been upgraded from the .3MP VGA on the 820 to a much better for Skype 1.2MP 720p HD camera. Personally I like the look of the 820 better, but I'll take the upgrades to the 810.
  • The 810 is better looking than the 820...but it's not the 920
  • +1
  • The 810 looks like a fatter version of the iPhone 5 with the bottom bezel of the Lumia 920.
  • +1
  • I have seen the 820 and 920 in person and trust me, the 820 is one of the best looking phones I have seen I prefered it to the 920 tbh, it fits great in hand and has a nice widness to it. Also the 3 capasative buttons are not too high (like you can see on the 810 picture).
  • And it looks a lot like rumored Microsoft surface Phone, we all hearing about. maybe it was Nokia 810 after all.
  • So now we need a 910 for T-Mobile. AT&T can have their exclusive, we can have the phone we want, and more people are happy.
  • Same here. Not sure it's real exclusive if it's just model # but let's see...
  • You know tmobile won't give that idea the time of day unfortunately.
  • Hopefully the same interchangeable backs for the 820 work for the 810, as that is a nice addition for the 820 and it would be economically in efficient to make them unique for the 810 as well.
  • I don't believe they are.
  • I doubt the same covers will work as on Lumia 820 they kind of rise above the screen. 
    Less so on this and the Lumia 810 is tiny bit thinner than 820. 
  • T moblie, Nokia and hopefully WPCentral ;) will sell Nokia accessories, but the 810 only has 2 back plates, a black and cyan, these ones can include wireless charging just like the 820
  • The phone is physically a different size and shape, there is no possiblity of the back covers being compatible. The T-Mobile version is taller and thicker. Not sure how it ended up weighing 15g less though.
  • Wrong, tmobile 910 is 0.1 mm thinner
  • Wrong, T-mobile 810 is 10.9mm vs AT&T 820 is 9.9mm, which would make it 1mm thicker: http://www.nokia.com/us-en/products/compare/?action=productcompareaction&site=85048&products=1871828-1811114&operation=show
  • The 810 is thicker, but it comes with the wireless charging shell standard, two of them actually. Using a wireless shell with the 820 adds 1mm to it's thickness, which would then make them equal in thickness.
  • Exactly, and both commenters are missing details... it's the length and width measurements that make it incompatible, not just the fact that 810 is 1mm thicker.
  • The nokia page is showing the same colors for the 810
  • The camera is a deal breaker for me. I want PureView at this point. Hoping T-Mobile will refarm their 3G network in my area in time for AT&T's launch of the 920. Otherwise, I might get the 810 until that happens.
  • I'm hoping the same thing but the 810 actually looks really good for us(T-Mobile). I have recently noticed now that in parts of Baltimore I'm starting to actually get 4g connectivity with my unlocked HTC Titan. Really cool.
  • From the WindowsPhone blog: "The Lumia 810 is an exclusive to T-Mobile. Inside you’ll get the similar specs as the Lumia 820 - 4.3” ClearBlack display and 8MP Carl Zeiss camera, etc. - but you’ll also get a 1.2MP wide-angle Skype HD certified front-facing camera that’s 720p video-capable, a long-lasting 1800mAh battery, and optimizations to make it screaming fast on T-Mobile’s 4G network."
    So, wide angle ff camera? Sexy :)
  • I hope Verizon gets the 910. I have friends on Verizon that want this phone.
  • What 910? :P
  • I do think that the 810 is prettier than the 820.
  • I think the L810 looks like a box and rather oldish looking. the L920 looks much fresher. then I'm not buying the L810 as a replacment for my 710.
  • It looks a lot like the prototype that was surfaced earlier. A lot like iPhone from front. Still like the way 820 looks over the new 810. It feels like there is excessive space below touch buttons. Did they really intent to design that way?!?!?!?
  • The extra space at the bottom will actually make it easier to type.
  • Like the Lumia 920 its because of the impressive large battery. The Lumia 920 has 2000 mah, and the Lumia 810 has 1800 mah.
  • Hmm... Am I alone in thinking the 820 is more attractive than the 810? I don't know, I kinda like the slightly rounded back and edges of the 820. The colorful shells have definitely got me as well. I'm glad the 810 is getting an option of a cyan back, though, because I wanted cyan all along.
  • On Nokia's page for the 810, it shows all the same color options, so perhaps you just have to order them online rather than out of the box?
     
    See comparison of the 810 and 820 with side by side specs:
     
    http://www.nokia.com/us-en/products/compare/?action=productcompareaction...
  • Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely be buying a few of those colorful shells.
  • No you are not alone
  • No your not alone, the person who commented 2 minutes before you agrees :P lol.. Me personally, I prefer the blocky 810, but then again I would need to see them in person to judge I think.. Its not just the look, its about what one fits better in your hand and is more comfortable to use too
  • Looks Nice!
  • ah nokia is back to its old selling ways....I remember the days of the 8820 on one network and the 8860 on another, and they were always different enough you couldn't interchange parts or batteries.
  • RIM does this as well and carriers loved them for it. It's a good strategy for the struggling company (not necessarily consumers, though if you like the subtle differences, then you do win).
  • How is this any different than what Samsung does?  THe Focus and Focus 2 were based on similar Galaxy devices, yet they had different batteries and had different shells (which mean different cases and other protectors.)
  • Well, these are being released at the same time and the focus 2 was actually the successor to the original focus. Kind of a big difference if you ask me. At any rate, this is awesome for Nokia, wp8, and most importantly the consumer.
  • Definitely had different shells, but the battery for Focus and Galaxy is the same. My wife has a Galaxy S and I am rocking a focus. We are able to swap batteries and still use both of our phones.
  • Actually the batteries were interchangable in the focus and the galaxy line. 
  • the 810 is the most beautiful phone i've seen! wow, if i lived in the US i know what phone i'd buy
  • Ok.. pumping money into NOK!
  • Bigger battery, slightly bigger  in height yet 15g lighter, how? This is a lovey, lovely phone. More streamlined than the 820 I'd say.
    Lucky T Mobile users!!!
  • All over looks like nice strategy
  • question PLEASE: is it sim/carrier locked?   Will it work on Vodafone Greece? Please?
  • Yea, the 810 looks A LOT better than the 820. If they designed the 920 similar to this, I'd be ready go for it.
  • I agree. That 810 may be the nicest looking wp8 phone yet. In fact, I would give it the edge over the 8x for sure and possibly the 8s. Amazing what a subtle change can do.
  • Am I the only one who thinks it looks like new iPhone?
  • No, you're not. It's also kinda funny to read the posts extolling the thinness and lightness of the 810.
  • I find it weird that people like the 810 better when the phone is bigger but with the same sized screen, meaning more bezel. Wider edges gives it an older design look in the day and age where people are looking for no edges on TVs even.
  • Joy. Even less case and accessory support due to a myriad of slight changes. One design makes it more worthwhile to an accessory maker to design items as there are more potential buyers. Sigh.
  • Well, to be honest, most midrange phones only have a couple accessories anyway. Don't see this as a huge hindrance.
  • The 810 is better than the 820.  It has an HD FFC vs VGA for 820 plus larger battery, plus according to Nokia's website the back shells come in the same colors as the 820 plus it comes with CORNING GORILLA GLASS!!!! which the 820 lacks.  I will be getting this phone on day one!!!
  • I think this just makes futher confirmation that VZW 822 is just the CDMA variant.  If it were actually different enough as WPcentral speculated it would have a different number in the 10s spot.
  • Son of a... I want Verizons to look more like the 810.
  • You mean you want a 812 and not a 822.
  • Plus, until Verizon makes there announcement, we won't know if they will get a customized 920. You never know.
  • The best thing about tmobile is they dont make an issue when one wants to sim unlock the phone thru them..unlike att which are a pain in the b@$# I say this coz i travel international a lot...this is good news!!!
  • I never had an issue with att. They have always unlocked it for me. I don't go to a store. I call the customer service.
  • Six months after I paid full price for my Lumia 900, AT&T is reluctant to unlock it for me.
  • I prefer the 820, it isn't big and bulky. Main reason I didn't want a 920 is because to me its too big, I like something more sleek.
  • i personally think this phone is better than the 820 the design is awesome. i dont think its iphony but deffinately professional looking.
  • Ok, I'm game for this. The 820 was my second choice (I'm getting a Nokia phone, period), and this is a superior offering to the 820. I was mostly hesitant about the 820 in the first place due to the FFC. I'm actually quite happy about this announcement!
  • Omg if the Verizon 922 or whatever looks better than the at&t 920, im gonna be pissed lol
    Watch it include sd-slot... -_-
  • Yea....no.
  • Please tell me the 810 has the super sensitive screen like the 820 and 920
  • 810 is not very different from 820. As it only change the name, and the design.
  • Man.. i'm confused now! lol.. I agree that the 810 looks a bit better. I would even consider getting it if it had a pure motion HD+ screen.
  • wow, from that angle the body is quite reminiscent of the iphone 5
  • Apple is done with their lawsuits, right?
  • The 810 also appears to have stereo speakers on the bottom which resemble the iphone 5 while the 820 appears to have a mono speaker to the right of the connector.  This 810 looks awesome!
  • good catch. let's hope that's the case and not just for design. 
  • I now forgive Nokia for making the Lumia 920 exclusive. The better battery is a huge win for people. Including me. I'll be happy to upgrade to it in due time. Im so happy about this. I hope it comes in different colors.
  • Though I feel both are an affront to the n9/Lumia 800 design, I think the 810 is much more pleasant.
  • I really like 810 design. Like, really.
  • It's no Lumia 920 ;( but I like the design better than 820 and I am a T-mo customer.
    I'm still hoping I can buy 920 unlocked and use it with T-mo HSPA (4G).
  • Any ideas where you can buy a 920 unlocked (of course upon official release)? My sis is with Tmobile too but she likes the 920 over 810. Is it confirmed that unlocked version can run on tmobile 3g? thanks
  • Same here. After using the L900 for 6months I cannot settle for anything less than the 920. I don't care about the cost but Im worried about the stubborn AT&T unwillingness to sim unlock the phone to be used on Tmobile.
  • Very nice, the 810
  • While this is very good news it's still not the 920.  However it looks like they are releasing different model numbers on different carriers with essentially the same specs.  I did a side by side comparrison, and it looks like it is taller and wider then the 820.  The talk time is rated almost 3 hours more then the 820.  So it sounds like either it's LTE pulling more juice, or they have a larger battery in the 810. What I'm really hopeful for is that this will bode well for getting a 920 variant on Verizon.  Did anyone else notice the branding on both the 820 and 810?  I thought Nokia was trying to put a stop to that.
  • Smart move to make a slight variation for different carriers. I like the 820 design (and 8x design) better myself but more options is always a good thing.
  • can it be that this model is what joe belfiore used on june the 20th. On the presentation. There was an blocky nokia device like this one. Does somebody remember???
  • I remember and it does look similar.
  • He said it was just a prototype unit or something like that. But I agree, it looks similar.
  • What a beautiful looking phone! Love the sleek look and industrial design.
  • Isn't it interesting how this phone sort of "snuck" in there without anyone really  knowing about it? Dan hinted at it, but even he wasn't this specific about the details of it. Much props Dan for really trying to quell the fires and see that there were other possibilities out there. It really makes you wonder what else Nokia has up their sleeves for Verizon.
  • Now I believe that there will be a 822, or a 922.
  • The FFC switched sides. That seems like a significant change.
  • Its a great looking phone but im not sure if it's enough to keep me from switching to Att and the 920. I mean is an extra 10 bucks a month for the 920 really all that much
  • I am very happy T-mobile gets the 810. Wonder what Verizon is going to get... Maybe 910?
    Great job Nokia!
  • Personally I love the 920 design. Love the curved back.
     
    This is good news, but I am also waiting to see if an unlocked 920 will work for T-Mobiles 4G network.
  • As a Tmo customer, I couldn't agree more. I'm just so disappointed about the 920 exculisivity! I'm hoping the unlocked version will work on the Tmo's 4G/HSPA+. I've never paid full price for a phone, but in this case, I might just do!
  • I don't see how anyone thinks the 810 design is better. The 820 blows it away.
     
    It's also missing a lot of specs that doesn't show on the nokia site like sensitive touch,
  • So no curve glass for the 810?
  • I wouldn't purchase either of them. The detachable skin makes the 820 look cheap and the 810 looks dated, but to each their own;-)
  • Either the Nokia site isn't fully updated with the specs for the 810, or it's missing a lot of stuff that the 820 has. I tend to suspect that they simply haven't updated the site. Regardless, with the specs that are available, a person who cares about tech would have to be nuts to lock in to this already outdated phone for 2 years. It looks like it won't even be LTE capable once tmo finishes rolling that out on their network. The screen is already outdated, and it is missing virtually all of the goodies in the 920. This phone is for mass consumers who don't really care about cutting edge technology. The 810 is the next-Gen edition of the 710, and the 710 is junk.
  • +1
  • No one said it was a flagship phone. Chill out.
  • I guess I just don't get the excitement over this middle of the road phone. And yeah, as a tmo customer who loves the WP operating system, and was looking forward to getting my hands on a true WP flagship device, I am a touch irritated over this announcement, which does nothing to salve the wound of the 920 exclusivity crap pulled by Nokia. Does tmo have a flagship option for WP this round? We don't know for sure if the Ativ is coming to the network, and the 8X could be a flagship device were it not for storage space which seems mighty limited for an otherwise awesome looking machine. I'll be happy once I make peace with not getting the 920 and once I fully embrace the 8X despite its 16gb of space. Until then, I think I'll bitch about Nokia a bit more. As I see it, they deserve it.
  • As far as Nokia deserving it, tmo chooses what phones they want
  • the 810 is the FIRST windows phone ever!.... it really looks almost like a live tile, cause it's almost 100% flat on every side! if the corners were not rounded it would be the most beautiful phone ever!
  • The shape and flat sides of the 810 looks too much like the iPhone 4/4s to me. I hope this doesn't open Nokia to being sued by Apple, you know the "rectangular with rounded corners" thing?
  • 810 looks much similar to the Microsoft surface phone render by a fan. It is sexy professional phone. Hope apple will not sue nokia coz it has similar block shape as of iPhone.
  • I'll take 810 please
  • What Tmobile needs is this with a 720p PureMotion HD+ Display, Gorilla Glass 2, Pureview Tech. But the. Acai. That will make it a 920....
  • Seems like t-mobile wants a iphone so bad they unconsciously made it look like a iphone wish the just keep the original design
  • I just hope that T-Mobile gets a 910 (similar to the 920) that is shape like the 810!  I like this alot; but the screen is only 800 x 480 or 221 pixels.   I have to wait for the reviews to see if I buy or not however.  
  • no need to wait for reviews of screen, the 810,820 and 900 all have pretty much the same display...the 810 and 820 supposedly have the next iteration of the clearblack technology to allow for better readability in bright conditions as well as super sensitive touch screens that allow you to use the screen with gloves, keys etc (well the 820 is confirmed to have this but I would guess the 810 has it too). So all you need to do is find a good review of a lumia 900 and check out the section describing the display. Hint - its a pretty damn good display.