We know that many people fell in love the very first time they saw the Nokia Lumia 820.

What was it that captured your heart? Was it the beautifully sleek design or was it the versatility of wireless charging with the changeable shells? Or maybe it was Nokia’s peerless suite of location-based apps?

More likely, it is the complete package that makes the Nokia Lumia 820 such an attractive smartphone.

However, just like in any special relationship, you will want to know all about each other at the beginning. So, in that spirit, here are some tips to help you make the most of your Lumia 820.

First impressions

The Nokia Lumia 820 runs on the brand new Windows Phone 8 operating system and offers you a rich, fast, personal and fully connected user experience straight out of the box.

When you first turn on your device, you can set your location and time zone and sign into your Windows Live account as usual. As it comes packed with Nokia Maps, Nokia Music, and great new apps on the home screen, it might take a few moments to get started.

So be patient on the first installation before you continue. Very good things are coming your way… Once complete, just enjoy your new Lumia 820.

The changeable shells

One of the best things about the changeable shell on the Nokia Lumia 820 is that it doesn’t actually look like a changeable shell. Instead, and from every angle, it looks like one uniform piece of engineering.

In addition to pretty colours to choose from, there are different shells for different purposes.

One shell integrates wireless charging into your Lumia 820 and there is also a protective shell that keeps your phone safe and secure even in the toughest conditions.

Whether you are going for a new colour or putting on the wireless charging shell, your hands are the only tool you’ll need and should use. Here’s the easiest way to do it.

4G/LTE at home and abroad

The Lumia 820 is equipped to take advantage of the superfast data speeds that the operators are introducing on new 4G/LTE networks . If your operator already supports the 4G/LTE networks, just enjoy the ride. When travelling, it is recommended that you change the setting from 4G to 3G as international roaming may not yet be supported on these new generation networks. To change the network setting on the Lumia 820 from 4G to 3G, go to Settings, tap ‘Cellular’ or ‘mobile network’, and ‘highest connection speed’ and choose ‘3G’.

If you are with an operator that has yet to roll out its 4G/LTE network, you can use the fastest available network speeds, like 3G, instead. Even on 3G, you will still be able to experience excellent data speeds on your Lumia 820 because of the mighty Snapdragon S4 processor and the responsiveness of Windows Phone 8. Once a 4G/LTE network is available to you, Nokia will be able to update your phone to benefit the fastest available network speeds.

Navigation

We are very proud of Nokia’s exploration and navigation apps and, of course, now our Location platform is powering the whole of the Windows Phone 8 ecosystem. With Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive+, Nokia Transport and Nokia City Lens, the Nokia location services represent an amazingly comprehensive, integrated mapping experience.

With the latest addition to the palette, the Nokia City Lens, you have a whole new way of exploring your world. Point the camera at a city street, look at the viewfinder and see what’s around: restaurants, shops, museums or other places of interest – overlaid onto the live image.

One of the central pillars of this is Nokia Drive+, which gives you free, turn-by-turn voice guided navigation. While we are putting the final touches on Nokia Drive+, you can already hit the road with the beta version. Just be sure to download the latest maps for free before you travel. That way you never have to think twice about coverage or data connectivity: Nokia Drive+ will be there for you, even if reception isn’t. Full offline support will help you save costs when travelling abroad too.

Not only can you use the Nokia Drive+ when your Lumia 820 is offline, but you can also get the speed limit warnings, even after the active navigation has finished. Alternatively, if you don’t want to receive the warnings after ending navigation, just press the back key to exit the application.

Imaging

The Nokia Lumia 820 gives you an enhanced imaging experience through a new function called Lenses.

For example, Nokia Smart Shoot enables you to take multiple photos with a single click so that you can edit effortlessly to make the perfect picture. Meanwhile, Cinemagraph lets you create pictures with movement. Get ready to have even more fun when taking pictures!

The Lumia 820 takes great videos. By saving your videos to the Lumia’s internal memory you can improve video performance. Keeping your films short will make it faster to transfer the files onto other devices. You can also use SkyDrive to upload video files from your Lumia 820 and to view them from other devices, like your PC.

So, your Lumia’s internal memory and free 7GB on SkyDrive are the best ways of storing and uploading large video files. However, you can also choose to use external SD cards – in this case, and to ensure the best results, we recommend using faster cards (random write performance) that are made by reputable manufacturers.

These are just some simple tips to help you get started with your Nokia Lumia 820. We’re confident that it will be the start of something beautiful!

For more tips and tricks, take a look at the product support pages.