Nokia Lumia phones are a good comeback effort made by the mobile phone manufacturer under the umbrella of Microsoft Devices. Nokia has lost much ground to mobile phone manufacturers in the past, and the Nokia Lumia 830 is another effort to regain some of the lost ground in the smartphone industry. It positions the Lumia 830 as an affordable flagship with a sophisticated camera and powerful display. It takes on some direct rivals, such as Samsung with nifty new features and attractive options.
The Lumia 830 is a colorful handset series that comes with a selfie-obsessed 730. While many were not expecting the Lumia 830 to be the follow-up to the previous Lumia series, Microsoft shifts the attention in another direction. With the release of the Lumia 830, Microsoft intends to show mobile phone users that phones with great cameras don’t need to be excessively priced. The mid-range phone gets a 10-megapixel camera comes with built-in optical image stabilization that is lacked by most phones on the market nowadays.
Compared to the mini-Android series in the same price range, there are a host of reasons to opt for the Lumia 830. Above all, it’s a full-fledged phone with a 5-inch screen. It also has a sleek design and gives decent performance. It gets an OS upgrade, which means lesser lag time. This was direly needed in the Nokia Lumia series.
Design
In terms of look and feel, its closest match is the Lumia 930. At 8.5mm, it is just as thick as the 930 and retains the squared edges found in the 930. It may appear slightly heavier than most phones of similar sizes at 150g. But for its size, the weight seems to be just appropriate and feels solid in the hand.
The rear of the phone gets a smooth, curved plastic cover that is removable. The borders of the phone are of metal. Overall, the phone is very attractively designed and catches the attention of people around you.
In an effort to make the phone more affordable, Microsoft doesn’t offer full HD screen. However, the 1280 x 720 resolution seems sufficient for the 5-inch screen. It has an excellent display with rich colors and sharp text.
Keeping in line with Lumia’s luminous hues, the phone comes in several colorful options, including black, orange and green.
Under the chassis is a quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor powering the device. Compared to other modern smartphones, it clearly appears underpowered. But it still manages to deliver a decent performance even during heavy use.
Other features include 1GB of internal memory and up to 16GB of storage space with options of boosting storage to 128GB via memory card. The additional memory will come handy for users with multimedia needs.
It comes with some other useful features, such as the Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. There is the extra mics feature that enhances the quality of audio recording. It also gets wireless charging support, which is a plus even high-end phones lack.
Camera
This is where the phone actually grabs the attention of its users. It’s truly a commendable feat including a camera in a device of this size and price range. The Lumia 830 gets the thinnest OIS camera ever made by the company. The camera is powerful enough to give a serious threat to high-end mobile phones, such as iPhone 5S and Galaxy S5.
In its pre-release event at IFA2014, Microsoft directly compared the image quality of the 830 with the said competition. The same event attracted a number of mobile phone reviews of the Lumia 830 series. The results clearly established the camera features on the Lumia 830 one step ahead of its competitors.
It also gets intuitive post-photo features. For instance, its dynamic flash function allows you to turn the flash on or off after capturing an image. It basically takes two pictures, one with the flash on and the other with the flash off. It then allows you to get the perfect gradient by sliding between the two images. The results of this function are quite impressive.
Similarly, the Rich Capture mode is meant for capturing photos in poor lighting conditions. It takes two shots, one with low ISO and long exposure and the other with high ISO and short exposure. The two images can again be merged to make an ideal shot.
The Nokia phone also gets the latest Windows Phone 8.1 update, called the Lumia Denim. Thanks to this improvement, the camera takes less load time. There is also a dedicated shutter button that takes you directly from a locked screen to the camera app. The neat mode allows you to capture still images from a video.
With the selfie-mode getting more and more popular, the Lumia 830 gets a new Selfie Camera app. The app allows you to edit your face snaps. It also has an automatic capture mode with face detection. In this mode, the phone starts a countdown before capturing the photo.
Verdict
Considering its affordable price range, the Nokia Lumia 830 series seems all set to give a serious threat in terms of features and capabilities to some competitors. The phone is a real treat for camera-obsessed phone users. There are a number of new, useful features that will be welcomed by many users. Upgrading to the Lumia Denim is also a step in the right direction. The previous OS was known for causing lags that can be very upsetting for any smartphone user. But the Lumia 830 is faster and stronger than ever before. It’s actually very attractive too.
By all means, the Lumia 830 appears to be a good deal in Windows mobile phones. Compared to different ‘mini’ Android phones in the same price range, it gets a range of useful features that set it apart. Plus, it’s a full-sized phone. These are some of the many compelling reasons to choose the Nokia Lumia 830.
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