Nokia Lumia 630 Review
by Brett Howse on July 22, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- Nokia
- Mobile
- windows phone
Final Words
Designing an affordable phone is always going to have compromises. In this case, Nokia has hit on some reasonable compromises but gone too far in others. The lack of a proximity sensor was something that I didn’t miss at all, and the phone has no issue relying on the touch screen to know if it’s against your face for a phone call. This worked flawlessly in my experience, so it was the right call. The lack of an ambient light sensor was too much for me though, as I’ve come to count on it for using a device outdoors.
Another such compromise was the 512 MB of RAM, which is definitely one that went too far. It limits a good chunk of the app store’s game library from being able to be installed at all, which is just not acceptable in 2014. But again the storage of only 8 GB is no problem at all due to the included microSD card being able to add another 128 GB if needed, and Windows Phone 8.1 supports SD cards better than any other mobile OS.
The display is yet another compromise. Here we have a display which is almost at the top of our charts for accuracy, yet has a lowly resolution of 854x480. The lack of Glance screen support is another knock against it especially when the 620 of last year did include this feature.
One thing that Nokia nailed though is both the size and design. A 4.5” phone is a nice fit in the hand, and doesn’t run into any of the issues larger screened devices do with one handed use or being able to fit in your pocket. The phone is also nice and light, and with a great feel to it. I love the texture of the polycarbonate for this model with its matte finish. It never felt like it was going to slip out of my hand. The colors, as usual with Lumia phones, have a great range from pedestrian black to eye popping orange.
Using the 630 as a daily driver for a couple of weeks wasn’t a bad experience, and that says a lot about a phone with a retail price of around $160. Unfortunately for me, I found the phone had compromises in certain areas that were just too painful and would be issues for everyone. The first is the display resolution, which is just too low for 2014 and a device of this size. The second is the lack of RAM, which compromises the Windows Phone experience by limiting the number of apps available in the store.
I’ll admit my expectations were high when I received this phone after a good experience with the 620, and they were not quite met. Going forward in time, we generally expect progress and there’s not a clear case of progress here. As a successor to the 520, it does fairly well, and with the price of the 630 it’s much closer to the initial price of the 520 than the 620. The device is certainly faster than last year’s model and that’s a good thing, but the loss of features like the ambient light sensor and dedicated camera button make for a phone that’s not always a pleasure to use. If you don’t do a lot of gaming on your mobile device, you can get by with the 630. It’s always difficult to get the compromise just right, and in this case I think it’s very close but comes up a bit short in a few key areas. Price isn’t one of them though, and once again you get a decent smartphone experience for not a lot of money, but it’s just not the clear upgrade I was hoping it would be.
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LiviuTM - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
Correction to correction: Page 7, actuallyYofa - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
riders fan?! ignore!Wolfpup - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
I've got an iPhone 5s, but I've gotten Nokia 520s for two people now. I love it, they love it. It's really a great phone, and like my iPhone, there's just something pleasurable about using it. It (like real Windows) also runs a lot faster than Android on comparable hardware.The biggest issue I have with Windows Phone right now is that like Android it's stuck getting OS updates from the carrier. Microsoft needs to switch to an Apple/Windows model of controlling the updates themselves. That said, at least so far even the 520 is getting every single update Microsoft does...which I guess still beats Android save for the Nexus devices.
My only complain with this 630 is the RAM. I realize hitting a $100 price point is kind of crazy, and the 520 runs fine, but still...1GB would definitely be the first upgrade I'd want for this.
Considering I still carry an iPod anyway, I'd seriously consider a Windows Phone for myself if my iPhone died, just because of the price, though I think I'd go with the 6" model.
Wolfpup - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
Forgot to mention...I do wonder about the CPU choice. Obviously it works (and as mentioned you can't compare iOS or Windows Phone or even real Windows to Android as Android requires much beefier hardware to get the same performance)...but I am curious about using a quad A7. A7 supposedly tries to get close to A9 performance with a smaller die area, but then Krait is already A9+. Not sure it makes sense to replace 2 Kraits with 4 A7s...but oh well, I'm sure it's fine!Scary how much faster Apple's Cyclone is than everything else. Right now it doesn't even matter...it's mostly overkill for a phone, but probably not for the iPad, and certainly not for a more OS X-like iPad...
rgba - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
In the HTC One mini 2 review, Anand mentioned that Cortex-A7 actually delivers slightly higher IPC than Krait 200. Considering that, quad A7 running at 1190 MHz is a clear improvement over dual Krait 200 @ 972 MHz.ruggia - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
Higher IPC is meaningless when A7 runs on thumb instructions and is In-order, as opposed to Krait which runs full armv7 and is out of orderextide - Thursday, July 24, 2014 - link
Not true, A7 runs the full ARMv7 ISA, not just thumb. The cortex M series chips run thumb, but ALL cortex A class cpu's run full ARM ISA's. (ARM7 in this case obviously, but the A5x cores run ARMv8).It is in order, and Krait is out of order, but IPC is very much NOT meaningless!
tuxRoller - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
I guess you missed this:The Lumia 630 handily beats the Moto G in memory performance, but the Moto G wins the rest of the tests. We’re still looking at a performance deficit for most tasks with Windows Phone 8.1 which is something Microsoft will need to work on going forward.
So. despite the Android VM deficit it still manages to at least keep up with, and generally surpass, win8.x. Can't wait till the new ART drops.
Flunk - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
"If you play a lot of games, avoid this device."If you play a lot of games, avoid Windows Phone. The selection is just not fantastic.
octonysa - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
Computer World blog says Google search banned from the 630 and 930. That kills this phone (IMO).