Nokia Lumia 630 Review
by Brett Howse on July 22, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- Nokia
- Mobile
- windows phone
WiFi
The Wi-Fi department is decidedly lacking, with the Lumia 630 only supporting 802.11b/g/n, and only on the 2.4 GHz bands. While I personally prefer the range 2.4 GHz gives me, people in more congested areas have come to rely on 5 GHz for quality connections. It’s not surprising that this is cut it seems to be one of the first things to go once budgets are looked at. For the budget, I can understand why it was done.
Once again we’re bumping into the easy to cull features on an affordable smartphone. While the Lumia 630 is 802.11n, it has a single 2.4 GHz antennae which results in connection speeds that max out at 65 Mbps. With overhead, I have yet to see sustained speeds of over around 27 Mbps, though I’ve seen the occasional peak speeds of around 40 Mbps. Certainly not great but it gets the job done I suppose.
Cellular
The Lumia 630 utilizes the Qualcomm MSM8226 SoC, and is therefore limited to 21.1 Mbps HSPA+ speeds. If you want LTE, you need to go with the Lumia 635 which uses the MSM8926. The 8226 is definitely a known part at this point, with it being the heart of quite a few smartphones including the Moto G. Download speeds are right what you’d expect for a HSPA+ device. As always, these numbers are skewed by the current load on whatever cell site you are attached to, so keep that in mind. The theoretical maximum speed is never going to be reached.
GNSS
Again, with the Qualcomm silicon at the heart of this device, we’re working with well known, and well tested parts such as the GNSS. The Lumia 630 supports Cellular and Wi-Fi assist and supports GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou for location, and it locks quickly. Hopefully the days of poor location tracking are over.
Speaker
With just a single speaker on the back of the device, the Lumia 630 is not great for playing music. The quality of the sound is typical of most smartphones – tinny and very low dynamic range. The overall volume is decent though, assuming the speaker isn’t covered by your hand, which it normally would not be with the placement of the speaker grille.
For notifications, the speaker is adequate and provides ample volume so that you won’t miss a call or notification. The same can’t be said of the vibration mechanism. It’s too weak, and if the phone is on vibrate and in your pocket, it is very easy to miss a notification.
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cashnmillions - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
I have the 635 after having an HTC DNA and then a Google Nexus 5. So far the phone has grown on me, there are definitely fewer features than some of those Android phones. Win Phone 8.1 takes a bit getting used to. It is simple though and runs pretty smooth. The thing I probably like the most is the size and feel of the phone when you hold it. I will probably switch back to android though in the next year and probably will get a compact or mini version of one of the bigger phones like the Xperia Z1 or S5.Alexvrb - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
A lot of the mini versions are gimped in terms of specs. Sony is usually better about that than most. Nokia has some good small phones that are higher end than the 6xx series. There's also talk of a 1520 V (smaller version) that might be good those those looking for something compact. Personally I'd be more interested in the 1820.kyuu - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
Thanks for the review, Brett. It's great to see real Windows Phone coverage return to Ars. I only wish there were some flagship phones to review. Newest one is the Lumia 930, and that's not even available in the US market.Oh how I wish they'd release a successor to the 1020. Hell, they could use the exact same camera module and it'd still be a winner. Just modernize the rest of the phone and address the 1020's chief shortcomings (white balance problems and lack of mSD).
Gunbuster - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
The really bizarre thing is they have done a ton of marketing for the 1020 in the past few weeks. It's like no one told them the phone has been out for over 6 months and is soon to be discontinued...skiboysteve - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
return to ars?kyuu - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
Yes...? Unless my memory is completely out of whack (which isn't a possibility I ever discount), Ars hasn't had any real reviews of Windows Phone hardware/software since the initial review of WP8 and the HTC 8X. Note that pipeline articles don't fall under my definition of "real reviews".noblemo - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
This is AnandTech.hahmed330 - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
This is a downgrade from nearly every aspect... Rather cough up 20$ extra buy a Moto G and not be this cheap... Only thing good I can say is well great reviewVengenceIsMine - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
In spite of the #, this isn't really a sequel to the 620, significantly lower price point. If this thing was at $150 or better $129 then it's a solid phone for the $ but it's currently overpriced. I expect it to drop soon much like the 520 did, that thing came out at $129 but was under $99 within 3 months of release practically everywhere & often below that.512mb is definitely the weak point in this phone, kind of unforgivable and short sighted, hopefully now that MS has control they will but a stop to the 512 mb madness. Screen res is ok and performance is actually pretty good for the price point and Lumias are generally pretty well built vs competition in these cheaper market segments.
Microsoft has to wake up and stop paying $ for Qualcomm in this market segment & get onboard with a cheaper SOC like MediaTek and spend the $ on ambient light sensor and extra RAM.
jimjamjamie - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
I thought the 630 was a pretty conservative configuration for Nokisoft. If you compare it to the Nokia X2, the X2 beats it soundly and for a better price. Funnily enough it's only for select markets.