Nokia Lumia 930 Review
by Brett Howse on September 8, 2014 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- Nokia
- Mobile
- windows phone
- Lumia
Software
Like the Lumia 630, the 930 ships with Lumia Cyan firmware, which adds a few additions to the phone. Unlike Android phones, there is no customization of the operating system itself, so in this section we will take a look at several of the unique Nokia apps as well as improvements to Windows Phone 8.1 since it launched a few months ago.
As with the Lumia 630, Cyan finally brings adjustable display brightness as well as advanced color profiles. In addition, the lock screen timeout can now be set to “never” which was not always possible on older Nokia Windows Phones.
You also get access to the excellent HERE branded navigation apps, with HERE Drive+ for driving, HERE Maps as a general navigation app, and HERE Transit for using public transportation. They are a great alternative to Google Maps, which, as with most Google services, do not exist as a first party app on Windows Phone.
SensorCore, explained in the Lumia 630 review, is a low power portion of the Snapdragon 800 SoC which allows the phone to act like a pedometer. At IFA 2014, Microsoft announced that SensorCore is going to expand its capabilities this fall as well with the addition of "Hey Cortana" passive activation of Windows Phone's digital assitant to bring it parity with "Ok, Google" on the Android platform.
Microsoft is in the middle of transitioning the Nokia branded apps to Lumia apps, which makes sense with the acquisition of Nokia a few months ago. One example is the Nokia Storyteller app, now rebranded Lumia Storyteller. Storyteller collects your photographs and groups them by date and location into videos set to music, similar to HTC’s highlights reel. It is a neat feature and it does a good job with the photos if you like that sort of thing.
Storyteller works in conjunction with the “capture living images” option in the camera settings. This setting makes the camera capture a short amount of video prior to each photo being taken. Then, when scrolling through your camera roll, the images will have a bit of movement to them. It is an interesting, if creepy effect. This setting does not affect the still photo itself and must be stored separate from the image. Here is a video from Nokia showing it in action.
If living images in your camera roll creep you out, you can disable them in the Nokia camera settings.
The latest version of Windows Phone also brought some changes that are worth mentioning. First, the browser has been enhanced to give a better mobile experience. It has certainly helped out with mobile sites, with the caveat that you will often be offered access to the iPhone app for a site. One thing that would still be a great addition to Windows Phone’s browser is a navigation button to jump to the top of the page. Hopefully this will come soon.
IE 11 old (left) IE 11 new (center) Safari (right)
The other major addition since Windows Phone 8.1 was launched is native folder support. Being Windows Phone, these folders would not be much good if they did not support the live tile nature of the operating system, so they are live folders. To create a folder, do a long tap on a live tile and then drag it over another live tile. Tap a folder to expand it, and tap again to close it up. It is fast, simple, and actually works really well.
Live Folder closed
Live Folder Open
In addition, Bluetooth is updated for PAN 1.0 profile, aptX codec support for A2DP, and browsing support for AVRCP are now supported. NTP was for some reason never supported in earlier versions of the OS, with Windows Phone instead relying on carriers providing the time over the cellular network. That is not ideal as not all carriers do this properly, and if you do not have a SIM in your phone your time must be set manually, and then it wipes it out every time you reboot. This obvious addition of NTP support rectifies these shortcomings. For a full list of the changes, please see this page.
It always seems like Windows Phone is behind a bit compared to other mobile platforms, but these incremental updates are a good step to closing that gap. There are quite a few behind the scenes changes as well for this update so if Microsoft wants to have any chance to catch up, this is important.
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ritwik - Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - link
I don't prefer windows phone, I personally feel android platform is goo enough for device. and I am pretty much happy with the way my Honor 6 is performing. It's just an amazing phone. http://goo.gl/4wojuWnuna12 - Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - link
I Lumia 930 with Windows Phone may be best seen, with a beautiful screen, great camera and video performance easily compete with the best Android phones out there. However, I wanted more from the application of the material, and the compatibility of its files is limited.Boogaloo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I couldn't help but notice that you included a result of 55 Mbps in your UDP wifi performance table for the Lumia 930. The reviewer that recorded that value (Brett Howse) was called out several times in the comments section of his review for his incompetence for testing wireless performance using a router that only supported 802.11n when benchmarking a device that supports 802.11ac, and even worse placing that result into a graph with phones that WERE benchmarked against an 802.11ac capable router. He then "corrected" the issue by adding a note to the graph (http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph8441/67571... that doesn't really fix anything. I don't understand how you can be in a position to write technical articles and reviews without understanding why this is fundamentally wrong.Anyway, apparently his erroneous metrics made it into the database of test results that you pull from despite the fact that it's completely unrepresentative of reality. Please either re-test the performance or just remove the result from your recorded metrics. I know nobody really cares about Windows Phone, but I honestly just expect better from anandtech.
chrisouth - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
I purchased a brand new Nokia Lumia 930 from Singtel Singapore on a contract. The phone would heat up during normal use (making phone calls, checking email, browsing internet, etc..) after two weeks the screen starting showing signs of heat damage.I would have expected a nokia phone to have lasted longer than two weeks!?
On the recommendation from the Singtel retail store I handed my phone into Nokia Singapore (Harbourfront) to be repaired under warranty. Although I would have really expected a replacement handset given that the phone was only 3 weeks old at this point. Apple seem to provide this service all through their warranty period.
After three weeks and I was still waiting for my phone to be repaired. I tried calling the service center over 20 times, yes over 20 times and with no reply. I also tried calling Nokia support and it is so automated that there is no option to talk to a person regarding my service request or just in general (it has now been changed). I also tried re-visiting the service center where I dropped off the phone and it had closed down! With a note to call Nokia AKA the same I tried before which is (was) useless to a human being.
When I did finally got hold of a Nokia rep over virtual chat, they were helpful in answering my questions and providing an update but with no real result. I was told that the service center are waiting on an important part to arrive but without a date when it might arrive.
Well it's now been over six weeks that Nokia Singapore has had my phone. Apparently the parts are still on their way and the delay is due to bulk shipping them... really? from where the moon???!
The Nokia rep was pretty much useless (again). In that he couldn't provide a timeframe or even escalate my call other than add a priority to the repair once the part(s) arrive, whenever that might be.
According to Nokia's own Limited Warranty, "During the warranty period, Manufacturer will, in a reasonable time, remedy the Defect free of charge by either repairing or replacing the defective Product or the defective part of it at its option provided that you have informed Manufacturer of the Defect before the warranty period expires." Anyone with an iodate of common sense would determine that 6 weeks for a phone repair is beyond a "reasonable time".
Surely it must be cheaper to just provide a replacement phone than ship parts over to Singapore??
I purchased this phone from Singtel and its just money wasted as far I'm concerned as what is the point on owning a phone without being able to use it?
Nokia Service in Singapore is absolutely atrocious and non-functioning, compounded with an unannounced service center closure I don't see a future for Nokia here.
Also given my recent experience this will be the last Nokia phone I'll be getting, back to HTC or even Samsung for me.
The whole experience has been utterly frustrating.
Shame on you Nokia.