Nokia Lumia 830 Review
by Brett Howse on November 25, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- Lumia
Final Words
When the Lumia 830 launched as an “affordable flagship” at IFA 2014, I thought it would be just another midrange phone. But the Lumia 830 has some great features that make it feel like a flagship. The device has a premium feel in-hand, and is much nicer to carry and hold than the actual 930 flagship due to the thickness of the device. It is reasonably light, and keeps the distinctive Lumia polycarbonate back. A real bonus over the 930 is that the back is removable as well, which also allows the device to more easily gain microSD support, which it has.
But the SoC inside the Lumia 830 can detract from the flagship feel. Windows Phone has always had great support for low end phones, so the Snapdragon 400 has no issues with basic animations. It is when you launch apps and do work inside of apps where you can see it struggling for performance. My biggest complaint with the Lumia 830 is that it is too slow to be marketed where it is. There is a huge chasm in performance between the low end Lumias (530, 630, 730, 830) and the high end Lumias (930, 1520). It would be nice to see a progression in speed at some point in the lineup but it is just not there. The SoC does not cripple this device in any way, but after using the Lumia 930 for a while it sure shows that Cortex A7 at 1.2 GHz is pretty pokey.
But the package as a whole is very good if you can overlook the couple of extra seconds it takes to open Skype. The fit and finish of this device is right up there with the high end Lumia phones despite the removable back. It takes a bit of work to get it snapped on, but once it is there it has no flex or creaking of any kind. The camera on the Lumia 830, although a far cry from the 930 and 1020 as far as pure performance, is quite good and has decent low light performance due to the OIS.
I am a bit surprised how much I do like the 830 overall, despite the SoC. The combination of the metal band, a thin chassis, a light weight, a decent display, and a decent camera make for a phone that is very good for the right price.
And with the price we get to the crux of the issue. The Lumia 830 is a great phone for the right price, but it seems that the pricing for it is too high for most locations. As an on-contract phone, the Lumia 830 needs to be at or around $0 on contract. AT&T has it for $99 on contract, which is simply too much for this device. In Canada, it is a different story though with the 830 being $0 on a 2-year contract from all carriers. For an outright price, we are seeing some pretty powerful phones coming in at or around the $400 mark where the 830 is around. Once again, AT&T is a bit higher, but this device needs to be around $350 or so. It has a premium feel, but clearly there were some corners cut so the price should reflect this more.
If you are looking for a midrange Windows Phone today though, the Lumia 830 is certainly one you want to check out.
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TheFlyingSquirrel - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
The phone would have been so much more compelling if this came out last year or even more 1st half of the year before the newer Qualcomm chips started showing up in mid-range devices.PubFiction - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
You can pretty much chalk up almost every windows phone to this same statement, would have been good if it was 6 months to a year earlier. They seriously cannot expect to do anything with their last place priority for phone development.tralalalalalala40 - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
It's silly to mention megapixels when comparing cameras. By eye, a camera would have to be 4*8= 32 mp to be obviously better than an 8mp camera. What matters is more is sensor size/light intake/signal to noise/etc which has nothing to do with mp. (hint, 1080p is less than 2 megapixels...)ToTTenTranz - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I don't think Qualcomm sells the Snapdragon 600 in large quantities anymore, probably because the final price ended up too close to the Snapdragon 800/801, since it required an external baseband processor. My guess is the FireTV is the last "new" device getting those chips, as it doesn't need the extra baseband processor.I understand that getting the S610 could be too early for this Lumia 830. Though it's harder to understand why they didn't use the S410, since there are already lots of devices on the market using it and it's quite a bit faster than the old S400.
This makes me think that the Lumia division is still suffering from the same "inertial" problems as the old Nokia. This model would've made total sense during last year when the Moto G was reigning over the mid-end market.
Drumsticks - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I thought that the 830 was too early for S610 as well, but it's already available/shipping in several HTC Phones (their desire line or something?) and presumably some other OEMs as well.cheshirster - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
What is the point in S410? It is not faster.S600 is older then first gen WP8 phones( 920 and 820). Imagine Nexus 4 battery life tests instead of actual L830 numbers and you will understand why it has S400.
simard57 - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I recently swapped my original Moto X for a Lumia 830. The X was my third Android phone and this is my 1st Windows Phone. I am pleased with the 830 and feel it gives me a longer time between charges than my X did. Having a replaceable battery is a nice perq as well.One "issue" I have stuggled with is a way to import my google favorites from google Map. I exported the favorites into a KML file and was able to import them into www.bing.com/maps but regrettably, the web Bing Maps do not sync with Windows Phone Maps or Windows 8.1 Maps. I googled it and learned that Phone Maps syncs with Windows 8.1 Maps - and it does BUT there is no apparent way to import a KML file (or any file) into the Windows MAPS or Phone MAPS program. Please do not tell my I have to manually enter each of the entries!
What's up with that Microsoft? This IS a required feature!!!
cheshirster - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
Phone maps sync with here.com. Maybe this would help.simard57 - Monday, December 1, 2014 - link
is there a way to move my location library from the Google ecosystem into the Microsoft one?I will keep looking - but I do not see a way to import KML or any file into here.com
simard57 - Monday, December 1, 2014 - link
also - does here.com sync with windows 8.1 maps?sure feels like the maps situation in the Microsoft ecosystem is bit fragmented.