Lumia range of devices became quite popular when they were launched and they come in all different colours, sizes and specs. The number of models of the Lumia are increasing year by year as first Nokia and now Microsoft look to consolidate on these Windows OS phones to increase their standing in the market. While flagships are the crowd attractions, the low income shoppers should not be forgotten and thus Microsoft this year launched the new Lumia 430 which is purely for the low budget spenders. We got our hands on this set and our thoughts are listed below:
Design:
The first thing that sort of put me off with regards to design was the color. Being so used to Black, White, Gold and some other darker shades of colors the florescent orange really did not sit well with me. Apart from that it’s a very lightweight device with only two hardware buttons and three touch buttons to navigate. The size of the device is quite small because of its 4 in screen.It has Headphone Jack and Micro-USB ports.
The other thing that sort of caught my eye was the way the back case is opened which I was told by a friend was how Lumia’s were designed. While my SIII has a small panel that comes off at the back, the Lumia full backside comes off like a case in itself. After removing the full orange case there was the space for both sims, SD card slot and the removable 1500 mAh battery.
Downside to this particular model is the color that we got which in reality is not really a big deal but also to note because it was so light, it gave me the feeling that I was holding a toy.
Performance:
Performance wise this device has 1.2 GHz dual core Snapdragon 200 processor. 8GB internal memory expandable via a memory card slot and 1 GB RAM. Quite sufficient for this type of device and considering its pricing we cannot expect more.
It has the Win 8.1 OS which means apps will be limited and software and UI will not give the Android style experience but this should not matter too much to a user unless this is their primary device. Also its slated to get the Windows 10 upgrade in the future so that might add a bit to the device but hardware specs may not be enough to handle.
It’s a 3G device which will put considerable strain on the low rated battery. Wireless is the standard 802.11 and Bluetooth is the latest 4.0.
Battery:
The battery stands at 1500mAh. It’s poor only because nowadays we are so used to having batteries in phones which are easily above 2000mAh even for phones the size of this one. But regardless I will say it is sufficient enough unless using 3G because that’s where the strain will be felt. Another upside is that it’s a removable battery so it can be changed but then again who changes a phone’s battery nowadays.
Camera and Sound:
Camera wise it’s got a 2MP back camera and a VGA front camera. It only means one thing and that this is a typical budget phone or a low end phone which most people might buy as a secondary or a transition phase phone whereby they want to replace a broken/lost/old phone.
VGA camera technology is almost dead and the fact that a phone like this has that technology is for me a big disadvantage.
Sound wise it has 2 speakers with the loudspeaker in the rear. The sound output was similar to that of the 640XL model and that because like with 640 even this phone does not have specialized audio unit from a 3rd party vendor. It’s stock Microsoft audio and while in a quiet room the output is loud, when we head out to a bustling area we might just miss our phone calls. Vibration also does not help too much because it’s not strong enough to get our attention.
Display:
The display specs are not eye catching in anyway. A 4in 480p screen is enough for the phone this size and considering the price range it’s selling in, you cannot expect to get flagship specs. There is not much to say about the display here since this is a low budget phone and obviously for better and higher specs you are well off to look for the other Lumia’s like the 1020 or even 640XL.
Downside is that they could have at least had 720p resolution.
Conclusion:
The price of this phone stands at approximately 300 Dhs. That should give any buyer an idea of the sort of specs and features that will come packed in this phone. Putting the price into perspective, I could well say that for 300Dhs this phone can hold its own against competition. If you want to give windows phone a try and probably use this as a stop gap solution to any budgeting or unforeseen circumstances that may prevent you from buying a fully loaded flagship then this can be considered.