Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
NO SOONER THAN announcing three new smartphones at IFA a few weeks ago, the smartphones Nokia announced back in April have been slowly making their way into stores now and already have competition.
Alongside the Lumia 930, the Nokia Lumia 530 was one of the last Nokia devices the company announced in April before Microsoft completed the takeover of its handset division.
While the Lumia 930 was a great high-end smartphone, does the Lumia 530 do the same for those on a budget?
Unique selling features
- It’s incredibly cheap, you will pay €99 at most.
- Sturdy frame despite using a plastic backing.
- Comes with Windows Phone 8.1, with a few small changes.
Look and feel
Unlike most of its other smartphones, Nokia has gone for a plastic backing to keep its battery safe. This isn’t a bad thing by any means – the phone is still quite sturdy – but the rounded corners and plastic backing means it almost feels like you’re holding a bar of soap in your hands.
It won’t slip out of your hands, but you almost feel that it will if you get careless, and makes you wish it went for the rubber or steel casing that other Lumia phones have.
Hardware and software
Since this is a budget smartphone, it’s obvious that a number of concessions will have to be made, but while the hardware running is pretty decent considering the price, a number of sacrifices have been made to keep costs down.
To its credit, the phone does a decent job in handling some of the more demanding tasks like games, but you’ll have a greater problem downloading them as it has a paltry 4GB, and only 1GB to play around with.
A micro SD card can help remedy this, but since most people will just work with what’s there, this isn’t much help.
While Windows Phone 8.1 is present with all the improvements it brings, there are some curious interface changes which won’t hamper the experience, but will leave you scratching your head if you use the devices regularly.
For one, the Lumia 530 doesn’t have a physical button for taking photos. That in itself is odd considering how important a role the camera plays for Lumia devices on the camera, but it probably tells you it’s wasn’t a priority when putting this together.
The biggest hindrance is the three physical Windows Phone buttons at the bottom are now virtual. This in itself isn’t a big deal, but because the buttons are so small, it’s likely you won’t hit them properly if you’re operating with one hand.
Combine this with a somewhat grainy 4-inch screen, not helped by brightness giving it a washed out feel, and navigation can get a little awkward.
Camera
With a 5MP camera, you can expect decent, if not spectacular, shots, but taking the photos themselves is another story.
The problems surrounding it mostly comes down to the screen itself, regardless of whether you’re using auto and one of the three brightness levels. The lack of consistency with brightness means it’s difficult to tell whether a shot is focused or not, turning it into a case of trial and error if you’re only interested in quick snaps.
Also, there’s no front-facing camera which isn’t a deal-breaker, but it does mean that the value of video call apps like Skype falls as you can’t show your face without turning it around.
Conclusion
In short, Nokia has tried to keep the price down by stripping the Lumia 530 down to the bare minimum and it shows. Granted, this is a budget smartphone and considering the price, you get what you pay for, but it feels like it made too many concessions in a bid to bring down the price.
It’s not a bad phone by any means, but when you consider just how many cheap and high-quality budget smartphones populate the market, it’s hard not to feel disappointed by what’s on offer.
Those looking for a Nokia smartphone on the cheap would be better opting for the Lumia 520 and despite it being more than a year old and not having Windows Phone 8.1 yet, it’s still one of the best Windows Phone devices out there and comes at roughly the same price.
Otherwise, you may want to wait for the mid-range Lumia 730 and 735 to arrive later this year.
The Nokia Lumia 530 is currently available in O2 (€79), Meteor (€99) and Three (€99), and will be released later this year at Vodafone.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Bon Voyage and safe journey to all Irish nurses who will be leaving our shores because of the 20% reduction in starting pay.
This move demonstrates the level of respect our TD’s have for our Nurses.
Soon, there will be a recruitment drive overseas to import cheap nurses. Unfortunately, foreign nurses will be conned into coming here for poor pay and terrible working conditions.
We train the best and import the worst. Remember the Nigerian ‘doctor’ who couldn’t even take a pulse…??.
Once, I was so sick that I couldn’t even get into the car to go to the gp. My wife phoned ‘Southdoc’ who sent an African who was doing a ‘locum’, (€70) He used a lolipop stick, said I had a bad cold & prescribed ‘Benylin for flu’, – an over the counter medication. it got worse, A friend who was a real doctor called, he actually used a stetescope & diagnosed severe pneumonia, prescribed the antibiotic, ‘Klacid’ among several other drugs to ease my suffering.
There needs to be a clampdown on quacks like this, getting away with, possibly…….murder.
Who is in charge….??
Oh yeah….forget it.
The foreign nurses will go to other countries with better conditions, and the ones who are duped to come here will soon cop on and leave. It’s happened before and will happen again
@hector i have to disagree with the tone of your comments. plenty of good “African/Nigerian” doctors about.
would it have been possible you didn’t tell him all or symptoms or as with slot of illness it progressively got worse.
@ Paddy, – A hospital floor cleaner could have diagnosed what was wrong with me, – maybe that’s what this guy was…? – There is such corruption in parts of Africa, that you can buy a degree in anything for a few hundred bucks, – it’s a handy way of getting yourself into any country as long as no-one asks any awkward questions…
Pretty sure that the story you mention wasn’t actually a Nigerian – Eastern European, I think. Shocking how they got through the system but more a fault of the hiring system here, rather than anyone’s race.
wonderful, the goverment want to help banks make a profit while throwing the irish voters out on the roads of ireland while the ministers enjoy 3000e salary every week, oliver cromwell is reincarnated, to hell or connaught with the irish.
Not Connaught enda lives down that way
have your say