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IT’S A BRAVE new world for Nokia. Now a Microsoft company and currently going through a restructuring period, it’s determined to improve its position in the smartphone market with a high-end and two mid-range smartphones, the Lumia 630 and 635.
Since the Lumia 930 is spearheading this charge, it’s worth asking whether this phone will help improve Microsoft’s position. Nokia has always made quality handsets, but has it and Microsoft done enough to convince the general public that it’s worth getting?
Main selling points
Hardware and Software
When you first pick it up, you’ll notice that it feels a little bit heavier and thicker than most smartphones. This is mostly because smartphones have become lighter over time, but it’s something you will likely forget after a few seconds.
The Lumia 930 is sturdy, using a part-metal design to keep it together with a plastic backing. Combine that with a 5-inch Gorilla Glass screen, and what you have is a solid device.
The 5-inch HD screen is perfect for watching Netflix and Vimeo, and is smooth to play around when you’re navigating Windows Phone 8.1 (more on that later).
Overall, it’s quite powerful and you’re not going to have many problems with performance.
The battery, while decent, could be better. While it’s mostly fine, there can be moments where you may find it has depleted faster than you expected although activating battery saver does solve this.
Camera
Photography has always been the jewel in Nokia’s crown and the Lumia 930 is no exception. If you include a 20MP camera, you should expect great shots. When you combine it with a pin-sharp HD screen, it’s a joy to use.
Even just using the basic camera mode, you can get some fantastic images and it’s one of the few smartphones out there where you can zoom in on a subject and not experience a significant drop in quality.
Other features like Burst Mode – which takes a succession of shots and allows you to pick out the best one – are only improved by the camera’s quality.
The only smartphones that would outperform the Lumia 930 is its cousin, the Lumia 1020, which has a 41MP camera, and the Sony Xperia Z2.
The front-facing camera is probably the only disappointing element of its camera. A 1.2MP camera isn’t bad, but it’s a pity it’s not of greater quality considering how it’s pushing services like Skype.
Windows Phone 8.1
It’s difficult to talk about Nokia without bringing up the OS, but thankfully, things are much sunnier on this front.
While Windows Phone 8 had a number of good ideas, it was let down by a number of interface and design choices that would have left casual users cold. Not only does Windows Phone 8.1 fix the majority of these problems, but adds a variety of different features which makes it almost feel like it has experienced a rebirth.
Elements like the notification centre, switching between apps or even choosing background wallpaper may not sound impressive on their own, but when combined with new features like Storage Sense and Battery Sense, it makes it a more fluid and complete experience. It’s really the little things that makes 8.1 so pleasant to use.
Also worth mentioning is how fleshed out the Windows Phone store has become in the past year. While there was always the argument that it hosted too few quality apps, pretty much every major app is represented.
If you use Microsoft products, then it’s an obvious choice, but those there are enough alternatives and workarounds to cater for those using Google products and other services.
Conclusion
Nokia has created another solid, if not revolutionary, smartphone that delivers. It does everything right, great camera, solid battery life, nice hardware, but that was never the problem.
The real problem is how it can convince regular smartphone owners settle for Apple and Samsung to it.
While it does so many things right, the Lumia 930 doesn’t have a feature that jumps out and grabs your attention.
That may be a harsh statement, but when you compare the unique features between the Lumia and the other flagship phones, there are few, if any, unique features to point out.
That’s the part that could hinder its success, but for those who don’t settle for a iPhone or Galaxy S by default, there really is a lot to like here and it’s a reliable smartphone that won’t let you down.
Give it a try, you may be surprised.
The Nokia Lumia 930 is available at Vodafone (€449), O2 (€479), Meteor (€429), and eMobile (prices given are for prepay).
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Most smartphone users in Ireland are just getting them sold to them by the shop rep on that day who either likes android or apple better. 99% haven’t got, nor want a clue about how to get anything other than Facebook on it.
Window’s phone OS is very underrated imo.
Why would anyone in their right mind choose this phone above an iPhone/Samsung?
Office 365 integration and support (Excel, Word, Email…)?
Willing to try something new?
2 for the start for you :)
Can you explain office 365 integration? What way does that work?
Hi Chief bit long to explain, I’m iPhone user myself, but from what I seen playing with test device once, Office 365 is seamlessly integrated into phone system on Lumia and offers much greater viewing and editing capabilities for MS Office files than iOS / Android phones, even when used dedicated apps. Then there is one convenient sign on – and you have it all on Lumia -access to your Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Email, Calendar…and one drive (cloud) + Skype is also OS level integrated. MS Office 365 is slightly better product in my view than Google apps (docs) suite, hence anyone serious about their mobile office on the move and anyone who is using Office heavily in their main computer should pick up Lumia 930 as probably best business phone for this purpose.
Very good, thanks for the info. Sounds like a much better version of Google apps
The hardware from Nokia has always been beautiful, perhaps they could try leasing these phones to people to encourage them to try something different
It’s a bit of a chunky monkey.
A heavy phone is the deal breaker, one handed viewing when having what’s sometimes referred to as a ‘J Arthur Rank’ with a heavy phone can be tricky enough
Got the 925 from work. Very good phone.
I sold my iPhone 5S and bought the Lumia 930 just over 6 weeks ago and I do not regret it. The camera is far better than the 5S, Windows Mobile 8.1 is a huge improvement on 8, excellent battery life.
It’ll be hard beat the apple
Have ya tried a baseball bat?
HTC one m8 all the phone you will ever need.
Best phone ever
IPhone for yank teens
If Windows had a decent app store I’d be willing to try it. Having looked through the Windows app store it has very few of the apps I use everyday
What missing apps are are the dealbreaker?
Sky plus and sky go apps also none of the apps that integrate with my car are available on the Windows store
Made the decision to use the windows platform as my lead development platform over a year ago now , of course everything will be developed on ios/android . Anyway picked up a Lumia 925 (moved from Note2) and honestly couldn’t be happier . The seem less workflow between win8 and wpwin8 plus of course you can add xboxOne into that as well far outweighs the downsides to the OS which is really just app availability which does not bother me candy crush and clogging up the store. The interface once you get used to it with live tiles is more user friendly than Android devices .
My issue with lumias always comes down to reliability. They go wrong too often and its usually a hardware issue, they dont go wrong as often as sony but are no where near as reliable as apple, samsung or even the new moto range. Also, like apple, there are too many restrictions in what you can do and battery life is pretty bad. I haven’t had a chance to use 8.1, but 8 was terrible. Very poorly designed so the only way is up in that regard, one would hope.
I got my son a lumia 625 it’s a solid phone battery life is far better than my s3 the camera is quite good brilliant apps for adjusting photos,Bing has Also improved to my surprise
Sony z2 all the way
My ma loves hers
Microsoft need to invest some marketing dollars to turn around the Nokia is a dead horse brand before they’ll sell anything. They also need to bring some Android devices to the game as the boat has long left the quay and selling an OS that users are already familiar with alongside their own OS should make the switch from Apple and Samsung a little less painful.
Don’t see why they’re yanking up the megapixels – its a cheap marketing ploy “oh the more the better” its only relevant if you want to blow your photos up to huge proportions! – 8 or 10 is all you really need. Its all about the sensor, that photo of the statue doesn’t look too convincing i must say … doesn’t seem to me like this phone is going to change the game drastically for Microsoft, too heavy, looks kinda blocky and people are tired of windows phones – end of.
I think windows phone 8 is an excellent OS. I have had windows phones for a couple years now and wouldn’t go back to Android. Windows phone 8.1 is definitely an improvement but 8 was pretty good to begin with. I think part of Microsoft’s problem is the bad rap they got from windows 8 desktop. This has probably soured peoples appetite for Microsoft products. Anyway I would recommend windows 8.1 phones especially if your using it for work. The games are really high quality also.
Not at that price. They need to sell at a loss to get customers. Hope to make the money back in their app store and build up some brand loyalty. That’s what Amazon did with their Fire thing. It was dirt cheap when it came out. Nobody is going to move away from the big players with tried and tested phones to a new one without an incentive. Is this not obvious?
Nope.
Next month I’m getting a Galaxy S5, I’ve an S3. I suppose the S6 will arrive some time in November :(
This is €429 on Meteor. And where is the journal windows phone app????
Oh wait somebody else made it for you.
https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=0Mn5U4jQEKXD7AbBx4HQAg&url=http://nokianewsireland.com/2014/04/26/thejournal-ie-windowsphone-app-is-now-in-the-store-by-igibbo-wpdev-ireland/&cd=3&ved=0CCAQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNEdOtCPO3EzD31IoE-OaxjQSfBwQw
Why would you spend €449 for this phone when you can get the OnePlus One for €350?
You don’t need an invite to by the 930 that’s why.
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