#HTC Desire 310 dual sim review: Not the perfect budget smartphone

HTC decided last year to refocus on emerging markets with the launch of budget smartphones.But the company wasn't able to register its presence much. Its flawed marketing effort and pricing of the handsets prevented it from taking on rivals like Samsung, and even the local players.

It seems the Taiwanese giant is not ready to give up and has launched new budget smartphones, expanding its Desire lineup.

Desire 310 dual sim is one of them. The phone doesn't boast of bells and whistles seen in the company's mid-range and premium phones, but promises users an opportunity to own an HTC device at a low price. Does HTC Desire 310 dual sim deliver a good smartphone experience? Read our review to find out.



Build & Design
Being a budget smartphone, HTC Desire 310 dual sim has a very utilitarian design and is built from plastic materials. Barring a metallic earpiece that differentiates the phone from others, the phone looks rather plain. At 140gram, the phone is not very bulky. Although it includes a removable cover, we did not experience any squeaks or wobbles, and the phone feels solid.



The front panel of the phone features glossy plastic that surrounds its 4.5-inch display. There are no capacitive keys for navigation as the phone offers on-screen soft keys. There's a metallic earpiece grill located above the display that reminds us of the HTC One's front speaker grill. The VGA camera lens sits next to the grill.

The right edge of the phone features a volume rocker key and a power/screen lock key, while the left edge is barren. The keys offer average tactile feedback and we found them to be a bit soft. The micro-USB port and the 3.5mm headset jack are located at the top edge of the phone.


The back of the phone features a plastic, removable cover that sports matte finish. It features the 5MP camera lens and the HTC logo, along with a speaker outlet. Removing the panel reveals two sim card slots and a microSD card slot located just above the battery compartment. Overall, the Desire 310 dual sim does not stand out, but is nonetheless decent to lug around and use.

Display

HTC Desire 310 dual sim sports a 4.5-inch FWVGA( 480x854p) display and clearly, it's one of the weak points of the phone. While we can make peace with the low resolution given the low price of the phone, the display also suffers from other problems. It has poor viewing angles and lacks brightness.



Low brightness levels also lead to poor sunlight legibility and makes clicking pictures in the sun a cumbersome task. Colours do not look vivid and text does not appear sharp.

User Interface

HTC Desire 310 dual sim runs Android 4.2.2 and is the first budget HTC phone to come with on-screen navigation buttons, instead of the capacitive touch buttons. HTC has skinned the interface of the phone with a minimalist version of Sense 5.1. Interestingly, the phone features the BlinkFeed that aggregates news and social updates on the home screen.

The app launcher arranges app icons vertically similar to other HTC phones that offer Sense integration but app icons for all apps are the ones seen in stock Android. Even native apps such as the Phone app, Messaging, Gallery and Music app are stock Android ones and there's no customization from HTC's end.

Same is the case with the settings screen and the Notifications tray. HTC offers its Video Highlights interface for browsing videos as a separate app, instead of integrating it with the Gallery app. Even the app switcher UI is the stock Android one.

It looks like the company has removed its own apps and additional effects to prevent the phone from slowing down and to reduce the size of the system files as the phone offers only 4GB internal storage. We feel it's a sensible move.

The phone comes pre-loaded with Polaris office 5 office suite, WeChat and Facebook apps. While the phone doesn't include the latest version of Android, the software has been optimized for the phone, keeping in consideration the limited hardware resources.

Camera

Desire 310's camera has nothing much to talk about. In fact, it's functional at best. The 5MP rear camera is fixed focus and does not come with an LED flash.



Pictures taken indoors appeared grainy and dull, while the ones taken outdoors in daylight were average.



Colour reproduction and white balance were a bit off. The VGA front-facing camera can be used for video chats, but doesn't capture good quality selfies. The quality of videos recorded with the phone was also not that great.



Performance

HTC Desire 310 dual sim is powered by a 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6582M processor coupled with Mali-400MP graphics and 512MB RAM. Barring minor instances, we did not notice any lag while navigating through the phone's menu, launching apps and switching between them.

In synthetic benchmarks, the phone scored 16,757 in Antutu, 6064 in Quadrant and 69.5 in Nenamark 2 benchmark tests. It trumps the recently-launched Micromax Canvas Turbo Mini, although the latter has 1GB RAM. But we'd not recommend a phone based solely on benchmarks as real world performance is different, at times.

In terms of multimedia, the phone comes with FM radio with recording capability and the phone's built-in speaker offers decent sound output. The default video player supports a large number of multimedia file formats.



We did not encounter issues while making calls and while using two sim cards. We were satisfied with the phone's network reception. Voice clarity and loudness levels were also up to the mark. The phone comes with GPS and A-GPS for navigation and maps and was easily able to lock a signal.
HTC Desire 310 dual sim is backed by a 2000mAh battery with a claimed standby time of up to 852 hours and talk time of up to 11 hours. We were satisfied with the battery backup delivered by the phone. With moderate to high usage, including about one to two hours of making calls, playing games, clicking some pictures, listening to music and browsing the web, the phone will last you more than a day, if you put the screen brightness at the highest level and keep 3G turned on.

Gaming
We were able to play games like Temple Run 2 and Subway Surfers without any hiccups. While playing graphics intensive games like Riptide GP2 and Asphalt 8(with Visual Quality set to high and Engine at 100%) we encountered some lag with minor frame drops.

Although the phone has just 512MB of RAM, the graphics performance is better than a number of phones in the same segment. One downer is the low internal storage space (just 2.02GB) which prevents installation of games with bigger files.

Verdict

HTC Desire 310 dual sim had the potential to be a major rival to Motorola's much-acclaimed budget smartphone, Moto G. Unfortunately, HTC has cut corners when it comes to the display of the phone. The poor camera and less RAM worsen things further. Although the storage capacity of the phone can be expanded via microSD card, not all apps can be installed on it. At a price of Rs 11,700, we feel the phone is a bit overpriced and doesn't deliver value for your hard-earned money. By spending Rs 1,000 more, you can get the 8GB version of Moto G, or the Micromax Canvas Turbo Mini.

Ref - TOI

#SamsungGalaxy #S5 review: Good but no wow factor

Fast, functional and pricey - This is Galaxy S5 in one line. Samsung's top Android phone, which went on sale in the Indian market a few days ago, is the best phone the company has made so far. We have been using one since last week and we can tell you that it is an impressive device.

Galaxy S5 has (almost) everything you can ask for in a smartphone. Yet, there is something missing. It lacks a feature that truly stands out. It lacks appeal that can make it irresistible to consumers. It lacks the wow factor that can make anyone pick it up and pay the big bucks Samsung is asking for it.

So, should you buy Galaxy S5 or not? May be you should. Or may be not. It all depends on what you want your phone to do.

We will deal with this all-important question in a while (or you can skip to the verdict if you are running short on time). But before that, let's take a look at the device and what it can do.

Build and design
Samsung phones and tablets have similar designs. If you have seen a Galaxy S4, or Galaxy Grand 2, you will recognize Galaxy S5 as a Samsung phone in the first glance. The only major change is the back cover. It is made of plastic - hardly a surprise - but unlike the shiny and slippery finish found on the earlier Galaxy devices, the back cover in Galaxy S5 has a soft matte finish with a perforated pattern.

One key feature of Galaxy S5 is that it is a waterproof phone. It can survive rain. You can use it in shower. You can carry it in a swimming pool if you are not going to dive deep. As part of the waterproof design, the charging port, which supports both USB 2 and USB 3, is covered with a flap.



While there is no doubt that iPhone 5S or Xperia Z1 are better looking phones, Galaxy S5 gets the job done. The finishing and build quality of the device is top class. The design, though boring, is excellent in terms of functionality. We have seen phones that have exotic designs but don't feel comfortable to hold. Galaxy S5 fits well, at least as well as a big phone can, in hand.

Display
The top Galaxy phones always come with spectacular displays. Galaxy S5 carries on with the tradition. The 5.1-inch SuperAMOLED screen in S5 is gorgeous! It shows vibrant and rich colours and has excellent viewing angles.
The display is sharp due to the FullHD resolution of 1080 X 1920 pixels. On this device the text doesn't show pixelated edges in ebooks or on a web page. It is also very bright. Unlike Galaxy S4, which has some trouble in sunlit areas, Galaxy S5 screen remains bright enough to display text during outdoor use.



Special features
With the days of massive performance jumps or big updates over, Samsung is trying to woo consumers with some unique features. We have already talked about the waterproof design (high-end Xperia phones are also waterproof) but Galaxy S5 has a few more tricks up its sleeve. Are these special features useful?

Fingerprint scanner: Apple introduced it on iPhone 5S. But now Samsung too allows users to unlock their phone through a fingerprint scanner. This feature is a novelty. It looks cool when you unlock the phone using the fingerprint scanner. It works best when you swipe the fingerprint slowly and firmly on the scanner. This means 50% to 40% time when you swipe your finger, it will probably fail. It is not frustrating. But it is pointless.


Also, finger has to be swiped in a vertical motion, something that is impossible when you are using the phone with one hand. Summary: Cool feature but unlocking a phone through PIN or pattern is faster and more convenient.
S Health: We loved this feature in Galaxy S4 and we love it in Galaxy S5. With S health you can record your walking or jogging sessions. You can see how many steps you have taken each day or how many stairs you climbed. It is useful.

IR Sensor: This allows a user to control TV or set-top box with Galaxy S5. Useful and easy to set up.
Heart rate monitor: Under the primary camera in Galaxy S5, there is a heart rate monitor. You can put your finger on top of the sensor, open S Health app and check your heart beat. The device takes around 5 seconds to display heart rate and is mostly accurate but we won't pop a pill on the basis of Galaxy S5 readings.



If you think your heart rate is not normal, see a doctor. Again, this is a cool feature but not very useful for two reasons. One, any phone with a flash and camera can check your heart rate through an app like Instant Heart Rate. And two, you can't use it in gym or while jogging because keeping an eye on "heart rate zones" require real-time heart rate monitoring that can be performed only by a device that you can strap on your chest or wear on your wrist.

Kids mode: On Galaxy S5 you can enable kids mode before you pass on the device to a kid who wants to play game on it or wants to draw something. With kids mode enabled, the phone displays colourful and cartoonish theme. You can choose the app you want the kids to access. This feature works well and is useful. Bonus: There is an animated crocodile (swipe left from the home screen) in this mode. Kids can dress this crocodile in various attires, including different hats.



Ultra power saving mode: Enabling this feature puts a greyscale theme on the phone. All non-essential services, including push notifications, are stopped to conserve the battery. We tested this mode with only 5% battery left in the phone. We used Twitter in greyscale, opened a website and read a few articles, and made a few several calls. The phone lasted for little over an hour with just 5% battery in this mode. Useful, we say.

Software
Galaxy S5 runs Android 4.4.2, which is the latest version of Android, modified with TouchWiz, Samsung's proprietary user interface. Depending on your aesthetic sense, TouchWiz, with its emphasis on rich and bright colours, will either look garish to you or playful.

We prefer the stock version of Android available in a phone like Nexus 5, even though this time Samsung has toned down some of in-your-face design elements found in TouchWiz.

The big changes in terms of usability and aesthetics are three. One, the icons in settings panel and in the quick action bar in notification shade are round and flat. It is not a big deal but these new icons do look better. Second, My Magazine now takes the full left screen adjacent to the homescreen. This is similar to how Blinkfeed is presented on HTC One devices. Unfortunately, My Magazine, which is based on Flipboard and shows news stories as well as updates from social media, is not very useful. In its place Samsung could have put Google Now, just the way it is available on Nexus 5. Third, Samsung finally has the multi-tasking button on its Galaxy phone. The button on the left of the home button now opens the task-switcher. This is a welcome change. Though, users can still access menu by a long-press on this button.

The other Touchwiz features are part of Galaxy S5. The device has multi-window feature, which allows users to open and work on two apps simultaneously. It has S Voice, which we don't find too useful (Android voice search is supported too through "OK Google" phrase). It also contains a new feature called "toolbox" which puts a floating and translucent round icon on the screen. Tapping on this icon allows a user quick access to a few apps like notepad and browser. For example, if you are in Facebook app and then you have to quickly open the notepad app, you can do it through "toolbox" if you have enabled it.

Smart gestures like "air view" and "direct call" are still part of the phone and can be enabled or disabled from the settings. They are not very useful though.

Camera
The primary camera in Galaxy S5 can capture images in 16MP. Samsung is using ISOCELL technology in the phone. According to Samsung, this technology should help users click better images in low light.

We found that Galaxy S5 is capable of shooting some fantastic pictures. Images that we shot with it in proper light had good amount of detail and pleasant colours. However, in scenes where the source of light was too prominent (a difficult scene for any camera) we found the images had off-the-mark contrast. Fortunately, in most of the cases this was fixed by using HDR mode, which was just a toggle away.

Galaxy S5 is one of the rare smartphones where HDR mode in the camera works well enough and is fast enough to be of use.

Talking of speed, the camera in Galaxy is very fast in getting focus. You point it at something and zap, the subject is in sharp focus.



In low light, the performance is good, though a lot depends on how well you shoot. If you hold the hand steady while taking images, Galaxy S5 can take some nice photos in low light. The HDR mode also helps here. But the way camera processes images, aggressively trying to reduce noise, robs them of fine details.

Shooting videos is fun with Galaxy S5, mostly because it captures footage that is clear, sharp and has good contrast. Galaxy S5 can shoot videos in 720P, 1080P and 4K resolution. Of the three, 720P and 1080P are better. In 4K, the quality takes some hit. In 720P and 1080P modes, the phone also offers "slow" recording or "fast" recording. Slow mode, as the name suggests slows down the video to a crawl. You can shoot a car moving at 60 km/h and you will see it crawling on the road. The fast mode speeds up the video. Both are fun mode to use though in "slow" mode, quality of video takes a noticeable hit.

The 2MP front camera does a decent job while video chats.

Performance
Galaxy S5 is powered by Exynos 5422 processor, which has 8 cores. There is 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. This is a fast phone. The kind of mysterious lag often visible in Touchwiz user interface is not there in Galaxy S5. It feels as fast as Nexus 5, which is the fastest Android phone. On Galaxy S5, you can scroll through lists, switch tasks or open apps without seeing any lag.

We had a very positive overall experience while using Galaxy S5. It handles web browsing well and can play movies in most of the common formats and resolutions, including FullHD resolution, without requiring you to convert them into smaller files. The GPS in the phone is very fast and performance while using navigation or map apps is reliable.

The phone offers good call quality though it wasn't as crisp as what we have found in devices like Nexus 5. Similarly, the mono speaker is loud and will satisfy you if you want to play a song or two but we have heard better sound from devices like HTC One that have stereo speakers.

Battery life is where Galaxy S4 really excels. Once charged fully, its 2800 mAh battery can keep the device going for around 15 to 16 hours when used with a 3G connection. This battery life of around 15 hours is with around 4 hours of screen up time, which means we were using the device a lot. If you are not always connected to social media or don't open a website on your phone every 15 minutes, you will get even better battery life.

Gaming We played casual games like Angry Birds Go as well as some more demanding games like Asphalt 8 on the device. In both types of games, the performance of Galaxy S5 was fantastic. We could play Asphalt 8 at its high graphics settings with ease. The device gets little hot after 15 to 20 minutes of gaming but then this an issue that affects all high-end phones, including iPhone.

Verdict
Galaxy S5 is available in the market at a price of Rs 51,500. This means it is an expensive phone. In fact, it is a very expensive phone in a world where Moto G, Moto X and Nexus 5 exist.

As we noted earlier, we had a positive experience with Galaxy S5. It is a very capable phone and even though it lacks a killer feature, every little thing in the device, every new feature - such as waterproof design - adds to the user experience in a positive way.

But you may not need everything that Galaxy S5 offers. If you require a fast, functional and powerful smartphone, you can buy Nexus 5 without any second thoughts. You will pay Rs 20,000 less than what you will pay for a Galaxy S5.

But Nexus 5 lacks something. It doesn't have a slot for microSD card. It doesn't have a heart rate monitor. It is not waterproof. It doesn't have the camera or screen that Galaxy S5 has, although on both counts Nexus 5 is not too shabby.

There are three reasons to buy Galaxy S5. No matter what, you want to spend Rs 51,500 on a phone. If this is the case, go ahead and get Galaxy S5. It won't disappoint you. It is a fantastic phone.

The second reason is that you are already using a Galaxy S3 or something similar. You want to upgrade, you are comfortable with a Galaxy phone and have no problems shelling out Rs 51,500. Galaxy S5 works for you.

The third reason is that you want something that only Galaxy S5 offers. May be you want an Android phone with fingerprint scanner. Or you want the S Health feature. Or maybe you want a high-end phone with a battery that can be removed. Or you want use an external storage card in it.

Go through the special features listed above and decide whether they are going to be useful to you or not. Are they worth spending Rs 20,000 extra? If your answer is yes (our answer is no, in case you are curious), go ahead and get Galaxy S5. You will enjoy using it.

#Facebook to clean up News Feed

Facebook has announced that it is cleaning up its News Feed to weed out spammy posts, so that users of the social networking website don't miss important and relevant stories and to penalize spammers.

Elaborating on the move, Facebook posted on its blog that it's introducing a series of improvements to News Feed to reduce stories that users frequently flag as spam. "Many of these stories are published by Pages that deliberately try and game News Feed to get more distribution than they normally would," said Facebook employyes Erich Owens and Chris Turitzin.

Facebook will essentially take steps to counter three kinds of news feed spam - Like-baiting, frequently circulated content and spammy links.

Facebook says "Like-baiting" is when posts explicitly ask readers to like, comment or share the post, to get additional distribution beyond what the post would normally receive. " The improvement we are making today better detects these stories and helps ensure that they are not shown more prominently in News Feed than more relevant stories from friends and other Page," said the Facebook executives.

The update will not impact Pages that are genuinely trying to encourage discussion among their fans, Facebook clarified.

Facebook is also improving News Feed so that it doesn't focus on pages that reshare content as most users do not find such content relevant.

Stories that misguide users into clicking on links to pages that contain only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads, will also be restricted. For instance some stories may claim to link to a photo album but instead take the viewer to a website with just ads, the social networking giant iterated.

"By measuring how frequently people on Facebook who visit a link choose to like the original post or share that post with their friends, we've been able to better detect spammy links," it added. According to Facebook, the update improves News Feed to reduce cases of spammy links, and in early testing it has witnessed a 5% increase in people on Facebook clicking on links that take them off of Facebook.

Ref - TOI

#Samsung #GalaxyS5 goes on sale #worldwide, available in #India at Rs 51,500

The latest version of Samsung's flagship Galaxy smartphone series, Galaxy S5, went on sale worldwide on Friday, days after the electronics giant announced it was facing a second consecutive quarter of profit decline. The phone is available at a price of Rs 51,500 on Samsung India eStore, the company's official online store.

The Galaxy S5 has a lot riding on it to steer the South Korean firm's profit-making machine back on track as growth in smartphone sales slows, with mature markets like North America and Europe near saturation.

Reviews of the S5 have mostly concluded that it is one of the best high-end smartphones on the market, but there is also a general consensus that it lacks the "wow" factor to differentiate it from its predecessors and competitors.

"It can swim, but it won't make any waves," was the verdict of the Wall Street Journal, referring to one innovation in the S5's waterproof covering.

Samsung's mobile unit has been the driving force behind the record profits of recent years, and it needs the S5 to perform well as a retort to the doom-mongers who say the company lacks a clear strategy to flourish in an increasingly competitive, saturated market.

Samsung made more than 30% of all smartphones sold in the world last year, nearly twice the share of its arch-rival Apple.

But on Tuesday, the company estimated its first quarter operating profit at 8.4 trillion won ($7.96 billion), marking a second straight year-on-year decline.

In a sign of the challenge the company faces, the S5 was priced lower at its commercial launch Friday than the previous S4 model.

Research firm IDC estimated the average selling price of smartphones will fall to $265 globally by 2017 from $337 in 2013 and $387 in 2012.

Samsung is believed to have reduced its marketing spend on the S5 and is also under pressure to set aside more cash for legal bills as years-long patent battles against Apple continue.

The two have locked horns in patent suits in several nations involving design and technologies on their smartphones and tablet computers.

A fresh patent trial opened in the United States last week, with Apple vowing to prove that Samsung flagrantly copied iPhone features and should pay more than $2 billion in damages.

Ref - TOI

Indian version of #GalaxyS5 slower than global version? Here is answer

When Samsung announced the Galaxy S5 on March 27, it revealed that the Indian version will have the Exynos processor and not the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor found in the global version of the device. But the company did not offer many details about the processor. 

This is similar to what happened with the earlier Galaxy devices. Samsung sells the Snapdragon versions on Galaxy devices in markets where 4G is available and Exynos versions in markets where only 3G version is needed. 
Ahead of the availability of Galaxy S5 in India on April 11, we now have enough information to tell you more about the Galaxy S5 powered by Exynos processor. We will have the full review of the device in the coming days but for now we can see how Galaxy S5 (the Indian version) compares to the Galaxy S5 (the global version) when it comes to processing power. 

The Galaxy S5 in India is powered by Exynos 5422 processor. It is a processor with 8 cores. Unlike the 8-core processor in Galaxy S4, this one can run all its cores simultaneously if required. The earlier Exynos could run only four cores at a time. The 8-cores in Exynos 5422 are divided in two clusters. One cluster consists of high-performance four cores that use A15 ARM architecture. The other cluster uses four cores based on A7 ARM architecture, which is meant to provide mainstream performance. 

The A15 cores in Exynos 5422 run at 1.9GHz and the A7 cores run at 1.3GHz. 

The global version of Galaxy S5 is powered by Snapdragon 801 processor. It has four high-performance cores running at 2.46GHz. 

The graphics chips in the two versions are also different. The graphics processing in Exynos version is handled by multiple cores of Mali-T628. In the Snapdragon version, Adreno 330 is the graphics chip. 
To see how well Exynos and Snapdragon versions of Galaxy S5 compare, we ran some benchmarks on both devices. Here are the results: 

Geekbench 3: Geekbench measures the theoretical performance of a processor in single as well as multi-core configurations. 

 

Vellamo: It has two components. HTML 5 tests day-to-day performance, Metal tests the theoretical peak performance. 

 

Web browsing: We ran Sunspider and Browsermark to see browsing performance. For Sunspider, lower value is better. 

 
BaseMark OS: This benchmark gives a total score as well category wise scores. The big surprise here is the graphics score, where Snapdragon version is well ahead of Exynos version. This is possibly due to the kind of graphics workload this benchmark has, which unduly favours Adreno graphics chip. To test it, we ran the test of Nexus 5 and got a very good score of 2346 points. And yes, you guessed right - Nexus 5 also has an Adreno chip. 

 

GFX Bench: This benchmarks renders some graphics scenes to check gaming performance. Manhattan test is more demanding. 

 

BaseMarkX: Another graphics related benchmark. 

 

3D Mark: The total score is total for the test, graphics score is for the graphics chip and the physics score is for general processor. Here too we believe there is anomaly in the physics score. The test is utilizing A7 cores and not A15. Hence lower than expected score. 

To see whether our hypothesis is wrong or right, we ran the test at extreme settings. In extreme setting we got physics score of 11405 points. Ideally, it should have been lower than the score under normal settings. But actually, the extreme graphics forced the high-performance cores, which were idle in normal settings, to kick in, and the score improved. 

 

Conclusion
When it comes to general performance, the Exynos version of Galaxy S5 is theoretically as fast as the Snapdragon version. But in graphics tests, Snapdragon version pulls ahead. 

Another key finding here is that due to the asynchronous nature of the Exynos processor, it requires applications that can make full use of all of its eight cores. This was evident in 3D Mark test where the app wasn't even pushing the high-performance cores. Unfortunately, the number of such apps that can utilize eight or even four cores is not very high. In the world of mobiles and tablets, apps, including games, are targeting the lowest common denominator. Both Snapdragon and Exynos versions of the Galaxy S5 sit way up in the hierarchy and can easily deal with any game or app that is currently available for Android phones. 

Keep in mind that these are theoretical tests. The user experience depends on both software and hardware. For a phone, it also depends on camera, battery life, screen and other components. In the coming days we will be putting Galaxy S5 through its paces and will have the full review soon.

Ref - TOI

First impressions: #Nokia #Lumia 630

At its Build 2014 conference, Microsoft unveiled the next iteration of its mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8.1. The event also saw Nokia announce three new mobile phones that will run on the new OS — Lumia 630, Lumia 635 and Lumia 930. Windows Phone 8.1 brings a number of new features in order to catch up with Google's Android and Apple's iOS including a centralized notification tray which Microsoft calls Action Centre, voice assistant Cortana, tweaks to the home screen and updated native apps, among others.

Among the new Nokia Lumia phones, while Lumia 930 is the top model, Lumia 630 is a budget smartphone which will also feature a dual-sim option and Lumia 635 is the US version of the 630, with support for 4G LTE.



At a Microsoft event in Delhi where the company showcased its new Windows Phone 8.1 mobile operating system, we got a chance to spend some time with Lumia 630's dual-sim version that runs Windows Phone 8.1. Here's what we think about the new device.
Lumia 630 follows the same design philosophy that we've seen the company use in Lumia 620 and, to some extent, in Lumia 625. It sports a colourful, interchangeable polycarbonate back shell that wraps around the phone. The cover which will be available in black, white, green, orange and yellow colours, sports a matte finish. We'd love to see fresher designs from Nokia, even on budget and mid-range phones. Overall, materials used in the phone are of good quality and feel durable.



The right edge of the phone features the power and volume rocker keys, in the same colour as that of the shell. Strangely, a major omission in Lumia 635 is the camera shutter hardware key, which is available in Lumia 620 and 625 smartphones. This means that you'll only be able to activate the shutter through soft keys. Perhaps the focus is not so much on the camera (more on that later).

The right edge is barren, while the bottom edge features the micro-USB port and the 3.5mm headset jack sits at the top. The back features a 5MP auto-focus camera but there's no LED flash, which makes the phone useless for dark and low-light shots. It is worth pointing out that the phone's predecessor, Lumia 620 sports an LED flash.

Removing the cover reveals the two micro-sim card slots, a microSD card slot and the battery compartment. The phone comes with an 1850 mAh battery.

The front of the phone is dominated by its 4.5-inch 480 x 854p (FWVGA, 218ppi) ClearBack LCD display. Due to the low resolution, the screen doesn't really look rich and vibrant but it is decent enough considering it is a budget offering. The display has good viewing angles and comes with Gorilla Glass 3 protection to prevent minor scratches and bumps.

We also noticed the absence of capacitive touch keys below the display for navigation. The phone comes with onscreen soft keys for back, search and Home. This feature has been introduced with Windows Phone 8.1.

Unfortunately, Nokia has cut some corners and unlike Lumia 620, the Lumia 630 doesn't come with a front-facing camera. This means you won't be able to do Skype video chats even though Windows Phone 8.1 features better Skype integration and allows users to switch to Skype calls directly from voice calls.



Under the hood, Lumia 630 is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 512MB RAM. It comes with 8GB internal storage expandable up to 128GB via microSD card. During our brief use, we found navigating through the home screen and launching apps quite smooth. A Nokia India spokesperson told us that the OS has been optimized for all devices and the low RAM would not make a difference.

We still feel that Nokia should have shipped the phone with 1GB RAM as graphics-intensive games are initially available and optimized for Windows Phone devices with 1GB RAM. Developers do port their apps to 512MB devices but it takes time. The recently introduced Nokia Lumia 525 entry-level smartphone also comes with 1GB RAM.

Lumia 630 runs Windows Phone 8.1 and offers dual-sim capability. We quite like the dual-sim implementation as the phone allows users to have separate Messaging and Phone tiles for both sim cards. It even allows you to link the two and have integrated Messaging and Phone apps. Lumia 630 supports 3G only on the primary sim but the phone comes with smart dual sim enabling users to automatically forward calls to the sim which is in use for calls. The phone also includes 'SensorCore', low-power motion sensing for fitness apps.



The Action Centre is another highlight feature and on Lumia 630, it supports four customizable settings toggles including a camera toggle, in addition to notifications for apps.

The Start screen can now have a customized background with transparent tiles. We also tried the phone's Swype-like Word Flow keyboard that allows users to type by sliding a finger across keys, and found that it does make typing faster.

We'll have to say that the OS looks more feature complete than ever, however, we'll have to give it a spin to be able to give a detailed feedback.

Lumia 630's dual-sim variant has been priced at $169 (exclusive of taxes). It is expected to arrive in India in May. The pricing would be the key to the phone's success as Nokia has cut corners especially at the camera front. We would expect the phone to be priced in the Rs 11,000 to Rs 12,000 price range.

Ref - TOI