Nokia Lumia 530 Dual SIM Full Review: Affordable But Not Valuable

Rating:

3.0/5

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PROS

• Looks better than other budget phones
• Windows Phone 8.1

CONS

• Poor rear camera
• Missing front shooter
• No LED Flash
• Underwhelming performance

Nokia has had a long history. Much before the arrival of Apple and Samsung, this very brand used to rule the market. But before the company could reinvent itself, the Nokia wave had already crested. In late April, Nokia was finally merged into Microsoft Devices.

Despite Nokia's poor show as a handset manufacturer over the past few months, the company still churns out a number of seductive phones. Some of them have been impeccably perfect, for instance, the high-end Nokia Lumia 930 and the low-end Lumia 630.

For Nokia, now a part of Microsoft, priorities have changed due to the rise of affordable smartphone segment, in a number of South East Asian countries, including India. Instead of launching premium phones into Indian market, Nokia aims to re-build its reputation by introducing cheap yet feature packed Windows-powered phones.

The latest low-end Windows Phone 8.1-based smartphone that comes into India from the house of Microsoft is none other than the Lumia 530 Dual-SIM. The new Nokia Lumia 530 Dual-SIM is already on sale at Rs. 7,033. Other than offering the latest software, the Lumia 530 falls short on many important aspects like a lack of front-facing camera. Is this the best designed low-end phone available onto market today? Find out more about the Nokia Lumia 530 Dual-SIM in our full review.

What's inside the box?

Nokia Lumia 530 Dual-SIM (device)

Earphones

User Manual

Charger

Nokia Lumia 530 Dual-SIM: Form Factor, Design, Display and Operating System (OS)

Nokia is always known for, it's great designs and build. The Lumia 530 is no different, offering a design similar to that of Nokia's current age Windows-powered phones.

The construction is plastic but Nokia managed to pull it off really well. The device doesn't look cheap, though. More importantly, the device feels good in the hand. Based on our experience, we can definitely say that it is one of the best budget phones in its class, at least, in terms of design.

The clever design gives the Lumia 530 a unibody look, even though it is certainly not a unibody phone. The plastic-made back cover is slightly thick which ultimately protects the device form regular wear and tear.

The Lumia 530's design reflects its budget nature, but without sacrificing the build quality. The device comes in a variety of colors. It feels light enough (it weighs 129grams) and the curved shell fits the hands comfortably. The overall measurements are 119.7 x 62.3 x11.7 mm.In short, the Nokia Lumia 530 Dual-SIM looks appealing and is well positioned - after all it's a budget phone.

Upfront is a modest 4-inch display with a resolution of 480 x 854. The screen is not stunning given the handset's price. That said many are going to be disappointed with a small 4-inch screen with an underwhelming display resolution.

Even though the display offers fast touch response, but we found there's some severe issues in respect of color brightness and viewing angles. The screen is also a bit reflective, making texts almost invisible in direct sunlight.

Like the latest generation Windows Phone 8.1-powered phones, there are no capacitive buttons under the display. Remember previous generation Lumia handsets had Back, Start and Search keys below the screen but now these are incorporated into the main display, which we think is a nice step.

The Lumia 530 Dual-SIM doesn't come with high-end features, though, you'll still be able to unlock the power, thanks to the incoming of Windows Phone 8.1 OS. The phone runs on the latest version of Windows Phone, which now comes with a few notable improvements. The latest software also includes Cortana- Microsoft's voice-activated personal assistant, though that's still not available in India just yet.

Visually Windows Phone 8.1 update isn't too different, but the company has finally addressed core issues, which were earlier missing. For instance, now there's the new ‘Action Center', which directly mimics the notification bar seen in Android and iOS. We think this is a great feature, and a needed one, too.

Windows Phone 8.1 update also brings in an option to resize the width of live tiles. You can have extra live tiles, up to 6 across the display.

Earlier it was impossible to have wallpapers behind the live tiles. Windows Phone 8.1 solves this issue to some extent. You can use a pre-loaded picture or background of your choice and the live tiles themselves become transparent. The new software update also introduces swipe typing, which works accurate, based on our experience.

In totality, Windows Phone 8.1 is blazing fast and responsive compared to Google's Android mobile OS. App selection, however, still remains one of the core issues.