The Nokia Lumia 930 is the herald of a new spring for Windows Phone devices. A few years ago when the first WP phones appeared it seemed like they would never reach Android and iOS. However, some 4 years have passed and things have changed.
The Nokia Lumia 930 is a phone that, perhaps for the first time, stands side by side with the flagship phones of the other two platforms.
This latest WP phone brings a new generation advanced display, an accelerated processor and a new version of the operating system, which allows WP to be shown for the first time as software that can be largely customized to the needs of users. Whether it is necessary to cross spears with the leading models that Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony and others have remains to be seen.
Nokia Lumia 930 design
Nokia has decided to take design quality to the next level. I can’t say that the previous plastic packaging was of inappropriate quality (on the contrary!), But the metal frame is a novelty.
The Nokia Lumia 930 is a combination of a metal frame and a plastic background. It’s no wonder unseen, but on this model this combination is a complete hit.
The phone is offered in several colors that are quite different. The phone wins at first glance, when you see the glassy shine of the front surface, with a grayish frame and a nicely done plastic background.
Official data says that the Nokia Lumia 930 has 137 x 71 x 9.8 mm, which is not a record when it comes to thickness, which can be a bit unusual because this new Lumia has a classic square shape, so at first it looks a bit unusual in the hands. However, the quality of workmanship was never in question. However, the weight of 167g is felt in the hands. That’s more than some older models, which is a bit odd.
At the same time, the Nokia Lumia 930 has a smaller battery than its competitors (only 2420mAh), so the question is whether the case had to be so bulky and heavy. Nokia seems to be committed to design, not practicality.
The position of the keys is at least traditional, so you will find the audio input at the top, while on the right are the volume keys, camera and main on / off. The keys are also made of metal and are very well positioned and easy to find with your fingers. Another good thing is the slightly thicker thickness, and that is that you can easily insert and remove the SIM card without special tools.
Interestingly, the phone does not have a microSD port, so the user will have to limit himself to 32GB of internal memory.
Nokia Lumia 930 screen
The new phone brings a significantly improved screen. Some earlier WP models (like the Lumia 1520) already had full HD screens, but as this particular model had a bulky 6-inch screen, the picture quality was somewhat lost.
The Lumia 930 has a more moderate 5 inches and a very good 441 pixels per inch. Of course, this is not the largest number of pixels that you will find on current phones, but I don’t think it’s really that important, because this AMOLED ClearBlack screen is just fantastic.
And as its name suggests, the screen is able to achieve a really great depth of black color and strong contrast. This is noticeable as soon as you turn on the phone and see the initial fields that just glow.
These screens are known for having a black background, which represents excluded pixels, so in addition to stronger contrast, energy savings are also achieved.
Nokia Lumia 930 specification and performance
Windows Phone has a reputation as a battery saver. This platform has a well-organized system of work, so it is not surprising that previous Lumia models had processors of one or two cores and worked like clockwork.
Still, to get closer to the competition, the Lumia 930 got a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor at 2.2GHz, which gives it significantly better performance. This is last year’s processor, while some major competitors have already “purchased” the Snapdragon 801 processor, which additionally saves battery.
However, it doesn’t bother the Lumia 930 to last all day, and if you don’t overdo it with stronger use, you will have enough energy for the first morning reading of the news and browsing social networks.
However, a comparative display of battery life with the Lumia 1520 is not helpful, especially when it comes to watching HD videos. The problem looms in an unexpectedly small battery.
Nokia Lumia 930 software
This is very important for the potential success of this phone. Upgrading to a new version of the Windows Phone platform is one of its trump cards.
At the moment, there are not many phones with Windows Phone 8.1 OS, so the Nokia Lumia 930 imposes itself as the best choice. The main change is the new Action Center, where all notifications and quick settings are located, as with Android.
At the same time, background photos are now more susceptible to change. The fields on the home screen now seem somehow nicer and livelier, which significantly changes things compared to the earlier pale and somewhat lifeless tiles from older versions of WP.
However, there are basically no big differences compared to the older versions. The fields can be expanded and reduced, and the choice of available applications is now significantly greater.
However, some applications do not work like those downloaded from Google or the Apple Store. Also, some game titles are out of date, so if you’re looking for the latest software, you won’t find it here.
Nokia Lumia 930 camera
Nokia is one of the leaders in the production of cameras on smartphones. With state-of-the-art PureView technology on the Lumia 1020, things have irreversibly moved in one direction, forward. And the Lumia 930 uses the same technology, only with fewer pixels than the 1020.
The latest Lumia has a 20MP sensor combined with established Carl Zeiss optics. The camera is fast, with simple enough, but at the same time full of options, menus, as well as options for editing photos.
I noticed a difference in photography via the virtual and classic buttons, where the classic one needs some more time to do the job.
In essence, the camera is fast and is at the level of major competitors, such as the LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8.
It’s a bit unusual to add the standard options of each camera here manually, so you get the impression that there are more applications related to the operation of the camera, instead of one as it is on most other phones.
When it comes to photo quality, everything seems to be in place. In good lighting, the camera captures a lot of details, with pretty good colors. Even the clouds, which often give the camera a headache, look clean here, with clear edges.
When photographing objects in their immediate vicinity, the camera can sometimes confuse and confuse which subject should be in focus and which should not. If you photograph only one object up close, then the results are far better, with a lot of details and a lot of taste.
However, I think the greatest quality of the camera is that it captures and displays great colors, which cannot be said for a flash that is sometimes too strong, so the advice is to move away from the subject you are photographing before someone does this LED.
Nokia Lumia 930 Conclusion
The Nokia Lumia 930 is probably an example of what the Windows Phone platform will bring us in the future. In addition to numerous individualization options, the new software has also brought improvements to some classic Nokia services, such as Here Maps and Mix Radio, which now work better.
Navigation on Nokia phones still seems to work better than on those running Android and iOS OS. However, the database that Google Maps has is still difficult to access.
The Nokia Lumia 930 is a great phone. There is no dilemma in that. Starting with improved design, software and processors, the new Lumia is placed in the same league as the greats of today for the first time.
I have already said that the main competitors are HTC One M8, iPhone 5S, Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3, as well as another member of the Nokia family – Lumia 1020.
I will write about how the Nokia Lumia 930 copes with them in the coming period, but it is already now it is clear that this WP phone will not be easy to pave the way to success in addition to such competitors.
Windows Phone 8.1 is an improvement, but it seems to me that it still lags behind in a few things for Android and iOS platforms.
The Nokia Lumia 930 is the ideal phone for those who want to enter the world of smartphones in the right way. I don’t think there is a better phone for that at the moment.
The Nokia Lumia 930 is probably the most complete Windows Phone phone to date. Its current price (end of July 2014) is solid, but it is realistic to expect that in the next few months it will reach a level when there will no longer be an obstacle to its purchase.