Brett, I applaud you for reviewing all the new Lumias here on AT. Thank you Also I maintain this is a more interesting phone than the 830, given the price points for both. Flame me.
I think that the Lumia line-up is a little weird, but there are many options and I would consider them when it will be time to replace my smartphone (basic usage, but a lot of music to store, for example on a micro-SD card, and tethering for my tablet).
I think Nokia have done a great job to differenciate their products from the Android crowd, at least physically, and Microsoft is following with affordable Lumia smartphones.
Addition: as a photographer, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) is of no interest except for 135mm+ equivalent (35mm format) lenses. Not on wide-angle, not for capture the true life where people are moving, because you will have too long exposure time with clear and sharp environment and blurry people!
The Lumia series has not been very popular to consumer, even if you look on a consumer base review (like http://www.phonestop7.tk/ for example...) they're nowhere to be found. But with the latest Windows 8 incorporated...hope things would change
does "Battery Saver mode" really equate to "stop background sync" on the other platforms? i'd still assume windows would have a separate option in settings.
Well, it stops non-essential tasks and background stuff. It isn't limited to sync. But it doesn't change performance by slowing down CPU or something like that. I don't think you gain a lot by using battery saver during these rundown tests. It shows high gains mostly in light use.
Battery Saver is great for what it was designed for. Obviously it isn't going to help much if you're actively using your phone, but it really stretches the "in-pocket" time if you forgot or were otherwise unable to charge it.
I have a Lumia 1520, which I am very, very satisfied with. Nokia makes some really sturdy phones. I have dropped it quite a few times, around 4-5 times, over the last 7 months. It's something that happens to me maybe once a month or less, but it happens.
Not even a scratch on the screen or even the body. It's high-quality. The 1520 was also relatively cheap when I bought it(around 380 euros off-contract).
So that is my disclaimer. But here's the thing about these phones. They are very underspecced for a high price. Nokia(or now Microsoft) does awesome high-spec phones, but they are terrible at the lower-end.
The Lumia 520 was a hit for its time, when most budget stuff was terrible. But now, it is not hard to find decent quality low-price phones. It's not just Xiaomi. In places like India, you now have MASSIVE choice. Even the mid-range is getting serious competition from players like the Moto G, who in turn are getting disrupted by even cheaper alternatives. The Micromax Yu phone, the upcoming Zenfone 2(flagship specs for 200 dollars).
The short summary is that Nokia/MS is getting increasingly less competitive with the market. They used to do well in the low-end but now they are getting crushed there. They still do very good high-end phones but that is not where the market is going.
I hope, for selfish reasons, that they get their act togther. More WP users means more attention to the app ecosystem, but my god, you gotta do better than this MS.
Just an addendum, the app ecosystem in WP is today massively improved. I'm anxious to get ahold of the WP 10 technical preview, since the changes there will essentially bring the OS into parity with iOS/Android on a technical basis. The OS is very fast, has no jutter and no lag.
I feel like the Nokia/MS thing have gotten in reverse in a sense. They used to make killer phones but with a faltering OS and a poor app ecosystem. In my view, the latter part has been largely fixed, while the strong suits of WP (the speed, the lagless experience etc) have been strengthened.
Now, most Lumia phones we're seeing are not that competitive with the market. The L920 was an amazing deal for its time. In my view, if you can get the 1520 for cheap, it's the equivalent of that phone(if you are comfortable with big phablets). But if you're not into the high-end, you're going to overprice. A flagship Zenfone 2 for 200 dollars will simply crush what they have on offer. The OnePlus, the Micromax Yu, it just continues. Android is becomming ungodly affordable, and WP isn't keeping up. Apple has the premium segment increasingly sewn up.
The lagless experience hasn't improved, it's gotten worse. When Microsoft started moving apps from Silverlight to WinRT and encouraging devs to make apps in WinRT for universal apps, it killed a lot of the smooth experience. My 925 was way faster on WP8 than it is on 8.1.1. The app load times are the actual offenders.
The "loading" and "resuming" screens have become painful. Sure there might be runtime optimizations that MS has yet to do since WinRT is much newer than Silverlight. WinRT apps can't run under the lockscreen either, they reload when your phone locks over them. I am hoping they fix it with Windows (Phone) 10.
kspirit. That's does not tally with reality. WinRT is native code (COM wrapped Win32 API) Silverlight comes out as IL , so runs managed. My universal apps start, and run faster so note sure what your issue is.
I have no idea how they're selling, but in the U.S. at least, the cheaper Nokias are still the only good cheap phones. For several times more than like a 635 you can get a Google Play Edition Motorola, but even then it lacks LTE (and costs much more, even if it's still pretty cheap).
For cheap phones for my family, I just buy used phones. I think the best deal is the Galaxy S3 - I bought a used one in excellent condition (looked brand new) for my wife for $90.
Excellent choice. I have had my S3 since inception, around 2.5 years. A solid performer. A good phone, great screen. Have not had a single problem. Skipped the S4/S5, just getting to large.
I have a Lumia 735, iPhone 6 and Samsung S4. The S4 is the worst hardware (plasticy) worst OS (Android is ugly anyway, and Samsung ruin it with their bloatware). The Lumia 735 is on a level playing field with the iPhone 6, both high quality OSes, both much more modern than Android. The only thing I really like about my iPhone is the touch ID. Other than that the Lumia 735 is comparable. Ignoring "spectard" comparison, but in real life usage all 3 are almost exactly the same size, all run just as fast. The iPhone is super expensive but I didn't pay for it. If it was my own money i'd get the 735 every time. Best value by miles.
Have to say I do love the design. When I clocked it in the shop I thought it was the Nokia N9 brought back to life.
It looks like its a monolithic unibody, but actually the seam for the removable back is right around the screen edge so you get unibody looks but removable/replaceable back.
The 830 has another couple of disadvantages over the 735 except for the price: It's too big and it's too heavy and if you happen to have one x20s with x > 7 then it's also a step sidewards feature wise.
The slow WiFi is not really a problem since in 99% of all cases you'll have to process the data in some form anyways so the bottleneck will be the CPU. 5GHz would have been nice though.
The only real letdown as you've correctly identified is the lack of Glance, but since that's only software anyways I don't see any reason why the might not be added at a later point.
i don't believe glance is just software, it actually requires a special type of display with "memory". Apparently none of the amoled lumia's have that, therefore glance is missing from even the top end phones like the 930. It is however present on lcd displays like the 1520 and 830.
It still baffles me that Nokia/microsoft agreed to ship all those new phones without the required displays for Glance to work. It is afterall one of the best lumia featurs. As if they didn't need all the help they can get flogging phones.
It's true that none of the AMOLED phones this year have Glance, but they all did last year, so it seems to be more of an issue with Nokia not being able to find displays with memory, but that's not going to excuse the feature missing in my review because I love Glance.
Price. These are not expensive phones. And when you sell as few as they do, likely losing money on every sale, you try to keep cost down as much as possible.
The just launched Lumia 532 has Glance. So it's not price, and it's not getting phased out. I'm sure it's more to do with sourcing the correct components, but now that Lumia falls under Microsoft this will hopefully end. http://www.anandtech.com/show/8893/microsoft-launc...
The 620 supports Glance with an LCD (thus being highly inefficient because it needs the backlighting permanently on). I don't think that display memory makes such a huge different in power consumption especially in "peek" mode. So it's really more a matter of software rather than hardware.
It's only slightly larger, which may bother some people, but not all. And the 830 is only 15 grams heavier. Noticeable with both in your hand, but not huge.
The slow Wi-Fi means disabling your 5GHz radio or upgrading to an access point with simultaneous 2.4/5GHz coverage. I ran into this issue when I bought a Lumia 635 as a house phone. Now I have to run my laptop and Icon on congested 2.4GHz when no one else in the area is running 5GHz. First World problem, but still annoying.
For display test, I know that Anandtech uses Calman SW and i1Pro for measuring . But I curious, how they input test pattern to cell phone? As anybody knows, MicroUSB port of cellphone is output only.
Actually, Lumia phones DO support transferring data in BOTH directions via the micro USB port; the phone mounts like any other USB storage device when connected to a Windows machine, & M'soft offers a free utility for file transfers to/from Mac OS devices...
It's pretty silly how poorly the WP browser does against the equivalent SoC in an Android phone. Sunspider is the only thing it does well in, and we know Microsoft targeted that for optimizations, making it less of a real world result. They don't even have a terrible rendering engine on the desktop side, so I don't get why they continue to underperform so much on the mobile side.
This will finally be resolved when Spartan is the new browser in Windows Phone 10. Not that this is any excuse for the poor implementation now, but finally, browser performance seems to be a priority.
What's the rationale for when to include and when not to include iPhones in the comparisons? No iPhone was compared in the battery life charts, but it's there in a lot of the other charts.
We pull our data from our online database, and the iPhone would not be included if that particular test was not run on it. GFXBench just updated to this version recently on iOS (by recently I mean since our initial review)
Our benchmarks evolve over time, and as new versions come out, we migrate towards them. The 5c was reviewed a while ago, so it would not have been run on benchmarks that came out after its launch, but price wise is still similar to the 735 so I included it where I could. If you want to compare the 735 to any other iPhones, I mentioned in the article that we have a great online tool for that called Bench which you can find a link to at the top of our main page.
Thanks for your reply. Pity that the newer benchmarks are not available for 5C. I guess that provided that the benchmarks don't continually change this won't be a common problem. Pity in this case, but thanks again for the reply.
@Brett - Great review. in some CPU and GPU benchmarks why does 735 perform 10-30% slower than Moto G. I thought they were using the same soc I don't know why anyone would buy this or 830 over Moto G LTE. better performance, better display, better OS. Only upside is battery life but I think MotoG has much better value to it
Because people typically buy phones for the full package rather than just plain hardware specs? Otherwise neither Motorola nor Microsoft nor Apple would sell any phones...
Yes, they are the same SoC. Snapdragon 400 in both. In the web browser tests, Internet Explorer is much slower than Chrome. IE is being replaced though, and the new replacement is already much faster, so on Windows 10, this should be less of an issue.
As for the GPU benchmarks, my suspicion is that the video drivers for Adreno are more tuned for Android than they are for Windows Phone with DirectX.
Great article as always! I decided to finally create an account just to comment on this one. I have this phone, bought it 3 when it barely came out to replace my old and ageing trustworthy Nokia 5800. I tried several phones before making the decision to buy this one, several androids from several brands, i even glimpsed at the iphone (but that one was is too expensive for my poor pockets), and then i tried windows phone on a low end device. After seeing how fast it was, i decided to search for the lumia phones. Seeing this one had just came out 2 weeks ago back then, i decided to check for the pricing, and it was with a great discount: Unlocked for 189€ (it was, and still is, 249€ in most stores), so I decided "what tha hell, let's jump into the windows phone and see what's it about.", as i pretty much already knew well what android and ios could offer me, and kept hearing how "bad and lacking windows phone was".
God damn it's great!
Phone runs super smooth, the hand feel is just right, screen has incredible colous, love the blacks, the entire system just pieces together incredibly well, and the so called "app lacking" problems are not nearly as close as people say it is: actually so far i haven't felt the need for any app that's lacking, even multilayer games a few of my collogues have and want me to play with them, i have them available on the store.
I can't believe i went for 6 years with Nokia 5800 thinking not a single phone could replace it anytime soon, and it seems this one was a heck of a deal for the price i got it (it was back in November, it had just arrived to my country it seemed).
Battery lasts for me 2 full days, and i do use the phone quite a lot during my day. Only thing i found sad to discover this one didn't have is the glance screen, but it's not that much of a big deal breaker.
A few stores have knocked the price down to 199.90€ (unlocked, it's at 168€ in Vodafone right now, locked of course) recently, so this phone should start being a hit, IF people stop being idiots saying Windows Phone isn't any good and actually try it out.
So far I don't have any problems with it, except for one: My wallet is screaming right now, as i just bought a second one to offer my sister for her 38th birthday haha. Got the Orange one for her as well, mine's the dark grey one.
Slap on it a SD card and you wont have any storage issues. 16GB fast mSD cards run so cheap this days (8€), it's a steal really. I got a 64GB card for mine to store all the things and more though :)
Just to piggyback on your comment, before I bought my first smartphone (iphone 4) in 2010 I had the Nokia 7250i since 2004. I too went with the older nokia phone for 6 years. I bought a cheap lumia 525 and I'm seriously thinking of getting a high end windows phone once my iphone 6 plus dies (probably another 4 yrs).
Well, I guess this is good review for users outside the US. But why does Microsoft give you a phone to review that's not really available for sale here, or support the common US LTE bands?
Thanks for the review Brett, I have bought the dual sim Lumia 730 for $200 factory unlocked version, so its a very good deal when compared to the $375 Lumia 830 in my country. I was sick of carrying two phones and badly needed a dual sim phone and the Lumia 730 announcement got my interest.
I don't like huge phones, so the 4.7inch screen is perfect for me, the OLED screen is of good quality, windows phone has the best implementation of MicroSD cards and thus storage is a non-issue, the phone design is nice with light weight and comfortable curves, got the Matte finish dark grey colour as i prefer matte finish and dark colours. The camera quality is actually good and can be bettered only by flagship phones, no other $200 phone can compete with Lumia 730 in this department !!
Now, looking forward to Windows 10 technical preview, i know that the final W10 launch will be in Fall-2015 but its nice of Microsoft to allow direct OS updates via technical preview or preview for developers app.
The charge time is incredibly long given its battery capacity! Is it possible to charge the Lumia 735 using beefier chargers like 5V/1A or 5V/2A so as to reduce charge time?
Definitely, you can charge 730/735 with the beefier chargers, i charge my Lumia 730 Dual Sim with a 2A charger and i haven't timed it but its much much faster than the 0.75A charger i got in the box.
Nicely written, very informative article, but as someone just exploring the Windows Phone world, I don't know what "Glance" is - it would have been nice to explain that. Also, many words about the curved glass, but no pictures to see it.
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kspirit - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Brett, I applaud you for reviewing all the new Lumias here on AT. Thank youAlso I maintain this is a more interesting phone than the 830, given the price points for both.
Flame me.
Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Thank you for the kind words, and I won't flame you.iAPX - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
I think that the Lumia line-up is a little weird, but there are many options and I would consider them when it will be time to replace my smartphone (basic usage, but a lot of music to store, for example on a micro-SD card, and tethering for my tablet).I think Nokia have done a great job to differenciate their products from the Android crowd, at least physically, and Microsoft is following with affordable Lumia smartphones.
iAPX - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Addition: as a photographer, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) is of no interest except for 135mm+ equivalent (35mm format) lenses. Not on wide-angle, not for capture the true life where people are moving, because you will have too long exposure time with clear and sharp environment and blurry people!My 2 cents!
Laxaa - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
It is useful for low-light shots and video, though. But I do agree with the rest of your sentiment.bretpowell - Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - link
The Lumia series has not been very popular to consumer, even if you look on a consumer base review (like http://www.phonestop7.tk/ for example...) they're nowhere to be found. But with the latest Windows 8 incorporated...hope things would changeSushisamurai - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
does "Battery Saver mode" really equate to "stop background sync" on the other platforms? i'd still assume windows would have a separate option in settings.Zizy - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Well, it stops non-essential tasks and background stuff. It isn't limited to sync.But it doesn't change performance by slowing down CPU or something like that.
I don't think you gain a lot by using battery saver during these rundown tests. It shows high gains mostly in light use.
mantikos - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
It also stops checking for e-mail and wifi networks to conserve battery. You can of course manually do both.Alexvrb - Thursday, February 5, 2015 - link
Battery Saver is great for what it was designed for. Obviously it isn't going to help much if you're actively using your phone, but it really stretches the "in-pocket" time if you forgot or were otherwise unable to charge it.Mondozai - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
I have a Lumia 1520, which I am very, very satisfied with. Nokia makes some really sturdy phones. I have dropped it quite a few times, around 4-5 times, over the last 7 months. It's something that happens to me maybe once a month or less, but it happens.Not even a scratch on the screen or even the body. It's high-quality. The 1520 was also relatively cheap when I bought it(around 380 euros off-contract).
So that is my disclaimer. But here's the thing about these phones. They are very underspecced for a high price. Nokia(or now Microsoft) does awesome high-spec phones, but they are terrible at the lower-end.
The Lumia 520 was a hit for its time, when most budget stuff was terrible. But now, it is not hard to find decent quality low-price phones. It's not just Xiaomi. In places like India, you now have MASSIVE choice. Even the mid-range is getting serious competition from players like the Moto G, who in turn are getting disrupted by even cheaper alternatives. The Micromax Yu phone, the upcoming Zenfone 2(flagship specs for 200 dollars).
The short summary is that Nokia/MS is getting increasingly less competitive with the market. They used to do well in the low-end but now they are getting crushed there. They still do very good high-end phones but that is not where the market is going.
I hope, for selfish reasons, that they get their act togther. More WP users means more attention to the app ecosystem, but my god, you gotta do better than this MS.
Mondozai - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Just an addendum, the app ecosystem in WP is today massively improved. I'm anxious to get ahold of the WP 10 technical preview, since the changes there will essentially bring the OS into parity with iOS/Android on a technical basis. The OS is very fast, has no jutter and no lag.I feel like the Nokia/MS thing have gotten in reverse in a sense. They used to make killer phones but with a faltering OS and a poor app ecosystem. In my view, the latter part has been largely fixed, while the strong suits of WP (the speed, the lagless experience etc) have been strengthened.
Now, most Lumia phones we're seeing are not that competitive with the market. The L920 was an amazing deal for its time. In my view, if you can get the 1520 for cheap, it's the equivalent of that phone(if you are comfortable with big phablets). But if you're not into the high-end, you're going to overprice. A flagship Zenfone 2 for 200 dollars will simply crush what they have on offer. The OnePlus, the Micromax Yu, it just continues. Android is becomming ungodly affordable, and WP isn't keeping up. Apple has the premium segment increasingly sewn up.
kspirit - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
The lagless experience hasn't improved, it's gotten worse. When Microsoft started moving apps from Silverlight to WinRT and encouraging devs to make apps in WinRT for universal apps, it killed a lot of the smooth experience. My 925 was way faster on WP8 than it is on 8.1.1. The app load times are the actual offenders.The "loading" and "resuming" screens have become painful. Sure there might be runtime optimizations that MS has yet to do since WinRT is much newer than Silverlight. WinRT apps can't run under the lockscreen either, they reload when your phone locks over them. I am hoping they fix it with Windows (Phone) 10.
hwangeruk - Saturday, February 7, 2015 - link
kspirit. That's does not tally with reality. WinRT is native code (COM wrapped Win32 API)Silverlight comes out as IL , so runs managed. My universal apps start, and run faster so note sure what your issue is.
Wolfpup - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
I have no idea how they're selling, but in the U.S. at least, the cheaper Nokias are still the only good cheap phones. For several times more than like a 635 you can get a Google Play Edition Motorola, but even then it lacks LTE (and costs much more, even if it's still pretty cheap).kmmatney - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
For cheap phones for my family, I just buy used phones. I think the best deal is the Galaxy S3 - I bought a used one in excellent condition (looked brand new) for my wife for $90.mymy - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Excellent choice. I have had my S3 since inception, around 2.5 years. A solid performer. A good phone, great screen. Have not had a single problem. Skipped the S4/S5, just getting to large.hwangeruk - Saturday, February 7, 2015 - link
I have a Lumia 735, iPhone 6 and Samsung S4. The S4 is the worst hardware (plasticy) worst OS (Android is ugly anyway, and Samsung ruin it with their bloatware). The Lumia 735 is on a level playing field with the iPhone 6, both high quality OSes, both much more modern than Android. The only thing I really like about my iPhone is the touch ID. Other than that the Lumia 735 is comparable. Ignoring "spectard" comparison, but in real life usage all 3 are almost exactly the same size, all run just as fast. The iPhone is super expensive but I didn't pay for it. If it was my own money i'd get the 735 every time. Best value by miles.Jon Tseng - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Have to say I do love the design. When I clocked it in the shop I thought it was the Nokia N9 brought back to life.It looks like its a monolithic unibody, but actually the seam for the removable back is right around the screen edge so you get unibody looks but removable/replaceable back.
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
The 830 has another couple of disadvantages over the 735 except for the price: It's too big and it's too heavy and if you happen to have one x20s with x > 7 then it's also a step sidewards feature wise.The slow WiFi is not really a problem since in 99% of all cases you'll have to process the data in some form anyways so the bottleneck will be the CPU. 5GHz would have been nice though.
The only real letdown as you've correctly identified is the lack of Glance, but since that's only software anyways I don't see any reason why the might not be added at a later point.
maximumGPU - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
i don't believe glance is just software, it actually requires a special type of display with "memory". Apparently none of the amoled lumia's have that, therefore glance is missing from even the top end phones like the 930. It is however present on lcd displays like the 1520 and 830.It still baffles me that Nokia/microsoft agreed to ship all those new phones without the required displays for Glance to work. It is afterall one of the best lumia featurs. As if they didn't need all the help they can get flogging phones.
Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
It's true that none of the AMOLED phones this year have Glance, but they all did last year, so it seems to be more of an issue with Nokia not being able to find displays with memory, but that's not going to excuse the feature missing in my review because I love Glance.melgross - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Price. These are not expensive phones. And when you sell as few as they do, likely losing money on every sale, you try to keep cost down as much as possible.Thermogenic - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Lumia 930 is not a cheap phone and does not have Glance.melgross - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
That's true, but it's more of an exception, isn't it? Or else, Microsoft is going to eliminate it entirely over time.Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
The just launched Lumia 532 has Glance. So it's not price, and it's not getting phased out. I'm sure it's more to do with sourcing the correct components, but now that Lumia falls under Microsoft this will hopefully end.http://www.anandtech.com/show/8893/microsoft-launc...
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
The 620 supports Glance with an LCD (thus being highly inefficient because it needs the backlighting permanently on). I don't think that display memory makes such a huge different in power consumption especially in "peek" mode. So it's really more a matter of software rather than hardware.Dorek - Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - link
I have a 920, which is an IPS LCD screen, and the battery hit from Glance is miniscule.Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
It's only slightly larger, which may bother some people, but not all. And the 830 is only 15 grams heavier. Noticeable with both in your hand, but not huge.Cpt. Obvious - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
The Glance Screen is available as a download from the app-store. See: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/glance...Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
The Glance screen app is only available to phones with the correct hardware to use it unfortunately. Would be nice if it was just an app.noblemo - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
The slow Wi-Fi means disabling your 5GHz radio or upgrading to an access point with simultaneous 2.4/5GHz coverage. I ran into this issue when I bought a Lumia 635 as a house phone. Now I have to run my laptop and Icon on congested 2.4GHz when no one else in the area is running 5GHz. First World problem, but still annoying.nathanddrews - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
In all honesty, I'm waiting to upgrade my S3 to an Intel-X86-powered, Windows 10 phone. We're almost there.http://makeameme.org/media/created/almost-there-al...
juan96 - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
For display test, I know that Anandtech uses Calman SW and i1Pro for measuring . But I curious, how they input test pattern to cell phone? As anybody knows, MicroUSB port of cellphone is output only.deltaman - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Actually, Lumia phones DO support transferring data in BOTH directions via the micro USB port; the phone mounts like any other USB storage device when connected to a Windows machine, & M'soft offers a free utility for file transfers to/from Mac OS devices...juan96 - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Yes, I misunderstood. MicroUSB is not only for output. But I still didn't find the solution to use Android tablet uses as display device like monitor.tipoo - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
With 720p and MicroSD thrown in, it could be a decent Moto G competitor. I wish they at least upgraded to the Snapdragon 410 though.tipoo - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
It's pretty silly how poorly the WP browser does against the equivalent SoC in an Android phone. Sunspider is the only thing it does well in, and we know Microsoft targeted that for optimizations, making it less of a real world result. They don't even have a terrible rendering engine on the desktop side, so I don't get why they continue to underperform so much on the mobile side.tipoo - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
And the GPU too, what is with that?Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
This will finally be resolved when Spartan is the new browser in Windows Phone 10. Not that this is any excuse for the poor implementation now, but finally, browser performance seems to be a priority.gijames1225 - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
What's the rationale for when to include and when not to include iPhones in the comparisons? No iPhone was compared in the battery life charts, but it's there in a lot of the other charts.melgross - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Particularly as it was said that the testing app is now compatable across systems.Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
We pull our data from our online database, and the iPhone would not be included if that particular test was not run on it. GFXBench just updated to this version recently on iOS (by recently I mean since our initial review)gijames1225 - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Cool, thanks for the explanation.hlovatt - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
There was some comparison against iPhone5c, but inconsistent and missing for performance. So the review was a bit disappointing overall :(Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Our benchmarks evolve over time, and as new versions come out, we migrate towards them. The 5c was reviewed a while ago, so it would not have been run on benchmarks that came out after its launch, but price wise is still similar to the 735 so I included it where I could. If you want to compare the 735 to any other iPhones, I mentioned in the article that we have a great online tool for that called Bench which you can find a link to at the top of our main page.hlovatt - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Thanks for your reply. Pity that the newer benchmarks are not available for 5C. I guess that provided that the benchmarks don't continually change this won't be a common problem. Pity in this case, but thanks again for the reply.bullzz - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
@Brett - Great review. in some CPU and GPU benchmarks why does 735 perform 10-30% slower than Moto G. I thought they were using the same socI don't know why anyone would buy this or 830 over Moto G LTE. better performance, better display, better OS. Only upside is battery life but I think MotoG has much better value to it
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Because people typically buy phones for the full package rather than just plain hardware specs? Otherwise neither Motorola nor Microsoft nor Apple would sell any phones...Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Yes, they are the same SoC. Snapdragon 400 in both. In the web browser tests, Internet Explorer is much slower than Chrome. IE is being replaced though, and the new replacement is already much faster, so on Windows 10, this should be less of an issue.As for the GPU benchmarks, my suspicion is that the video drivers for Adreno are more tuned for Android than they are for Windows Phone with DirectX.
peterfares - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
PenTile screen? Yuck.Paulo Constança - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Great article as always! I decided to finally create an account just to comment on this one. I have this phone, bought it 3 when it barely came out to replace my old and ageing trustworthy Nokia 5800. I tried several phones before making the decision to buy this one, several androids from several brands, i even glimpsed at the iphone (but that one was is too expensive for my poor pockets), and then i tried windows phone on a low end device. After seeing how fast it was, i decided to search for the lumia phones. Seeing this one had just came out 2 weeks ago back then, i decided to check for the pricing, and it was with a great discount: Unlocked for 189€ (it was, and still is, 249€ in most stores), so I decided "what tha hell, let's jump into the windows phone and see what's it about.", as i pretty much already knew well what android and ios could offer me, and kept hearing how "bad and lacking windows phone was".God damn it's great!
Phone runs super smooth, the hand feel is just right, screen has incredible colous, love the blacks, the entire system just pieces together incredibly well, and the so called "app lacking" problems are not nearly as close as people say it is: actually so far i haven't felt the need for any app that's lacking, even multilayer games a few of my collogues have and want me to play with them, i have them available on the store.
I can't believe i went for 6 years with Nokia 5800 thinking not a single phone could replace it anytime soon, and it seems this one was a heck of a deal for the price i got it (it was back in November, it had just arrived to my country it seemed).
Battery lasts for me 2 full days, and i do use the phone quite a lot during my day. Only thing i found sad to discover this one didn't have is the glance screen, but it's not that much of a big deal breaker.
A few stores have knocked the price down to 199.90€ (unlocked, it's at 168€ in Vodafone right now, locked of course) recently, so this phone should start being a hit, IF people stop being idiots saying Windows Phone isn't any good and actually try it out.
So far I don't have any problems with it, except for one: My wallet is screaming right now, as i just bought a second one to offer my sister for her 38th birthday haha. Got the Orange one for her as well, mine's the dark grey one.
Slap on it a SD card and you wont have any storage issues. 16GB fast mSD cards run so cheap this days (8€), it's a steal really. I got a 64GB card for mine to store all the things and more though :)
faizoff - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
Just to piggyback on your comment, before I bought my first smartphone (iphone 4) in 2010 I had the Nokia 7250i since 2004. I too went with the older nokia phone for 6 years. I bought a cheap lumia 525 and I'm seriously thinking of getting a high end windows phone once my iphone 6 plus dies (probably another 4 yrs).Cpt. Obvious - Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - link
The Glance Screen is available as a download from the app-store. See: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/glance...AlluringRaja - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Yes I saw that but I think glance screen is not available to download for Lumia 520. There is no download button.atata - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
Why you never test audio output quality from jack? Is no one listening to the music anymore?cbf - Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - link
Well, I guess this is good review for users outside the US. But why does Microsoft give you a phone to review that's not really available for sale here, or support the common US LTE bands?BMNify - Thursday, February 5, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review Brett, I have bought the dual sim Lumia 730 for $200 factory unlocked version, so its a very good deal when compared to the $375 Lumia 830 in my country. I was sick of carrying two phones and badly needed a dual sim phone and the Lumia 730 announcement got my interest.I don't like huge phones, so the 4.7inch screen is perfect for me, the OLED screen is of good quality, windows phone has the best implementation of MicroSD cards and thus storage is a non-issue, the phone design is nice with light weight and comfortable curves, got the Matte finish dark grey colour as i prefer matte finish and dark colours. The camera quality is actually good and can be bettered only by flagship phones, no other $200 phone can compete with Lumia 730 in this department !!
Now, looking forward to Windows 10 technical preview, i know that the final W10 launch will be in Fall-2015 but its nice of Microsoft to allow direct OS updates via technical preview or preview for developers app.
loimlo - Saturday, February 7, 2015 - link
The charge time is incredibly long given its battery capacity! Is it possible to charge the Lumia 735 using beefier chargers like 5V/1A or 5V/2A so as to reduce charge time?BMNify - Saturday, February 7, 2015 - link
Definitely, you can charge 730/735 with the beefier chargers, i charge my Lumia 730 Dual Sim with a 2A charger and i haven't timed it but its much much faster than the 0.75A charger i got in the box.laugs1 - Saturday, February 7, 2015 - link
Nicely written, very informative article, but as someone just exploring the Windows Phone world, I don't know what "Glance" is - it would have been nice to explain that. Also, many words about the curved glass, but no pictures to see it.Brett Howse - Saturday, February 7, 2015 - link
Thanks for reading. I meant to link to the Glance screen info from the 830, but I obviously missed that when posting. Here's the link http://anandtech.com/show/8726/nokia-lumia-830-rev...I'll update the article. Thanks for the catch!
anordahl - Sunday, February 8, 2015 - link
Does it support WPA2-Enterprise WiFi networks? Is EAP-TLS (Certificate based authentication) supported?Brett Howse - Sunday, February 8, 2015 - link
Yes at the OS level https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn643706....