With flagship smart phone products we often see a great deal of change in their specification from one year to the next. Manufacturers like Nokia are always trying to out do their competitors to produce the most powerful smartphones money can buy. But what about the other end of the market, the cost-effective phones which consumers buy when they don’t need or want the latest and most powerful technology. How have the phones at this end of the market improved and are customers now getting more for their money than before?
The recently announced Nokia Lumia 530 is at the lower end of Nokia’s product range, but for many it provides all the features and functionality they want. We will be looking at how it compares to its predecessor the Nokia Lumia 520 released in the early part of 2013. To see how do these two phones differ in their specification and usability.
First we will compare each specification.
Design
Looking at the two phones they initially have a very similar design. The Nokia Lumia 520 does however have corners which are less curved than its successor. As a result is looks more square than its successor, and is possibly slightly less comfortable to hold. The buttons on the side of the phone are different in colour to the main body of the phone, making them distinctive and easy to find. There is also an extra camera button on the side making it easy to active this function without having to use the touch screen. This makes it easier to take photos in comparison to using the touch screen, but there has recently been a great deal of improvement with interfaces recently.
The new look Nokia Lumia 530 has corners which are far more curved and it looks more appealing. It should also make the phone easier to hold as there are no edges to dig into your hand. The buttons on the side of the phone are now the same colour as the rest of the body. This does look nice and means the phone is all one uniform colour, it also means the buttons are less obvious this is good from an aesthetic point of view, but may affect usability. Unfortunately camera button has now been omitted from the side of the phone. This is possibly due to improvements with the on-screen interface for taking photos. It would however have been nice to have a dedicated button.
Beside these differences the phones are of a similar size and weight. They also both have removable back covers giving you have easy access to the battery, SIM and micro SD slots. This means that they do look similar and are likely to be appealing to the same section of customer.
Display
With a 4″ display the Nokia Lumia 520 has a large display for a comparatively small phone. The 800 x 480 resolution is not able to compete with any flagship smartphones, but the screen is bright, clear and easy to view. It has a pixel density of 235 ppi and has useful features like a super sensitive touch interface. This means you can use the phone even when you are wearing glove. Which is useful on cold winter mornings when you don’t want to remove them. It also utilises an IPS panel giving you the benefit of wider viewing angles and colours which are rich and have good contrast.
In comparison the Lumia 530 still has a 4″ display, but this shouldn’t really be seen as being a disadvantage. It keeps the size of the phone compact, which is something many of potential customers want. As not everyone wants a 5″ display with the associated size increase to the phone. Nokia has however now given us a 854 x 480 resolution which is a slight increase. This means you have a pixel density of 246 ppi and you have a capacitive multi-touch interface, unfortunately there is no mention of it being an IPS panel. This maybe an oversight by Nokia, but the display does still seems clear and bright.
Memory
A generous 8GB of internal storage is given with the Lumia 520 and this provides plenty of space for storing all your apps and media content. If you find this is not enough space then you can always add a memory card. It is possible to use up to a 64GB memory cards with this phone. This gives you considerably more room for all of you media content like photos and movies. There is also the option to use up to 7GB of free cloud storage provided by Microsoft, making it easy to move files between devices.
Strangely with the Lumia 530 the amount of internal storage is less, at just 4GB of space. This initially appears as a problem as there is less space for your apps and other content. But when you notice that you can now use up to 128 GB memory cards, and it is possible to move apps them. This makes more sense, as the cost of memory cards is always deprecating. Admittedly the cost of a 128 GB memory card is now roughly £100, but this will change in the future. Providing you with a great potential update and more space than even some flagship phones. If this wasn’t enough the amount of free cloud storage space has now been increased to 15GB, so you should have somewhere to store all of your content.
Camera
With a 5MP camera the Lumia 520 was great at taking the occasional photo, but it doesn’t have all the features we see with flagship smart phones or dedicated cameras. It is simple press and shoot affair with an auto focus to make sure your photos look good and don’t have any blur. The camera button does however make it easier to take photos and the two-stage function does mean you can enjoy taking that occasional photo in comfort. There are other features in the form of panorama and several cinemagraph lens, making it easy for you to have some fun with your photos.
There hasn’t been any improvement in the camera with the Lumia 530. In fact it is more limited than its predecessor, as there is no dedicated camera button and it has a fixed focus. This means there is no automatic focusing of your photos which may limit the photos you can take. The minimum focus range is 60cm instead of 10cm which we saw with the Lumia 520. As a result it is not possible to take any close up photos with this phone. This is something to consider if you like taking photos with you smart phone, but it may not necessarily be a problem for everyone.
Neither of these smartphones have secondary front-facing cameras. So if you like taking photos of yourself, or wish to use services like Skype you may find it is a restriction you can’t live with.
Hardware
The Nokia Lumia 520 comes with a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and 512MB of RAM. This we found was ok for using Windows 8 with it and there was no obvious slow down when using standard apps. Playing any demanding games, or graphic rich apps may however potentially causes problems. As you don’t have the power which is available with flagship products. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are both present and correct, giving you the connectivity you need. Nokia has also chosen to offer Bluetooth 4.0 making it possible to use the latest wearable technology. There is however an interesting omissions in the form of NFC, which is shame. As this technology brings with it convenient access to accessories and makes connecting to them quicker without having to use any cables.
With the Nokia Lumia 530 there has been a slight increase in the processor speed to 1.2GHz, but it is now a quad-core version. In fact the processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor. This is more efficient than the earlier dual-core, but it is unlikely there will be any dramatic visible improvement in the overall performance. Like its predecessor you will be able to enjoy most standard apps, but may find some content rich ones too demanding. This is especially the case for any games you may wish to play, which use high-end graphics. As with the Lumia 520 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 are present, but also this smart phone doesn’t benefit from having NFC. This omission is now more of a disappointment, as Nokia has continued to produce colourful and interesting accessories.
Software
With the Lumia 520 Nokia provides Windows 8 which brings with it many enhancements over earlier versions. There is compatibility with multiple core processors and multi-tasking has seen significant improvement. This means apps run in the background and can then be instantly resumed when required. Internet Explorer 10 provides many updates and benefits, but it is the new clean interface which most users will appreciate and enjoy. While the Kids corner is a great way for children to use a smart phone without having access to all the features. This ensures they are unable to do any harm like activate your data plan, or turn on features which are likely to use excessive battery power. This all means that Windows 8 is a significant update on the earlier versions and the Nokia Lumia 520 is able to take full advantage of it.
In addition Nokia include some of their own apps with the Lumia 520. These include HERE Drive and Nokia Mix Radio which both offer great functionality and benefits. HERE Drive gives you turn-by-turn navigation which doesn’t seem impressive now, but for the fact that you can download any of the maps. This avoids you incurring data charges while using the software to navigate. Nokia Mix Radio offers free music to listen to throughout your day. It gives you the option to choose from many mixes, or you can even create your own playlist. You can even share them with your friends, so everyone knows what you are listening to.
The Nokia Lumia 530 is able to out to do this by have the new and improved Windows 8.1. This brings with it many benefits with a new Start screen which you can customise to your own taste. There is the ability to added folders into your tiles making it easier to organise yourself. You will also enjoy the “Action Centre” which is a drop down menu which makes it easy to view your notifications. You can also interact with commonly used features like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turning them on/off as you need them. You can now type using the on-screen keyboard faster than ever before with “Word Flow”. This new keyboard for Windows enables you to swipe between keys without removing your finger from the screen. It takes double letters into account so there are no errors when entering any words you wish to. Internet Explorer 11 is now included which brings with it InPrivate browsing and settings to conserve data usage.
With Windows Phone 8.1 being provided it is a major benefit. As this version of Windows brings many extra features to the Nokia Lumia 530. Most of which improve the efficiency of how you work and interact with your phone.
Like before with the Lumia 520 Nokia includes some of their own apps. It is good to see that HERE Drive and Nokia Mix Radio are still available. With there being some new apps in the form of Nokia Glam and Nokia Beamer. This shows commitment to giving all of their customers the best experience possible. Even if the phone is at the lower end of their range customers still receive extra useful apps much make using them more enjoyable.
Conclusion
The Nokia Lumia 520 was a great smart phone when initially available at the beginning of last year. It brought Windows Phone 8 to customers who are more price conscience and wanted a phone which gave them the advantages of this operating systems, without the capabilities of a flagship product. This smart phone did just that giving them a bright and distinctive look which meant they could stand out from the crowd. The large 4″ a display with a respectable resolution made it easy to view photos and interact with the phone. While the 5 MP camera was functional and gave customers the basic photography which they required, while also making it easy to take the photos. Overall it was a good quality smart phone which brought Windows 8 to the mass market.
Nokia has produced a similar specification with the Lumia 530 with their only being slight improvements in the speed and type of processor. In some areas the specification now appears lower than the predecessor. The camera and internal storage being notable areas where this is the case, but this is only part of the story. As this smart phone has Windows 8.1 and this provides a significant improvements in useability. The look and feel of the phone has seen improvement and some of the limitations have been offset by other improvements. The ability to use larger memory cards and access to a larger amount of cloud storage being obvious examples.
One other thing we haven’t touched on in this review so far is price. At release the Nokia Lumia 530 will be cheaper than its predecessor the Nokia Lumia 520. In fact as seen in another one of our posts “Nokia Lumia 530 – Windows 8.1 for £99” this smart phone comes in at under £100 including VAT. This is a great price for a Windows 8.1 smartphone and means Nokia may attract customers who previously would have found their products too expensive.
This makes the Nokia Lumia 530 the perfect choice for anyone who wants a Windows 8.1 smart phone, but only needs basic features.
The Lumia 520 is still available and the 530 is due for release soon!
Check out the Nokia Lumia 520, available for £118.80 inc VAT
Check out the Nokia Lumia 530, available for £99 inc VAT
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