Over the past few days, I've been playing around with the impressive Lumia 730! It has a good combination of good looks, great build quality, impressive camera, clear microphone and great value! This phone has been advertised as a selfie phone, but I can say directly to you that the Lumia 730 is more than just that!
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| Here's our full review! :) |
Display
When it comes to the display quality, Lumia 730 offers a good display. The colors are vibrant looking and feels natural and just right. That 4.7 inches display 720p display and 316 ppi did wonders to this phone. The viewing angles looks great too, I believe that the curved display did some wonders to its brilliance.
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| The gorgeous display! |
However just as I've said with our Unboxing Article, I noticed that the screen might be prone to hairline scratches so using a screen protector is a must.
Battery Life
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| Battery life |
Nokia did wonders on optimizing its 2200 mAh battery! The Lumia 730 lasted me more than a day with regular usage of calls, text and taking many photos and videos with occasional gaming. Still not as power efficient as the 4000 mAh Lenovo S860, but I can say that this phone can last longer than most 2200 mAh phones.
Audio Test
Audio output - One of the most detailed and best sounding music phones I've heard under PHP 15K! I liked the overall tonality better than my benchmark which is the Wolfson powered Nexus 5! The vocals are very clear and the instruments were very much present and highlighted. The highs can really go high with great sparkle. The soundstage is pretty wider than most phones I've tried too except excellent sounding Meizu MX4 and trusty Nexus 5! It doesn't need amplification too as it offers 30 volume clicks that can really go loud and rich! It can power my source picky Havi B3 Pro I and some full sized headphones with ease which makes Lumia 730 my favorite music phone on the go at the moment!
Credits to GSM Arena for this measurement
However, I find it difficult to play FLAC files as it lacks a codec to support it. I'm only using Free FLAC player as of the moment and it requires an SD card just to play music. The good news is, Microsoft will fully support this type of lossless audio files with the upcoming Windows 10.
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| The loudspeakers |
Speakers - The speakers included here is quite good too! It's not as loud as the speakers of the Lenovo S860, but to my ears this one is a little bit more detailed and louder than most phone around.
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| Stock Earbuds with Mic |
Stock Earbuds with Mic - Not the strong point of this package, it still has the usual Nokia earbuds. The sound is fairly listenable, but there's nothing too special about it, but for me I find it too dark, muddy and lacking in details. I hope that Microsoft can include a better earbuds or IEM here ala LG with their fantastic sounding Quadbeat 2. So that we can maximize the potential of this good sounding phone.
Fortunately, the recording using the earbuds mic is fairly good
Phone Microphone test - Oh man I love this part! This has one of the cleanest microphone recording I've heard in a phone recording! It's absolutely better than the Nexus 5, Infinity Lite, Redmi 1S and etc. You can clearly hear most of the details you recorded.
Note: Check the video I uploaded below for your ears to feast! :)
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| Selfie Super Lowlight |
Front camera video sample
Rear camera video sample (Listen to the clarity of the microphone too!)
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| Side by side with iPhone 6 Plus |
When it comes to the camera performance, hands down this is the strongest point of this phone and can take really vibrant photos with good color balance! It can also take high quality photos even at the dark with its rear camera. The flash is also strong enough to bring your shots back to life even at a very dark place. I also like the flashlight on feature when taking videos in the dark. The zoom quality is also better than most phones even though it has some grains on it. It can take good wide angle selfie photo that looks natural to my eyes. It also has one of the fastest shutter speeds I've seen at this price. The Lumia Selfie App also has good filter that does not overdo your photos. The front camera can also perform in the dark, however it is not as good as the rear camera, but it is pretty decent as well!
Performance
Lumia 730 is a very smooth performing phone. I can hardly feel any lag when moving from one app to another, taking photos and videos. It's smooth, fast overall and mostly responsive except for the on screen navigation buttons. When it comes to the user interface, it only needs a few minutes to get familiar with. It's very easy to understand and use especially when you are familiar with Windows 8.1! Unfortunately, the marketplace of Windows isn't still that rich compared to IOS and Android Playstore. Gaming capability is also quite good as it can run all pre installed games smoothly.
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| Windows Phone 8.1 interface |
Overall windows 8.1 is a solid OS with some great pre-installed apps like the people app and has a lot of potential and offers a fresh new look. The lack of apps may still be unappealing for some, but I'm sure that Microsoft will do something about this in the very near future.
Benchmarks
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| Multi Bench |
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| Phonemark |
Pro's - At just 6.7 MP the camera quality is better than most 13 MP out there, Great for taking wide angle selfies!, The audio quality better than most at this price, that dual microphone is superb, Sturdy build quality, Great hardware and overall value!
Cons - On screen navigation doesn't respond too well, screen can have hairline scratches, lack of lossless audio support, can't read some micro-microSD cards.
Verdict
This is a not just your ordinary selfie or a camera phone, it's a great overall multimedia phone for watching movies, taking videos and listening to music! The microphone recording quality is amazing that's fantastic for calls and taking videos. The speaker is fairly loud too! Overall Lumia 730 is fast, durable and priced just right!
