The Nokia Lumia 530 is one of the budget Windows phone priced at P4,490 here in the Philippines. It has a 4-inch display, Snapdragon 200 quad-core CPU, dual-sim connectivity and Windows 8.1. If you want to try a new OS and a different phone experience, you might want to give it a shot.
What's inside the box?
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| The Lumia 530 box only contains a charger, warranty papers and the phone itself. It doesn't have an earphones and a micro-USB cable which is most of the times included on other phones. |
Build & Design
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The solid build in the back (this is the green edition back), it contains the camera, speaker (black round at the bottom) and the engraved Nokia name. Feels smooth matte in the back and quite sturdy even it' is Nokia's low budget phone release this year. This is a bit rounded, chunkier and a bit heavier than its predecessor Lumia 520.
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| The volume rocker and the power button at the side |
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| The 3.5 mm audio jack at the top of the phone |
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| The speaker and the micro-USB port in the bottom
The overall build is good as it may not be as sleek as other Lumias around but it just feels right in the hand - sturdy and easy to grip.
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Nokia Lumia 530 Specifications
- 4-inch FWVGA TFT display, 245ppi
- 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 quad-core CPU
- Adreno 302 GPU
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB internal storage
- up to 128GB via microSD
- Free 15GB of OneDrive online storage
- 5 megapixel rear camera
- Dual-SIM, Dual-Standby
- HSPA+, 3G
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.0 w/ A2DP
- FM Radio
- GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
- 1,430mAh battery
- Windows Phone 8.1 OS
- MS Office, Maps, Action Center, Word Flow, Cortana
- 119.7 x 62.3 x 11.7 mm
- 129 grams
- Available colors: orange, green, white, dark grey
- SRP: Php4,490
Display
One of the quite disappointing part of the phone is the display, but with the price tag, we cannot much expect from the phone to have a better display. It has a display of FWVGA resolution or 245ppi, it also doesn't have an IPS panel for better viewing angles. As a result the view is quite poor in angles, has glares and less color / vibrancy production.
Performance
The Lumia 530 performs well and you will not experience lag upon usage. We have tried running games like Asphalt 7, Temple Run, Clash of Clans and other more, it quite performs well but not much, thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 quad-core CPU (clocked 1.2GHz), Adreno 302 GPU, and 512MB RAM. Yes, it a bit lack of RAM power but for moderate and non high performance games, the phone would run smoothly and will not lag. The experience is quite satisfactory for us during the testing.
Battery Life
It has a 1,430mAh battery which is not bad in a day of normal usage. Upon heavy usage the battery wouldn't last for a day (estimated about 6 - 7 hours drained upon heavy use), thus it is built for moderate usage.
PROS
- Cheap / affordable phone
- Good build
- Loud speaker
- Good performance
- Small form factor
CONS
- Low resolution display
- No font camera
- Fixed focus camera
- No HD playback
Verdict
The verdict to the Lumia 530 - it is a good entry level Windows Phone that is solid in build, friendly form factor and an attractive design for its price. Although it's a bit of downgrade from its predecessor Lumia 520 (Php7,990), it is far more affordable in the price of Php4,490. Also if you want to try out a Windows Phone it's recommended to try it out first if you're finding a low budget phone.
