Lumia 930 - The Last Nokia Phone ?

So it was delayed, rumours abounded, people complained but it is finally launched and available to buy, what could be the final Nokia branded handset, all of which makes me maybe sad or at least very nostalgic, especially with recent news regarding job losses at Microsoft .

Anyway , whatever peoples views or opinions, whatever rumours have flown, these are my thoughts about the latest 'flagship' from Microsoft/Nokia. I am an extremely lucky guy, I have been fortunate to trial or own virtually every Nokia Lumia Windows Phone Handset since the Lumia 800 was launched at Nokia World London in 2011, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then and things have moved on a pace, Nokia no longer manufacture phones, Windows phone has been developed and improved , not quickly enough for some, but none the less it has and from now on any changes will be purely the result and responsibility of Microsoft and hopefully the release of Windows 9 will finally result in complete integration throughout devices, computers, tablets & phones in synergy , but that remains to be seen, and the jury is out as to when it will happen and how successful it will be , I for one am glad Windows Phone appears to be at least holding its own and hope sales improve and hopefully this will result at least in protecting jobs if not creating them

Now just over a week ago I received a bright orange Nokia Lumia 930 from the fantastic guys at Connects, I can never thank them enough for the support they have given me and the professional way they have behaved towards myself and 100's of other people on the Trial a Lumia program and also the way they interact on social media, long may they continue. I was honoured to receive an email from Connects to say they wanted me to be one of the first to trial the new handset as soon as it was available, I was also stupid enough not to check my junk mail (all the email addresses have changed since the Microsoft takeover) and so ended up being a day behind the other guys and gals included in the first trial batch and had to read about them receiving , unboxing and using the 930 whilst my trial unit travelled the UK a day behind with DHL. But on Thursday 17^th of July, at tea time, my unit arrived, I tweeted its arrival and the fun began.

The 930 is a bit of a move away from the Fabula design of most high end Lumia handsets, with the use of aluminium as well as polycarbonate (reminiscent of the Lumia 925) and with sharper edges from the iPhonesque flat metal band around the handset (which fortunately doesn't affect signal at all, calls and data connection have been outstanding) you also get familier features such as the 'Pillowing' on the rear of the phone and a slight curve in the 5” AMOLED screen, which is extremely clear and vibrant and a pleasure to use . All this is screwed and glued together really well and by reducing the bezel on the screen the 930 manages to be virtually the same size as the Lumias 920 and 1020 but with more real estate on the screen and similar comfort in the hand, all of which should make it an extremely attractive package, which in all fairness it does and I know a few people who have bought or used the 930 who think it is the ultimate Lumia, which a 'Flagship' should be ? As I mentioned earlier, I've been very lucky, probably spoilt, with the amount of hardware I've been lucky enough to own or trial, also, because I'm weird, for the last few years I have always carried two phones, and the two I carry at the moment are the Lumia 1020 and Lumia 1520, which between them offer me more than the 930, obviously most people looking at a phone are not in this position and, despite a few caveats I will cover later, for most people the 930 is a fantastic upgrade as a Windows Smartphone.

One of my main priorities or requirement on a phone has become the Camera, along with good call quality, a good browser, email client and the social media apps I need, Windows Phone provide these for me, it may not for everyone, but it does for me. Now the 930 feels great in the hand and media looks great on its HD screen, it is also extremely quick having the latest processor and plenty of RAM and the 20 megapixel camera on the back of it takes great photos, but apart from being a little too large to use one handed, so does my Lumia 1520, which also has better battery life than almost any phone I've tried. My second phone , the 1020 is a more managable and shirt pocketable size than the 1520 (similar to the 930) but has a more powerful camera. So it may seem unfair ganging up on the 930, but it cannot beat the combined power of my current pair of phones, higher resolution camera and a little more powerful battery (the 930 lasts slightly longer on a charge than my 1020) and it really really could have got me back to normality as a bloke who just has 'A' mobile phone, not pockets full.

My weird requirements to one side, the Lumia 930 is a great phone, it is a swift as anything to wizz through tasks, opens everything quickly, it performs communication tasks as expected from any Nokia and the build quality and feel is superb. The bright colours on the back of the phone certainly stand out and can be tempered with the choice of Black and White as well as the Bright neon Orange I have been using and The Vivid Green others have tried, so there is plenty of choice . The photos I'll post demonstrate the look of the phone I hope and you'll have to take my word about the feel and speed, although the phone is available at retail stores now , so go and try yourself ? You don't need to listen to a Nokia Fanboy.

Full Lumia 930 specs can be found here

Right the bad stuff, there have been rumours of launch delay due to both software and overheating issues on the Lumia 930, I have had some experience of the phone getting hot and a couple of incidents of it failing to pinch to zoom in web pages, neither of these 'issues' have been a big problem for me, the 930 got a lot hotter than I would expect on two occasions for me, once whilst setting up and restoring a previous backup from my account which was downloading and installing apps and settings foe about forty minutes. The phone was also attached to a charging cable at this time and felt very hot when I picked it up, whether this was due to the metal band conducting more heat than normal or not I don't know, but as I had heard others complain I tried to get the phone to 'overheat' again and the only other time it got 'Hot' was after navigation, my other Lumias, or any phone or computer for that matter, get hot when doing processor intensive tasks, but the 930 felt 'hotter' than normal, only near the bottom at the back, but it was noticeable and again whether the metal band added to the feeling, I don't know. Now I am what may be described as a 'heavy user' and despite spending hours on the web and social media and playing various games for 20-30 minutes at a time I had no other heating issues and the phone never missed a beat at any time and never felt warm in what I would describe as normal use. If I had I would mention it , I tried and it didn't get hot. Another trialist @HermitDave on twitter, mentioned the failure to pinch and zoom in the browser and certain apps, after a few tries I managed to duplicate it, however , after checking settings in ease of access I found a toggle switch which “Allows you to zoom in or out on a web page even if the site or app doesn't let you” since changing this setting, zero issue, I mentioned it to Dave but haven't heard any feedback. Other than this I have had zero issues with the phone and would happily recommend to a friend, particularly a 'normal' user, the 930 does everything very well and quickly.

I must also apologize in advance for the quality of the video, a simple attempt to demonstrate the performance of the Lumia 930 & 1020, not really my forte, but hope it kinda works :/

Right that's me done, I have really enjoyed using the Lumia 930 and hope to maybe squeeze a camera comparison in before my trial ends it's probably the last 'Nokia' phone, hopefully Microsoft can produce something as good or better and quickly, if it's the last trial I ever have, it's been a blast and I look forward to the future, techwise, with equal amounts of enthusiasm and trepidation , hope you have enjoyed some of my ramblings and kinda hope these aren't the final ones !

Cheers

Steve Quin

24/07/2014