Nokia is calling its latest Lumia 830, an affordable Flagship phone. However, what it really is, is a upper mid range smartphone with mid range specs and a real cool PureView Nokia camera. Nokia is well known for its superior imaging hardware and Lumia 830 is meant to bring that expertise to a slightly more affordable price as compared to other high end Lumia phones.

Camera and Internal Storage

The rear camera has a 10 MP sensor with Nokia’s slimmest optical image stabilization setup and Carl Zeiss optics. For efficient 1080p video recording, Nokia has also provided 3 mics to maintain unhindered audio quality. All this high end camera hardware coupled with improved Nokia Camera App and LED flash, scream of great photography, and we don’t doubt Nokia’s efforts. The front 1 MP camera can record 720p HD videos. The internal storage is 16 GB and there is a 128 GB MicroSD card slot as well to keep everyone happy.

Processor and Battery

Microsoft has already proved that Windows Phone 8.1 can smoothly thrive on 1.2 GHz Quad Core Snapdragon 400 (Lumia 630) and the 830 will bring double 1 GB RAM for more efficient multitasking. This time the chipset will have to handle more pixels, but again, the chipset seems well suited to the task. Battery capacity is 2200 mAh and Microsoft claims 22 days of standby time and 14.8 hours which sounds promising enough (10 hours video playback, 22 hours web browsing). Battery backup is another such area where Lumia phones rarely disappoint. We expect the same from Lumia 830. Surprisingly, the battery is removable this time and also supports wireless charging.

Display and Other Features

The IPS LCD Display is 5 inches in size with 720 p HD resolution. Nokia is using ClearBlack technology, which uses a couple of polarizing filters to make display less reflective (and it works). Sunlight readability enhancement is also present (perhaps the same one we saw in Lumia 1520, and this one works too). The 296 PPI Display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and flaunts super sensitive touch screen. This is the slimmest Lumia device ever at 8.5 mm thickness and the Metal side edges sound refreshing in Lumia Line up. The phone will be running on latest Windows Phone 8.1 software while other features include Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, WiFi, Nano SIM card slot and LTE

Comparison

Lumia 830 will compete against phones like Lumia 925 and Android phones with great camera like the LG G2 and HTC One E8.

Key Specs

What We Like

10 MP PureView CameraLatest Windows Phone 8.1 OSDecent Battery

What We Don’t Like

Pricing

Conclusion and Price

Nokia Lumia 830 has been priced At 330 Euros which means it might launch in India for sub 30,000 INR price range, which doesn’t sound affordable in one of the most price sensitive markets. If Microsoft goes aggressive with the pricing, Lumia 830 could be much more appealing to users prioritizing smartphone photography in their next handset. The metal + polycarbonate looks, decent hardware, Slim design – all make Lumia 830 an attractive mid range offering.

Lumia 830 hands-on demo [Video]