The Nokia Lumia 530 aims to bring the WIndows Phone experience to the budget market.
Available in a range of colours, including day glow green and orange, the back case is removable giving access to the SIM card and micro SD slots. Removing the back was very tricky, requiring it to be prized off from the mobile.
Once the SIM and memory card are in and the case popped back on setup was very easy. Windows Phone runs surprisingly well on such a budget handset, it’s very slick and smooth.
The app store has you covered for the basics and the nice thing about Windows mobiles is that a lot of what you normally need to download is baked directly into the phone, such as music recognition and a QR code reader. Above these basic features you also get access to the completely free sat nav, with maps available to download for around the world, not just the UK, completely free of charge.
The Lumia 530 packs a single 5 megapixel rear camera without flash, there is no front facing camera. To create such a low cost mobile cuts have had to be made and the camera is clearly one of the cuts, photos and video are just OK but won’t replace a dedicated camera.
The screen is also just OK. The Windows interface looks fine, it’s got such a simple design to it even a basic display looks good with it on. However, photos and videos tend to have a washed out look to them, and the limited brightness means it can be difficult to see the screen clearly in bright daylight.
For those who like music you can take advantage of the built in MixRadio, a Spotify like app that allows you to stream music free of charge. Tell the app the artists you like and you’ll get a radio station made up of songs from those artists. As with the free version of Spotify, you get a limited number of ‘skips’ per hour allowing you to bypass songs you’re not too fussed about. You’ll likely want to use headphones rather than the built in speaker, which is rather tinny but no more so than any other budget speaker.
Keep in mind that the reason for such cuts is to keep this wallet friendly, and if you’re just looking for a basic smartphone that offers good contacts management, offers internet on the go and doesn’t suffer from poor OS performance then this tickets all the right boxes.
Available from Amazon now: https://amzn.to/1wRGBkD
