Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Review: King Of The Windows Phones

Microsoft now possesses the Lumia brand, but at the moment is still launching phones with the Nokia name etched into the bodywork. The latest addition to the only significant brand in the Windows Phone space is the Lumia 930, a flagship device with Nokia’s typical premium build, high-grade imaging capabilities, and of course, the very latest version of Windows Phone 8.1.

There have been slew of developments in the Windows Phone space during two thousand fourteen with the release of Windows Phone 8.1, albeit a lot of the handsets have been decidedly mid-range affairs. The Lumia nine hundred thirty is NOT a mid-range handset, however, and packs in some of the latest hardware and specs in a bid to challenge with the likes of Apple’s iPhone six and the Samsung Galaxy Alpha.

In two thousand fifteen Microsoft will release Windows ten –– yep, it’s skipping nine –– and this will introduce some pretty Yam-sized switches for Windows Phone, as developers will be permitted to create Universal Apps that will work on phones, tablets, PCs and consoles (basically, anything, so long as it is Windows-powered), and this is a very significant budge. It’s worth noting that all existing hardware will be eligible for an upgrade too, so none of 2014’s hardware should get left behind.

The Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty is essentially the Lumia one thousand five hundred twenty phablet in terms of spec, except it has been zapped with a shrink ray to bring it down to a more manageable 5-inch display size. You still get the same superb 20MP PureView camera and a Qualcomm Snapdragon eight hundred quad-core processor, as well as oodles of storage space and connectivity options. On paper at least, there’s a lot to like here.

Does the Lumia nine hundred thirty carry the Windows Phone torch forward, or is it more of the same?

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Design

Nokia was never one to bashful away from slightly ostentatious design, but that seems to have been turned up a notch with latest devices. There’s certainly something to be said about crowdsourcing some ideas for fresh consumer products, but it can create some unexpected results.

Microsoft’s concentrate groups, which seem to have been composed largely of some species of Moth People, evidently are rather fond of “Oh Sweet Grace My Eyes Have Melted, I’ve Actually Been Exposed To Plutonium Green”, and “Aaah! It Burns With The Power Of A Thousand Suns Orange”. I’m grateful for the sunglasses included in the review unit Goody Bag, but it seems their addition was not merely a friendly gesture, more likely advised by health and safety professionals. Gratefully, for the rest of us, you can also get good old black and white versions too.

Radioactive colour options aside, the overall design of the Lumia nine hundred thirty is both familiar and fresh at the same time. Anyone who’s treated a Lumia nine hundred twenty will recognise the composite aluminium and polycarbonate treatment making a comeback, but it is a little different as the metallic bezel is broader, flatter and hugs closer to the bodywork – the entire device is a wee bit fatter than earlier Lumia flagships but this seems intentional to make the edges broader and thus lighter to grip.

The form is fairly angular as we’ve come to expect from Nokia’s high-end models, albeit the corners have been softened slightly – which is good news as I know a few people who’ve had pockets ripped by Nokia’s older, pointier designs.

The back panel is Nokia’s usual matte finish high-end polycarbonate with a premium feel and a slightly contoured form towards the edges, while the glass display on the front gets a similar, slightly chiselled treatment, being raised a little from the bodywork. It’s a acute look overall and rewarding to treat.

Despite a chunkier profile and a not insubstantial 5-inch display (admittedly with rather narrow bezels) I found the Lumia nine hundred thirty fairly effortless to get to grips with, albeit my palms are fairly large. Certainly it sits with other 5-inch rivals in terms of operation. In-line with the rest of Nokia’s range, the controls are all placed on the right-hand side; volume at the top, power below this, and a dedicated camera key further down to act as the shutter in landscape mode.

There’s truly not a lot more to say about the Lumia 930’s design – once again, Nokia supplies the goods, but then we always knew it could, it’s been churning out fantastic looking phones for a long time.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Display

Exceptional touchscreens are another area where the Finnish Windows Phone maker has been generally fairly consistent, and the Lumia nine hundred thirty certainly lives up to this legacy. The screen is a 5-inch AMOLED panel using Nokia’s ClearBlack technology and a 1920×1080 pixel utter HD resolution. Meantime the pixel density clocks in at four hundred forty one pixels-per-inch (ppi).

That of course means it’s just as acute as many of its Android counterparts, but typically of Nokia OLED setups it has excellent contrast, brightness, and colour, whites are very unspoiled, dark tones very deep, and in particular the viewing angles are enormously broad, while readability in bright sunlight is some of the best I’ve seen in latest months. The display makes an ideal setup for watching films and TV shows as the quality is truly acute with fantastic colour reproduction.

Ostensibly there show up to be no downsides to the Lumia 930’s display. However, since its launch reports have emerged regarding the colour accuracy. A number of users have reported a purple tint to the touchscreen, specifically this shows up to be caused by the auto brightness or a low brightness setting showcasing up purple.

But, gratefully, this is evidently a software calibration problem and it’s possible to fix simply by going into the Settings>Display>Adjust Colour Profile menu and nudging the slider around a bit.

Despite this, Microsoft has fairly rightly recognised the issue and is presently making efforts to correct it. The company has recalled some test units and it’s likely a software patch will go after to fix things decently.

“Microsoft Devices is taking quality issues on our products very earnestly.

To address the possible concerns with Lumia nine hundred thirty display, we have recalled some test samples from …the Norwegian market to be investigated further in our R/D site in Finland,” the company said in a statement.

In other words, you very likely shouldn’t let this put you off picking up a Lumia nine hundred thirty as it emerges to be a minor issue with a fix in the works.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty User Practice & Spectacle

The Lumia nine hundred thirty uses the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows Phone software, version 8.1. While it’s fair to say the fresh update makes some welcome switches to the Windows Phone formula, it’s not exactly a massive overhaul and truly I feel it hasn’t gone far enough.

The fresh notifications centre is superb and features a Quick Settings panel, which is also good to have. I particularly like the way unchecked notifications, such as those from Facebook talk, will aggregate into a single thread over time. However, there are some setbacks, for example, on rival platforms you can swipe notifications away to either side, where Windows Phone, rather counter-intuitively, only lets you dismiss by swiping in one particular direction.

Additionally, you only get a set of four quick settings toggles, these can be customised, but your choice of options to switch around is annoyingly limited, and four doesn’t indeed feel like enough, especially as the brightness adjuster is not independent as it commonly is on rival devices. You still can’t pin toggles to the Embark screen either, which I feel is a significant let-down.

Windows Phone has steadily enhanced its customisation capabilities and the chance is certainly there to make your handset very much your own with tiles, backgrounds, colours and themes. It looks indeed good too, and is fairly intuitive on the entire – the capability to pin individual contacts to the commence screen is a tremendous boon and is particularly helpful for fresh smartphone users.

The People Hub remains lacklustre enough not to be worth bothering with despite being a good idea in principal, much of the functionality feels too disconnected and choppy rather than the seamlessly integrated ideal – which means you indeed are better off with the pinning individual contacts trick. Meantime, albeit the app drawer now has a handy alphabetical sorting function, the main settings menu has not been improved and remains a massive, cumbersome list of sub-menus which can be somewhat irritating to use. Something a bit more streamlined would be welcome here.

A major improvement is the Word Flow keyboard, which operates in the now familiar Swype style, suggesting a very swift and impressively accurate typing practice, particularly on the Lumia 930’s generously sized touchscreen. Windows Phone 8.1 will also see the debut of Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant – its reaction to Siri and Google Now’s voice component – however, at present it is dormant and will be coming to UK handsets in an update later on.

The app ecosystem is much more vibrant than before with many leading titles present and correct, one or two big names are still missing and the gaming side generally, while improved, is not exactly thrillingly diverse – albeit some major titles from rival platforms are now around, there is a lot of dross here.

Crucially however, there’s the gap inbetween Microsoft and its rivals – Google and Apple. Those two do actually cooperate to an extent with key apps and content from each appearing on the other’s platform (it’s possible to get an official Gmail app on iOS, for example) or having some other level of cross-compatibility (there are ways of moving your iTunes collection to Android, for example). That same level of cooperation isn’t there with Microsoft’s platform.

The blame can be laid at several doors truly including both Microsoft itself and Google, but either way the hard truth of the matter is that many users (or potential users) of Windows Phone, will be coming from one of these other platforms and will have accounts, email, messaging, apps, music, and a host of other content already over there. Without some helpful method of accessing much of this from Windows Phone, the prospect of commencing from scrape is pretty off-putting.

But, if you’re not already entrenched in one of the other major operating systems, or if for some reason you just don’t care (perhaps a fresh commence is actually appealing?), then there’s not a lot wrong with Windows Phone and its healthy, however comparatively petite, ecosystem. There are a few minor gripes here and there but it’s certainly heading in the right direction in terms of overall design and functionality. Compatibility needs to come on leaps and bounds via some kind of olive branch inbetween Microsoft and its rivals however.

On the spectacle front the general operation of the UI is about as slick as you could hope for, seamlessly slipping around just like Android and iOS, albeit with its own flair which is very appealing. Thanks to the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon eight hundred processor (Two.2GHZ Krait 400, 2GB RAM, Adreno three hundred twenty graphics processing unit), the exact same setup found in the Lumia 1520, the clunky app fountain speeds are now a thing of the past, and everything geysers up speedily. Multitasking is also much better than before both in spectacle and operation.

Intensive games such as Asphalt eight run fairly gladfully on the Lumia 930, just as they do on Android iOS devices – the top-range hardware does just as good a job and is well-optimised with the Windows Phone platform.

Lumia nine hundred thirty Now Rocks "Lumia Jeans" Update & Cortana Voice Assistant

Microsoft has flipped out its latest Windows Phone 8.1.1 build to the Lumia nine hundred thirty as part of the "Lumia Jeans" update.

The most significant switch is the utter activation of Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant, which with the update can be activated from any part of the Windows interface by telling the keyphrase "Hey Cortana".

Nokia’s Camera App has also received an overhaul, with many fresh features that the Lumia nine hundred thirty can take total advantage of. Activation and shutter speed are much quicker and you’ll be able to activate the camera from the phone’s sleep state by pressing and holding the dedicated camera key – Microsoft says it can take a picture from this state in less than 1.Five seconds.

Another press and hold embarks recording 4K movie. A Live Photos feature can capture pictures a few moments before movie capture. There’s also a Rich Capture mode which permits you to adjust flash strength after a shot has been captured using the flash.

You can find out more about Windows Phone 8.1 from our total review here. However, to give you and idea of how it functions and what it’s like using Cortana, here’s an excerpt:

"Cortana can presently do most of the things any virtual assistant should be capable of, including placing phone calls, sending text messages, adding calendar appointments, setting reminders and alarms, creating notes, and performing searches. One clever thing Microsoft built into Cortana is its “Notebook” feature. This is the private digital assistant’s notebook that contains notes about you: what you like, who’s in your family, and your favourite places to eat, etc. Cortana uses this information to give you more accurate results. But tho’ it’s Cortana’s notebook, you’re the one in charge of it, so if you don’t want Cortana knowing something about you, you can delete that information from her Notebook. It’s this notebook feature of Cortana that permits the AI to give your more contextually aware feedback to requests you ask. This is something Siri can’t do."

"Another thing Cortana does that Siri can’t is suggest integration with third-party apps. For example, you can ask Cortana, “What’s up with [a certain friend]?” and she’ll comeback results about that friend from your Facebook or Twitter feed. It’s a cool feature and just another example of how Cortana seems like a more “whole” virtual assistant than Siri."

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Hardware, Storage & Connectivity

The Lumia nine hundred thirty only comes in one storage variant with 32GB onboard and no card slot, which is a bit disappointing all round in terms of plasticity, however 32GB is certainly a decent amount for onboard space. Users also get 7GB of free cloud storage via Microsoft’s OneDrive.

For connectivity it has utter 4G and 3G capabilities and the supported SIM type is Nano-SIM, and there’s also dual-band Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Hotspot, A2DP, DLNA, NFC, GPS, an FM Radio, and microUSB

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Battery

On battery life the Lumia nine hundred thirty is, fairly simply, superb. In our movie test playing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for its utter two hour fifty minute runtime, from 100% charge, on utter brightness and with Wi-Fi on, the phone had 71% charge remaining. That’s from a Two,420mAh cell, which compares rather favourably with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3’s Trio,000mAh battery chalking up 64% on our similar test on Android, and the Galaxy S5 achieving 61% on a Two,800mAh cell. To put it another way, we’ve not reviewed many phones which have come out with over 70% charge from our movie testing.

In general operation the Lumia nine hundred thirty will lightly last a duo of days with moderate use, and if you’re indeed sparing you can expect to get slew of time out of a single charge.

There is a battery saver function aboard the phone, which should help it last longer when you need it to, but of course it’s not going to suggest anything like the same lifespan as Samsung’s excellent Ultra Power Saving on the Galaxy S5 (12 days from 100%).

I should add that I’ve heard a lot of talk from other journos of fairly poor battery life from the Lumia 930, as well as weird battery behaviour (unexpected drain, for exmaple). I can only say that I have not experienced this at all, and can only assume some units may have been buggy in some way.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Camera

Nokia still leads the way in the phone camera space thanks to its PureView technology. As we’ve shown elsewhere, the Lumia 1020’s 41-megapixel PureView setup is still the best on the market, but the Lumia nine hundred thirty isn’t far behind because it uses the same gear found in the Lumia 1520.

That means it has a 20-megapixel PureView back-illuminated sensor (BSI) with a 1/Two.5” sensor size, Carl Zeiss lens, f/Two.Four aperture, and dual-LED flash. It also features optical pic stabilisation (OIS), 1080p movie, and Nokia’s clever oversampling, which permits for the digital zoom with no loss of quality – you can crop in close and zoom macro shots for some fantastic results other camera phones simply can’t manage.

While it is second-fiddle to the 41MP hardware, there’s no denying that the results from the Lumia nine hundred thirty are superb and some of the best on the mobile market at present – better than anything on Android by a country mile. Pics are packed with detail and have excellent dynamic range and colour accuracy. It’s also enormously capable when it comes to movie, with the optical stabilisation working wonders to produce slick, detail-rich footage while on the stir.

The interface is also easy-to-use, whether you’re looking to snap a quick, no-fuss shot with as much on Auto as possible, or if you’re a grizzled photography veteran tweaking the individual settings to your liking. As a quick point-n-shoot it’s as good as it gets on rival devices such as Samsung and LG in terms of ease-of-use, but the results are far better due to the advanced optics.

We pitched the Lumia one thousand five hundred twenty (which uses much the same camera hardware and supplies near identical results) against a range of other top-end competitors in a camera comparison. The Lumia one thousand five hundred twenty came out towards the top of the pack, just behind the Lumia one thousand twenty and its 41-megapixel sensor. As the imaging is much the same, you can also consider the Lumia nine hundred thirty to be the joint second-best camera phone from a long list of very exceptional devices. Head over to the utter article to see the difference.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Conclusion

Once again, Nokia proves it can produce an absolutely stellar smartphone and this one is bang up-to-date in the hardware stakes. More than that, it’s a far more practical design as a high-end, super-powered Nokia Lumia than what was provided by the Lumia 1520’s cumbersome, over-sized bodyshell – and that’s truly the only other taste we’ve had of a quad-core, 1080p Windows Phone. As well as being a looker and rewarding to treat, the spectacle is sleek, battery life is some of the best in the current market, and, as usual, the camera is also one of the best available thanks to PureView.

Again tho’, the stumbling block is the Windows Phone software. Windows Phone 8.1 is undoubtedly the best build to date, and arguably offers enough improvements that we can overlook some of its foibles – it’s more viable than it’s ever been. There is slew of work still to be done on Microsoft’s software, but this handset is a pretty slick package all round.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Specs Sheet

• Main camera sensor: twenty MP, PureView
• Display size: 5-inches
• Display resolution: Total HD (1920 x 1080)
• Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon eight hundred (Two.2GHz Quad-core)
• Maximum talk time (3G): 16.4h
• Battery capacity: 2420mAh
• Wireless charging: Built-in (Qi standard)
• SIM card type: Nano SIM
• Charging connectors: Micro-USB
• AV connectors: Three.Five mm audio connector
• System connectors: Micro-USB-B
• USB: USB Two.0
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth Four.0
• Wi-Fi: WLAN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Wi-Fi security modes: WPA, WEP, EAP-AKA, EAP-SIM, PEAP-MSCHAPv2, WPA-Enterprise, WPA-Personal, WPA2 (AES/TKIP), WPA2-Enterprise, WPA2-Personal
• NFC: Secure NFC for payment, Sharing, Pairing, Tagging
• Other wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi Channel bonding

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Price, Contracts & Availability

If you fancy picking up a Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty you’re in luck, Carphone Warehouse is already taking pre-orders on the fresh Windows Phone handset.

As with previous Lumia launches, some of the colour variants are carrier or retailer exclusives, Phones4U has dibs on the white variant for now, so that leaves the Warehouse with black, green, and orange.

Your cheapest option here is a twenty four month Vodafone contract at £30.50 per month for three hundred minutes, unlimited texts and 250MB of mobile data. Other options come courtesy of O2 and EE. The former will give you 1GB of 4G per month on a £33 per month contract while the latter gives you 2GB of the same for £34.99 per month.

EE is sweetening the deal with the Nokia bundle, valued at £130, which includes a wireless charger, portable speaker and Windows Phone Store voucher for £20 worth of app and game content. Any other package just gets you the wireless charger.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Review: King Of The Windows Phones Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Review: King Of The Windows Phones: Prices, Specifications, Reviews, Know Your Mobile

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Review: King Of The Windows Phones

Microsoft now wields the Lumia brand, but at the moment is still launching phones with the Nokia name etched into the bodywork. The latest addition to the only significant brand in the Windows Phone space is the Lumia 930, a flagship device with Nokia’s typical premium build, high-grade imaging capabilities, and of course, the very latest version of Windows Phone 8.1.

There have been slew of developments in the Windows Phone space during two thousand fourteen with the release of Windows Phone 8.1, albeit a lot of the handsets have been decidedly mid-range affairs. The Lumia nine hundred thirty is NOT a mid-range handset, however, and packs in some of the latest hardware and specs in a bid to rival with the likes of Apple’s iPhone six and the Samsung Galaxy Alpha.

In two thousand fifteen Microsoft will release Windows ten –– yep, it’s skipping nine –– and this will introduce some pretty Enormous switches for Windows Phone, as developers will be permitted to create Universal Apps that will work on phones, tablets, PCs and consoles (basically, anything, so long as it is Windows-powered), and this is a very significant budge. It’s worth noting that all existing hardware will be eligible for an upgrade too, so none of 2014’s hardware should get left behind.

The Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty is essentially the Lumia one thousand five hundred twenty phablet in terms of spec, except it has been zapped with a shrink ray to bring it down to a more manageable 5-inch display size. You still get the same fine 20MP PureView camera and a Qualcomm Snapdragon eight hundred quad-core processor, as well as oodles of storage space and connectivity options. On paper at least, there’s a lot to like here.

Does the Lumia nine hundred thirty carry the Windows Phone torch forward, or is it more of the same?

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Design

Nokia was never one to bashful away from slightly ostentatious design, but that seems to have been turned up a notch with latest devices. There’s certainly something to be said about crowdsourcing some ideas for fresh consumer products, but it can create some unexpected results.

Microsoft’s concentrate groups, which seem to have been composed largely of some species of Moth People, evidently are rather fond of “Oh Sweet Grace My Eyes Have Melted, I’ve Actually Been Exposed To Plutonium Green”, and “Aaah! It Burns With The Power Of A Thousand Suns Orange”. I’m grateful for the sunglasses included in the review unit Goody Bag, but it seems their addition was not merely a friendly gesture, more likely advised by health and safety professionals. Gratefully, for the rest of us, you can also get good old black and white versions too.

Radioactive colour options aside, the overall design of the Lumia nine hundred thirty is both familiar and fresh at the same time. Anyone who’s treated a Lumia nine hundred twenty will recognise the composite aluminium and polycarbonate treatment making a comeback, but it is a little different as the metallic bezel is broader, flatter and hugs closer to the bodywork – the entire device is a wee bit fatter than earlier Lumia flagships but this seems intentional to make the edges broader and thus lighter to grip.

The form is fairly angular as we’ve come to expect from Nokia’s high-end models, albeit the corners have been softened slightly – which is good news as I know a few people who’ve had pockets ripped by Nokia’s older, pointier designs.

The back panel is Nokia’s usual matte finish high-end polycarbonate with a premium feel and a slightly contoured form towards the edges, while the glass display on the front gets a similar, slightly chiselled treatment, being raised a little from the bodywork. It’s a acute look overall and rewarding to treat.

Despite a chunkier profile and a not insubstantial 5-inch display (admittedly with rather narrow bezels) I found the Lumia nine hundred thirty fairly effortless to get to grips with, albeit my arms are fairly large. Certainly it sits with other 5-inch rivals in terms of operation. In-line with the rest of Nokia’s range, the controls are all placed on the right-hand side; volume at the top, power below this, and a dedicated camera key further down to act as the shutter in landscape mode.

There’s truly not a lot more to say about the Lumia 930’s design – once again, Nokia produces the goods, but then we always knew it could, it’s been churning out fantastic looking phones for a long time.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Display

Amazing touchscreens are another area where the Finnish Windows Phone maker has been generally fairly consistent, and the Lumia nine hundred thirty certainly lives up to this legacy. The screen is a 5-inch AMOLED panel using Nokia’s ClearBlack technology and a 1920×1080 pixel utter HD resolution. Meantime the pixel density clocks in at four hundred forty one pixels-per-inch (ppi).

That of course means it’s just as acute as many of its Android counterparts, but typically of Nokia OLED setups it has excellent contrast, brightness, and colour, whites are very unspoiled, dark tones very deep, and in particular the viewing angles are utterly broad, while readability in bright sunlight is some of the best I’ve seen in latest months. The display makes an ideal setup for watching films and TV shows as the quality is truly acute with fantastic colour reproduction.

Ostensibly there emerge to be no downsides to the Lumia 930’s display. However, since its launch reports have emerged regarding the colour accuracy. A number of users have reported a purple tint to the touchscreen, specifically this emerges to be caused by the auto brightness or a low brightness setting showcasing up purple.

But, gratefully, this is evidently a software calibration problem and it’s possible to fix simply by going into the Settings>Display>Adjust Colour Profile menu and nudging the slider around a bit.

Despite this, Microsoft has fairly rightly recognised the issue and is presently making efforts to correct it. The company has recalled some test units and it’s likely a software patch will go after to fix things decently.

“Microsoft Devices is taking quality issues on our products very gravely.

To address the possible concerns with Lumia nine hundred thirty display, we have recalled some test samples from …the Norwegian market to be investigated further in our R/D site in Finland,” the company said in a statement.

In other words, you very likely shouldn’t let this put you off picking up a Lumia nine hundred thirty as it shows up to be a minor issue with a fix in the works.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty User Practice & Spectacle

The Lumia nine hundred thirty uses the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows Phone software, version 8.1. While it’s fair to say the fresh update makes some welcome switches to the Windows Phone formula, it’s not exactly a massive overhaul and indeed I feel it hasn’t gone far enough.

The fresh notifications centre is fine and features a Quick Settings panel, which is also good to have. I particularly like the way unchecked notifications, such as those from Facebook talk, will aggregate into a single thread over time. However, there are some setbacks, for example, on rival platforms you can swipe notifications away to either side, where Windows Phone, rather counter-intuitively, only lets you dismiss by swiping in one particular direction.

Additionally, you only get a set of four quick settings toggles, these can be customised, but your choice of options to switch around is annoyingly limited, and four doesn’t indeed feel like enough, especially as the brightness adjuster is not independent as it commonly is on rival devices. You still can’t pin toggles to the Embark screen either, which I feel is a significant let-down.

Windows Phone has steadily enlargened its customisation capabilities and the chance is certainly there to make your handset very much your own with tiles, backgrounds, colours and themes. It looks indeed good too, and is fairly intuitive on the entire – the capability to pin individual contacts to the commence screen is a tremendous boon and is particularly helpful for fresh smartphone users.

The People Hub remains lacklustre enough not to be worth bothering with despite being a good idea in principal, much of the functionality feels too disconnected and choppy rather than the seamlessly integrated ideal – which means you truly are better off with the pinning individual contacts trick. Meantime, albeit the app drawer now has a handy alphabetical sorting function, the main settings menu has not been improved and remains a massive, cumbersome list of sub-menus which can be somewhat irritating to use. Something a bit more streamlined would be welcome here.

A major improvement is the Word Flow keyboard, which operates in the now familiar Swype style, suggesting a very prompt and impressively accurate typing practice, particularly on the Lumia 930’s generously sized touchscreen. Windows Phone 8.1 will also see the debut of Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant – its reaction to Siri and Google Now’s voice component – however, at present it is dormant and will be coming to UK handsets in an update later on.

The app ecosystem is much more vibrant than before with many leading titles present and correct, one or two big names are still missing and the gaming side generally, while improved, is not exactly thrillingly diverse – albeit some major titles from rival platforms are now around, there is a lot of dross here.

Crucially tho’, there’s the gap inbetween Microsoft and its rivals – Google and Apple. Those two do actually cooperate to an extent with key apps and content from each appearing on the other’s platform (it’s possible to get an official Gmail app on iOS, for example) or having some other level of cross-compatibility (there are ways of moving your iTunes collection to Android, for example). That same level of cooperation isn’t there with Microsoft’s platform.

The blame can be laid at several doors indeed including both Microsoft itself and Google, but either way the hard truth of the matter is that many users (or potential users) of Windows Phone, will be coming from one of these other platforms and will have accounts, email, messaging, apps, music, and a host of other content already over there. Without some helpful method of accessing much of this from Windows Phone, the prospect of beginning from scrape is pretty off-putting.

But, if you’re not already entrenched in one of the other major operating systems, or if for some reason you just don’t care (perhaps a fresh begin is actually appealing?), then there’s not a lot wrong with Windows Phone and its healthy, however comparatively puny, ecosystem. There are a few minor gripes here and there but it’s certainly heading in the right direction in terms of overall design and functionality. Compatibility needs to come on leaps and bounds via some kind of olive branch inbetween Microsoft and its rivals tho’.

On the spectacle front the general operation of the UI is about as sleek as you could hope for, seamlessly slipping around just like Android and iOS, albeit with its own flair which is very appealing. Thanks to the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon eight hundred processor (Two.2GHZ Krait 400, 2GB RAM, Adreno three hundred twenty graphics processing unit), the exact same setup found in the Lumia 1520, the clunky app blast speeds are now a thing of the past, and everything geysers up speedily. Multitasking is also much better than before both in spectacle and operation.

Intensive games such as Asphalt eight run fairly cheerfully on the Lumia 930, just as they do on Android iOS devices – the top-range hardware does just as good a job and is well-optimised with the Windows Phone platform.

Lumia nine hundred thirty Now Rocks "Lumia Jeans" Update & Cortana Voice Assistant

Microsoft has spinned out its latest Windows Phone 8.1.1 build to the Lumia nine hundred thirty as part of the "Lumia Jeans" update.

The most significant switch is the utter activation of Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant, which with the update can be activated from any part of the Windows interface by telling the keyphrase "Hey Cortana".

Nokia’s Camera App has also received an overhaul, with many fresh features that the Lumia nine hundred thirty can take total advantage of. Activation and shutter speed are much quicker and you’ll be able to activate the camera from the phone’s sleep state by pressing and holding the dedicated camera key – Microsoft says it can take a picture from this state in less than 1.Five seconds.

Another press and hold starts recording 4K movie. A Live Pictures feature can capture pictures a few moments before movie capture. There’s also a Rich Capture mode which permits you to adjust flash strength after a shot has been captured using the flash.

You can find out more about Windows Phone 8.1 from our total review here. However, to give you and idea of how it functions and what it’s like using Cortana, here’s an excerpt:

"Cortana can presently do most of the things any virtual assistant should be capable of, including placing phone calls, sending text messages, adding calendar appointments, setting reminders and alarms, creating notes, and performing searches. One clever thing Microsoft built into Cortana is its “Notebook” feature. This is the individual digital assistant’s notebook that contains notes about you: what you like, who’s in your family, and your favourite places to eat, etc. Cortana uses this information to give you more accurate results. But however it’s Cortana’s notebook, you’re the one in charge of it, so if you don’t want Cortana knowing something about you, you can delete that information from her Notebook. It’s this notebook feature of Cortana that permits the AI to give your more contextually aware feedback to requests you ask. This is something Siri can’t do."

"Another thing Cortana does that Siri can’t is suggest integration with third-party apps. For example, you can ask Cortana, “What’s up with [a certain friend]?” and she’ll come back results about that friend from your Facebook or Twitter feed. It’s a cool feature and just another example of how Cortana seems like a more “whole” virtual assistant than Siri."

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Hardware, Storage & Connectivity

The Lumia nine hundred thirty only comes in one storage variant with 32GB onboard and no card slot, which is a bit disappointing all round in terms of plasticity, tho’ 32GB is certainly a decent amount for onboard space. Users also get 7GB of free cloud storage via Microsoft’s OneDrive.

For connectivity it has total 4G and 3G capabilities and the supported SIM type is Nano-SIM, and there’s also dual-band Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Hotspot, A2DP, DLNA, NFC, GPS, an FM Radio, and microUSB

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Battery

On battery life the Lumia nine hundred thirty is, fairly simply, superb. In our movie test playing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for its total two hour fifty minute runtime, from 100% charge, on total brightness and with Wi-Fi on, the phone had 71% charge remaining. That’s from a Two,420mAh cell, which compares rather favourably with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3’s Trio,000mAh battery chalking up 64% on our similar test on Android, and the Galaxy S5 achieving 61% on a Two,800mAh cell. To put it another way, we’ve not reviewed many phones which have come out with over 70% charge from our movie testing.

In general operation the Lumia nine hundred thirty will lightly last a duo of days with moderate use, and if you’re truly sparing you can expect to get slew of time out of a single charge.

There is a battery saver function aboard the phone, which should help it last longer when you need it to, but of course it’s not going to suggest anything like the same lifespan as Samsung’s excellent Ultra Power Saving on the Galaxy S5 (12 days from 100%).

I should add that I’ve heard a lot of talk from other journos of fairly poor battery life from the Lumia 930, as well as weird battery behaviour (unexpected drain, for exmaple). I can only say that I have not experienced this at all, and can only assume some units may have been buggy in some way.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Camera

Nokia still leads the way in the phone camera space thanks to its PureView technology. As we’ve shown elsewhere, the Lumia 1020’s 41-megapixel PureView setup is still the best on the market, but the Lumia nine hundred thirty isn’t far behind because it uses the same gear found in the Lumia 1520.

That means it has a 20-megapixel PureView back-illuminated sensor (BSI) with a 1/Two.5” sensor size, Carl Zeiss lens, f/Two.Four aperture, and dual-LED flash. It also features optical picture stabilisation (OIS), 1080p movie, and Nokia’s clever oversampling, which permits for the digital zoom with no loss of quality – you can crop in close and zoom macro shots for some fantastic results other camera phones simply can’t manage.

While it is second-fiddle to the 41MP hardware, there’s no denying that the results from the Lumia nine hundred thirty are superb and some of the best on the mobile market at present – better than anything on Android by a country mile. Photos are packed with detail and have excellent dynamic range and colour accuracy. It’s also enormously capable when it comes to movie, with the optical stabilisation working wonders to produce slick, detail-rich footage while on the stir.

The interface is also easy-to-use, whether you’re looking to snap a quick, no-fuss shot with as much on Auto as possible, or if you’re a grizzled photography veteran tweaking the individual settings to your liking. As a quick point-n-shoot it’s as good as it gets on rival devices such as Samsung and LG in terms of ease-of-use, but the results are far better due to the advanced optics.

We pitched the Lumia one thousand five hundred twenty (which uses much the same camera hardware and supplies near identical results) against a range of other top-end competitors in a camera comparison. The Lumia one thousand five hundred twenty came out towards the top of the pack, just behind the Lumia one thousand twenty and its 41-megapixel sensor. As the imaging is much the same, you can also consider the Lumia nine hundred thirty to be the joint second-best camera phone from a long list of very epic devices. Head over to the total article to see the difference.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Conclusion

Once again, Nokia proves it can produce an absolutely stellar smartphone and this one is bang up-to-date in the hardware stakes. More than that, it’s a far more practical design as a high-end, super-powered Nokia Lumia than what was provided by the Lumia 1520’s cumbersome, over-sized bodyshell – and that’s indeed the only other taste we’ve had of a quad-core, 1080p Windows Phone. As well as being a looker and rewarding to treat, the spectacle is slick, battery life is some of the best in the current market, and, as usual, the camera is also one of the best available thanks to PureView.

Again tho’, the stumbling block is the Windows Phone software. Windows Phone 8.1 is undoubtedly the best build to date, and arguably offers enough improvements that we can overlook some of its foibles – it’s more viable than it’s ever been. There is slew of work still to be done on Microsoft’s software, but this handset is a pretty slick package all round.

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Specs Sheet

• Main camera sensor: twenty MP, PureView
• Display size: 5-inches
• Display resolution: Total HD (1920 x 1080)
• Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon eight hundred (Two.2GHz Quad-core)
• Maximum talk time (3G): 16.4h
• Battery capacity: 2420mAh
• Wireless charging: Built-in (Qi standard)
• SIM card type: Nano SIM
• Charging connectors: Micro-USB
• AV connectors: Three.Five mm audio connector
• System connectors: Micro-USB-B
• USB: USB Two.0
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth Four.0
• Wi-Fi: WLAN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Wi-Fi security modes: WPA, WEP, EAP-AKA, EAP-SIM, PEAP-MSCHAPv2, WPA-Enterprise, WPA-Personal, WPA2 (AES/TKIP), WPA2-Enterprise, WPA2-Personal
• NFC: Secure NFC for payment, Sharing, Pairing, Tagging
• Other wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi Channel bonding

Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty Price, Contracts & Availability

If you fancy picking up a Nokia Lumia nine hundred thirty you’re in luck, Carphone Warehouse is already taking pre-orders on the fresh Windows Phone handset.

As with previous Lumia launches, some of the colour variants are carrier or retailer exclusives, Phones4U has dibs on the white variant for now, so that leaves the Warehouse with black, green, and orange.

Your cheapest option here is a twenty four month Vodafone contract at £30.50 per month for three hundred minutes, unlimited texts and 250MB of mobile data. Other options come courtesy of O2 and EE. The former will give you 1GB of 4G per month on a £33 per month contract while the latter gives you 2GB of the same for £34.99 per month.

EE is sweetening the deal with the Nokia bundle, valued at £130, which includes a wireless charger, portable speaker and Windows Phone Store voucher for £20 worth of app and game content. Any other package just gets you the wireless charger.

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