Nokia Lumia 630 (Dual SIM) Review

Microsoft announced the first major update to Windows Phone at the BUILD conference in April. The Windows Phone 8.1 update brought in lots of new features and improvements to existing features. Nokia announced their first mid range Windows Phone 8.1 device, the Lumia 630 and it was also the first dual SIM Windows Phone since WP8.1 did come with support for dual SIM cards.

Since India is a market where there is huge demand for dual SIM phones, Nokia released this phone in India last week and it is now available for purchase. Today, we take a detailed look into the device for its design, build, performance, camera, software, gaming and also battery life. Lumia 630 is also the first low end Windows Phone to run on a quad core processor.

Specifications of Lumia 630:

• Display: 4.5-inch FWVGA display, ClearBlack LCD, Gorilla 3
• Battery: 1830 mAh
• Processor: 1.2GHz, Quad Core Snapdragon 400
• SIM: Single SIM (630/635), Dual SIM (630)
• Size/Weight: 9.2 x 129.5 x 66.7 mm, 135gm
• Connectivity: USB2.0, BT 4.0+ LE, WLAN IEEE 802.11b/g/n, A-GPS and Glonass, 3.5 mm audio connector
• Camera: 5-megapixel autofocus with 4x digital zoom
• Memory: 512MB RAM; 8GB storage with support for up to 128GB SD card

Here is the video review of Lumia 630, for text version read on.

Design, Build and Display:

With Lumia 630 Nokia has once again brought in the colourful poly carbonate back panels which we found on Lumia 525/520. But with respect to design, the Lumia 630 is a bit different with a flat matte finish back panel and tapering edge which gives a nice feel to the device in hand. The build quality as usual is top notch and feels like a premium phone. The back panel and the battery is removable on the phone. With respect to design there are two major changes, first is the lack of camera button and second is the on screen touch button which is again first on a Windows Phone.

Coming to the display, the Lumia 630 sports a 4.5 inch FWVGA IPS+ LCD display and comes with Clear Black technology. There is also Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the phone. Although the resolution of the display is pretty low, the colors have come really good.

Software and Performance:

Lumia 630 comes with Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box and it is one of the first phones to run this updated OS. With Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft has almost bridged the gap between Android and Windows Phone in terms of features. The new OS comes with notification center, support for VPN, customizations to start screen, core apps like storage sense, data sense and Wi-Fi sense. Apart from this, the new OS also allows you to install apps on SD card which is a huge win.

Performance has never been an issue on Windows Phone and this device with Snapdragon 400 Quad core processor works really smooth. There is hardly an lag in any area and the gaming performance is also great. The only issue being the availability of only 512MB RAM on this device. Although there is hardly an issues with 512MB RAM, few games in the store work with 1GB RAM.

Watch: Gaming Performance of Lumia 630

This is also the first dual SIM Windows Phone and Microsoft has added a dedicated section for managing dual SIM. You can have two tiles on the start screen for two SIM cards and also link it to make it into one tile. The phone has an onscreen buttons and you can also customize the background color for the navigation bar.

The device does not have ambient light sensor (ALS) and also the Proximity sensor, but the display has a new technology which switches it off when you place the phone near your ears when making a call. There is also a new sensor called SensorCore which can track steps taken by the user and interpreted with a third party apps.

The call quality on the device was really good and we didn’t have any issues with the signal strength. The speaker volume is pretty decent and you can easily listen to songs even if you have placed the phone on its back. The device comes with 8GB of internal storage and out of which 5GB is available to user. You can also expand via microSD card and install apps directly on to the card which is a a major change with respect to Windows Phone 8.1.

Camera Performance:

The Lumia 630 comes with a 5MP autofocus camera which does not have a flash. There is also no front facing camera unit included in this device and it is pretty similar to what we have on Lumia 525 which we reviewed few months back. Although most of the 5MP camera units in this price range comes with not so great performance, Lumia 630 stands out particularly due to the fact that it is a Nokia’s camera.

The photos taken outdoors were pretty good and we were impressed with the colors and it would beat any other camera in this price range. The details and clarity of the photos were really good. When taking photos inside, the equation changes altogether since it does not come with a flash. But having said that the photos are again better than most of the cameras in this price range. There was quite a lot of noise added in low light photos.

Lumia 630 is able to record videos in HD and the sample is pretty decent. The device comes pre-installed with both Nokia Camera and Microsoft’ Windows Phone 8.1 camera.

Watch: Nokia Lumia 630 Camera Review

Here are some of the camera samples from the device.

Here is a HD camera sample from Lumia 630.

Battery Life:

Lumia 630 comes with a 1830mAh battery and although the battery capacity might look a bit low, the performance is really good. We tested the phone with a 3G SIM and also left it connected to Wi-Fi. The battery usage was pretty less and the device lasts for almost a day with normal usage. Even when playing games like Asphalt 8 Airborne, there wasn’t drastic drop in the battery percentage.

Verdict:

Nokia Lumia 630 with Windows Phone 8.1 is a big improvement over the previous version of Windows Phone. The device has great performance, superior build quality, dual SIM support, a decent camera and display. Where the Nokia Lumia 630 disappoints is the lack of front camera and also few missing sensors in the device.

There is also no USB cable and ear phones missing which could be a cost cutting from Nokia (or Microsoft). Overall, the device is a pretty good buy if you like Windows Phone 8.1 with new features and improvements.