Lumia 430: quick review of the most affordable Lumia

If the only differentiating factor of a smartphone is that it is cheapest, it won't probably sell. But if it says it is the cheapest Lumia, heads turn. This is Lumia 430, and this is my quick review of the phone.

The Phone is superbly build. It is great to hold it in hand, though it feels slightly heavy for the form factor. I have been using this phone as a secondary backup device for over a month now, and have dropped it a couple of times, surprisingly there are no dents. The back cover of this phone also doesn't come of during the fall, as is with most other phones.

 
The display, however is below average. At a slightly higher price point (but below 5K) you can get an HD IPS display from Android vendors, see for instance Yu Yunique (http://www.snapdeal.com/flash-sale/yu/yunique). It is usable though. That is pretty much I can say about it. I have had Lumia 800, and it had a stunning display. With this kind of low display however, I feel that the premium of the Lumia brand has been quite diluted. It just doesn’t feel good.

One of the main selling points of the Lumia phones was the camera, and in this compartment too it fails quite miserably here. Again at this price point, you can get a 8MP autofocus camera with flash (http://www.snapdeal.com/flash-sale/yu/yunique), where as this Lumia provides only a paltry 2MP fixed focus camera. The quality of photos however is decent for quick sharing on social networks.

At the end of the day, it is a well build phone. A good secondary smartphone, that is reliable and easy to use. A good phone for first time buyers. But very hard to recommend wholeheartedly when you can get phones at much higher specs on the Android side at the same price point. If you speak Windows however, and you are tight on budget, or just want a Windows phone to try out: this is a no barrier. And yes, it will run Windows 10 for mobile devices, whenever that gets released. The same cannot be said any Android devices you buy in this segment today, there is simply no software (aka OS) update guarantee.

 
Get the Lumia 430 here: http://fkrt.it/sycRUGNN

Which mobile OS is right for me?

The short answer is: the one that works best for you, and the one that you would like to use daily. Here are some of my views:

1. Firefox OS: I really love this OS. The OS is very lightweight as are its apps. The adaptable search is great and makes you feel that you have a new phone each time you do a search.  The truly open source OS is great as a daily driver phone if your only app needs are : email, whatsapp, travel apps and literary every thing that is a web app. However, don't expect to find video editing or document / spread sheet processing or VOIP apps on this platform, at least not yet. Another issue is that the only devices running Firefox OS and available in India (as of this writing) are severely underpowered. Otherwise, this is the best choice as compared to Android and even lower cost Windows phones.

2. Windows Phone:  This was the OS that I used for more than 2 years on a daily driver phone, after I got really frustrated with constant issues with my Android phone. The OS takes a fresh new approach to UI design, with the beautiful live tiles. But then the usability ends there. It frequently comes in the way of what you want to do - poor app collection, even the big name apps which are present are seldom updated, and the most disliked "Resuming ..." screen when switching between apps. If you get past this however, the OS is super smooth, it never lags. Even after using the device regularly for 2 years, with lots of apps and data stored, the device never slowed down - it was as fast as it was on day 1. With many low cost (sub 5K) devices running Windows phone coming to the market, this might be just the right OS for you - if you don't care about the apps i.e.

3. Android: For some strange reason I never liked Android. At first I didn't like it because it adopted Java instead of other more open and 'easy' programming languages like Python. Then I didn't like it because it more or less was controlled by Google, rather than being truly open source. Then I hated it as Samsung never updated the OS on my phone even as it was capable - I had to go the cyanogenmod way to get the latest. In the end I got frustrated enough to dump this as my daily driver OS. The introduction of Android One had rekindled my interest in Android, but after using it for a few weeks - it was clear that the frustrations of using  Android are still there - random slowdowns, random freezes, and if you are not careful spywares. Even so, Android appears to be the de-facto choice for many. Devices running the OS simply give people the best value for money as of now.

4. iOS: If you want to have the best of every OS, then this is the OS for you. If you want to carry a 'true' computer in your pocket - this the OS for you. If you want to have the latest and the greatest apps - this is the OS for you. If you don't want to fiddle much with the device and want it to just work for you - this is the OS for you. I had switched to using an iOS device as my daily driver nearly an year ago for these exact reasons. There is no denying that this is the best mobile OS currently available, albeit with some 'restrictions'.  Also, there are only limited choices of devices you can buy running this OS - only one company makes it : Apple. The best value for money for and iOS device you can get is an iPod touch - but that is not a phone and cannot be actually your daily driver device. The next best is iPhone 5c - this is a better choice than 4s and it has got better and newer hardware - even though some of you may not like a plastic casing device from Apple.

5. Others: And there are others. Blackberry OS - I never used this one my daily driver OS - but people say it a dedicated email machine, not every one uses email these days. Jolla OS - this one is too late to the party - it will have some takers, but I think this is not the future. Ubuntu OS - this one never seems to come - is it year end yet?


 

Windows phones are getting better specs at lower end

Lava recently launched Lava Iris Win1 on Flipkart (Buy Lava Iris Win1 from Flipkart.com), another Windows phone priced below 5K. But then this one is special, it is probably the only smartphone (even taking Android into picture) in this range that comes with 8GB internal storage and 1GB RAM. This is good news for Windows phone fans, I would recommend this if you are a first time smartphone buyer looking for a phone at about 5K INR.

Celkon Win 400: Another low cost Windows Phone

Celkon has launched (http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/celkon-launches-windows-smartphone-at-rs-4-979-114120101170_1.html), another low cost Windows Phone device. This would be the second Windows phone device below 5K. Another one being Karbonn Titanium Wind 4, my experience of this device has not really been good. To be fair I found the device to perform extremely well on all aspects except the phone!

Karbonn Windows Phone: Wanted to like it, but..

I have been using the Karbonn's first Windows phone for about 2 days now. My initial impressions with the phone were very good. The performance and the touch response seemed to work very well. The display was not so good, with very poor viewing angles and grossly incorrect colors. The camera was OK, the Skype calls using the front camera was like - atleast it is there - !.

But the bummer of the whole thing was when I installed the SIM card on the phone. The phone never stabilized on the network signal, which seemed to go on and off. After some time the phone restarted. And this kept on happening. I changed the SIM to another spare one, and the same thing repeated.

There is also another issue with the piece I received, the battery doesn't seem to charge fully. Infact, it never goes beyond 97% charge, no matter how long you wait.

With these basic issues, I am left using this thing like an iPod touch, only not as good! I have contacted Snapdeal, and would report back on what happened. In short, I don't think it would be prudent to review this product based on this particular faulty unit.


Update: Snapdeal sent me a replacement device. But to my horror it too has the same problem with keeping a stabilized network signal. Given the experience, I would strongly *NOT* recommend the product, unless if you are just an enthusiast!

 

Karbonn Titanium Wind W4 : Now the least expensive Windows Phone in India

That is right. The Wind W4 from Karbonn is the cheapest Windows device selling in India and is under 5K INR (see: http://www.snapdeal.com/product/titanium-wind-w4/1241433329#bcrumbSearch:karbonn%20titanium%20wind%204). I would be reviewing this device in coming weeks, so stay tuned.
 

WP phone prices are coming down, still not below 5K INR

Karbonn today launched Karbonn Titanium Wind W4 - a WP phone - exclusively on Amazon.in (available here: http://www.amazon.in/Launch-Karbonn-Titanium-Windows-Phone/dp/B00NWD6CHW/).

The price of this device is 5,999/- INR and is actually the lowest priced WP powered phone available in India at the moment. This is good news. But the bad news is that this price is still too high for large adaptability of the platform. The WP powered phones need to come below 5K INR, and at the same time maintain quality to attract a large audience.