First Look: Nokia Lumia 730 | TechTree.com

First Look: Nokia Lumia 730

Is it a worthy successor to the Lumia 720?

 
First Look: Nokia Lumia 730

It is turning out to be a busy week for Microsoft. While the lucky few in San Francisco got the glimpse of Windows 10, Indian techies finally got to experience Microsoft's new handsets - Nokia Lumia 730, 830, and 930. Among this lot, the Lumia 730 is very competitively priced at Rs 15,300. Since India is a price sensitive market, the 730 has a good chance of success. The phone will be available for purchase from 6 October.
 

Design
On a first glance, the Lumia 730 looks similar to its predecessor, the Lumia 720. However, on close inspections, you can see that the 730 is actually a continuation of the Lumia 920 'Fabula' design language. Only that it's considerably thinner to Nokia's 2012's flagship. The obvious explanation for the 920's thickness was its build-in wireless (induction) charging support and Carl Zeiss lens assembly with Optical Images Stabilisation. The 730 lets go of both these features in favour of aesthetics and affordability.

Nokia continues its affair with bright colours, as the Lumia 730 comes in bright orange and green. For boring types, the phone is available in white and black. Off all available hues, we especially liked orange, which stands out in the crowd. Nokia's expertise in materials and industrial design hits you the moment you hold the phone. Considering its sub-15k price tag, the phone is incredibly polished. It's worth noting that the phone has a removable back-panel. This design decision will please us Indians who still don't like the idea of owning a phone with a fixed battery.

Display
The Lumia 730 sports a 4.7-inch screen. That's a step up from its predecessor's 4.3-inch panel. However, the biggest upgrade here comes in terms of screen type — from IPS to AMOLED. This is a sensible move from Nokia, as OLED screens ideal to produce vibrant colours and perfect blacks. And that's exactly what Microsoft's mobile OS is all about.

The screen packs in 720x1080 pixels. That's HD resolution, which is ideal for mobile phones. Anything below 720p is not sharp, and anything more than that unnecessarily puts extra stress on the processor. For sunlight legibility, the display comes with Nokia's ClearBlack tech, which involves polarisation filter that reduces screen glare. Like most smartphones these days, the 730 comes with Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

Key Specifications
The Lumia 730 is backed by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 chip clocked 1.2 GHz. It comes with 1 GB RAM, which is a step-up from 720's 512 MB. The internal storage is 8 GB, with provision to add up to 128 GB via microSD card. In the photography department, you get a 6.7 megapixel camera that can record 1080p videos. However, there's no PureView tech in here. For that, Nokia has the Lumia 830. To cash in the Selfie fad, Nokia has thrown-in a 5 megapixel wide angle front-facing camera. Since we Indians believe in "more the merrier" ideology, the 730 comes with dual-SIM support. Other features include 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS (with offline maps support), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, FM radio, and 2200 mAh battery.

Software
The 730 runs the latest Windows Phone 8.1 Denim update out-of-the-box. In its latest iteration, Windows Phone lets you set a Start Screen background. Then, you get Live Folders, where you can group similar apps on a single folder Tile. Creating such folders is quite easy. All you have to do is press, hold and drag an app icon over another and that's it. later, you can name it for your reference. During the brief time I spent with the phone, its user experience was impressively fluid. For more details on its performance keep an eye out for our review.
 


Tags : Mobile Phones, Windows Phone, Microsoft, Nokia, Lumia 730

 
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