Why the Nokia Lumia 530 is even better than the Lumia 520…
If you’re not bothered about the latest iPhone features, or the most powerful smartphone processor, it’s likely that you’ll be more inclined to fork out less cash for a budget smartphone. Nokia has recently dominated this area of the market, mainly thanks to the Lumia 520, which itself has quickly become THE budget smartphone to buy.
The Lumia 520 mixes user-friendly design, a surprisingly good spec list and the now iconic Nokia design to make for one of the best handsets on a budget. But now, Nokia is set to unveil its successor; the Nokia Lumia 530, and we think it could be even better than its predecessor, and by a long way too.
Colourful Nokia Design
One of the most attractive things about the Lumia 520 was its bright, colourful design, and this mantra is continued here on the Lumia 530. Don’t get us wrong, we quite like the stylish black and white phones we’ve seen before, but Nokia’s growing trend of bright and vivid style is certainly taking off.
It’s not all about bright colours drawing us in either! Whilst the Lumia 520 was attractive, Nokia has worked hard to improve the feel of the handset on the 530 as well. The edges have been rounded off, and the build made marginally thicker, giving the handset a smoother feel.
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New Lumia Specs
We’ve seen hundreds of great looking budget phones prove to be real stinkers when you try and get them going under the hood, with some handsets freezing, slowing down, and some even crashing completely. But Nokia has shown no such problems in its Lumia line-up, with the 520 running surprisingly smoothly even with its ‘lightweight’ spec list.
But now, we’re seeing the Lumia 530 climb up a weight class; offering up even better specs this time around. The chipset is one such improvement, upping from the Qualcomm effort on the 520, to a Snapdragon 200 version this time around.
The processor has also seen a massive boost come its way, doubling in size from the dual-core kit on the 520, to a 1.2GHz quad-core effort on the Lumia 530, helping create speeds close to many mid-range handsets. This of course boosts the overall performance of the handset, whilst not adding too much bulk as well, meaning if you’re a fan of your skinny Lumia 520, you won’t have to make much of a change to get used to the Lumia 530.
It’s not all change though, with Nokia sticking with the 4” screen size, 512MB RAM and 5 megapixel camera from before. The battery life also sticks to what it knows from the 520, and there’s still no sign of a front facing lens, something we’re happy to deal with for its rock-bottom price tag.
Windows Phone OS
With Nokia now being owned by Microsoft, it comes as no surprise to see the Lumia 530 sport the same Windows Phone operating system as its predecessor, with the 8.1 update being pre-installed. This means the likes of Nokia MixRadio, OneDrive, Cortana and HEREMaps are all included from the get-go.
So, if you’ve plied your trade with the Lumia 520 ‘til now, things will be exactly the same when you Passover onto its successor. Who said switching smartphones was hard work eh?
Still a Budget Smartphone!
With all of these changes to the design and the performance of the Lumia handset, you’d almost expect a price hike to accompany it. But believe it or not, the Lumia 530 is expected to retail at approximately £79, roughly the same price as the Lumia 520.
So, for a smartphone boasting a friendlier design, better specs and the same great operating system, you won’t be paying any more than you would be if you opt for the older handset. If you ask us that sounds like a pretty good deal!
The Nokia Lumia 530 is expected to hit shelves this August. But if you don’t fancy waiting around for it, you can take a look at all of our great Nokia deals here!