[Real Users] My Lumia 830 Review

[o4komodo]

Made this thread after realizing there was this dedicated L830 review thread. Oops. =/
But here's my review, ranging from initial reaction to my reaction 2.5 weeks later to purchasing reaction and what-nots.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-830/321264-user-review-2-5-3weeks-l830.html

 

[ile2010]

Here's my opinion on why WP doesn't gain traction: MSFT isn't trying hard enough. They've eliminated the important app gap by releasing a lot of needed apps themselves. And while they are okay at first (better to have a so-so app than no app at all), they haven't been updated to rival those same apps on iOS/Android. It took forever to implement the ability to see photo comments in the Facebook app, let alone finally get the ability to make photo comments.

Then there are things that WP does amazingly well, courtesy of Nokia's efforts: taking photos (on higher-end models), MixRadio, and HERE. Plus the 2-step physical shutter release is fantastic. Yet nobody knows about this. The carriers (at least here in Canada) don't seem to care about WP devices and try to convince every customer to go with iPhone or Android. Hell, I've even witnessed BB10 being pushed above WP, despite its even lower market share. And while I'm on the topic of WP and Canada, it's hard to take MSFT seriously when the 1020 was the current flagship on offer until 2 weeks ago. We never got the 925 (which would've solved my problems with the 920), the 1520, or the 930. We've finally been graced with the 830 and getting one has been a pain. Nobody in stores seemed to know when it was launching, despite it being announced ahead of time. Many associates didn't know what the hell it even was. I kid you not, I was asked if I was looking for the 635. Yes, I'm just dying to get my hands on the 635. With the amount of hardware problems I've had with my more recent Nokia devices, I've been unwilling to buy grey market imports. No warranty = no thanks.

MSFT's retail presence in Canada is almost non-existent. Apple is king here. If you have an issue with their devices, most larger cities have an Apple Store that make warranty claims super easy. And to make matters worse, Nokia's warranty in Canada is handled by Flextronics, an utterly incompetent company. My 1020 was sent back as repaired, but the problem wasn't solved. If the tech tested the phone for 30 minutes after the repair (s)he would've noticed this. So I had to complain to Nokia and they told me to send it out again (at my expense again). I was assured that I'd get a brand new 1020 in return. And I did. And it was the wrong colour. And locked to a different carrier. So they wanted it back again, despite me telling them that it's cheaper for me to unlock the one they gave me instead of sending it out again. I've had to take to Twitter, Facebook, and resort to e-mailing Elop to get the whole thing sorted out. They ended up sending me a camera grip for my trouble. I already owned one, but at least I was able to sell the new one eventually to offset my shipping costs.

I've been a fan of Nokia for over a decade and liked WP7 better than MeeGo or Symbian. So I was willing to suffer through the growing pains. But it's not me that MSFT needs to worry about selling to. The average person would not put up with all of this. They'll abandon WP and won't consider going back.

MSFT needs to work on improving app quality, releasing timely hardware updates, and most of all - ADVERTISING their product.

 

[Jason Gilbert]

Got my 830 from AT&T on 11/7. Here is my 2-1/2 day review. For context, I had a 900, broke the screen, got a 520, upgraded to a 1520 for a weekend before deciding it was too big, switched out for an LG Vigor (mid-range 5-inch), hated Android, went back the 520, and now have the 830. And my wife has a new iPhone 6.

The body of the 830 is fantastic. I would have preferred the silver frame, but I have to admit that the dark one looks nice. It's kind of like the stuff they made the first-gen Surface out of. It's very classy. Also, the thickness and the weight are much better than the Icon/930. It's really just the right size.

I'm using the green back. I know that there have been some questions about exactly what color of green it is; I can tell you it is the same eye-searing radioactive green that my 1520 was. Which I like.

I like having dedicated navigation and camera buttons. They look nicer, are better placed, and are easier to use. However, the navigation buttons are finicky about lighting up. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. This is more odd than annoying, but it makes me think that Denim and/or the firmware might not be completely baked yet.

The screen looks great. Natural colors, deep blacks, and super smooth. The resolution is good enough that I can't tell the difference between the 830 and 1520. Yes, I know the 1520 has more pixels, but a 5-inch 720p screen looks about the same as a 6-inch 1080p screen from where I'm sitting.

The screen is responsive without tripping over itself. Where the 1520 felt twitchy, the 830 feels creamy. The on-screen keyboard is a joy to use, and is the perfect size for my moderately fat fingers.

Performance is good, but not as immediate as the 1520. I've seen "Resuming . . . " a couple of times but never for very long. I don't play games, so I can't comment on gaming performance, but all of the apps pop right up, and embedded videos play smoothly regardless of their source. I no longer feel like a second-class citizen when I find a Youtube clip on a webpage. Also, unlike on the 520, I'm no longer using a long press on the back key to constantly monitor which apps are running. I just let them run naked and free without a care in the world. Cortana is much faster on the 830 than the 520.

Battery life is decent, but not fantastic. I let screen brightness auto-adjust, and I have used the batter saver app to reduce the number of apps that can suck down juice in the background to less than 10. With those settings and moderately heavy use, I can get through the day on a charge, but not much more than that. If you want a battery that lasts for days, get a 1520.

I haven't used the wireless charging yet because I don't have a charger (Santa, are you listening? I've been good), so I can't comment on that aspect of the 830. I can say that while I initially though it would be weird to have the charging port on top, it now feels perfectly normal. It's kid of like the toilet paper roll: It works just as well on the top or the bottom, but some people have strong enough preferences that there will always be an argument about it.

Bearing in mind that i don't know anything about photography, I'll say that the camera is good, but some photos have come out a little bit noisy. It's still better than the LG Vigor, but not as good as as the 1520. All of my favorite camera tools are on the phone, which is namely the auto-fix and filters form Nokia creative studio. One day I will learn more about waht all of those other buttons do. That day is not imminent.

Reception is great. Wi-fi has the best range of any device in the house, connects quickly, and remembers all of the passwords without issue. I've been really impressed with cellular reception. It's the best of any phone I've ever owned, and it's been tested at the in-laws' not-quite-in-AT&T's-range house in the hills. Phone calls are clear and crisp, and the LTE is speedy and reliable.

Sound quality is good. The sound through headphones is warmer and richer than the 520, and the speaker is plenty loud.

The motion tracker does a good job counting steps, but I haven't been motivated enough to actually do any exercise with it yet. I haven't used the Fitbit Flex that came with it, so I'm not sure how well it works. We may strap it on to the four-year-old and see what kind of data we get. I'm pretty sure he gets at least 10,000 steps a day.

I bought the Incipio Transparent case, which is a soft silicone-style case that was easy to get on and provides excellent protection for both the screen and the small camera hump on the back. It is not, however, actually transparent. It's black, though it shows a little radioactive green around the camera and the speaker. I like it. The buttons are very easy to use with the case on, with no hard pressing required.

So is it an affordable flagship? Yes, though "Affordable" would have been easier to justify at $400 or less. It may not be the best at everything, but it does everything well and looks great doing it. What makes me really happy is all of the extras: integrated wireless charging, a removable battery, switchable back plates, and expandable storage. Compared to the iPhone, it's not quite as smooth (get rid of the "Resuming . . . " once and for all, MS), but it's every bit as premium in build quality, and it has extras that you can't get on the Apple. If they were the same price, I'd chose the 830. the fact that it's $200 cheaper makes it even better. And compared to Android (even a pretty nice mid-ranger like the Vigor), it's a much better choice. If you absolutely have to have the best photos or battery life, get the 1520 and learn to live with the size. If you absolutely want the most kick-*** processor, get the Icon/930 or the HTC One. But if you want something that works well for everything and is easy on the eyes, wallet, and your pockets, the 830 is the best phone on market right now.

 

[bachansoo]

Got my 830 from AT&T on 11/7.
...
I bought the Incipio Transparent case, which is a soft silicone-style case that was easy to get on and provides excellent protection for both the screen and the small camera hump on the back. It is not, however, actually transparent. It's black, though it shows a little radioactive green around the camera and the speaker. I like it. The buttons are very easy to use with the case on, with no hard pressing required.
...

Can you post pics of the case with the phone? I'm in Canada, but AT&T seems to be the only one listing that case. I'm hoping to get a better look at it.

 

[mddeckie]

I've had the 830 from at&t for 5 days now. This is my first windows phone and so far I love it! I have owned 3 iPhones prior to this phone and this is probably the best phone I've owned. I love the UI and the windows phone platform. The live tiles are great and and so is wireless charging and Cortana

Now for the phone itself,

The phone is plenty fast for me. I'm not a huge gamer but subway surfer and a few other games load and play just as quick as my gfs iPhone.

The screen being 720 doesn't bother me. I honestly see no difference between this and a full HD screen. I did a side by side comparison at the windows store with the 830 & and HTC one m8, couldn't see a difference.

The only negative I can see is the lack off main stream apps, but i knew this before committing to windows phone and honestly its not that big a deal

Overall on very pleased with the 830. It's a great phone and the 5" screen is perfect

 

[longcipher]

I bought an international RM-984, L830 off of ebay. I needed that aluminum edge, the black ATT version looks too generic for my tastes. I also enjoy not seeing anything with the ATT brand on my phone, from the back cover to the start-up screen.

I am coming from a 1020. In fact, I've been using Windows Phone exclusively since the day it debuted. Fun fact.

This L830 is a quantum leap forward in many ways from any other WP I've used. I think this generation's phones are the first true masterpieces of WP. They feel right, both ergonomically and software-ily.

My main fear with this phone was the screen. I owned the L920 for a brief time and felt the screen wasn't up to par so switched back to an AMOLED-based phone. Surprisingly, I have zero complaints with the screen. Also, Glance is, of course dimmer, but I think it actually looks better that way.

With the screen issue out of the way, everything else is a major step-up from the 1020. The 1020 always felt a but sluggish. The 830 seems nimble. I am sure that storing everything on the SD card will help as my 1020 would get bogged down with massive DNGs.

Speaking of photos, I have yet to shoot anything. Mind you, I am a professional filmmaker, so I have amazing cameras to play with and don't expect much from a camera phone. I will shoot some stuff once it isn't sub-zero outside and post some images. I am sure it'll be fine for what I use a cameraphone for.

I was on the fence about whether to stick it out with the 1020 until W10 dropped. I read/watched about 50 reviews before pulling the trigger and buying the 830. It's still early, but it appears I made the right choice in buying this to hold me over until W10. Hell, I may even upgrade this to W10 and keep going if MS doesn't release anything truly drool-worthy.

If you're unsure and have the funds, pick up this phone.

 

[dacarter77]

Got my 830 last night. The ATT store only had one. I ported my number from T-Mob, so will get 150 credit on the phone which brought the cost down to $300. It also came with the FitBit, but I want the MS bracelet, so will probably sell the FitBit.

After doing advanced adjustments on the display settings, (turning up color temp, tint, and color saturation, all to about 3/4 made whites to look as white as the 920, and made colors pop), I'm very happy with the phone. Since my 920 was 2 years old, this seemed like a very reasonable upgrade. I love the light weight and the feel of the phone in the hand. It's so cool looking with the lime green back, and dark metal frame, I may not even put a case on it. I really can't tell any difference in the screen from the 920, and the speed of navigation seems as good or better.

One downside that I haven't read about anywhere else is that quite a few of my apps couldn't be loaded on the phone because of the different screen resolution. A few of these were apps I used a lot, like iHeart Radio. Hopefully these will be updated to handle the new phone.

I also love being able to say it has a bigger screen than the iPhone6!

 

[VineRider]

Strange about iheart radio. It works fine on my 830.

 

[Basiluzzo]

I bought my 830 on the day it was released in the US, November 7. I find service at AT&T stores to be uneven, sometimes it's great, other times not so much. So, I went to a Microsoft store, they made it easy and the service was excellent. There was some confusion because I have one of AT&T's grandfathered unlimited data plans and they were having trouble figuring out how to port that to the new phone. As an apology for the trouble they gave me 50% off a 2-year extended warranty. $49 as insurance against breakage - hooray! I didn't want to buy a case and this gives me the peace of mind not to do it. (I did buy a screen protector, though.)

I have never owned a windows phone. Years ago I had a Palm Treo, hated it, and since then had iPhones, the 3Gs and then the 5. No particular problem but I did get tired of the superiority complex of the Applesphere and the planned obsolence of the software upgrades. Also the "it just works" business isn't true. I have a Mac Mini that has been rendered almost useless by the OS X upgrades, and an Apple TV that I really like but is always losing touch with the iPad and Mac. Several of my coworkers use windows phones and I had played with them, really liked the interface, plus I think the Lumias are attractive devices, so I dove in. Hey Microsoft - I'm coming home!

So, observations - I love the interface, I think it's much easier to see than the tiny icons and tiny fonts used on iPhone. It's attractive, fluid and intuitive. I like the degree to which I can customize my home screen. There seems to be a lot of griping about the 400 processor but so far the operation of the phone has been smooth and trouble free for me. I'm not a gamer though. Have done a little photography with satisfactory results, haven't had time to put it through its paces yet. The quality of the camera was a main selling point for me as opposed to the HTC One (M8), though. I like the convenience of the Qi wireless charging. I bought three PowerBot Qi charge plates on Amazon for about $15 each, have one at work, one in my kitchen and one in my bedroom. My apple headset with microphone works great, the WiFi and Bluetooth performance have been strong and trouble free so far. I like the HERE Maps interface although a few times it took me on routes I wouldn't have chosen. If I were app driven I probably wouldn't have chosen windows phone, but for my purposes the available apps are generally fine. I've had a few frustrations with getting my iTunes music library onto the phone, I'll probably post about this separately. I'm delighted that the phone accepts a 128 gb micro SD card but very frustrated that I can't put the downloaded HERE maps on it. I like that the maps can be downloaded though - my Garmin may never get used again! I noticed other commenters' observation that the home, search and back buttons at the bottom of the screen don't always light up - I've had the same problem but it's not much of a problem.

So, two weeks in, I'm very happy with the phone and have no major issues with it.

PS - The Fitbit Flex fitness band that came with the phone has been fun to use, and now that I have one I notice lots of people using them. I used the Lose It! app on my iPhone, which isn't available on Windows, but the Fitbit app paired with the band is better by far anyway.

 

[oryan_dunn]

I'm delighted that the phone accepts a 128 gb micro SD card but very frustrated that I can't put the downloaded HERE maps on it. I like that the maps can be downloaded though - my Garmin may never get used again!

Download "Lumia Storage Check Beta". It has an option to store maps on the SD card. Very strange this hasn't been built into the base OS yet.

Lumia storage check beta | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

 

[Basiluzzo]

Download "Lumia Storage Check Beta". It has an option to store maps on the SD card. Very strange this hasn't been built into the base OS yet.

Lumia storage check beta | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

I tried that when I first got the phone and it appeared to simply prevent me from downloading maps at all. However, now I understand the phone a little better, it could have been user error ... I'll try again and report back. Thanks!

 

[Chris_Germany]

Dropped my phone 10 meters down the stairs, twice ! I wa ls really drunk.
Apart from falling apart and few scratches, everything works. Tough phone!

 

[hcrick]

10 meters of stairs?! :shocked: Glad your phone survived it well, bodes well for 830 owners.

 

[Chris_Germany]

Ok maybe 5 meters. But it took forever....step by step down the road... I was suffering .
But it is insured anyway so I don't really care.
I do that few more times and maybe then the glad will break, finally. And then I get a new one

 

[Sonu K]

I really wanted to have this pureview Lumia which is one of the last to carry Nokia Logo. But unfortunately This doesn't have a dual sim version! :unhappysweat:
When will we have a pureview Lumia with Dual sim slots. ?
I have a 630 currently, but i'm greedy about the camera quality of 830 :grin: :devil:

 

[mrdeeds_72]

Side-graded from an HTC 8X and it's thumbs up so far. Device feels more substantial in the hand, though the sharper edges take getting used to.

The rear facing camera is leaps and bounds above the 8x and even the front facing camera outdoes the 2 mp wide-angle.

Being a Lumia, it works with Here Drive better. I had constant freezing on the 8X.

Very few hiccups, though the capacitive back and search buttons can sometimes be unresponsive.

I have the Black version and can't wait to get the green back plate.

One-handed use can sometimes be problematic due to the 5 inch display, but it's manageable.

Battery life is about 50% better than my 8X ever was. I can get over a 24 hrs on moderate use without having to charge.

 

[gurrala74]

Guys I read all of your beautiful reviews of 830, now please tell me is worth to go for this phone. I am migrating from L620

 

[hasasimo]

Guys I read all of your beautiful reviews of 830, now please tell me is worth to go for this phone. I am migrating from L620

To me, absolutely. It has every feature you could want for WP and in a package that is the most aesthetically pleasing of any device on the market. Good camera? Check. Optical Image Stabilization? Check. Beautiful? Check. Expandable memory? Check. Exchangeable back covers? Check. Removable battery? Check. Big enough display, but not too big? Glance Screen? Fluid performance? Check, check, and check.

 

[Basiluzzo]

To me, absolutely. It has every feature you could want for WP and in a package that is the most aesthetically pleasing of any device on the market. Good camera? Check. Optical Image Stabilization? Check. Beautiful? Check. Expandable memory? Check. Exchangeable back covers? Check. Removable battery? Check. Big enough display, but not too big? Glance Screen? Fluid performance? Check, check, and check.

I agree with all that. I'm so happy with this phone, which I bought to replace my iPhone 5. Add wireless Qi battery charging, great call sound quality, and a good, loud external speaker.

 

[hasasimo]

I agree with all that. I'm so happy with this phone, which I bought to replace my iPhone 5. Add wireless Qi battery charging, great call sound quality, and a good, loud external speaker.

Absolutely, only phone I've ever come across with better speaker quality was my Lumia 1520, and they're actually quite close in that regard.

Also, forgot to mention very good battery life.