Lumia 930 is 6 months behind the times

[camstreet1]

So the Lumia 930's been released, and lo and behold it's a tweaked Icon. The problem is that the Icon was released in February, and the 930 won't be released until June/July, 4-5 months later. The 20MP camera module is presumably about the same as the 1520, which launched in December 7 months previously. That's a long time in this business, and they should have at least found a way to make it thinner and lighter than the Icon (10-20 grams would make all the difference), given feature parity. As things stand it certainly won't give first adopters the sense they're getting cutting edge tech.

Don't get me wrong, it seems like a great phone, but come June/July I just can't see myself being super excited about it. This phone should have been launched with WP8.0 back in Dec/Jan/Feb, with an update coming Dec 2014. Instead I feel like Nokia's playing catch-up with its flagship once again.

 

[Craigx75]

I fully agree with this, I like my windows phone but am becoming very tired of waiting to catch up with the features offered by other OS, Nokia should have released this or now or made the Icon available across the board not just in select area. Seems to me that MS and Nokia still cant manage what could be a market leading product so im still thinking its time to switch.

 

[foaf]

Fully agree. I have to say, as an owner of the 920, I am interested in whether a 1030 will be announced/released by June/July too.

 

[poiman]

I like the device, just don't understand why is it going to take them 2 more months to release it to the market. Makes no sense! The phone has been ready for more than a month (LUMIA ICON) and WP8.1 will be ready in May since the LUMIA 630 is coming with it... Can't understand how NOKIA is taking so long with this!

 

[Poirots Progeny]

Agreed. It is a shame that this phone is just a repurposed icon - and the fact that they couldn't get an sd card, well that is a crying shame.

I just feel Nokia is in limbo at the moment - greatness, in the form of the goldfinger is just round the corner, later this year.

I hope that is a 1020 successor with a blinking sd card. Why they would ignore that is beyond me.

 

[Malcolm Clement]

Hopefully when the Nokia devices acquisition is complete we'll be able to get back on track. Hopefully thats part of the issue... hopefully...

 

[Old_Cus]

I'm sorry but I don't understand all the above attitudes. If the 930 was going to be released in the United States then maybe I could but this phone is going to markets where that doesn't have the Icon or a model like it.

Personally I'd like to see what "flagship" phone is coming to the United States before I comment if it's technology is "behind the times".

 

[Coreldan]

I personally don't think that lighter is automatically better. While it might just be a placebo, weight in general almost always adds to a quality feel. I hate the way most Android flagships feel like. They are big but so light, they feel like toys. iPhone is a bit better in this regard as it's much smaller too so it feels a bit more proportionate. I wouldn't trade away a single gram from my 185g Lumia 920

 

[Jonas_H]

I don't think I agree with that. In my opinion, other OEM's like Samsung or HTC has to play catch-up to compete with this gorgeous camera.

Also I have to say that I like phones that are a bit heavier. They feel much better when holding them. Also it has a good battery.

For people who had the 920, for example or the 925, it will feel like cutting edge technology. Most of the people who will buy this phone, for example in the EU, don't know the Icon so they don't know that there was exactly the same phone released in the US months before.
It's also a huge step from S4DC to 800QC.

 

[Smg-Uk]

If it was running Android yes but no its not outdated WP8.1 doesn't even really need Snapdragon 800 to run it, And tell me how the Camera and Screen are outdated?

 

[xratola]

If it was running Android yes but no its not outdated WP8.1 doesn't even really need Snapdragon 800 to run it, And tell me how the Camera and Screen are outdated?

He's talking about previous Lumia devices launched with somewhat the same technology.

 

[Smg-Uk]

He's talking about previous Lumia devices launched with somewhat the same technology.

Only really the 1520 and that phone for a large majority of people is too big for everyday use.

 

[theefman]

Yep, quad core cpu, 20MP reframing camera with DNG support, Dolby digital plus, 1080p screen are waaaaaay behind the times. Please state what functionality is missing because of these ancient specs that other "cutting edge" phones have.

 

[Squachy]

specs = cutting edge. Don't believe me? if you read about the SD801 and the SD800, THEYRE THE SAME DAMN PROCESSOR. Through process advancements at the foundary they were able to tweak the 800 to the 801 which is mostly just higher clockspeeds. This is baby steps in the grand scheme of things on this processor.

This isn't the old processer vs new processor of the initial WP7 release (Snapdragon S1 vs Snapdragon S2)
Or the single core vs dual core with the Lumia 800/900 and its competition (Snapdragon S2 vs S3/S4).
Or the Dual core vs quad core the 920/925/928/1020 suffered from (Snapdragon S4 vs Snapdragon 600)
This is Snapdragon 800 vs Snapdragon 801. It uses the same 4x Krait 400 CPU cores, and the same Adreno330 GPU. You are NOT losing anything aside from a mostly negligible amount of raw speed. The 930 ISNT using the SD600 (which makes the argument valid, since its a lower end processor) and the competition isn't using the SD805 (which also would make the argument valid, because of newer Krait 450 CPU cores and newer Adreno420 GPU). It definitely would have LOOKED better if they used the 801 but don't tell me its not last years technology...because it is. Its just a faster version of last years technology.

-2GB of ram is normal.
-32gb of internal space, that's also the same. The other flagships are either 16gb or the same 32gb internal.
-5" Full HD 1080P screen is normal (give or take a couple half inches) I don't think anyone jumped on the 1440P bandwagon yet nor is there even a need for it. Heck 1080P on such a small screen seems like overkill already.
-SD card slot isn't a MUST per se (iPhones dont have one, last years flagship HTC One isn't automatically rendered completely useless because it doesn't have one) but would have been a nice addition. At least they have 32gb which is a healthy amount (compared to 16gb..which would be pretty low). But again this is something they really shouldn't have omitted.
-20mpx Camera. This is a little on the higher end of the mpx count. Sony's is I think 20.7, Samsung's is 13, HTC is 4, iPhone is 8 or 12 I don't remember. And all things considered I think its noted as one of the better shooters out there. Besides I thnk only the 41mpx pureview shooter is better than the cameras in the sony or Nokia offerings.

 

[camstreet1]

Some of you disagreeing don't quite seem to have gotten the point - which is that there's nothing about this phone tech-wise that explains why Nokia couldn't have launched it sometime between Dec 2013 (when the 1520 with the same camera went on sale) and Feb 2014 when the Icon went on sale (identical in pretty much all respects). That makes it 6 months late to the party in my view, which comes at a big cost in an industry with a ~12m refresh cycle.

Like foaf I'm really hoping there's a 1030 announcement soon that pushes the boat out with groundbreaking new imaging tech (the whole 41MP thing while still market-leading is getting long in the tooth too).

As to the comments on weight, there is a taste element to this as some people love hefty phones. Personally I want a phone I could forget was in my pocket, and my 920 certainly never managed that, and many people took a similar view. The 930 is a huge improvement on the 920 and the weight might not actually be a problem (won't know until I try), my point was more that it would be nice to see *some* hardware improvement to show for a 6 month lag. As to the relationship between weight and build quality - the HTC One M7 was only 143 grams, and the M8 160 grams, and both of these have been lauded as amongst the highest build quality, so there's room for Nokia to bring the weight down and maintain a premium feel. There's nothing to be gained by having the heaviest flagship phone of the major market players.

 

[psiu_glen]

As a similar point, the 928 and 925 both shaved a lot of weight off the 920 and yet remained "premium" feeling. (they also suffered from "brand new flagship!" that were 6 months old as well).

 

[psychotron]

Actually there could be all kinds of reasons it's delivery has been delayed, such as production capacity. Has everyone seen the huge legal flap going on regarding Nokia's plants in India? That's certainly got to have some impact. Or what about resources? Chipset yield may not be up to scale to meet demand just yet. Fact is we who are not sitting in the boardroom can speculate all day but none of us really know. Who doesn't believe that if Nokia, or any company for that matter, had the ability to churn out three or four different models of the latest and greatest at a reasonable price point and exactly on time that they would do it? They're not ignorant, they're just working within the confines of their logistic and financial reality at the moment.

 

[Coreldan]

As a similar point, the 928 and 925 both shaved a lot of weight off the 920 and yet remained "premium" feeling. (they also suffered from "brand new flagship!" that were 6 months old as well).

Well, while those phones arn't anywhere near the worst, but they feel nowhere near as premium to me as the 920 does. Too big for it's weight. Or too light for it's size

 

[shmsnh]

People wanted a globally available 5" version of the Lumia 1520. That is what Nokia is giving with the Lumia 930. It's a different matter that they could have launched it earlier. As I am not privy to their plans, I cannot say why they did not do so. Why do people always complain...?

 

[Zeem Frostmaw]

Looks like a cutting edge phone to me. The only WP8 app I can really see it struggling with is GTASA, but that's only because its so poorly optimised.