Choose 4! What if you were in charge?

[Darthbobcat]

Several observers have said that the variety of Nokia (now Microsoft) Lumia devices is almost paralyzing for potential shoppers. There is a phone for literally every price point and combination of features at this point.

Let's pretend you were just put in charge of Microsoft Mobile Oy and Satya Nadella has just handed down the word that to cut costs and avoid customer confusion, Microsoft's Lumia division is going to move to an Apple-Esque number of phones and an Apple-Esque release schedule. You will have a total of 4 models available at any time, with annual refreshes/shifts coinciding with major events (Windows 10, etc).

WHICH 4 DO YOU PICK? (Let's assume that for any model you choose has had its internals upgraded to be current. So if you list 1020 on here, we're assuming that it's a refreshed quad core version.)

Personally, I'd go as follows.

1) Lumia 822, recast as a Lumia 635 followup. That little phone has been awesome to me for the past 18 months, and with a quad core processor and the same body, it'd be amazing as a no contract entry level phone, even if they cheaped out and only gave it 8 GB of storage.
2) Lumia 930 as your "big but not huge flagship."
3) Lumia 830 as your midline.
4) Lumia 1520 for your phablet needs.

Hard cuts were made making this list. I'd consider a 1020 follow-up as my honorary 5th, maybe produced as a specialty unlocked phone, but I don't personally perceive it as addressing a big enough market to be worth going forward on (STRICTLY in this hypothetical scenario I have constructed).

 

[Jazmac]

I think I said this before in another thread but there would only be 3 models made by Microsoft Lumia. A flagship 4 inch thing, a flagship 5.1 inch thing and a flagship 6 inch phablet. Period. All the other low end stuff could be made by any of the other phone builders but not by Microsoft. No 520's or 521's No 720's etc.

At the rate Microsoft is going, they will be right back to doing the same thing that killed Windows Mobile. Doing everything for everyone just because they happen to have a dollar in their pocket.

 

[GCrane1982]

If there were only 4 models I would go with the below

Lumia 530 - Yes its cheap and nasty however it sells and creates volume in the market. I would launch this device towards the beginning of the year maybe at CES.
Lumia 630 - Mid range phone with mid range specs launched at the same time as the 530.
Lumia 930 - This would be the flagship all-rounder with the most current tech lunched around Oct each year.
Lumia XXX - The last device could be anything and could change from year to year. For example one year it may be a 6" phablet like the 1520 the next year it could be 42mp camera like the 1020. Basically it would be a device for MSFT to show off new tech/advanced tech and or fill a gab in the market. This device would also be launched in October.

For the consumers this would create a good range of devices with a yearly upgrade cycle, low end phones around Mar/Apr and high end phones/flagships in Oct/Nov. They could also keep the model number in sequence i.e. 530, 531, 532, 533 this would give the products/brands a 10 year life span.

 

[Bobvfr]

Although I agree the amount of models is a bit confusing, not helped by the model numbers, but I would not limit it to four, I would actually limit it to three form sizes, 6, 5 and 4.5 but within that I would still want a choice so for example the high end 1520 and the mid of the market covered by the fun 1320 covering the large size, the 930 and 830 covering the mid size and then a high end and low end 4.5 size, I shouldn't think there would be a need for a 4 inch device.

Although that would knock out the 735 which has the potential to be the best selling WP.

 

[sumton]

i'd pick
1- 1 phablet 15xx series
2- 1 high end 10xx series
3- 1 mid range 8xx series
4- 1 low end 6xx series

 

[wuiyang]

1. Nokia Lumia 1520 - large display, currently the highest spec of all Lumia devices
2. Nokia Lumia 1020 - Super camera that has 41MP but lenses was not that big
3. Nokia Lumia 620 - cheap but powerful, with FFC, camera button, hardware button, magnetometer. the only bad thing is small screen (3.8 inch), low RAM, low power CPU, and low battery.
4. Nokia Lumia 735 - you see lots of people taking picture of themselves (i dont want to say that word), give them good FFC with 4G, they will use it everyday

if allowed to add non-exist phone, i choose Nokia Lumia 1830
for the spec of Nokia Lumia 1830:
- 6 inch screen, QHD 2K display (2560x1440)
- 6800mAh
- 41MP PureView 6/7 lenses Rear camera
- 8MP Pureview 4/5 lenses Front-Facing Camera
- 2 GB RAM
- 32 GB internal memory, external storage up to 128GB
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (Quad-core 2.3 GHz) / Snapdragon 805 (Quad-core 2.7 GHz)
- Loudspeaker with Dolby Headphone sound enhancement
- with Nokia Lumia 930's microphone