Going Back From 830 to 925

[Motor_Mouth]

Last year I bought an 830 to replace my 925, specifically so I could put all my music onto an SD card and get rid of my ZuneHD, which no longer had enough storage for my whole collection. It's been great in many ways but I discovered that playing music on my phone was more annoying than I thought it would be, and it drained the battery too fast, so I ended up buying a new Walkman.

The thing is, I never really bonded with it like I did with my 925. The 925 with a charging shell on it just looks so damned cool, where the 830 is a bit bland and generic, even in day-glo orange. I also prefer the 925's slightly smaller footprint. To be fair, I don't think the 830's flip cover thingie has helped, it's a bit of a PITA sometimes.

Last week I put the W10 preview on the old 925 and it has made me realise that I just prefer using it to the 830 so, as of today, the 925 is back to being my daily driver and the 830 will be going up on eBay while it is still worth decent money. Sure, the photos won't be quite as good and it doesn't have quite as much grunt but the 925's screen, with it's super-bright daylight mode and it's much brighter Glance screen, more than makes up for that.

 

[oviedofreak82]

I agree the 925 is better to hold in hand. I've had mine for a year and love it; my only gripe: 16 GB of storage and no SD card. True I have over 100 GB of storage on my OneDrive and put all my music there, sometimes its nice having it available for use offline.

 

[hasasimo]

Interesting how our opinions of the same devices can vary so much. I liked the 925, but I liked the 920 more, and like the 830 most out of the three.

 

[rishi mazumder]

Lumia 830... Rocks.. I've ued the 925 too but I personally prefer the 830.. For me its the sexiest Lumia yet

 

[emperor_skull]

Still prefer the 925 to any windows phone

 

[jonahtrav]

Yea I know the 920 is getting long in the tooth, but I think it's still the best looking Windows phone.

 

[rishi mazumder]

Lets agree to disagree

 

[jonahtrav]

That I can agree to.

 

[rishi mazumder]

Hehehe

 

[RumoredNow]

I LOVED my 925. I LOVE my 830... Feels like a lateral move in many ways.

I think 830 edges out 925 though:

• Camera seems very capable and will update to more modern features including Rich Capture and DNG.
• I actually find the screens comparable. Both hover near the 300ppi sweet spot, but I really favor IPS over AMOLED (this is highly subjective I know - personally I'll take sunlight readability instead of overblown colors any day).
• More future proof SoC and benefits from Sensor Core.
• Expandable storage.
• Better battery life - less demand from screen, more efficient SoC, and higher capacity battery. Removable battery is always a plus.
• Wireless charging without a jacket. (I know someone said they like the charging jacket look - I never did and it always felt like I was cheated that I need a jacket to charge wirelessly.)
• Sound. I want to say this is the loudest phone I have ever owned on speaker, headset and earpiece. The sound quality is great and there is just more volume to spare than on any other handset I have used. 830 gets a more complete Dolby integration as well.
• Stylistically, the 830 is a successor to 925. The metal banding on 830 feels beefier, the continuation from 925 of the squared corners lends better rigidity and bump protection and helps differentiate from the me too trend of rounded corners and thinnest band from other OEMs. On 830 the band is all one piece, but on 925 it was segmented and joined. I prefer the one piece both for looks and strength. Also 830 uses less taper of corners toward the back of the phone and less rounding on the points of those corners. The interchangeable backs in more colors are a plus for those who want them (I do!).

 

[MarkusDindu]

I absolutely love my 925, it's my baby, and I've kept it in perfect condition.

 

[Kram Sacul]

The 925 is like a work of art. Sexy curves, easy to hold in the hand, good materials. The 830 in comparison is a cheaply made wannabe device. Wants to be the 930 but isn't. Wants to be high end but isn't.

The only thing the 830 really has over the 925 is the expandable storage and the built in wireless charging.

 

[worldspy99]

Having owned both devices along with a slew of other WP phones, here is my take on it.
The 925 lasted about 2 months as a daily driver, the 830 has exceeded that.
TL; DR.

 

[LoriInWA]

I'm with you Motor_mouth! I have never bonded with my 830 either (nice way of putting it!). I left my 920 for it. The screen is nice and the feel in my hand is good, but it has just not been a smooth phone since day one. First I have never been able to get the I <3 radio app to install. My phone can't see the app in the store and if I try to install another way, I get an error message that my phone is not compatible with the app. Then the phone randomly shuts off almost daily...and now I keep getting a message that I should run a check on my SD card to repair something. All in all, NOT an upgrade. I am just waiting for the Windows 10 phones...and there BETTER BE A FLAGSHIP!!!

 

[JeLLozTime]

Same here. The 925 was my favorite windows phone. Took awesome photos. Ever since I used a premium streaming music app, storage was no longer an issue.

Fell out of my pocket and I watched it drop about 80 ft to its death. *sigh*

 

[Motor_Mouth]

- personally I'll take sunlight readability instead of overblown colors any day).

Surely that goes in favour of the 925, then, because it's daylight readability is miles better than the 830's. The 830 is no better than an iPhone. The Glance screen is also much brighter on the 925. I often find it hard to read on the 830, especially once it turns red during quiet hours.

[Better battery life - less demand from screen

Again, doesn't this favour the 925's AMOLED screen, especially if you use the dark theme? I didn't find the battery life to be more than a tiny bit better anyway, the sort of bump you always get from a brand new Li-Ion cell.

Removable battery is always a plus.

So you have a spare battery, then? Otherwise it's not relevant. I used to think it was an essential thing and I always bought a spare battery and a desktop charger for it but I never used them. Now I don't bother.

]Wireless charging without a jacket. (I know someone said they like the charging jacket look - I never did and it always felt like I was cheated that I need a jacket to charge wirelessly.)

That could have been me but the thing is that the 925 with the charging cover is the same thickness as the 830 anyway, so you're not losing anything by putting it on. It also makes the 925 feel even more solid than the 830.

On 830 the band is all one piece, but on 925 it was segmented and joined. I prefer the one piece both for looks and strength. Also 830 uses less taper of corners toward the back of the phone and less rounding on the points of those corners.

No, the 830 is also segmented, it's just the joins are on the top and bottom, not on the sides. The 925 is also pointier in the corners than the 830, which is rounded because of the flat metal.

But yeah, the 830 is a very good phone with some definite advantages. It's just none of those advantages make up for the lack of me bonding with it. I really like the 830 but I absolutely love the 925. There is no rhyme or reason to it, it's just one of those things. Even looking at them side-by-side now, the slightly bronze colour of the dark metallic band on the 925 just looks that little bit classier than the straight dark grey of the 830, without being in your face about it.

 

[RumoredNow]

With my 925 I had to use a matte, anti-glare screen protector to be able to use it for nav on top of my dash on a bright day. With 830 I don't have that issue. Take away a matte protector and in my experience the AMOLED of 925 is not easy to read in full sun at all. It needs an artificial aid to be where 830 is naked.

AMOLED is easy on battery when you are showing primarily black on your screen. Most things I do on my phone are not all that black intensive. Web searches happen on a black field and a few other things, but that is not where my actual screen on time is spent. Combined with the higher ppi on the 925 I always went through battery faster. I know that the 928 I have right now goes through battery faster than the 830 as well. I've been using them extensively side by side taking a lot of pics at the same time of the same subjects and reviewing said pics on screen. It's just my experience. I know it runs contrary to what is usually reported. IDK how they run their tests. I'd like to see if they unintentionally weight them by just leaving some screen running that has a large amount of black to it. Sure 830 has 200 mAh more battery, but the amount extra I'm getting seems more than 10%.

Having the option to just pop in a spare battery without minor surgery is always a bonus should something bork your battery. Stuff happens, that's life.

Personally I think the charging jacket looks doinky and it says, "Hey we made you buy something extra you really should not need." I know many run with them on like they are a protective case... and they may protect somewhat, but that is not their function. The whole setup strikes me as incredibly awkward.

LOL... I see that now. With the dark band on my 830 I'd forgotten the join is there.

I really did love my 925 too. I always wished I had not sold it off after getting a 1520. Now with 830 I feel like I have it back, but improved.


@Motor_Mouth... Keep rocking that 925, Brother. If that is the one you like, that is the one you like. I'll never say it isn't a very fine phone. I still recommend it to people looking for value and performance in one package.

 

[bo_woods]

Surely that goes in favour of the 925, then, because it's daylight readability is miles better than the 830's. The 830 is no better than an iPhone. The Glance screen is also much brighter on the 925. I often find it hard to read on the 830, especially once it turns red during quiet hours.

Again, doesn't this favour the 925's AMOLED screen, especially if you use the dark theme? I didn't find the battery life to be more than a tiny bit better anyway, the sort of bump you always get from a brand new Li-Ion cell.

So you have a spare battery, then? Otherwise it's not relevant. I used to think it was an essential thing and I always bought a spare battery and a desktop charger for it but I never used them. Now I don't bother.

That could have been me but the thing is that the 925 with the charging cover is the same thickness as the 830 anyway, so you're not losing anything by putting it on. It also makes the 925 feel even more solid than the 830.

No, the 830 is also segmented, it's just the joins are on the top and bottom, not on the sides. The 925 is also pointier in the corners than the 830, which is rounded because of the flat metal.

But yeah, the 830 is a very good phone with some definite advantages. It's just none of those advantages make up for the lack of me bonding with it. I really like the 830 but I absolutely love the 925. There is no rhyme or reason to it, it's just one of those things. Even looking at them side-by-side now, the slightly bronze colour of the dark metallic band on the 925 just looks that little bit classier than the straight dark grey of the 830, without being in your face about it.

I though the 830 and 925 were both exactly 8.5mm, and the 925 with the power jacket on made it around the 920's thickness? If so then the 925 with the power jacket on couldn't possibly be the same as the 830 without one... correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Motor_Mouth]

You're wrong. The 925's quoted thickness seems to include the camera hump, which is accommodated for with a cut-out in the charging shell. But if I put my 925 with charging shell on the table next to my 830, they appear to be exactly the same thickness.

 

[RumoredNow]

Removable battery is always a plus.

So you have a spare battery, then? Otherwise it's not relevant. I used to think it was an essential thing and I always bought a spare battery and a desktop charger for it but I never used them. Now I don't bother.

Not directly related to the two phones in this thread (Lumia 925 and Lumia 830), but directly related to the point above...

My wife's Galaxy Note 2 was dying. I mean giving up the ghost and draining battery fast every day. I think we all know the price of new phones or even used phones in that class. Plus she's sentimentally attached to the thing. We literally got it for her and then left straight away on a nice romantic trip together...

She never would have let me open it up. In fact I offered once in order to get Qi Wireless working for her. (The T-Mo variant needs a wire strung between two points to fix the hamstring they did on Qi.) Un-unh, no way. She was not having it.

But, thanks to the removable battery feature her device lives on. I just got in and installed for her today a 6200 mAh extra capacity battery and an extended battery cover. $50 and she is HAPPY. Thrilled even at the prospect of her Note 2 lasting as long as my 1520. And all it took me was a minute or two and no risk to damaging the device with surgery.

I'm just sayin'. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.