Lumia 830 vs Lumia 930

[r0st4]

So, I'm currently in need of a new phone and am deciding between Lumia 930 and 830. Unfortunately after week or two of reading/watching all kinds of reviews and browsing through forums for user experience... I still don't know which one to buy. From my point of view:

Why Lumia 930? Awesome power (since I have one phone for 3-5 years, it should be more than sufficient), great camera, design.
Why not Lumia 930? It's really thick and heavy. It has heating issues (allegedly). Poor battery life.

Why Lumia 830? Good camera (I don't take that much pictures so it's more than enough for me), design. It's beautifully thin and "light" (in comparsion with 930), and 60-70 dollars cheaper in my country.
Why not Lumia 830? Well, the only thing that kind of bothers me is the hardware. I think that 1 GB RAM is enough for WP but that CPU makes me worry.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[benj0219]

The thickness and weight of the 930 was too much for me. The better battery and being lighter and thinner made my choice easy: 830 for me.

 

[Likwidz]

I had the 830 for about 4 months and now for the past week been using a 930 (had used a 1520 in between). The form factor, battery life, and external storage was something I really appreciated in the 830, but I wanted something with a little more power and also wanted to take full advantage of Lumia Camera and Hey Cortana so I switched to the 1520 and now the 930. My 930 does warm up a bit but I'm fine with it and usually not on it long enough for it to become a bother. If you want additional storage, a slightly thinner and lighter phone, replaceable battery (especially if you plan on having it for a few years) then 830 might be the way to go. If you want full HD/4K video, a bit better of a camera, and don't need external storage and battery, and of course better processing power then the 930.
​My 2 pennies.

 

[Giovanni830]

I have been in the same situation 3 months ago... I wasn't able to chose between the 930 and 830! The problem was not about the money as I was ready to spend more if they had launched a 940!!
So the 930 has a better hardware...In reality, it is 2 times+ faster than the 830... However after multiple tests in store and watching all reviews on the internet, I understood that Windows phone are really fast! Really! You almost can't see the difference between the two for almost all tasks (except for games... but I don't play often!)
Regarding the screen, 930 has AMOLED! This looks great, but once more... I didn't see "almost" any difference!
The 930 has also the Hey Cortana - but right now I think it is more a concept than a feature that I will use everyday... Moreover Cortana was not available in French at that time (I am French). Now Cortana is in Alpha, but still without Hey Cortana!

Regarding the 830, well it is a really beautiful, light and slim phone! The camera makes great pictures - everytime I am impressed as if it was the first picture I made with my phone! (930 should have a better camera with its 20 mpxl, 4k video... however, I take pictures to post them on Facebook or to save them on the computer... Therefore 10mpxl was more than enough for me, as I don't use Photoshop/Lightroom)
Glance screen is a nice and usefull feature but not a Must have - it is cool to watch the time and notifications during a meeting or... just like that!.
The most important thing for me was actually the possibility to add a MicroSd and the removable battery. While I never bought a new battery for any of my previous phones, I though that it should be usefull to have the possibilty to do it (in case that after 12 months your battery doesn't work anymore...). Regarding the MicroSD - I don't really use more than 32Gb, however I don't want to worry about it (with my previous phones I was everytime looking at it before installing new apps...).
It is all about freedom and customization!

Regarding the battery, I can't say anything about the 930, but my 830 lasts now (almost) 2 days on very INTENSIVE use (WIFI, Bluetooth, GPS always on - 4G network - lot of phone calls, watching shorts video, making a lot of photos, using Cortana for the reminders (3 or 4 a day), reading news... During the first days I got only 1 big day, but since the update (and certainly a little bit less of use ) I am now at 30-40 hours.

Another advantage of the 830 is that you can change the back cover (I bought a flip cover to have a full black) and/or you can buy some -funny- covers just to protect your phone - and it won't be really thick as it should be with the 930...

While this choice depends on you and what you expect from a phone, I would like to recommend you the 830 as I beleive it is the best phone on the market right now (from a price/quality point of view)

(In some way, the best phone would have been a 830 with hardware of 930... just in order to keep the phone during 2 or 3 years without ANY problems! Now the 830 is really good enough, but I am not sure it will be the case in one year with win10 and the new apps...)

 

[Giovanni830]

** Sorry for my spelling mistakes... English is not my first language while French is

 

[BSobotta]

** Sorry for my spelling mistakes... English is not my first language while French is

Great with your spelling and grammar! Anyways, you are right on with all your points. Love my 830. My only sticking point for him is, he is keeping the phone for 4 to 5 years. If that was the case, I would definitely consider holding a 930, and seeing how it feels in hand.

 

[r0st4]

Hey guys, thanks so much for your input! To clarify few things... AMOLED display is absolutely awesome but since I'm usually using my phone just for calling, texting, browsing, playing music etc. I think I can live without it. External storage is also fine but again, I don't really need it. 16 GB is more than enough for me.

I already had 930 in my hands and I gotta say it feels really good. Despite scary paper specs. But still... 830 is almost 20 grams lighter. That's something that must show. And I guess my pocket would thank me.

Like I said earlier, I'm mostly worried about CPU and RAM. I don't really know how fast Lumia phones (or WP phones in general) age and wheter it'd be better to get over that poor battery life and weight issues and just buy 930.

 

[Harrie-S]

I'm usually using my phone just for calling, texting, browsing, playing music etc. I think I can live without it. External storage is also fine but again, I don't really need it. 16 GB is more than enough for me.

Like I said earlier, I'm mostly worried about CPU and RAM. I don't really know how fast Lumia phones (or WP phones in general) age and wheter it'd be better to get over that poor battery life and weight issues and just buy 930.

Do no worry too much about "ageing" with with your user profile it is not really an issue..

 

[r0st4]

So, after some browsing through this forum I've came to one interesting conclusion. Almost everyone agrees that both phones are superb in their own field. But they are all also pretty keen to the idea of buying some low/mid-end phone right now and waiting for the end of the year for Microsoft to reveal new Windows 10 phones. And I have to say, it may not be bad decision. Afterall even if Microsoft wouldn't announce phone that would caught my eye, I could still buy Lumia 830/930 then... possibly for better price also. What do you think, guys?

If this was the case... I was thinking Lumia 925. I know it's pretty old phone. But it's super cheap and I really like the overall design and most importantly the size and weight (just 4,5" and +- 130 grams? AWESOME!!!). Do you think it's stil a viable phone? And what about Windows Phone 8.1? Does Lumia 925 run WP8.1 smoothly?

 

[920Walker]

I'm still using my 27 month old Lumia 920 due to still waiting for the next best thing on ATT, and it's an excellent phone. If you use a camera much stick with a Nokia/MS Pureview device. I don't know what a 925 costs now but it's a great device.

 

[Harrie-S]

So, after some browsing through this forum I've came to one interesting conclusion. Almost everyone agrees that both phones are superb in their own field. But they are all also pretty keen to the idea of buying some low/mid-end phone right now and waiting for the end of the year for Microsoft to reveal new Windows 10 phones. And I have to say, it may not be bad decision. Afterall even if Microsoft wouldn't announce phone that would caught my eye, I could still buy Lumia 830/930 then... possibly for better price also. What do you think, guys?

If this was the case... I was thinking Lumia 925. I know it's pretty old phone. But it's super cheap and I really like the overall design and most importantly the size and weight (just 4,5" and +- 130 grams? AWESOME!!!). Do you think it's stil a viable phone? And what about Windows Phone 8.1? Does Lumia 925 run WP8.1 smoothly?

I still use it with DENIM and it runs smoothly and with what you want to do with it it will do fine.
And the only thing what will happen with the 830 and 930 is that they also become more cheap as soon as "newer" versions arrive. So the same will happen with the 830/930 as with the 925 a sharp reduction in price.

 

[r0st4]

I still use it with DENIM and it runs smoothly and with what you want to do with it it will do fine.
And the only thing what will happen with the 830 and 930 is that they also become more cheap as soon as "newer" versions arrive. So the same will happen with the 830/930 as with the 925 a sharp reduction in price.

That's really awesome news! Though, I have one more question. What about battery life of 925? From what I read so far, most people who switched to Denim are reporting really aweful battery life...

 

[Harrie-S]

That's really awesome news! Though, I have one more question. What about battery life of 925? From what I read so far, most people who switched to Denim are reporting really aweful battery life...

I did not really notice it but I use QI charging (added a cover) and have several charging plates so I am "never" without power.

 

[r0st4]

So, it's done. My quest for "new" phone ended tody with Lumia 925 (for 150 dollars). I have to admit I was a little worried at first but it's awesome device. Most of all I like the fact that it's beautifully small. I can fit it in my pocket without even knowing it! That's something I wasn't even hoping for

And if everything will go according to plan, this time next year I will be buying new W10 phone or Lumia 830/930 for significantly better price than I would today