Now that we have the AT&T pricing, who wants to eat crow?

[Ryan Burke]

First off, mild gloat: I predicted a $399 minimum, and AT&T did not disappoint, lol. Very sorry to the $299-all-day believers, maybe next time

We'll have to see if this thing gets seriously cheap by Xmas time. They are not going to move any units, off contract, for that money. I would be fully surprised if they sold more than 100 units nationwide at that price, haha. On contract I would have liked to see $50 or even free.

Who wants to do hilarious alternative suggestions for close-money?? My contribution: For a mere $50 more - Get yourself a brand spankin' new Moto X 2nd Gen for $499 unlocked (with android 5.0 virtually guaranteed).

Final thought - Microsoft needs to intervene on this foul-up.

 

[anon(5335877)]

I was hoping for $349, which I thought would be a fair price. You're right, at $449, it's really close to flagship pricing. The Moto X is $500, the Lumia 1520.3 I think is about the same price. In some countries, I heard the Lumia 930 is only around €50 more than the Lumia 830.

I was surprised AT&T didn't subsidize the price of this phone this time around. When I bought my Lumia 920 from them off contract, it was $449, while it probably sold in other countries around $600. The Lumia 520 was only $99 on AT&T, and eventually dropped to around $49. Much lower than Nokia's suggested MSRP. Same for the Lumia 635, only $99.

Now they are included a Fitbit ($99 value?) for a limited time, but I'm not interested. I'll probably wait for Windows 10. The Moto X is a nice phone, but I'm not happy with the size of the battery or the camera.

 

[theefman]

Only thing to crow about is that WP users are among the biggest cheapskates I've ever seen. Don't want to pay for anything, phone, apps, games, but want every option under the sun.

 

[hasasimo]

Predicted $349 and to be honest, it's worth at least that much. I understand some negative sentiment toward the price but its retail tag isn't nearly as inflated as some of the incessant complainers would have you believe (not talking about the OP).

 

[AlexOwliver]

Just because you're bitter doesn't make you right. You can argue all day about the specs vs. looks of the L830 but the fact is Microsoft is coming from an underdog position and needs to price to sell. Also, regarding your straw man arguement -

"According to the reports, Windows Phone users spend more funds in the Store than users on competing platforms."

http://www.windowscentral.com/report-windows-phone-gamers-monetising-higher-rate

 

[tpbklake]

Who wants to do hilarious alternative suggestions for close-money?? My contribution: For a mere $50 more - Get yourself a brand spankin' new Moto X 2nd Gen for $499 unlocked (with android 5.0 virtually guaranteed).

Final thought - Microsoft needs to intervene on this foul-up.

Considering you can get both a Lumia 635 and a HTC Desire 610 on AT&T for under $300 the Lumia 835 is over-priced. All 3 use the same QUALCOMM SoC and the 610 had a 8MP camera and a better FFC than the 835. All 3 can take a microSD card. You can also throw the Moto G 4G into that mix, too.

I already have a 635 that replaced my Lumia 820 and I'm very pleased with it. I can get 3 days of use out of a single charge with my 635 and now that the 835 prices has been announced, I am seriously considering going with the 610 or the Moto G over the 835. If I really miss WP 8.1, I can always go back to my 635.

 

[Visa Declined]

"According to the reports, Windows Phone users spend more funds in the Store than users on competing platforms."

http://www.windowscentral.com/report-windows-phone-gamers-monetising-higher-rate

You linked an article from 2012 when it's almost 2015. I'm pretty sure those numbers aren't accurate anymore.

 

[surfacedude]

Even $1 is too much. In my opinion, MSFT should be giving windows phones away for free.

 

[AlexOwliver]

And yet, of the 3 of us, only one has bothered to cite a source.

 

[nessinhaw]

omg...the reason the price is higher is on the materials used on the phone (delivers same premium feel as a 930) and PureView camera with OIS (from the pics i've seen it like a 10Mp version of 930 camera)

where can you get a cheap phone that delivers this stuff? nowhere!

it's weird they didn't go with S600 but the S400+1GB is enough to deliver smooth performance, this is WP afterall!
some pplz says 830 should have FHD screen, 2GB and such...but then being cheaper than the 930 and delivering the same premium feeling, camera quality, screen size/res and performance, it would almost kill their flagship! specially because having microSD slot and removable battery are essencial to many users and i've seen pplz ditching the 930 for this features!

overall, the phone is worth the price and i think they made the right decisions...like i said, yeah, a S600 could be a little more worth it but the combo they used still delivers great performance!

and it's funny pplz paying over 600~700 on a iPhone JUST because of brand name! (yes, many buy only because it's Apple and you know it's true) when the device costs an average of 200 dolars to be produced and the rest goes to profit and paying bills!

considering most phones has the same average cost and all companies needs to profit/pay bills, i don't think the 830 is THAT overpriced!

besides, this is the LAUNCH price! launch prices are always high and then start droping!

surely MS will soon make a price cut or promos on the phone to attract more users!

 

[Darthbobcat]

I think that everyone is forgetting how AT&T makes its money: selling service. Direct hardware sales are only a small part of the pie. It's why their versions of the 520 and 635 were so much cheaper than international versions (or T-Mobile versions): even though they weren't technically SUBSIDIZED subsidized, they clearly hoping to sell the phone at cost (or possibly below) to capture that sweet sweet line access money. Even the cheapest plan will recoup them the money from their razor and razor blade strategy after one month.

However, I don't see the 830 fitting into that strategy (and apparently neither did AT&T). I certainly would have LKED to see it for 300 at launch, or even 349, but the phone (despite everyone's griping) is mid range, not low range. If AT&T gets the Lumia 735, I'd expect to see it on their Go-Phone Prepaid network (maybe for like 199, like the HTC Desire, or 249), but the 830 was always going to be their replacement for the Lumia 925. (Consider that AT&T hasn't had a mainline Lumia Windows Phone that isn't a phablet, a camera monster or a non contract cheapie phone in ages. They technically also have the Ativ S Neo, but I've NEVER seen one at a store). And that tier of phone is going to be presented by AT&T specifically to ensnare people in an Edge plan or a two year contract. People don't often think through the long term price of those two year contracts, but I don't forsee a lot of them doing it for 200 dollars off. That high off contract price is there to convince people to jump onto said two year contract to "save" $350.

In fact, I'd be willing to wager that we'll see the contract price lower to 49 or 0 before we see any move in the no contract price.

 

[Ryan Burke]

In fact, I'd be willing to wager that we'll see the contract price lower to 49 or 0 before we see any move in the no contract price.

Without question. Just as you've said, AT&T wants to coax people into a contract, and that nonsense off-contract price is the play to do just that. I just don't think it's going to work very well. I feel like too many people understand specs these days - but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Visa Declined]

Paul Thurrott said the camera wasn't that great, and another review I read said that the CPU struggled playing games like Asphalt 8. I'm just not happy with the price of this thing.

 

[Ryan Burke]

Paul Thurrott said the camera wasn't that great, and another review I read said that the CPU struggled playing games like Asphalt 8. I'm just not happy with the price of this thing.

No one has the final 'Lumia Camera' app to test the 830's cam quality with all the chips on the table, as far as I know. Will it make a huge difference? Hard to say; we'll see. Gaming wise it makes no difference to me, I don't game on my phone much at all - and when I do, it's super basic puzzlers and the like.

The only way I would consider this deal AT&T is offering: Having a buyer lined up for the "free" fitbit. If I could get a guaranteed $70-80 back from offloading that thing, I might pull the trigger.

The 830 would be nothing more than a hold-over device in the hopes of a proper flagship release next fall. By that time we should have a clear picture of what Windows 10 means for winphone.

Ready for a wild theory? Microsoft makes flagship lumia devices with Win10 -> They make EVERYTHING they do available on iOS and Android, including cortanta -> They make a version of Win10 people can flash onto unlocked android devices. *Brain explodes*

 

[Tellus82]

As i said in another thread, 349$ is a far more reasonable price for the device (good luck finding an equal phone fo 349$). In sweden where i bought mine they go for 3490sek, and when we sweed's look at US pricing on phones & consumer electronics we always take the price times ten to see what the swedish price will be and its almost always accurate. In this case it means our current Swedish price of 3490sek would equate to 349$. Not 449$.
Something is amiss here and i doubt it lies with MS.

 

[mark233]

$350.99 + FREE Fitbit Flex = $449.99 ....... yes?

 

[a5cent]

$350.99 + FREE Fitbit Flex = $449.99 ....... yes?

In other words, the fitbit flex is not really free nothing ever is...

I walked into Media Market a few weeks ago (think: Europe's Best Buy) where I saw a staffer take the L830 out of the box and put it on display. Asking price was 399, but they had received only the one unit, so I got 10% off the display unit and took it home for 360. Lucky me!

 

[Ryan Burke]

$350.99 + FREE Fitbit Flex = $449.99 ....... yes?

Come on down to AT&T this Friday! We'll get you that new Lumia 830 -AND- force you to pay full MSRP for a Fitbit Flex... lol

 

[theefman]

Paul Thurrott said the camera wasn't that great, and another review I read said that the CPU struggled playing games like Asphalt 8. I'm just not happy with the price of this thing.

Yet actual users in forums here with real world usage say the phone performs well and takes great pictures. Plus this is Mr "the band is a lead weight" so I'm inclined to go with actual 830 users opinions.

 

[dharmababa]

Without question. Just as you've said, AT&T wants to coax people into a contract, and that nonsense off-contract price is the play to do just that. I just don't think it's going to work very well. I feel like too many people understand specs these days - but maybe I'm wrong.

Either a contract or AT&T Next. The Next payments are calculated by the full price divided by the appropriate number of months so that is more incentive to keep off-contract prices high.

That said, they are effectively subsidizing no interest payments so that cost has to be baked in.