So, the new high end 930 has a 1080 screen for media and... no microSD. That means you get to transfer all your media via USB, and refresh it the same way, tying up the phone the whole time. Or resort to some chain of dongles, to go with the sleek case.
If this phone had microSD - like it's cheaper siblings - you could simply swap sets of media in and out, almost instantly, and can carry any amount and selection with you.
Sorry, I still think design choices like this are idiotic, not to mention arrogant. I *know* how I want to use my smartphone. No microSD = no sale.
Apart from Samsung and HTC with the new Max, no one really seems to offer MicroSD slots on their top end phones, keeping it mainly on their lower end phones. It is rather silly.
They have options with MicroSD. Pick up a Lumia 1520 and get your MicroSD fix. I have the 1520 and would trade it in for the 930 though. This is due to an issue with SD card encryption and my company's exchange policy...
I've rarely transferred media via USB. with automatic upload to OneDrive and apps like Xbox Music that cloud sync intelligently I've traveled across the world and filled up my phone and only a few times used USB to get access to large videos I took. Once Microsoft slaps AT&T around and gets them to accept QI standard devices due to consumer demand, there will likely be a MicroSD capable version. The limited devices shown at Build showcase that Microsoft still has more devices in store, and likely will wait till after till the new iPhone is en route to position devices intelligently. I'm going to be waiting for the next Lumia 1030, as this device will be a US flagship product.
I'm a little tired of you dweebs complaining about "no SD". It immediately speaks to the fact that you're not happy with the samsung phones you're all so fanatical about. It also tells me you spend too much time staring into your little video screen. It also tells me that fundamentally you're stuck in a timewarp where 'normal' is (take out disk, put in disk). That's not how we do things in the future. The future is now.
Yes but the Moto G doesn't have SD support, which is pretty important when the onboard storage is so low like on these phones. At least the Moto G can have optional 16 GB of storage but that's really not much.
The typical street price of an unlocked Moto G is $199, higher than the MSRP of the 630 or 635. Locked Moto Gs are cheaper, but the 630/635 will be too.
The 630/635 is Nokia's replacement for the 520/521/525. Today in the US the 520 and 521 (locked to AT&T or T-Mobile) are about $50-$65 street price. I'd guess the 635 won't be a lot more than that.
The problem with the 630 being successor of 520 is that it looks quite overpriced to me, since the 520 was 99$ MSRP and the 630 is 159$. And what exactly justifies the higher price? You get all the same low storage, seemingly even same sensors (missing compass among others, though it's possible the specs are incomplete), camera (but no front camera) etc. You do get a larger screen (with nearly the same resolution) at the cost of size and weight. The SoC isn't really any faster neither, they even have the same gpu (adreno 305), the old one had two Krait cpu cores, the new one has 4 Cortex-A7 (per core they should actually be roughly equally fast, Krait is faster per clock but the new chip has 20% higher clock) - sure that's two cores more but two cores at higher frequency (which btw you can also get in the form of a Snapdragon 400) would have been much more useful. Now don't get me wrong the value still doesn't look too bad with the 630 compared to competition (in terms of hw), but it can't match the 520 in that area. The only thing this really seems to offer over the 520 (well apart from the larger screen which you might or might not like due to increased size/weight) is a larger battery, with increased standby time. That's definitely a welcome update, but imho doesn't justify a 60% price increase.
Oh I think you are right, I thought the 520 really had a much cheaper MSRP. So if it sells for the same price in the end (the 520 you could get with very good deals with prepaid cards for instance everywhere, and the unlocked version was pretty cheap too) the 630 should be ok too. Though I'd still wish they'd have added a little something (say, 1GB of memory, or a compass, or a front facing camera, or whatever), mostly the same for the same price one year later still isn't too great.
Snapdragon 800 - isn't this massively more powerful than the previous offerings? It would be really interesting to see the 1020 updated to a newer SoC as well.
From being an Android owner of plenty of devices I have to say the windows phone is really good. It's different and very fluent and feels good. I paid $60 for the Nokia 521 and a cheap $3 black silky smooth case. people ask me what kind of phone it is and they think it looks like a $500+ phone. I hate Windows 8 but in a phone it's really nice!
> "This phone doesn’t look like it will be launched in the USA anytime soon, since Verizon has an exclusive arrangement with Nokia for the rebranded Icon."
Why? That's just silly. Nokia is just shooting itself in the foot. I like this model but I'm not jumping to Verizon for this. I'd just stick with the iPhone for now.
Thank you Brett Howse for at least making sure that Windows Phone is covered in some way here at Anandtech. Why no live coverage on Anandtech of the MS event?
The 930 looks nice enough, but I want phone manufacturers to start pushing internal storage to 64 GB and beyond(I know Apple does it, at a rather steep price)
I think I'll wait until after WWDC and Google I/O before deciding on a my next smartphone. If nothing interesting comes up software wise, I think I'll just get the 930 for the camera performance and excellent hardware design(and I know that my girlfriend will replace her iPhone 4S with a iPhone 6 anyway)
These phones are already over priced. 64GB storage when no other one phone is bothering to do it would mean an even higher price and even less competitive.
This might be the first Windows phones to ALMOST have bleeding edge hardware that Androids have enjoyed for a few years now.
Yeah, Nokia seriously needs an updated SOC for the 1020 - I'd pick it up then. I never appreciated how the 1020 and 808 always lagged behind in terms of SOC.
They should also bring back USB OTG and more internal storage options (32-64 GB internal is ideal now). If they only had a high end and more carrier options. I'd buy a phone outright just for 1020's camera... *sighs*
DualSimDualActive. It allows your Phone to have two different numbers/carriers at the same time.
3 useful scenarios: 1. People who live near borders and have a plan for each country (me) 2. People who like to have the same phone for Business and Personal Use. 3. Multiple service plans (apparently this is popular in the Far East??)
Most people have no appreciation for this feature... but when you've lived/worked across borders for 8+ years like me... you get tired of having two fones, or always doing the SIM Chip Swap. I was in Upstate NY last week and literally dropped my Mexican TelCel SIM chip after I pulled it out to stick in my AT&T chip. I just returned home, so tomorrow I have to visit the TelCel store to get a new one for my existing contract/phonenumber.
Seeing 8.1 on that 930 actually made me want to switch! I'm really impressed with how MS is developing a truely unique and creative and different smartphone! I guess they are showing Google how to do it right. I mean, $10b loss with Motorola has gotta hurt! I can't wait until MS gets all their apps up and running... but when?!
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38 Comments
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raghwendra123 - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
It will be interesting what other manufacturers produce now that licensing is free for devices under 9 inchesArbie - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
So, the new high end 930 has a 1080 screen for media and... no microSD. That means you get to transfer all your media via USB, and refresh it the same way, tying up the phone the whole time. Or resort to some chain of dongles, to go with the sleek case.If this phone had microSD - like it's cheaper siblings - you could simply swap sets of media in and out, almost instantly, and can carry any amount and selection with you.
Sorry, I still think design choices like this are idiotic, not to mention arrogant. I *know* how I want to use my smartphone. No microSD = no sale.
Lonyo - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
Apart from Samsung and HTC with the new Max, no one really seems to offer MicroSD slots on their top end phones, keeping it mainly on their lower end phones. It is rather silly.Myrandex - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
The Lumia 1520 is a top end phone and it contains MicroSD. And HTC's new One (M8) has MicroSD as well and is not a Max.spamcops - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
you mean like Samsung S3, S4, NOTE II, NOTE III, HTC ONE M8, SONY Z1, Z2... Hm really no one offers sd cards :Dthemossie - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Don't forget the pending LG G Pro 2, as top end as it gets plus MicroSD.I think every top-end Android phablet has MicroSD now? LG, Samsung, HTC... Missing any high-end phablets?
Myrandex - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
They have options with MicroSD. Pick up a Lumia 1520 and get your MicroSD fix. I have the 1520 and would trade it in for the 930 though. This is due to an issue with SD card encryption and my company's exchange policy...hangfirew8 - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
Fabulous phone, just don't get it from AT&T unless you enjoy going without Data Sense.Thermalzeal - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
I've rarely transferred media via USB. with automatic upload to OneDrive and apps like Xbox Music that cloud sync intelligently I've traveled across the world and filled up my phone and only a few times used USB to get access to large videos I took. Once Microsoft slaps AT&T around and gets them to accept QI standard devices due to consumer demand, there will likely be a MicroSD capable version. The limited devices shown at Build showcase that Microsoft still has more devices in store, and likely will wait till after till the new iPhone is en route to position devices intelligently. I'm going to be waiting for the next Lumia 1030, as this device will be a US flagship product.barry spock - Sunday, April 6, 2014 - link
I'm a little tired of you dweebs complaining about "no SD". It immediately speaks to the fact that you're not happy with the samsung phones you're all so fanatical about. It also tells me you spend too much time staring into your little video screen. It also tells me that fundamentally you're stuck in a timewarp where 'normal' is (take out disk, put in disk). That's not how we do things in the future. The future is now.drwhoglius - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
If I'm not mistaken, the 630/635 are the first Windows Phones not running on Qualcomm Krait corescmikeh2 - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
In a while yes but the earliest devices were all running Scorpion cores. These should be the first WP8 phones with non-Krait based CPU though.Rocket321 - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
The 930 looks nice, but I wish it was price competitive with the Nexus 5 at $399.The 630 looses to the Moto G in both display and pricing, while the 635 does bring LTE to the table which makes it interesting.
Braumin - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
Yes but the Moto G doesn't have SD support, which is pretty important when the onboard storage is so low like on these phones. At least the Moto G can have optional 16 GB of storage but that's really not much.doubledeej - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
The typical street price of an unlocked Moto G is $199, higher than the MSRP of the 630 or 635. Locked Moto Gs are cheaper, but the 630/635 will be too.The 630/635 is Nokia's replacement for the 520/521/525. Today in the US the 520 and 521 (locked to AT&T or T-Mobile) are about $50-$65 street price. I'd guess the 635 won't be a lot more than that.
mczak - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
The problem with the 630 being successor of 520 is that it looks quite overpriced to me, since the 520 was 99$ MSRP and the 630 is 159$. And what exactly justifies the higher price? You get all the same low storage, seemingly even same sensors (missing compass among others, though it's possible the specs are incomplete), camera (but no front camera) etc. You do get a larger screen (with nearly the same resolution) at the cost of size and weight. The SoC isn't really any faster neither, they even have the same gpu (adreno 305), the old one had two Krait cpu cores, the new one has 4 Cortex-A7 (per core they should actually be roughly equally fast, Krait is faster per clock but the new chip has 20% higher clock) - sure that's two cores more but two cores at higher frequency (which btw you can also get in the form of a Snapdragon 400) would have been much more useful.Now don't get me wrong the value still doesn't look too bad with the 630 compared to competition (in terms of hw), but it can't match the 520 in that area.
The only thing this really seems to offer over the 520 (well apart from the larger screen which you might or might not like due to increased size/weight) is a larger battery, with increased standby time. That's definitely a welcome update, but imho doesn't justify a 60% price increase.
Braumin - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
The $99 520 is one locked to a carrier, so it does have some subsidies, or else it's a sale price.Either way, MSRP and what the street price will be are not necessarily the same thing.
lmcd - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
One can buy an unlocked international 520 for $130 online pretty consistently.mczak - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Oh I think you are right, I thought the 520 really had a much cheaper MSRP. So if it sells for the same price in the end (the 520 you could get with very good deals with prepaid cards for instance everywhere, and the unlocked version was pretty cheap too) the 630 should be ok too. Though I'd still wish they'd have added a little something (say, 1GB of memory, or a compass, or a front facing camera, or whatever), mostly the same for the same price one year later still isn't too great.MrSpadge - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
Snapdragon 800 - isn't this massively more powerful than the previous offerings? It would be really interesting to see the 1020 updated to a newer SoC as well.notposting - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
The 1520 and Icon (the 930 is basically the international variant of the Icon aka 929) both had it as well.notposting - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
They are all the first 1080 models as well. Would be nice to an updated 1020 that could improve shot to shot time for sure.plonk420 - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
i just want the Nokia X/X+/XL on a Verizon MVNO :/ (because Android)Myrandex - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Forget CDMA and MVNOs. GSM is where its at and then they are compatible easily.plonk420 - Sunday, April 6, 2014 - link
not in coverage where i live. and where i've traveled in the past.beesbees - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
From being an Android owner of plenty of devices I have to say the windows phone is really good. It's different and very fluent and feels good. I paid $60 for the Nokia 521 and a cheap $3 black silky smooth case. people ask me what kind of phone it is and they think it looks like a $500+ phone. I hate Windows 8 but in a phone it's really nice!MikhailT - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
> "This phone doesn’t look like it will be launched in the USA anytime soon, since Verizon has an exclusive arrangement with Nokia for the rebranded Icon."Why? That's just silly. Nokia is just shooting itself in the foot. I like this model but I'm not jumping to Verizon for this. I'd just stick with the iPhone for now.
theNiZer - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Thank you Brett Howse for at least making sure that Windows Phone is covered in some way here at Anandtech. Why no live coverage on Anandtech of the MS event?Laxaa - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
The 930 looks nice enough, but I want phone manufacturers to start pushing internal storage to 64 GB and beyond(I know Apple does it, at a rather steep price)I think I'll wait until after WWDC and Google I/O before deciding on a my next smartphone. If nothing interesting comes up software wise, I think I'll just get the 930 for the camera performance and excellent hardware design(and I know that my girlfriend will replace her iPhone 4S with a iPhone 6 anyway)
blzd - Saturday, April 5, 2014 - link
These phones are already over priced. 64GB storage when no other one phone is bothering to do it would mean an even higher price and even less competitive.This might be the first Windows phones to ALMOST have bleeding edge hardware that Androids have enjoyed for a few years now.
Sushisamurai - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Yeah, Nokia seriously needs an updated SOC for the 1020 - I'd pick it up then. I never appreciated how the 1020 and 808 always lagged behind in terms of SOC.They should also bring back USB OTG and more internal storage options (32-64 GB internal is ideal now). If they only had a high end and more carrier options. I'd buy a phone outright just for 1020's camera... *sighs*
perseid - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Does anyone know what the successor to the Lumia 1520 is?Myrandex - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
I think the 1520 will be around for quite some time. The internals pretty much match the 930 anyways.HardwareDufus - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Totally bummed the high end 930 didn't get DSDA capability. (It's supported in the SOC).Guess we will wait for the 1520 replacement to give us all the goodies of 930, 6" screen, DSDA and keep the microSD.
kyuu - Sunday, April 6, 2014 - link
The heck is DSDA?HardwareDufus - Sunday, April 6, 2014 - link
DualSimDualActive. It allows your Phone to have two different numbers/carriers at the same time.3 useful scenarios:
1. People who live near borders and have a plan for each country (me)
2. People who like to have the same phone for Business and Personal Use.
3. Multiple service plans (apparently this is popular in the Far East??)
Most people have no appreciation for this feature... but when you've lived/worked across borders for 8+ years like me... you get tired of having two fones, or always doing the SIM Chip Swap. I was in Upstate NY last week and literally dropped my Mexican TelCel SIM chip after I pulled it out to stick in my AT&T chip. I just returned home, so tomorrow I have to visit the TelCel store to get a new one for my existing contract/phonenumber.
whatsa - Monday, April 7, 2014 - link
Not quite right on the 930 to Icon32 gig to 16 gig
Icon doesn't have wireless charging
So it anything the 930 is the more iconic icon?
Brakken - Friday, May 30, 2014 - link
Seeing 8.1 on that 930 actually made me want to switch! I'm really impressed with how MS is developing a truely unique and creative and different smartphone! I guess they are showing Google how to do it right. I mean, $10b loss with Motorola has gotta hurt! I can't wait until MS gets all their apps up and running... but when?!