Nokia Lumia 530

“The Lumia 530 has three big problems. First, the low-quality screen. Second, the fact that the Lumia 520 is in many ways a superior phone. Third, there’s the existence of the Lumia 630 and 635.Let’s start with the last problem first. We bought our T-Mobile Lumia 530 from the Microsoft Store for $69.00 before shipping and taxes. Similar carrier-locked-but-off-contract Lumia 635s normally go for about $100, but we grabbed one on sale at our local Best Buy for just $80.When the price difference is so low, there’s no reason to go with the 530. The 635 gets you a better-quality screen, a slimmer design, a faster SoC, LTE, far superior battery life, and twice the internal storage. There’s something similar-ish going on with the Lumia 735 and 830, which share many of the same specs with a just handful of key differentiators. Together with the flagship 930 (a variant of which was sold in the US as the Verizon-exclusive Lumia Icon but which Verizon has for some reason discontinued), there are five separate phones in the current Lumia lineup where three could probably suffice.And then there’s the Lumia 520. Gadgets generally improve from year-to-year. If something is working, it gets to stick around. If something isn’t working, it gets kicked to the curb. As a phone that actually isn’t as good as its predecessor, the Lumia 530 is an exception to the rule.Performance is fine. Build quality is fine. The wireless connectivity options and other features are fine. Windows Phone 8.1 is uniquely suited to thrive on low-end hardware like this, and the Windows Phone app situation continues to improve, albeit with plenty of notable holdouts (anything from Google beyond the bare minimum, for instance—going with a Moto G or E still gets you the more robust application ecosystem). And the low-quality screen screws it all up.Unless that display improves in future hardware revisions, we urge Windows Phone fans to either step up to the 630 or 635 or step sideways to the still-available 520. The 530 isn’t an awful phone, but other Lumias render it completely redundant.”

“Deciding here comes down to simplicity versus flexibility. The One Touch phones run Android, which has a much broader range of third-party applications than the 530 can support. But Android has a slightly messier, slightly more complex UI than the extremely simple Windows Phone, and the Evolve's voice call quality wasn't as good in our tests as the Lumia 530's. That makes the Lumia 530 a better bet for casual users without a lot of coin.”

“The disappointing thing about the Nokia Lumia 530 is that it feels like a worse phone than the Lumia 520 it replaces (albeit with a price cut). The display is a deal breaker for us, undoing the good work of the Lumia 530's performance and build quality. We want to see more storage, and the camera is no better than it ought to be. If you really are limited in budget, it is worth considering. But we hoped for more.”

“The sub-£100 price of the Nokia Lumia 530 makes it difficult to ignore, but the performance makes it difficult to fully recommend.Priced as it is, the Lumia 530 is one of the cheapest smartphones around and it has plenty to offer. If you're looking for something to keep you in touch, plus some apps and connectivity thrown in too, then it may be well suited.But there are two areas that are likely to annoy those who opt for this Lumia: the display and the camera. A low resolution panel, buttons occupying the screen space and no auto-brightness controls limit the user experience, while the fixed focus camera, lack of flash and overall quality mean this Lumia lacks the camera prowess of those devices higher up the range.Another issue the Lumia has is not of its own doing, it's down to the competition. With the Motorola Moto E offering a stronger display and performance for the same price in an Android operating system experience, as one example, you might well be tempted to look past this particular Lumia.”