Nokia
is looking to make a comeback in the smartphone market by pinning its
hopes on Windows devices. Initially revealed at the Mobile World
Congress this year, the Lumia 610 hit Indian shores in July. The Nokia
Lumia 610 is the most affordable Windows device from the Finnish handset
maker. But the question is can this inexpensive Windows Phone device
offer the same fluid experience as the others in its family? We take a
look.
Hardware/ Design
The device sports decent looks
that you wouldn't be embarrassed carrying around. We reviewed a
magenta-coloured 610, packed in a big blue box with minimalist contents.
The more traditional users can opt for White or Black. Cyan is another
available colour. Box contents include a charger to be used with the
provided Micro-USB cable, a pair of headphones and printed manuals.
On first impressions, the Lumia 610 looks and feels just like the 710 with similar dimensions and weighing about 133 grams.
The
device has tinted chrome edges gives a metallic illusion but is
plasticky. It does have a sturdy build and fits comfortably in the
hands. The design is such that the front and back sort of lock into each
other, hinting at a chin below the screen.
The power button is
located on the right along with the volume rocker and a dedicated
shutter button. Most of us are more used to the power/wake button
positioned on the top. It does get a bit uncomfortable when it is placed
on the side.
Moving
on, the top houses the headphones jack and the Micro-USB port. The back
features a 5MP camera with LED Flash situated on the top while the
loudspeaker grill is at the bottom. The left side of the device and the
base are clean with no buttons or ports.
The back panel's
matte-finish is easily prone to attract greasy stains and the screen is a
fingerprint magnet too. The panel slides off easily to reveal the
battery, under which is the micro-SIM card slot.
The front sports
the trio of capacitive Windows Phone keys for Back, Home and Search
that are spaced out well for single hand use and to avoid accidental
button presses.
Overall, the phone has a solid build and offers a trouble-free one hand user experience
The
Lumia 610 is powered by an 800MHz processor hosting 256MB RAM. It comes
with 8GB internal storage with no option for external expansion. The
best you can do is make use of the 7GB free storage offered by SkyDrive.
Display
The Lumia 800 has a ClearBlack AMOLED panel, while the 710 sports a ClearBlack TFT. But the cheaper Lumia 610 has neither.
The
device has a 3.7-inch LCD screen with a WVGA resolution translating
into a pixel density of 252ppi (480x800 pixels). Text is clearly visible
and the graphics look decent and smooth too.
But the phone has
major issues under the sun, with the screen looking pretty dull. At
maximum brightness levels, colours seem washed out, though readability
improves, but not much. Since the screen is highly reflective, you'll
find yourself using your palm to cover the screen.
Camera
The
Lumia 610 is equipped with a 5MP camera with LED flash. The dedicated
camera button is placed on the right. A gentle half-press will bring out
auto-focus while long pressing the button will activate the camera even
when the phone is locked. You can manually focus by just tapping an
area on the screen.
Colours of images appear washed out and those
taken under low light are noisy. Though videos are smooth with the
auto-focus working well here, they only produce VGA quality. The 710, on
the other hand, is capable of sharp 1280x720 videos.
Using
zoom on the device decreases the detailing in the images. Shots appear
really blurry. It's advisable not to use the zoom. There's an 'auto-fix'
feature that comes quite handy to brighten shots taken in the dark or
under low light.
Basic camera settings are accessible once the
app is launched including Scene mode, White Balance, Flash, ISO settings
and more. There is no front camera on the device.
Software/ Interface
The
Lumia 610 runs on Windows Phone 7.5. Initially called Refresh, Windows
Phone 7.5 got updated to Tango at this year's Mobile World Congress. The
idea of the update was to power Windows Phone devices with lower
hardware specs.
Waking up the phone reveals the lock screen,
which is entirely covered with the wallpaper of your choice, also
displaying the date and the time. In case you've set reminders or
calendar events, those appear too along with email notifications and
missed calls. The signal strength and the battery indicator are
displayed on top.
Swiping
up brings the rather crowded home screen with various applications in
gigantic tiles laid out vertically. The device features the live-tile
Metro user interface with two customizable home screens. You can change
the order of the tiles as per your liking. A swipe to the left launches a
second screen with the phone's stock applications. Any of these can be
pinned to the start screen by long pressing a particular app and
choosing the 'pin to start' option.
The settings screen and
search page are clones in terms of the design. There's a search bar at
the bottom of the screen, making it easier to browse new pages. A list
of options, including tabs, recent pages and favourites are accessible
by tapping a button on the bottom-right. This screen also enables you to
add a page to your favourites, pin it to your home screen or share it
on social networks. Bookmarks are shown as a text list, while tabs are
displayed as an image of each open page.
The Marketplace tile
shows available updates while the Photos tile displays a slideshow of
your pictures. You can view all installed apps under Applications, which
are alphabetically sorted. A search button integrated within allows you
to find apps more easily.
Switching between apps is easy. Just
hold down the Back key and scroll horizontally to jump into any one of
them. However, the list keeps refreshing as the older apps disappear and
are replaced by the more recently used apps. Killing these apps is not
possible.
The Messaging application on the Lumia 610 has some
interesting options to give you a satisfying experience. Social network
integration allows for easy swapping between messages, Facebook chat or
any other chat clients on your phone. All these messages appear as one
single thread.
Windows Phone 7.5 also has a voice assistant
that can be used for dictation; get replies to be read out to you or to
begin searches.
Apps such as Office and SkyDrive together are a
powerhouse of productivity. Office helps you to create, view and edit
documents stored on your device as well as those in the cloud. With
SkyDrive, documents between your phone and PC sync automatically.
Viewing
and editing documents in Office is absolutely free and integrated into
the OS. Word and Excel docs come with viewing and editing support but
PowerPoint files are for viewing only. SharePoint collaboration for
Word and Excel files allows you to attach those files to emails, though
you need to do that from the Office hub and not the e-mail editor.
Microsoft's
note-taking application OneNote, is very easy to use and lets you add
photos and voice memos which can then be sent via email. You can also
sync OneNotes with your SkyDrive or Windows Live account to access them
from anywhere.
Other
pre-installed apps include Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive and both
functioned pretty well. While the former is an alternative to Bing Maps
(also available on the phone), Nokia Drive makes navigation as simple as
it can get. The voice-guided app lets you zoom in and out depending on
your preference to see more details of the road ahead.
Whenever
you approach a turn, it is indicated at the top of the screen in big,
easy to read white lettering with a viewable icon noting the turn. The
bottom of the screen shows the time remaining and current speed, which
appears to the left side of the screen in portrait mode. Nokia Drive
also lets you view downloaded maps in offline mode.
It is worth pointing out that the Nokia Lumia 610, like other phones running Windows Phone 7.5, will not get the Windows Phone 8
upgrade, so they stand to miss out on a lot of great features. Instead,
they will get the Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade, so if you care about being
on the latest version of the OS (as you should), you're not going to
get that here.
Performance/ Battery life
For being
dubbed as the cheapest Windows Phone device, the Lumia 610 delivers a
decent performance. It is slow at times, but nevertheless runs smoothly.
Call quality on the phone is good with clear reception with
even just one or two bars of signal strength. Connectivity wise, the
phone performs well over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.
The QWERTY
keyboard is quite responsive but accidental button presses can't be
avoided since it feels squeezed in both portrait and landscape modes.
The 1300mAh battery on the device squeezes enough juice to last for
almost 2 days.
Storage comes across as a notable flaw in the
device. With just 8GB of on-board storage and no support for external
expansion, intensive apps with specific memory needs like Angry Birds
and Skype won't install. Microsoft is looking to address the issue and
states that most apps should deliver a satisfying experience on 256MB
RAM devices.
A feature highly missed is the ability to take
screenshots. But Microsoft has promised that this feature will be
included in its latest Windows 8 version.
Verdict
The
Lumia 610 comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. The biggest
attraction for the device has to be its price. For an entry level
Windows phone, the device can be a hit for prospective buyers. Apart
from offering a great battery life, the device gives you almost a
holistic Windows Phone experience packed in a sturdy build.
That
said, the phone pinches you when it comes to storage and compatibility
issues while finding apps that don't run. So app hungry users will be
disappointed. The camera is a let down too and serves handy only for
emergency purposes. A slight sluggishness is felt when launching apps.
Though the handset makes its share of sacrifices, it does deliver a
worthwhile user experience.
As we pointed out earlier, there is
no upgrade path to Windows Phone 8 for current Windows Phone devices
like the Lumia 610, so you may want to wait until Windows Phone 8
devices hit the market (we strongly recommend that).
Price: Rs. 12,999
Pros
Value for money
Battery life
Cons
No microSD card slot
Poor camera
Ratings (Out of 5)
Design: 3
Display: 3
Performance: 3
Software: 3
Battery Life: 3.5
Value for Money: 3.5
Camera: 3
Overall: 3
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