While we drool over the Nokia Lumia 900, those looking for a Windows Phone for less cash may turn to the Lumia 610, Nokia’s attempt at re-capturing the low-end smartphone market. But does it have what it takes to win back users?
Hardware and design
Although priced among the cheapest smartphones on the market, the Lumia 610 does not initially feel like a cheap device. It has a nice heft, and is contoured so that it should fit any hand comfortably.
But after some time with the phone, one might start to lose some of the initial admiration.
Build quality might be sturdy, but it’s still a shiny plastic phone, which doesn’t feel as good in the hand as more premium plastic devices such as the HTC One X.
The gleaming “chrome-like” trim also adds a touch of tackiness to the Lumia 610, although that might appeal to some users.
The 3.7-inch (800 x 480) LCD screen is also of a noticeably lower quality when placed next to the other more upmarket Lumias. At the bottom of the screen of the test phone, we found a very slight leakage of light.
The Lumia 610 is powered by an 800MHz processor, and 256MB of RAM. Although the Windows Phone OS has no difficulty running fluidly with these specs, apps which consume too much memory won’t be able to run. The Marketplace won’t even let you install them on your phone!
A 5-megapixel camera round the back takes serviceable shots, but doesn’t come with any of the fancy Carl Zeiss glass equipped on Nokia’s higher-end phones, like the Lumia 800.
You can’t handle the apps!
The Windows Phone app marketplace already has a relatively small selection of apps as it is, but the Lumia 610 reduces your selection even further by disallowing resource-intensive apps.
This is a major drawback for the phone, considering that some apps just can’t be optimised to such an extent. Lumia 610 users will thus have to settle for much fewer apps than their other Windows Phone friends.
Plus, the Lumia 610 isn’t that much cheaper than the more powerful Lumia 710 after telco subsidies!
On SingTel, for instance, sign up for the iOne Plus plan and you can purchase the Lumia 610 for S$48, or the Lumia 710 for S$98. Both phones are free when you choose a higher-end subscription plan. The Lumia 710 is clearly the better deal.
Verdict
The Lumia 610 is a phone which seems to have cut many corners to arrive at its S$379 price point. But unless you plan to get the phone without contract – as a backup or an international phone, for instance – it will make more sense to go for the slightly more expensive but feature-packed Lumia 710 instead.
This budget Windows phone will be a hard sell in Singapore, where affordable smartphones, especially when bought with a contract, are aplenty.
It has a 3.7 inch display, not 3.5
You’re right! Sorry, mistake on my part, have updated the article. Thanks!