Microsoft Announces Lumia 530, the Cheapest Phone in the Windows Phone lineup

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It has been a while since Nokia announced the Lumia 520, the cheapest Windows Phone ever to land on the earth. Now, taken over by Microsoft, time has come for the duo to announce its successor in Lumia 530. Changes are hard to see on paper, though.

The screen on Lumia 530 is still of the same size, 4″ that is but with 16:9 aspect ratio. Resolution has been bumped to 854 x 480 which means the pixel density has also increased to 245ppi.

Lumia 530’s design is nothing to write about, except that the bezels seem fairly large while the thickness is more than we had expected.

Underneath Lumia 530, you get a 1.2Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor, the lowest in Qualcomm’s food chain. Lumia 530 is accompanied by 4 GB storage (half as much as on the 520) and 512 MB RAM. You might be startled by that last bit but worry not, a new update makes dozens of apps compatible with such phones.

A microSD slot will let you expand the memory by 128 GB.

At the back of Lumia 530 lies the sole 5 megapixel camera with 480p (no HD, unfortunately) video recording. There isn’t a flash and a selfie (front-facing) camera which is a real shame. Battery capacity is set at 1,430 mAh.

Lumia 530 runs on the latest Windows Phone 8.1 platform, so you will get Cortana plus plenty of other new features.

Lumia 530 will be priced at around $110, noticeably cheaper than rivals such as the Moto G but given the wider reach of Nokia, things are looking better for the 530.

To be honest, after the brilliant and fun 520 came along, we were expecting something special in place of its successor. While the 530 isn’t a bad package by no means, especially at this price point, it just doesn’t feel as special as its predecessor. In a few ways, it is actually a downgrade but again, Microsoft had to make a few compromises to keep costs down.

Bang by Coloud Speaker

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In case you really like to play your music out loud and the built-in speakers aren’t helping much, Nokia has a solution in the new Bang speaker by Coloud. The speaker runs on a rechargeable battery which can blast for up to 8 hours.

Having a peak volume level of 94 dB, the speaker will connect to your phone via 3.5mm audio jack and is available in Black, Orange and Green. With an official price tag of 19 Euros, it is surprisingly cheap too which means everyone can afford one. It is also fairly portable, weighing just 96 grams. Now that’s hard to say no to.


    • Pakistanis want resale only even if the thing is rubbish. If it has resale it works like toyota corolla here :D

      • Ever heard of upgrade, I’m sure most of the people don’t have enough funds to give away their cell phones to relatives/friends and then buy a new one.

    • If you have more money then go for a iPhone, HTC ONE or Galaxy S5. This mobile phone is for those peoples who don’t able to afford high end smartphone.

  • “isn’t a flash and a selfie (front-facing) camera which is a real shame”

    Which phone which costs Rs 10,000 has a front camera?strange reviewer u r.

  • The Lumia 530 is not a successor to Lumia 520. Microsoft altered its product tiers slightly this generation. Lumia 630 is the actual successor to the Lumia 52x (also the reason why it was released in the same price slot of around $160).

    Lumia 530 is placed at a lower tier aimed at bringing Windows Phone to an even lower price point (around $100).

  • Cortana is available in US only. But it will be in UK in coming days. Cortana will be available only in limited numbers of countries. And Pakistan is no where near to that list.

      • I know this and have tried this setting on lumia 520 with wp 8.1 developer preview. But cortana was missing.

        • No, it isn’t. Set US english as default language and remove everything else.

        • Well I myself used cortana for 2 weeks on my lumia 520 8.1 dp before I sold it, not just me but almost all people I know(online) used cortana on 8.1 dp. You should try cortana it’s great.

  • @azeem Bye the way Lumia 530 is not a rival to Moto G. Their price range are different and Specs differ a lot :D And Lumia 530 lacks IPS display. Camera is fixed focus with no 720p recording and has thicker body as compared to Lumia 520.

    • Actually Lumia 530 is not the successor to Lumia 520, the real successors of Lumia 520 and 525 are Lumia 630 and 635.

  • What’s the shame in no front facing camera? If they put a front facing camera then the mobile doesn’t cheap anymore. If you need a front facing camera go for a mid range mobile.

    • see the price and its not shame no front camera not evey1 want and if u dont like then go for another phone

  • would b nice to hav a few benchmarks, 512mb should hinder performance a bit despite having a Quad-core chip. Moto E still seems a better choice at least for now.

  • I understand that Firefox plans to introduce a smartphone with a price of just $25. Is it true? If yes, when should we expect in our market?


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