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The Lumia 730 Review: More than Just a Selfie Phone

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Introduction

The Lumia 730 was first introduced to the world at the Mobile World Congress as the first selfie Phone running Windows Phone OS. The Lumia 730 is a mid range Smartphone with a 5MP front facing camera. With the Lumia 730, Microsoft has really hit all the right notes in both hardware and software. I have used the Lumia 730 for over 4 weeks and through this time, I have gathered enough information, the good and the bad.

The Lumia 730 is similar to the Lumia 735 in every bit except that it is a dual SIM Smartphone while the Lumia 735 is a single SIM device. In reviewing the Lumia 730, I will be looking at the Hardware, Display, Performance/specifications, Camera and Software. After discussing all these, I will tell you if this device is worth your cash or not.

Hardware

The Lumia 730 measures 134.7 x 68.5 x 8.7 mm and weighs 130 g. This size sits perfectly on the hand and accommodates a 4.7-inch screen.  The build quality of the Lumia 730 feels premium for a mid range Smartphone. The phone is very thin and light with on screen keys that you can hide when you do not need them. This feature is very useful at times but can also be annoying sometimes especially when they accidentally appear when you do not need them.

Lumia 730 SIde panel

Lumia 730 SIde panel

Read: Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Buy The Lumia 730

Carrying the phone around feels very normal as its size is neither too big nor too small. Just like all the recent mid range Windows Phone devices, the Lumia 730 has the volume keys and the power button on the right side. These keys protrude perfectly making them easy to use even with one hand. The Polycarbonate back cover on the Lumia 730 gives it the signature Lumia look. The Lumia 730 I used had the black cover but you can also get the green, orange and white colours. The Lumia 730 has curved edges with flat top and bottom parts. The top region has the 3.5mm audio jack while the bottom part has the microUSB slot.

Display

The Lumia 730 has a 4.7-inch display. This is an OLED capacitive touch screen that is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The display has a resolution of 720p (HD) with a pixel density 316ppi. With the Lumia 730, Microsoft uses ClearBlack polarization technology so the screen is visible even under direct sunlight. The Lumia 730 to be honest has one of the best displays under direct sunlight.

Lumia 730 viewing angles

 

With this display, viewing angles on the Lumia 730 are great and I did not have any problems when using the device. Touch response is also great and can be used effectively even when you are wearing gloves.

Performance and Specifications

When looking at the specifications, the Lumia 730 is really impressive for its price. It is powered by a 1.2 Ghz Snapdragon Quad Core 400 processor with 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage space and Adreno 305 GPU. Out of the 8GB, the system uses 3.35GB so you are only left with 4.65GB to use. To help with this is a MicroSD card slot to expand the memory to up to 128GB. Microsoft is also offering free cloud storage of up to 15GB.

Read: Lumia 830 and 730 Smartphones bring high-end imaging capabilities to more accessible price points

In terms of performance, I did not have any issue with the Lumia 730. No apps were dropped and no lagging throughout the testing period. Apps load very fast and switching from one to the other is very quick. Heavy apps on the other hand took long to load but once they do, everything turns out okay.

The Camera

It’s no secret the Lumia 730 is a beast in the camera department. It has a 6.7 MP main camera and a 5MP front facing camera for selfies. Both these cameras are powerful and take amazing photos and videos.

The 6.7MP main camera has a Carl Zeiss lens that has become sort of a standard for most Lumia devices. This is not the same PureView camera available on the Lumia 830 but still manages to take some decent shots. The camera app has some familiar features if you have used any Lumia Smartphone before. These include white balance, focus, ISO, shutter speed and exposure settings. You can play around with these to get the perfect photo for your particular situation. The updated camera app loads faster and is easy to use overall even for beginners.

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The front facing camera on the other hand is one of the best I have seen recently. It is a wide angle camera that is able to capture quite a lot.

Read: Lumia 730 selfie attempts to make it to Guinness World Record Book

Since this is a 5MP camera, image quality is very good especially outdoors. Since this is the main selling point for the Lumia 730, Nokia has included a dedicated selfie app to help you jump into it right away. The app is pretty easy to use and loads very fast without any lag.

Recording videos on both the front and rear cameras is easy and the end results are high quality HD shots.

Software

The Lumia 730 comes with Windows Phone 8.1 with the Lumia Denim update. This version has some additional features that include a drop-down notification feature that is something most users have been waiting for. Even though it has 1GB of RAM, performance is quite exceptional, this is something we have to appreciate about Windows Phone in general. At the moment, you cannot interact with the notifications and all you can do is swipe them to the left to delete them.

With Live folders and a customizable home screen, Windows Phone 8.1 allows you to customize your Smartphone to what you want. Overall, the software experience was great for me and I will honestly say it will be for you even if you are a first time Windows phone user.

Before I conclude this review, I have to talk about the battery life of the Lumia 730. The 2200 mAh was really good giving me well over 12 hours even with heavy usage. With light usage, I could easily go for 30 hours without charging. This is quite impressive for a dual SIM Smartphone.

Lumia 730 Battery manager

 

 Conclusion

In conclusion, the Lumia 730 is a pretty good Smartphone. It has a solid build quality that is quite impressive for its price. The design is so sleeks that it attracted  onlookers every time I took it out. The phone is just the right size for those who want to transition from the traditional 4 inch Smartphones but do not want to go all the way to phablet territory. In the camera department, the Lumia 730 is a beast to say the least. Both the rear and front facing cameras are good and take decent photos and videos.

I will recommend this Smartphone to anyone who wants to have the Windows Phone experience without spending a lot of money on the premium devices such as the Lumia 830.

Read: The Lumia 730 International reviews

About author

Editor at TechArena. I cover all things technology and review new gadgets as I get them. You can reach me on email: kaluka@techarena.co.ke
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