Nokia Lumia 610 Review :Is Lumia 610 Windows Phone is at Par with Android phone?

Nokia has already launched two new Windows 8 Phones Lumia 920 and 820. Samsung has also launched Ativ and HTC has launched Windows 8S and 8X. We are getting lots of rumored updates that Acer, Dell and Asus are working on some windows 8 devices that will be launched very soon. I am more interested in listening to Windows Phone that will compete with budget priced Android Phones like Galaxy Y, Galaxy Ace, Xperia Tipo Dual or LG optimus L7. Right now, Nokia’s Lumia 610 which is priced at $200+ range to attract Smartphone customers who are on side of Windows. 

Nokia Lumia 610

Nokia launched Lumia 610 in MWC 2012 running on an 800Mhz Scorpion processor on a snapdragon chipset. It features 256MB RAM and Adreno 200 GPU that provide the capability of multi-tasking and gaming. It’s a promising entry level Windows phone that is a great option if you are searching for something other than Android with almost same capability.

Nokia Lumia 610 Review and Brief specs:

I have already mentioned that Nokia Lumia 610 runs on an 800Mhz processor and Adreno 200 GPU. It’s not comparable to other Windows Phone, which has a Dual core or Quad core processor. Nokia Lumia 610 features all shines and specs required for smartphone. 3.7inch LCD screen with WVGA resolution and 65K color capability looks great and has high density than similarly Price Android Phones. 5 Megapixel Autofocus camera with LED Flash that can record videos @30fps. It has all required connectivity features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G HSDPA, microUSB etc.

Design and Ergonomics:

The new Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 definitely have high end finish and design elements. I would suggest not expecting same with Nokia Lumia 610. It’s an entry level device and thus lacks the design and ergonomic luminance.  But at its price you will surely feel the quality and feel of material. Nokia Lumia 610 is a solid build with curved edges and candybar design that feels comfortable to hold and carry on. There is a metallic finish on the bezel that gives you some reason to flaunt your Phone. The way Nokia has added the capacitive touch sense buttons at the curved bottom end makes it look better than Nokia Lumia 710. I am really confused about one thing that Nokia has included all the buttons like Volume rocker, Power button on the right leaving the whole left side blank. There is a dedicated camera button which is placed at the lower end of right side to provide a quick access to camera. All ports like MicroUSB and 3.5mm earphone jack port are on the top to make them easy to access. Nokia 610 has a smart design with their back plastic cover that is easy to open and there a micro SIM slot and 1300mAh Li-ion battery under hood. Nokia Lumia 610 does not have a micro SD card slot but features an 8GB onboard storage that is more than enough for most of us. You can get Microsoft Skydrive storage to keep your files online.

Nokia Lumia 610 Design

Display Screen:

Nokia Lumia 610 is equipped with a 3.7 inch HVGA LCD screen that can show off 65K colors. This Windows phone offers a screen that has an 800X400 pixel resolution at much higher density than other Android phone priced at same level. You will be experiencing the Windows phone Metro UI on a high quality screen protected with a Gorilla glass layer that can give protection from scratches and brushes.Nokia Lumia 610’s display screen has all the features that will provide the best experience of Windows Phone gestures and Intuitive animation rich Metro UI.

Nokia Lumia 610 Screen

Performance and Features:

As a Tech-savvy and Android enthusiast, I am on the other side but surprisingly Nokia’s interface has many tweaks and optimization that provides fluid performance with 800Mhz processor. Microsoft has also designed the low resource consuming Windows 7.5 edition “Tango” for Nokia Lumia 610. Even Samsung Omnia W and Nokia Lumia 710 have Windows 7.5 Mango with 1 Ghz processor but Nokia Lumia 610 has equally fluid and fast performance.

You will face some glitches when you run games and some of the apps designed for Windows 7.5 Mango does not work on Nokia Lumia 610. Apps like Angry birds, PES 2012 etc are not supported. You can play videos on your phone but if you play an HD video with higher frame rate you may face lagging. But some optimized apps downloaded from Windows Store, like Asphalt and Xbox live games works smoothly without lag. We have tested Lumia 610 on WP Benchmark and it scored 54 far below Windows Phones like Lumia 710 and Omnia W.

Camera:

Nokia Lumia 610 features a 5MP camera that can shoot photo @ 2592X1944 and has decent image quality in light. There is a great fall in quality when you come to low light or night photography. The single LED flash is good if you are clicking something in less distance and has some ambient light for support. Windows phone camera apps provide extensive detailed settings. You can setup scene, While balance, effects, ISO, saturation, contrast details easily using the interface.

User Interface, Windows OS and Apps availablity:

Windows has designed the Windows 7.5 Tango user interface to provide a soothing, easy to access environment that is easy for starter as well interesting for Android or iOS users. Windows Phone 7.5 has strong SNS [Social Networking system] integration and you will get all your emails and Facebook friends on your contacts and you will get regular pop up updates of your friend’s activities and messages. Contacts are arranged alphabetically indexed in colored boxes with a letter. Just tap on the colored box and you will be taken a clear interface where you will find contacts with all details. When you are on a Contact just swipe to the side and it will bring a new tab that will show all the events for those contacts like recent calls, texts and activities on Social network. You can also add contacts to Home screens for easier access. Contacts can be arranged in groups so that you can SMS all contacts at once in a group or pin them to desktop.

Nokia Lumia 610 – Menu

There is a “Me card” that handles all your profile and Phone number. You can push Status updates, chat status, check into locations, change profile pics etc using the settings. On the right Tab on the Me card you will find all notifications.

One of the things I would like to mention that Nokia Lumia 610 has a good telephony user interface. Signaling and network strength are good. Call clarity is good and loud even if the coverage is low. Phone UI shows ever call history with easy access to voice dialer, Phonebook and voice mail. You will surely miss the smart dialing but you can use Voice dialing, it’s accurate but you can face some glitches with recognition. You will be missing Skype Video calling as there is no front camera and same with Google Plus hangouts.

Nokia Lumia 610 – App List

Nokia is trying their best to create some apps that will be exclusively available for their Lumia family smartphones. Nokia launched City lens- an augmented reality apps that show you the nearby places and other details using the camera. Only Windows 8 users will be getting Nokia City lens so Nokia Lumia 610 customers will be missing that. You will be getting latest Nokia maps, that is very competitive to Google maps. Beside that you will be getting support of Nokia Drive that provides turn by turn navigation to your destination and you can even save maps offline. Nokia Music is also a great app that helps users listen music and order download new music online. Nokia 610 comes with unlimited subscription to Indian customers and thus you can download all DRM Free music from Nokia Music store.

Images of Nokia Lumia 610 :

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Conclusion and Verdict:

Nokia Lumia 610 is definitely a great budget priced smartphone options for people who are seeking some long life build quality and do not want to go for Android. For me Android is widespread in the market and you can see an Android Phone in every 5^th persons hands. Windows Phone provides a great contrast and thus you can flaunt something new to them. WP app marketplace is new and currently has 100K apps and game that all are not compatible to Windows Phone 7.5 powered Nokia Lumia 610. You will surely get all essential apps and games required for user for this Phone. Battery Backup is good and lasts a day long even after surfing on 3G and calling for few hours. I would suggest this phone to people who have used Windows Smartphone before and want to try the same with a whole new interface. Nokia Lumia 610 out runs that similarly priced Blackberry and Android Phones. As a whole package I would give it 8 out of 10, if you want a little more action and power go for Lumia 710.

Visit the official site : Nokia Lumia 610 Review

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