IFA: Microsoft Reveals Lumia 830 and Other Smartphones

Microsoft has added to the glut of smartphones being launched this week after it released three new Lumia handsets.

The new smartphones include the Lumia 830, which Microsoft is touting as its “affordable” flagship device. The other two phones launched at the the annual IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin include the Lumia 730 Dual SIM and Lumia 735.

Lumia 830

The new handsets are Microsoft’s first high-end smartphone launch since it bought Nokia’s devices unit for about 5.4 billion euros (£4.6bn) in April.

According to Microsoft, the Lumia 830 is its affordable flagship device. Microsoft is aiming the device at the mid market, with the 830 at €300 (£234). The 735 meanwhile is priced at €219 (£174) and the 730 at €199 (£158).

However, the 830 has a decidedly premium feel to it, and continues the design of the Lumia brand with its body being made out of  metal and polycarbonate. Available colours include bright orange, bright green, white and black. It is also the thinnest and lightest Lumia to date, at just 8.5mm thin.

Despite its slim design, it manages to pack a lot of high end tech into its chassis. It boasts a 5-inch ClearBlack IPS LCD display with 1280 x 720p resolution and “2.25D” curved glass. Under the hood lurks a meaty 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, as well as 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. There is microSD support (up to 128GB) as well as 15GB of free One Drive cloud space.

The high end Lumia devices have gained an impressive reputation in the camera department, and the 830 is no exception here. It has a 10-megapixel PureView camera on the rear with a thinner optical housing than previous models. The camera offers optical image stabilization (OIS) and HD recording. Other features supported LTE, NFC, GPS, a 2,200mAh removable battery, as well as Qi wireless charging support.

And the 830 is also tapping into the fitness trend, with a low-power motion-sensing technology, SensorCore, which will track the user’s movements and location even while the handset is asleep. This can be paired with apps like Bing Health and Fitness, and Adidas miCoach. And of course, because is it is a Lumia, users also get the free global HERE Maps and HERE Drive, as well as the free HERE Transit app.

A brief overview of the Lumia 830 is available in this YouTube video.

Denim Update

The 830 handset ships with Windows Phone 8.1 on board, and also comes with the Lumia Denim software update. This Denim update is only available on Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8.1, and not devices from other manufacturers.

The Denim update brings the Cortana personal assistant, which is presently only available in the United States, to the UK and other English-speaking markets, as well as China.

Denim also offers Live folders, which allows users to press, hold and drag an app over another to create a new folder on the Start screen. The folders can be renamed by tapping on the text field above the open folder.

For businesses, Microsoft is offering Apps Corner with the Denim update. This allows the IT manager to create a customised Start screen on the phone, where only specific apps or indeed games are accessible.

Other features with the Denim update include SMS merge and forwarding, snooze times, consumer VPN, as well as an improved Internet Explorer.

Lumia 730, 735

With the arrival of the Lumia 830, it is easy to overlook the two other Lumia handsets that Microsoft also launched.

Microsoft describes the Lumia 730 Dual SIM, and the Lumia 735 as being “built for Skype and selfies.” Both phones come with wide-angle, front-facing cameras and a slim, pocketable style. Indeed, the front-facing camera is a 5-megapixel camera, and because of its wide-angle lens, it includes more of the surroundings in the picture, making it a great option for Skype video calls for example.

Both devices have a 2220 mAh battery, a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and 15 GB of free OneDrive storage.

Onboard storage can be expanded by another 64GB via a micro-SD card.

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