Nokia Lumia 530 White - No Contract (T-Mobile)

Given what you get at this price point I am really impressed. I paid $50 and it was just on sale at another retailer for $35. It really is amazing what you can get for this price today. Understand that you are buying a budget phone so don't expect anything exceptional. Screen quality, processing time image quality are all not great..but you are paying $50 for this phone. Things I really like: - Great volume on calls and call quality to me (very subjectively) sounds good. - Win 8.1 is an easy to use and fluid OS - GPS locks on right away What I don't like - This is a knock on win8.1 not the phone actually: - There is no default "voice" turn by turn directions. You can simply download here+ to get the voice nav but why not include it? I'm sure plenty of people will complain about the screen quality, lack of front facing camera, poor quality stills, etc... but you are buying a budget phone. Based on this fact you have to consider that you are not going to get the best of anything at this price. But at $50 this phone does what it is supposed (make phone calls) to and does it well. The other stuff is a bonus.

Very unhappy with this phone. I bought this phone as a backup while my phone was being repaired. It is a okay starter phone but not something I would use long term. I was going to give it to my daughter, who really wanted it after vi was done. When I tried to open it to take out my sim card, the screen cracked. I did have to fight with it when I first tried to get the sim card in. They make it very difficult to open the case. The second time I really had a terrible time opening it. It probably looked very funny when I was struggling but I was pissed. So now its cracked and shouldn't be used. Waste of my money. I never used a nokia window phone before and don't know if they are all like this. I have had many cell phones over the years and never had such hard time.

I have read most of the reviews that I could find about this phone (Which actually helped), before I purchased it. So, this might be a little lengthy for some of you. This review is simply about the transitioning from iPhone or Android to the new Windows format. Firstly, If you DO NOT already use Windows 8 or 8.1 on your personal computer, before buying this phone, you will have a few problems with it. Hence, AMOST ALL of the bad reviews of these phones where by people who do not use a windows 8/8.1 machine. Meaning the new windows format is a little difficult to understand. But, When you add a windows OS to a phone, there will be a lot of problems if you don't already use Windows8/8.1 I would suggest that you use a windows 8/8.1 machine for little while before buying this phone. But, that is just my opinion! However if you DO use windows 8/8.1 on your personal computer, you will have a much easier time with the transition from iPhone or Android to the Windows Operating system on a cell phone. Personally, I do use Windows 8.1 on my Laptop. So it was a WAY easier of a transition to this phone. Oh! and for the IPhone and Android people: At the least, this Windows phone IS A LOT FASTER!!! Yes, this windows phone has some issues (the annoying type), But so does the windows Operating Systems on computers! But, like every new product on the market, There are adjustments that need to be made (Also known as UPDATES!!!). I've had this phone for about 3 weeks now. But, The bugs are being worked out already. When I fist received the phone, I notice a few glitches(Like being kicked off of the internet while browsing.) But, after doing the updates a couple of times, It stopped kicking me off. So, the fixes are in progress. If you are a die hard windows 7 or Vista user, YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED BY THIS PHONE! It is nothing like the operating systems of old. In Closing, My suggestion would be to try using windows 8/8.1 for a while (Like 2 weeks or so), If you like it, you should have very few issues with the new phones. If you think this is just a fad, and refuse to upgrade yourself. Then you will be left behind like the NOW OBSOLETE WINDOWS XP!!! Yes windows XP was a good operating system. It has run is life course and is now time to bury it! It is called Progress People!!! Just remember, If you are getting this phone, DO THE UPDATES!!! It will fix most of its issues. OK, Good luck, and remember, WORK HARD, LIVE LIFE, BUT, ALWAYS HAVE FUN!!! Otherwise what's the point?!?!?!

This phone has many good aspects, and in general I like it. But in spite of everything good about this phone, I feel that its overall performance suffers due to its unique OS --- Windows Phone. I'll talk about this in more detail later in my review. It is my opinion that this provides tremendous value and fair performance at a fantastic price. Without any further ado, let's look at the Nokia Lumia 530 in detail. DESIGN / SCREEN The design of this phone is rather unique. It sits well in the hand, and is easy to use with one hand. Its plastic back cover feels solid and looks great. But one issue with the materials still puzzles me. For some reason, the plastic back is absurdly slippery. I don't understand why the designer chose to use such a slippery type plastic. Be warned --- you will have to purchase a case for this phone or you will probably end up dropping it. Also, this phone is not thin --- it has some heft to it, but that does not bother me. I liked the overall design of the phone, but felt that the materials composing the design were poorly chosen. The screen resolution on the phone is surprisingly good for a phone in this price range. Colors are reasonably accurate, and text is clear. If you were to zoom in on the screen, you would definitely notice fuzziness. But the screen looks great for daily use. Unless you are familiar with having a flagship level phone, you will be satisfied with the screen on the Nokia Lumia 630. CAMERA The camera is, by far, the weakest point on this phone. Pictures are noisy and blurry unless taken under ideal conditions. But I feel that this is more or less a case of " You get what you pay for." Based upon how I use my phone, the camera isn't a very important feature to me. But if you place considerable importance on having a good camera phone, I could not honestly recommend this camera to you. If, on the other hand, you just want a camera to take an occasional photo, you should be fine with the Nokia Lumia 530's camera. PERFORMANCE / OPERATING SYSTEM Based upon my experience with this phone, its performance is good. Apps usually open quickly, and you usually won't detect much lag while browsing the web or watching a video. But I can't help but feel that Windows OS hurts the performance of this phone. Many times, the design of the phone's OS forces the phone to work way harder than is really necessary to achieve its tasks. The OS is somewhat complicated and downright confusing at times. Of course, this is more or less an issue of personal preference. If you have used Windows Phone OS before, then you will unquestionably love the Nokia Lumia 530. But if you are moving to this phone from Android OS or iOS, understand that familiarizing yourself with Windows OS will be an experience. I used Pure Android right before using this phone, and learning a new OS was a time consuming process for me. I don't mean to sound negative, but I want to make sure that you understand the significant impact Windows Phone OS could have on your opinion of this phone. VALUE I think this phone is a clear winner in this category. It manages to be pretty much everything you NEED in a smartphone. Call quality is good, messages send quickly, the internet is easy to access, and the navigational systems work well. I love reviewing what many people refer to as "budget smartphones" because it is simply amazing to see how much value can be placed in a phone for an affordable price. And in my opinion, the Nokia Lumia 530 provides tremendous value due to its solid performance, design, and low price tag. My final verdict on this phone is definitely positive. Windows produced a solid phone at an almost unbeatable price. As long as you understand that the OS is going to take a little bit of time to get used to, I'd say go for it. Thumbs up to Amazon and Nokia!!!

It's a basic smartphone. Cheap enough that you won't worry about breaking it, losing it or dropping it. I got it for my kid. I used to have one myself and thought it was awesome for how cheap it is. You can download cool apps on it like Pandora. I never utilized the gaming functions, but my kid did and downloaded a bunch of cool kid games. You get what you get. Depending on your provider, you can stream video and music easily. Internet browsing was okay. Not as robust as an iPhone and there were some video playback issues on some sites. No front facing camera so no video skyping or selfies without a mirror's help.

Bought this phone for my 11 year old daughter. 50 bucks for a smartphone, what was I expecting? (I'm thinking $20 digital camera of a few years ago...yikes!! that was bad) Needless to say, I wasn't expecting much, but I am blown away by what you can get for 50 bucks. Obviously, it is not the same as my top of the line Samsung Galaxy, but it can basically do all of what you would want the smartphone to do. Pictures look good, screen is great, speed is fine, it even has Bluetooth, and internet tethering capabilities. I think it is a fantastic phone for a kid, and if it was all I could afford, I wouldn't be disappointed with it for myself either. Yah, you get what you pay for, but in this case I can think of a lot of other crap that I have bought for my kids for 50 dollars that is nowhere near the power of this high tech tool. Oh, and if she breaks it? The replacement would cost about the same as the phone case did for my Galaxy, ha! FYI: We have T-Mobile with five lines, 2.5 gigs on each line, unlimited everything else for $120 a month. We like their service. However. . . this is not a knock on the phone, but the Windows operating system. Microsoft has amazing "Family Safety" settings for all their products except... the Windows phone. You can set it up so that kids cannot purchase apps and only have access to downloading kid friendly games, but you cannot apply the internet filtering settings, which apply the kid's PC account, to their phone account. There are also not a lot of kid safety apps, browsers, or options on the Windows phone. I'm crossing my fingers that Bill Gates asks his friends at Microsoft to make the family safety settings available to the phone.

This was a my second Windows phone. I had forgotten how utterly terrible they are. They have no apps of which are useful to everyday life, and Facebook Messenger isn't even supported on it and the Facebook app was horrible. The internet capabilities are less than subpart. The tabs take long to load and don't always load right so you have to refresh a lot. It's a good price for basic texting and talking and the only perk of a Windows phone is that you can connect to your windows computer. Sharing files and pictures between the two. If there's something on your computer you need, your phone is synced to it and you can get it without having to use your computer. Would recommend for a person new to smartphones or a teen just getting their own.

My brother bought this cell phone. He loves it considering it's his first smartphone. I have a similar one that I bought a while back as my first too, and I am still using it. He said that he dropped his (w/ a case on) once and it survived - no scratched and all. It is easy to use. Features are easy to learn. Highly recommended for new phone users and people who want to save money but still have access to all the the smartphones features. I love how you can set up your phone to store your informations in the cloud in case you lose your phone using an email address. This probably allow for more storage on the phone. The phone can save plenty of pictures without lagging. In addition to the low price, the 530 version has Cortana. Cortana is a great shortcut. Just tell Cortana what you want her to do and she will do it for you - setting up reminders, alarms...it definitely saves time.