Microsoft will ship the Lumia 530 a powerful entry to Windows Phone 8.1 in August 2014
By Stephen Pate – Are you tired of smartphones that cost $700 and break in months? Is your family phone bill $500 or more?
The first Microsoft Lumia phone post-Nokia acquisition could easily be the answer to ridiculously high phone bills.
Sounds like a TV pitch but its true.
There are also some ideas I used to cut my smartphone bills at the end of the story.
“We are moving quickly to help more people experience the uncompromised Lumia technologies, third-party apps, and Microsoft services that we deliver on our flagship products, “ said Jo Harlow, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Devices Group. “Lumia 530 underscores our commitment to making affordable smartphones for everyone, and introducing more people to the best of Microsoft.”
The Lumia 530 is expected to cost $140 and comes with a 4″ screen, the same as the iPhone 5S and 5C. Admittedly there are plenty of Android and Windows phones with larger screens but they cost $400 or more.
I think Windows Phone 8.1 is better than Android. It’s faster, more cohesive, has all the apps people want like Facebook, Vine, Instagram, Skype, Viber and is the only phone that comes integrated with Microsoft Office and OneDrive cloud storage.
What do you get with a Lumia 530
With Windows Phone 8.1 the Lumia 530 comes with the most of the features of the flagship Lumia’s like Action Center, Word Flow, Cortana (where available) and personalized Start screen backgrounds are now available to everybody.
The Lumia 530 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that delivers a super fast and lag-free user experience of your favourite apps, gaming and internet browsing on the 4-inch LCD display.
The technical specs might seem slight but Windows Phone 8.1 does not need the power it takes to drive the iPhone operating system.
For the 1 billion users of Microsoft Office, Office comes with the phone including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and Phone versions of Outlook – calendar, contacts and mail.
The phone also has 15GB of OneDrive cloud storage which jumps to 1 TB if you have an Office 365 Home subscriptions. Any files, pictures, videos or other documents are available on the Lumia 530 and across all your desktop, laptop or Windows tablet.
The Lumia 530’s 4GB on-board memory is expandable up to 128GB using a MicroSD memory card . A 32GB MicroSD card costs about $25.
Single or Dual SIM
Most people will be happy with a single SIM Lumia 530. There is a dual SIM phone for those who need it.
The Lumia 530 comes in in bright orange, bright green, white, dark grey. You can dress up your phone with inter-changeable shells,
Lumia 530 has a 5-megapixel camera with imaging apps like Instagram, Creative Studio, the new GlamMe app, Cinemagraph, that creates moving images; part still, part animation, and rest of the social apps.
Some critics have said – what no front facing camera? The Lumia 530 is a fail. Balderdash – everyone knows how to take a selfie with one camera.
The Bang by Coloud Speaker
In addition to the Lumia 530, Microsoft announced the new Bang mini speaker by Coloud.
This portable, compact speaker costs about $30 making it the ideal companion to Lumia 530 and MixRadio.
Connected to your phone via the 3.5mm headset jack, the rechargeable speaker provides great sound for up-to 8 hours.
And the real fun comes when you daisy-chain several of them together for a BIG sound. The Bang will be available in the coming weeks.
Saving $$$ by owning your phone
Buying a $140 phone and using a monthly account $34 Koodo account will immediately cut your phone bill in half. If you have teens and a spouse with phones the savings can easily add up to hundreds of dollars a month.
Last year I refused to pay $95 a month to Rogers or Telus and decided to cut my costs by buying a Lumia 920 Windows Phone on Kijiji for $300 and going with a $50 Koodo plan. I needed more data and talk than the $34 plan but still I cut my phone costs.
I didn’t lose any convenience or features switching from an expensive $700 iPhone and gold-plated plan to a Lumia and Koodo. The Lumia phone is better than the iPhone especially the camera and ability to customize it.
For the best choice and price get Nokia Lumia Widows Phones at Amazon.com
Follow me on Twitter at @sdpate or on Facebook at NJN Network, OyeTimes and IMA News Buzz.
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