Nokia Lumia 830

its perfect if you use or save Office doc – Its 5" screen made reading email much easier; I can use or save excel documents and edit them as I go; I like to use one note to create my shopping list, menu, notes, etc., its really easy to use, saves me time to write them every time; I enjoy reading the news updates from MSN... The down side is it's not compatible with any fitness tracker. I had to stop using my Fitbit Charge HR as it does not sync directly with this phone. The Fitbit Charge HR requires Bluetooth 4.0 Smart, but this phone only has Bluetooth 4.0. ......

Recently there is an update on compatible fitness tracker, since released to market : Microsoft Band 2. It connects with Window's 10 phone perfectly via Bluetooth. Lumia 830 can be upgraded to windows'10 without any problems and its free.

Flagship in a cheaper package – I must admit I only upgraded as I finally broke my Lumia 920 (sadly one too many drops on concrete). As this was an unexpected upgrade I was hesitant to buy the Lumia 930 flagship as wow as its specs are. I 'settled' for the 830 instead. WOW! Excellent decision. Let me talk about some differences for others looking at an upgrade. The build quality feels is excellent, this is a premium phone. It is slimmer and much lighter than the old 920 but it would not be an (almost) indestructible tank like 920 was. It is easy to hold and use in one hand. Get a coloured back plate - it really does make them standout. It does use the smallest micro-SIM so you'll probably need a new one if upgrading. Comparing to the 930 it feels like the same build but thinner and lighter.

The screen feels sharper than the old 920 despite being slightly lower pixel density (and I couldn't see a difference to the upscale 930 in store). The extra half inch of screen space makes all the difference for typing text messages - I hit the right key almost always now. Images are bright and clear although I did turn up the colour saturation to make everything pop a little more.

The wireless charger works even better with my fatboy pillow. The old 920 needed to be in the EXACT spot or it would beep all night, the 830 just works every time (this makes me so happy). Not sure on charging time (it stays in place overnight). I have never run it down in a day but not sure it would last a full two days in normal use, unused standby would be several days easy. The battery is easily swappable if run time is important.

It only has 16GB of memory (down from 32GB in the 920 and 930) and the operating system chews up about 1/3 of that. The big advantage here is it will take a micro-SD up to 128GB - so storage is not a problem.

The 830 is definitely quicker than the old 920 (which is no slouch). Screens change seamlessly and basic games run fine. 4G downloads feel faster and web pages snap, I believe this phone works with Telstra's 4GX network which may be the difference. Real speeds? No idea but certainly fast enough for me. Cortana is fun and her speech recognition is very good but I'm not one to talk AT my phone often. Here maps is awesome, great navigation, AND (unlike iPhones) is completely downloadable so does not need a connection to work. Another change is Here Transit now works in Australia - when the 920 was new this was not the case so I'd never used it, loving it now. I'm not a heavy app used user but it has all the usual and useful apps (facebook, banks, etc) and an overwhelming set of (mostly imaging) apps JUST for Lumia.

The camera is very good and similar quality to the old 920. I can see how this could become popular for friend and family snaps. Obviously compared to its big brother the 930 the camera is not as good (10MP v 20MP), realistically viewing images on the phone or uploading to social media you're unlikely to see the difference. There is the SLIGHEST of ridges around the camera plate but it doesn't feel like it slicks out the way some phones do. The 830's front facing camera is poor, it is only good for video calls.

When used for calls (who does that these days?) sound quality is good, callers are easy to hear, although if you turn the volume up heaps it does distort slightly. With some basic checks sound quality on the receiving end is good too.

Overall I'm loving the new phone, even as an unplanned upgrade I'm happy to have made the change, that's how much nicer this phone is to use in simple ways I cant exactly describe. If it is on your list of potentials I'd place it at the top.

Best Value for Money – For half the value of the iPhone flagship or Samsung Galaxy flagship phones.. the Lumia 830 is well worth it. Build: solid, great for one-handed use, dedicated camera button makes taking photos a lot faster, Qi Wireless charging is vey convenient. Software:- Live tiles is Windows Phone's best feature- you wouldn't go back to rows of dead icons (iOS/Android) once you get used to live/informative/relevant app tiles. Another great feature of the Lumia 830 is its Camera- I think the Lumia camera builds have always excelled its counterparts, so that means great photos and videos anywhere especially when using Lumia Camera software with all its neat post-shot enhancements; Software is quite fast--I've impressed a number of my colleagues at work after comparing its performance with their Android and Apple phones. The OS is easy to use, very slick, intuitive and customisable. It syncs nicely with your Microsoft account, facebook, LinkedIn, and all the other popular social networks. I always use Cortana (voice activated assistant) to setup my calendar appointments and do quick tasks (e.g. short SMS's and searches). All your basic, day-to-day apps are available in the store, not to mention Microsoft's own cloud-based offerings like Office, OneDrive, OneNote... I could go on.. :-) I bought my Lumia 830 in December 2014. I've just upgraded the OS Lumia Denim Update, and it's just made the phone's performance even better.

The Best Phone I have ever Owned – I took a punt and bought a Nokia 830 smartphone and it is the best phone I have ever owned. The reason I say I took a punt is because it is a Windows phone instead of an Android like my past two. My previous phones were HTC Desire and Velocity which were both good phones but after owning a windows phone you will never go back to using an Android. This phone is fast easy to use and despite some teething problems is a great phone. I bought it through Telstra and got 25 gigs of data free for the first month- I was told this is so that you can download apps and stuff- and contrary to what people tell you, you can easily transfer all of your stuff from an Android to a Windows. The consultant at the Telstra Shop did this for me while I waited. If you are looking for a new phone this one is a really a worthwhile purchase.