Microsoft is holding its BUILD Conference from the 2nd to the 4th of April every year and this year it came out with some major announcements like the Windows Phone 8.1 and the latest devices running it- the Lumia 930, Lumia 630 and the Lumia 635. The 635 and the 630 were anticipated whereas the 930 was not, but it still came to star the show. It is very much like the Lumia Icon which is a Verizon exclusive whereas this is a worldwide release. Lets look at the even in brief. But before that look at some interesting leaks which came prior to Build conference.
The Leaks
The Leaks surrounding the devices and the Operating system were many and only one particular phone- the 630 was leaked numerous number of times. The 630 was very popular in the rumourland and not even the flagship device enjoyed such delights. The first rumour came before the MWC where the 630 was rendered by the press and it came with On screen buttons, and WP 8.1 on board. The features of WP 8.1 are many but the phone being a mid ranger doesn’t get to taste all the features and only some. All major features are present and only some minor should be missing.
The above image was the first render. As you can see, the 3 medium tiles or 6 small tile layout is present making it a wide phone. The phone was rumoured to go with 4.3″ WVGA display, Qualcomm 400 processor clocked at 1.7GHz, 8GB internal expandable via card slot and 2000mAh battery. The leaks was courtesy of… you guessed it right @evleaks.
Nokia Lumia 930 leaked for April 19th event.
The teaser was put up on Mar 5th as seen from the image above and as asual, the usual suspect gives the leak. This time, the flagship device was on the news with nothing but speculations about the screen size being anywhere from 4.5-5″ thanks to support from Windows Phone 8.1
More press pictures surface – 630
The Lumia 630 was said to be the first dual SIM phone as the WP 8.1 update said to bring the said feature. The rumoured specs were thought to be true. The back of the phone lacks a flash while the 620/625 had a flash while the 520/525 did not.
Lumia 630 and WP 8.1 demoed on video
This time, the leaks are on a whole new level and not just photos of the device are appearing. The whole device was demoed and the OS inside also. The language is in Chinese and is very hard to understand. Check out the video for yourself.
The focus is pretty much on the OS part and the device running the OS is the new 630.
The third press leak of Lumia 630
This is in fact the first time a phone has been and enjoyed rumour land so much. The phone leaked for the third time and not much details which weren’t already known were unravelled.
Official Announcements
It is the time of the official announcement. Microsoft and Nokia are ready with the their announcements. And waiting to take stage to surprise the audience. Maybe a little surprise was there in Microsoft’s part. But that wouldn’t be the case in Nokia’s case. The 630 totally lost its surprise. The 930, yeah, would’ve surprised the crowds with its presence as it was not part of a big rumour.
Let’s start with Microsoft’s announcement.
Windows Phone 8.1
The major announcement from Microsoft’s part was Windows Phone 8.1. The OS comes with major overhauls and new APIs which actually make the new OS loveable (even before, it was loveable), now it is even more irresistible. All you Android and iOS fans out there, you wouldn’t understand this feeling. This is the feeling of pure bliss, that a new OS can bring you. Woah to you Windows. The new Keyboard present on Windows Phone which is actually based on Swype has been said to hold the Guinness world record for fastest typing beating a Galaxy S4. Here is the video of the feat.
The other new features of WP 8.1 are:
Cortana
She is said to be built around you. She gets more and more adapted to you as you progress and grow with her. She is powered by Bing. She is the competition for Google Now and Siri. She comes with knowing the internet, weather options and so on. She is more like Speak-to-it -Assistant but without the sexy and beautiful avatar. You can also set events, alarms and so on.
Start+Theme
The background is now customizable and comes with scrollable wallpaper. Some of the tiles allow the use of transparent wallpaper and don’t mind the interruption while the other tiles mind it and don’t allow the wallpaper to be seen through. But this concept sure is amazing.
Internet Explorer 11
Internet Explorer 11 now supports reading later mode, ability to save passwords, refresh/stop button moved to the address bar and many more performance improvements.
Action Center
The Action center is the most disappointing feature according to me, well at least the way it is accessed. It could be done by swiping from the left or right edge. It is done in the same old boring way as is the cas with Android notifications. The notification widget supports up to 4 widgets and is customizable. You can choose your own widgets.
Here is one concept of Windows Phone which I found to be very interesting. Check out the video below.
There are other features like VPN, Enterprise and Security and so on. Make sure you check availability on your phone for the software update.
Now moving on to Nokia’s part.
Lumia 930
This is the flagship device of the lot (630 and 635) and comes with WP 8.1 on board. The screen is clocked at 5″ and comes with FullHD resolution and much like its sister unit- the 520, the phone comes with a 20.7MP PureView sensor and Carl Zeiss optics. There is 32GB on board which is not expandable via a microSD card slot. It can capture full scale as well as downscaled images (5MP and 8MP).
Lumia 630/635
The Lumia 630 is the first Windows Phone to feature a dual SIM. The 635 is also much similar to the 630. Both the phones should go in for a price range of 150 Euros. the635 has some minor changes like LTE connectivity and so on.
