Nokia's latest budget smartphone, the Lumia 630, is ready to hit UK availability towards the end of next week, launching on May 29 for a sub-£100 price tag.
The handset has already gone on sale in Asia and it will hit the UK next week, with more European countries set to follow. The Nokia Lumia 630 comes with Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 8.1 mobile operating system on board, carrying a dirt-cheap price of £90 SIM-free, without a contract. That's the same price as Motorola's recently launched Moto E, which also sells unlocked and contract-free.
In terms of specifications, the Nokia Lumia 630 sports a 4.5-inch ClearBlack IPS LCD display with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels at 221 ppi and Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Under the hood, the handset packs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2GHz and paired with just 512MB of RAM.
While 512MB of RAM is definitely low, it's worth pointing out that Windows Phone 8.1 is designed to perform well even on low-end hardware, an achievement that Google has just recently started pursuing with its latest Android 4.4 KitKat.
Other key specifications of the Nokia Lumia 630 include 8GB of internal storage capacity, a microSD card slot for additional memory of up to 128GB, a 5-megapixel rear camera with auto focus, but no flash, and no front-facing shooter.
The Nokia Lumia 630 also has a dual-SIM version, making it the first Windows Phone smartphone to support dual-SIM, but that model will not be available in the UK.
When it comes to pricing, meanwhile, the Nokia Lumia 630 clearly aims to challenge the Moto E, which also costs £90 unlocked. The Moto E comes with a slightly smaller 4.3-inch display and similar specifications overall, although it does have a higher ppi count and 1GB of RAM. On the other hand, the Moto E comes with half the storage of the Lumia 630, i.e. just 4GB, and a lower-end Snapdragon 200 dual-core processor.
The Nokia Lumia 630 will be available in the UK starting next week from Carphone Warehouse, EE, O2, Tesco, and Amazon. The handset comes in a range of colorful options, including green, yellow, and orange, in addition to the traditional white and black. Check out the smartphone's product page at this link to learn more.
