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Cape Town - The thinking behind a pair of Nokia Lumia smartphones available in South Africa seems to be: "Take a picture, make a memory".
The company is determined to demonstrate that it is committed to delivering the best photographic experience on a smartphone.
The Lumia 930 has a 20 megapixel camera sensor and it contributes to rich, detailed images that make you feel like a pro lens man. While the 630 is rated at only 5 megapixels, you also get the Pro Camera tools that make taking pictures more flexible.
But it's not just megapixels that make the difference: In low light conditions, the images are crisp and in sharp light, there's no washout as with some rival devices.
The Pro Camera application also gives you a range of manual settings so you can express your creativity with imaging when the moment hits you.
Aluminium trim
Purists will no doubt send hate mail, but if there's one smartphone that spells the death of the digital camera - and severely threatens the DSLR, it is the Nokia 930.
But a camera alone doesn't make a smartphone.
Nokia doesn't make a big deal of advertising the robustness of its smartphones, but perhaps it should.
After spending a significant amount of time with both the Lumia 930 and baby 630, where the devices were subject to near nuclear level abuse, there is still no discernable damage to the smartphones.
The Lumia 630 has many of the same software features found in the 930 bigger brother. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
The 930 has a plastic (ahem, polycarbonate) back cover with aluminium trim, and while the 630 only has plastic, both devices feel robust enough to stop a bullet - though home experimentation is not recommended.
The Nokia devices are aimed at different segments of the market and Nokia, now a Microsoft division, is working to build market share for its Windows Phone operating system.
Microsoft appears to have taken an evolutionary approach in refining the operating system and the result is a much more user friendly environment than previous versions.
Both the 635 and the 930 have the same operating system so that whether you opt for budget or big bucks, you get Windows as well as a fully compatible version Microsoft Office which makes it easy to transfer document from PC to mobile.
Apps
Also, switching between applications is easier and there's even a shortcut menu as found on the Android operating system.
Like Google has done with Android, Microsoft seems to be reading from the same playbook by including previous third party functionality in the operating system.
Applications like Data Sense, Battery Saver, Call+SMS filter on Windows Phone make third party apps redundant.
However, there is also a problem with applications: While some are listed on the phone fresh out of the box, they don't work until you download them - that's an unnecessary hassle factor.
Even apps like Bing Finance and Weather require a download before they will work and one can't help but think that is may be a strategy to ensure that you create and use an Outlook.com account.
Conspiracy aside, Windows Phone (and it is really time that Microsoft dispenses with differentiating its two operating systems) has come a long way and you still get what is arguably the most efficient navigation application on a smartphone.
Here Maps and Here Drive+ offer street level navigation on both devices, including the ability to download maps for an entire country and navigate offline.
Windows Phone is maturing, but the process could be faster: It was annoying that the brilliant camera on the 930 didn't have a panoramic function built in. Sure you can download one, but at this level, the PT is unnecessary.
There is also an expanded shortcut bar, but again, it is functional, but not quite comprehensive.
Despite some shortcomings, the Lumia 930 and 630, while targeting different market segments, make a compelling case as a smartphone replacement.
Most sobering though, is the price: The Lumia 930 is available at R449 on contract from Vodacom and the 630 costs R149 on a Cell C contract or R1 999 cash from MTN.
Watch this News24 Live video review of the Nokia 930:
- Follow Duncan on Twitter
