Nokia Lumia 630 vs Lumia 620: What’s new?

Nokia Lumia 630 vs Lumia 620

Amidst the announcements of Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 8.1 and the flagship Nokia Lumia 930, Microsoft also unveiled the Nokia Lumia 630 as one of its latest budget smartphone offerings.

Successor to the impressive Nokia Lumia 620, the 630 has the potential to be as good if not better than the Lumia 620. Is it enough to make the upgrade? We take a look at the biggest differences and new features to help make that decision an easier one.

Difference #1: It runs on Windows Phone 8.1

The Nokia Lumia 630, tipped to launch in May, will be one of the first handsets to run on Windows Phone 8.1 straight out of the box. The Lumia 620, which currently runs on Windows Phone 8 will receive the latest software update but it won’t be rolling out as an over the air update until the summer. That means prospective buyers can enjoy new features like the Cortana voice assistant, Swype-like Word Flow keyboard to help type out texts faster, Action Center to see all your notifications at a glance and a new battery power saving mode.

Difference #2: Bigger screen

Smartphone displays are getting bigger and it’s not just on high-end handsets like the Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8. The Lumia 630 features a 4.5-inch screen, which is up from the 3.8-inch display on the 620, putting it in the same bracket as the Motorola Moto G. Disappointingly, it has roughly the same 480 x 854 resolution, although it does take advantage of Nokia’s ClearBlack LCD display technology that aims to generate deeper blacks, higher contrast and better viewing angles by using filters to reduce the amount of ambient light that the screen reflects.

Difference #3: More power

The Lumia 620 packs a dual-core 1GHZ Snapdragon S4 processor, which doesn’t sound very cutting-edge but is still enough to run Windows Phone smoothly. The 630 ramps things up, though, moving to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz. It’s still has the same 512MB of RAM on board and Adreno 305 GPU so you can expect a similar gaming and multitasking performance. The other good news is that the additional microSD card storage is up from 64GB to 128GB if you want spend a little more on extra space.

Difference #4: Bigger battery

One of the biggest disappointments with the Lumia 620 is the 1,300 mAh battery, which struggled to make it through an entire day without needing to recharge it. Nokia has tried to address the issue by including a bigger 1,830 mAh battery to help improve the staying power. The 630 has a larger screen, though, so that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a huge improvement. We’ll have to wait and see on this one.

Difference #5: It’s going to get you fitter

Like the M7 co-processor inside the iPhone 5S and the dedicated Motion Launch processor packed into the HTC One M8, the Lumia 630 introduces a ‘SensorCore’ low-power motion processor. Working in conjunction with Bing Health and Fitness, the SensorCore can help track motion and location without significantly draining the battery.

What’s the same?

It’s still going to be available in a variety of bright, colourful matte or gloss covers that will be interchangeable. Connectivity-wise it still supports Bluetooth 4.0 with Wi-Fi on board and GPS to take advantage of Nokia Maps and Drive. For photos, Nokia is sticking with a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus so you should expect acceptable image quality but with the usual struggles when a serious shutter lag and focusing speed is missing in action.

There’s no details on UK pricing but the 3G-only 620 will be available in a single-SIM model priced at $159 (£95) and a dual-SIM version for $169, which is roughly £102. The Nokia Lumia 620 cost £150 at launch and we are not expecting a huge price shift when the Lumia 630 lands on these shores.

Next, read our first impressions of the new flagship Windows phone, the Nokia Lumia 930