Nokia Lumia 630 is a colourful, affordable Android alternative
Nokia Lumia 630 is a colourful, affordable Android alternative
2:30

Nokia Lumia 630 is a colourful, affordable Android alternative

Phones
[MUSIC] If you want a colorful, cheap, smartphone but don't want to get into grips of the nitty gritty details of Android, Nokia's Lumia 630 may be the phone for you. It's extremely affordable, has vibrant interchangeable covers. And it runs the latest Windows Phone 8.1 software. Nokia loves slapping bold colors on its Lumia range and the 630 is no exception. Its yellow back is almost too bright to look directly at, rather like an eclipse. And the orange and green options are similarly garish. Colored casings are removable, allowing you to swap them out when you fancy a change, or just when your current one starts looking a bit battered. The display has a disappointing 854 by 480 pixel resolution, which falls below the 720 P screen on the similarly built Motorola Moto G. Text and images don't look quite as sharp but it is bright and pretty bold, so it's perfectly fine for a spot of Netflix. Running on the latest Windows Phone 8.1 software, made up of the large, colorful live tiles. Easy to get to grips with, the phone's worth checking out if you found Android a little confusing. The new version of the software has features like a pull down notification menu, and the ability to put your own photos as a background. Nokia has thrown in some of its own apps, too, like the GPS satellite navigation tool here, Drive. And MixRadio, which lets you stream free music playlists. It's a good job Nokia includes its own stuff, as Windows Phone still suffers from a lack of apps. You will find a lot of big names in there, like Netflix and Skype. But it almost never gets new apps at the same time as iOS or Android. Software runs on a 1.2 gigahertz quad core processor. Which seems more than capable of handling most tasks you're likely to do. Around the back, you'll find a five megapixel camera. It captured some acceptable shots, although you will want to try shooting in manual mode, as the auto white balance wasn't great. There's no flash, either, so you can forget about taking pictures in the dark. With it's cheap price, colorful body, and easy, new software, the Lumia 630 is a decent option for those of you looking to taste your first smartphone sip but want to avoid the often complicated way Android likes to do things. Bear in mind, though, the Motorola Moto G have a better screen, costs less, and as an Android phone, you'll have considerably more choice of apps. If you want to play the latest games, your Galaxy S5 packing friends are talking about, Moto G is the phone to go for. I'm Andrew Hoyle for CNet and this is the Nokia Lumia 630.

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