We recently got our hands on the cheapest Nokia Lumia smartphone yet – the Nokia Lumia 510. Launched in October, the phone runs on Windows Phone 7.8 (Windows Phone 7.5 earlier), it comes with a 4-inch screen, 256 MB RAM and 4 GB internal storage.
The Lumia 510 is nicely built and with the good looks, the smartphone doesn’t feel cheap even at the price-point at which it arrives.
Package:
The package of the Nokia Lumia 510 includes:
- Lumia 510 smartphone
- BP-3L battery
- Headset
- Charger
- USB Cable
- User guide
Key specifications of the Nokia Lumia 510:
- 4-inch TFT Capacitive screen
- Display resolution of 800 x 480 pixels
- Snapdragon S1 processor
- 256 MB RAM
- 4 GB internal storage
- 7 GB cloud storage with SkyDrive
- 5 MP camera with Autofocus
- Window Phone 7.8 OS
- Bluetooth 2.1, 2G, 3G connectivity
- 1300 mAh battery
Body and Design:
The design of the 510 is simple with curves around the edges. The first thing that you will notice about the mobile, when you hold it, is the back cover which is of rubber and makes it easier to hold the device.
The 4-inch touchscreen is responsive, bright and easy to use under sunlight. But the whole of the smartphone is a fingerprint magnet. Under the 4-inch screen, it has three capacitive buttons – ‘Back, Home and Search’. On the right side, it has the volume changer, power/lock key and the camera key. Nokia has left the left side blank and there are no ports or keys there.
At the bottom it has a microUSB port and on the top of the smartphone, it has a 3.5mm jack. On the rear of the smartphone, Nokia has placed the 5 MP Autofocus camera sans the LED Flash which is a drawback and at the bottom, it has a speaker grill.
The back cover is removable and underneath it is the 1300 mAh battery and a slot for microSIM.
Operating System:
When we got the device, it ran on the Windows Phone 7.5 OS which was indeed laggy when coupled with the 256 MB RAM with which the smartphone arrives. But we were lucky enough to get the official Windows Phone 7.8 upgraded flashed onto the smartphone which brought in lots of new features to the Lumia 510 and also provided improved UI.
The Windows Phone 7.8 OS on the Lumia 510 runs smoothly, the resizable icons on 4-inch screen are great to use and using the Bing wallpapers are a blessing.
Nokia loves to bring exclusive features for its Lumia smartphones and as many leaks had suggested, the Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade brings in extra features to the Lumia 510 which include the file transfers (DRM free) using the new Bluetooth Share app and a new Ringtone maker app.
Starting a new app or switching between a couple of them is a bit slow when compared to other smartphones, thanks to the low 256 MB RAM. For instance, if you are using WhatsApp, while you are typing a message to your friends or family you will have to wait for a second to see the text you typed-in to appear.
Overall, the new Windows Phone 7.8 OS on the Lumia 510 does impress us and has just added another plus to the smartphone.
Speaker:
The speaker of the Lumia 510, which is placed at the rear bottom of the smartphone is loud and does justice to the songs we listen on it. We can say that you’ll love listening to songs using the Nokia Music app on the smartphone which gives you access to million of songs free for lifetime.
Apps:
The Lumia 510 packs in almost all the Nokia Lumia Exclusive apps like the Nokia Drive, Nokia Music, Nokia Maps, Ringtone Maker, Bluetooth Share, Counters and more which run smoothly on the low-on-RAM smartphone and are a plus when considering buying a Lumia.
The new Nokia PhotoBeamer app works like charm on the Lumia 510 but the Nokia Xpress Browser is unsupported on the smartphone thanks to the 256 MB RAM. Likewise, there a few more apps which users will not be able to use. But there are others to compensate them.
Camera:
The Nokia Lumia 510 packs in a 5 MP Autofocus camera but there is no Flash to support it. While the camera takes some decent shots when there is plenty of light available, the low-light shots suck. We loved the macro pictures taken from the smartphone and you can check out the Sample Images taken from the smartphone over here.
Apps like the Camera Extras and Creative Studio provides a new life to the 5 MP Camera as users can take Panorama photos and can edit them at the Creative Studio.
Conclusion:
Overall, at the price of Rs.9,999, the Nokia Lumia 510 is a decent buy for people who are looking for a smartphone with basic needs but good hardware quality. A setback for the device is the Internal memory which is just around 2.8 GB (User available) but they get 7 GB of Skydrive storage from Microsoft. The good number of exclusive-to-Lumia apps make the device desirable.