Microsoft Lumia 650 Review - A day late and a dollar short OR a smart choice for business?

[AlTech]

Introduction:

The Microsoft Lumia 650 was originally released in February 2016. Yeah, I know I’m a year late to this review. But I felt like it was important nonetheless to bring you this review since this is probably the last Lumia that will ever be made.

 

Since I also owned the indirect predecessor to the Lumia 650, rest in peace Lumia 640 XL, I feel uniquely qualified to offer an opinion having owned the predecessor and how this model addresses/addressed my criticism for that.

 

Review methodology:

Testing was conducted using production model Microsoft Lumia 650 in both a UK and Canada version with 2 different individuals using the devices.

 

This review mostly shows my opinion but @Ryan_Vickers has also contributed as well since we both own the phone and wanted to include as much as we could so that we could address all issues and positives with the device.

 

Design/Build Quality:

First of all, it should be noted that this phone is absolutely gorgeous. It has a diamond chamfered aluminium frame with unapologetic polycarbonate plastic for the main housing with a removable back cover. The removable back cover is the main reason why the Lumia 650 is still able to sport an awesome removable back cover and Micro SD card slot in the age of smartphones ditching both of these for thinner devices or thin unibody aluminium designed phones.

 

Whilst some may criticize the design decision for using Polycarbonate plastic, I encourage more phone manufacturers and designers to embrace this approach. The blend of a metal frame and a plastic backing makes the phone feel premium and feel functional, almost reminding me of the millennium falcon in Star Wars.

 

Specs:

So the specsheet of the Lumia 650 might not blow your mind or set your world on fire but it’s decent enough for everyday tasks.

 

It should be noted that it would be technically impossible for a similar specced phone to run Android due to the use of a 32 Bit SOC and Android 7.0’s new requirements compared to 6.0.

 

The Specs are as follows:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 SOC (Quad core ARM Cortex A7 32Bit ARMv7 CPU @ 1.3GHz) with an Adreno 304 graphics processor)

1GB RAM - Presumably LPDDR2-1066

16GB eMMC Storage

1280x720 OLED Display - Microsoft claims it’s 5.0 inches but Aida64 showed it as being 4.98”. I’m not too bothered by the discrepancy.

A microSD card slot which supports up to 200GB microSD cards

A removable 2000mAh Lithium Ion battery

An 8 Megapixel rear facing camera capable of 720p30 video and 8MP stills

A single LED flash alongside the rear facing camera

A 5 Megapixel front facing camera capable of 720p30 video and 5MP stills

Front facing speaker with front facing earpiece

Micro USB 2.0 port for charging and data transfer

And last but not least, the 3.5mm Audio jack

 

I know what you’re thinking (or at least I try to know), these specs appear forgettable on paper but specs is never the full story and experience matters more as Apple has shown us over the years.

 

The Snapdragon 212 SOC is not an inherently bad chip but I take issue with the fact that it’s in a $200 phone, let alone a $200 Windows Phone. I know why it doesn’t use a Snapdragon 430 or 435 or 42x. It’s cos Microsoft would then need Qualcomm to sign off on making drivers for it to run on Windows 10 Mobile. Another factor may be the fact that the more recent additions to the 400 series are all 64 Bit whilst Windows 10 Mobile is currently 32 Bit. Even if this had 2GB RAM, CPU performance on a 400 series chip would be wasted due to not using Aarch64 instructions found in the ARMv8 architecture (basically ARM’s 64 Bit architecture).

 

The single gigabyte of RAM is disappointing considering the price point and I would have much preferred 2GB RAM. In everyday usage, it’s not hard to exceed the 1GB limit in Edge with many tabs open. I find that it reloads tabs quite aggressively in Edge and the memory management is also quite aggressive at killing off apps which you aren’t using.

 

All things considered, the camera is fine. It’s about as good as the Lumia 640 due to the lack of any real changes to it. The only changes worth noting is that the front facing camera has been upgraded to 5 Megapixels from the 640’s 0.9 Megapixel selfie camera. The rear facing camera has a slight downgrade in terms of video support due to the Snapdragon 212 chipset. The 650 only supports 720p30 video whilst the 640 supports 1080p30 video. The difference is somewhat noticeable but I honestly don’t take enough videos for this to be a deal breaker. It’s a shame they treated this phone as a “business phone” as it means they get a free pass if their cameras aren’t top notch.

 

The storage is the Lumia 650 got a decent upgrade to 16GB of internal storage. The previous generation Lumia 640 and 640 XL featured only 8GB of internal storage. In all of these phones, the microSD card slot saved the day with the Lumia 650 being able to use up to 200GB microSD cards.

 

The screen is a definite welcome coming from the LCD display of the Lumia 640 and 640 XL. One thing to point out is that owners of the 650 should take a look out and try to see if the display is easily susceptible to burn in or if it happens nearer the end of the phone’s lifecycle.

 

Battery Life:

With my Lumia 650 i’m getting more than a day’s charge (Ryan also said as much). Idle power consumption is pretty decent but for some reason, the on screen power consumption is a little higher than i’d like. Another thing which I think is a shame is the size of the battery, it’s just 2000mAh. I would have loved to see better battery life with a 2500mAh battery or thereabouts. With that said, in what i consider to be fairly normal usage, the battery life is good.

 

To test the battery I put the Lumia 650 against my normal routines involving:

Around 45 minutes of music playback on the way to school

Checking WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and good ol’ SMS

Taking photos as needed throughout the day

Checking the time as needed

Checking emails and timetables

Web browsing

Catching up on LTT videos when they don’t have nasty thumbnails

Playing some light games like Subway Surfer

Around 45 minutes of music playback on the way back home

 

Windows 10 Mobile and the App Experience:

Windows 10 Mobile is still a great OS and still provides a great experience but a whole lot has changed for both good and bad. Some developers have announced that they can no longer afford to support Windows Phones (like the developer of QuizUp which is near bankruptcy) or that they’re just not bothered

 

I’m not gonna write much about it here, but honestly Windows 10 Mobile has matured and more apps are coming as evidenced by Valve’s and EA’s apps coming to the platforms. It’s a solid platform that’s getting improvements.

 

Speaker comparison:

The speaker on the Lumia 650 is actually pretty damn good and beats out the 640 handily. While it is front firing is is still a mono speaker which accounts for its weaker performance when compared to other phones with stereo front facing speakers.

 

 

Camera comparison:

The cameras on the Lumia 650 aren’t particularly amazing but they’re not awful either. I’ll let the images speak for themselves for the most part. The Lumia 650 struggles in situations with mediocre or terrible lighting.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things we disliked about the Lumia:

Throughout the testing and usage by Ryan and I, we quickly identified what we didn’t like about the Lumia 650.

 

Here’s a brief bullet pointed list of that in no particular order.

• Screen uses Diamond Pentile Matrix OLED (can easily see checkerboarding)
• The Volume Rocker seems to adjust ringtone and notification volumes rather than media volume unless media is already playing.
• The RAM limitation is immediately obvious when trying to open loads of tabs on Edge
• Camera performance is “meh” for a Lumia
• Volume rocker feels wobbly
• Battery is a tad small for a 5 inch phone
• Phone feels unbelievably light

 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the Lumia 650 is a pretty damn good Windows Phone for $200 USD or less. But you’re gonna really have to want a Windows Phones to buy one. If you even care about Android then I can guarantee that no matter what you pick on Android, you’ll get a great experience. The Lumia 650 was marketed as the right choice for business. It ticks all the boxes that business users needs and mostly ticks all the boxes for a budget smartphone.

 

If you want a cheap Windows Phone then the Lumia 650 is a good buy. If you don’t want a windows phones then don’t buy it.

 

The Good: An amazing build quality with a premium metallic feel for a budget phone.

 

The Bad: Windows App situation is not up to par with Android.

The Ugly: The camera leaves something to be desired and photos don’t feel satisfying when taken.

 

Thanks to @Ryan_Vickers for helping me to write this review .

[Djole123]

Thanks a lot m8, you really helped me. I'm considering switching from Android to Windows sooner or later and this phone is great for me.

[SCHISCHKA]

i did a search to see if your post mention continuum. can you plug external display, mouse, keyboard? thats the only reason i would consider a windows phone. in terms of apps its just as bad as the Ubuntu phone

[AlTech]

4 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

i did a search to see if your post mention continuum. can you plug external display, mouse, keyboard? thats the only reason i would consider a windows phone. in terms of apps its just as bad as the Ubuntu phone

This phone doesn't support Continuum. The hardware just isn't up to spec.

 

For a Continuum ready Windows Phone you need a Snapdragon 617 and 2GB RAM or better.

[The Belgian Waffle]

I will never understand why people buy these phones...