Hands-on with the Nokia Lumia 630, the first dual-SIM Windows Phone
By Sam Sabri
last updated 
Yesterday Nokia announced three new Windows Phones for the smartphone buying public. They are the Lumia 630, Lumia 635 and Lumia 930. The Lumia 630 is notable for being the first dual-SIM Windows Phone. It’ll also be available before the Lumia 930, making it the first Windows Phone 8.1 device you’ll be able to buy. We went and did a hands-on with the dual-SIM version of the Lumia 630. Check it out.
The Lumia 630 comes in either a single-SIM or dual-SIM version. The Lumia 635 is a single-SIM phone like the Lumia 630, but stands out for having 4G/LTE connectivity. Other than that the phones have identical internals.
What do you guys think of the Lumia 630/635?
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86 Comments
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Its hawt.. Only the model no.. :-S
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This gonna be awesome. How about the spec?
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512mb ram, crying shame ! :(
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oh God why?!
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Yeah, I really don't understand. You can cut that processor down to 1ghz Nokia but please make the ram 1gb for all devices. 1ghz is really powerful enough to run the OS but that 512MB of RAM sure is a big limitation to run apps especially for multitasking. I am saying here because 512mb will have more apps resuming that is really frustrating. Once it's 1gb, the multitasking is a beast.
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Exactly, all that quad processing power is wasted on a device limited to apps that only works for 512MB devices.
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Wait, does it seriously not have super sensitive touch? It doesn't say on the website. I'm pretty sure the 520/521 had it.
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A question - how are any of these (630/635) better than the 625? Aside from dual sim, quad core processors and clear black screens, the 625 has a bigger battery, flash, front facing camera so one can actually skype, bigger screen etc. And the 625 is cheap - uk payg anyway. What am i missing???
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Totally agree, 1 GB could've done it for me tho
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It should have been the 530 or I'd go as low as 430.
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Agreed. Looking at features at least, 530 would have been more approriate.
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Yeah right. It should've been 530 if it had 1gb ram. Now its just a 430.
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You're not missing anything. You're absolutely right that this phone is actually MISSING features found on its predecessor. Very strange. Seems like it's a "specialty phone" for those who want dual SIM, basically. I don't see much need for it in the single SIM version.
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It has a quad-core snapdragon 400 processor
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And it's lacking in everything else.
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and supports expandable memory up to 128 gb as opposed to the 64 gb in the 625.
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Possibly all lumias support it.
And what's written isn't always right. My old nokia said 2gb expandable, i had put an 8gb for regular use. -
Seems decent. I'd rock one of those dual-sims with no much trouble. Probably useful to work.
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Shit phone
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what do you expect, its a friggin' almost-bottom-of-the-Lumia bargain bin phone practically.
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Meh.
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Even the 620 was better featured though maybe not specs wise. But ffc and flash are pretty big deal breakers, this feels like more a 520 sibling than the 620
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I believe the 630/635 is meant to replace the 520/521 in the states, so the lack of ffc doesn't surprise me. Personally though, I think that every smart phone should come with one.
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As a 521 user, I can see why this is a good thing. Larger screen, LTE 4G to name a few things. Since I don't do selfies or video Skype, and use the camera only for casual pictures (have a Pentax DSLR for serious work), this will work for me if the price is right.
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I'm communist Russia..........
❕(insert joke here) -
❕(what a joke)
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Who cares? M8. If you think we are impressed about your heritage and those kind of useless information, you are wrong. We don't care at all.
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And there is no joking about Communism, since communist killed thousands of people in my country.
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Those on screen buttons looks so weird.
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Habit.
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They should be placed farther away from eachother ...
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Yeah, because there's so much space below them.... where the capacitive buttons should be. If they had shrunk the bottom bezel a bit, so the screenextended closer to the bottom of the device, it wouldn't be so bad.
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Yeah. I don't understand the love affair Nokia has with giant bezels.
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Yeah probably take some getting used to. They're teeny tiny buttons.
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Why in the hell did they go back to 512MB after the Lumia 525?
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Honestly, being a 520 / 720 user, I've a mixed feeling for this move...
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I'm pretty surprised about that, too. I guess Microsoft believes they can deliver a decent experience with just 512MB. Frankly, considering how many 520/521s they've sold lately, it makes sense that they can't leave all of those users behind, and that WP8.1 needs to target 512MB as a minimum. Hopefully there won't be as much "resuming..." as on my 520, but who knows. Everything about this phone is low end. The camera is terrible, no flash, 512MB memory, same screen resolution as mid-range phones from 4 years ago. It has a quad-core processor, but it's a Cortex-A7 design... so, it's probably not any faster than the dual-core processors in the 2-year-old 820/920. Same GPU as the 520. So, don't think of this as a mid-range phone, and might not be disappointed. This is a tiny spec-bump of the 520, and not a replacement for the 620, 625, 720, or any other Lumia from the last two years. All of those are better than this.
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I agree with the most part, I have the Lumia 520, my first windows phone. I love it, but with my tax returns, I upgraded to the Lumia 1320. With a 1.7 GHz dual core processor, and a full 1 GB of RAM the difference is night and day. Mu 520 is on par with my iPhone 4, my 1320 destroys that. I'm loving it
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I think that is what's most puzzling about the lack of 1GB in the 630; with 512MB, performance is fine if use stay with one app, but you see a lot of "resuming...," and multitasking is almost impossible. Turn-by-turn navigation basically doesn't work in the background if you're doing anything else. 1GB solves that problem. The Moto G has the same processor as the 630, but a 720p screen, 1GB of memory, and a bigger battery, and it's priced the same as the 630. You can say that Windows Phone doesn't require the same specs as Android, and that's probably true, but the 630 should be better for the price they're asking.
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They are saving on specifications to earn more profit this year. That's the reason I think. But 512 Mb memory is not bad for windows phone at all, my 625 Lumia works really good, no lagging here.
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Sign me up
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To my surprise, ignoring most recent games requirements, Nokia still producing 512mb ram devices.
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Not everybody is interested in playing games.
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Agree. Even I don't play much games but I feel like 512mb ram is too old... It affects phone performance too, for multi-tasking.
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Yup. I'm surprised too. Can't help the WP game market, for sure, if the majority of devices are 512MB.
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The 820 is visibly faster than my 620. Sometimes i feel like the 620 can't keep up with my swift navigation speed. Still, works fine and cant complain.
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The only thing i want to know is if the Lumia 930 supports Glance .....
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+930
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No it doesn't.
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The real question is: how much memory is available for apps while running on a Windows Phone with 512 MB?
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Don't know exactly, I'm not sure but somewhere read 150mb-200mb. But anyway its less than what Android offers for games at the cost of its phone performance (obvioulsy excluding the new ones).
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No, its not! I have one and it showing that 390MB RAM is FREE!
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So those not in the USA won't get Cortana but instead the search button will pull up Bing as usual - that puts all other rumours to rest I suppose.
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Waiting for 725.. Come on nokia!!
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I'd doubt there will be any more X2X devices as 2 marks the era of WP8.0
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Seems like this device still has a pretty big chin despite dropping the capacitive buttons for on screen buttons.
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I'm going to have to assume that this phone was in development before the button requirement was dropped. Makes no sense otherwise.
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Maxibon
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I wish the high spec'd phones had the design language of the lower spec'd ones.
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I like the phone but those on screen buttons look like complete garbage. Its too high up past the bottom bezel and they are too close together. Waste of space in my opinion. Why not just make the screen a little longer to fill up that extra bezel room instead?
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Finally
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The only true windows phone built around windows phone 8.1
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Hello, any info about if it is going to be dual stanby (?) or dual active? Thank you :):):)
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I'm getting either one until Tmobile comes out with Monarch.
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Presumably you cannot receive 2 calls at once? How does the phone handle that?
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Some parts of the world people use one sim for data and one for call & text. Or have a work sim and person sim so you don't have two phones.
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I assume same way as single sim phone would, with call waiting...
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A 625 with 1GB Ram would be nice
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This^^^ would be the perfect phone for me ;-)
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Wish it was 1gb of ram. So I don't have to deal with app selection like that 512mb smh almost had me if only 1gb
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So I'm waiting for the 730 or 830 then, now that we know that the 630 is more like a 530.
I'm totally happy with my 620, I just would like to have 1 GB ram and a bigger battery. -
+620
Those two you just listed were my eager expectations, but no reason to upgrade with such a compromise on the specs... staying on with L620 a bit longer -
I wonder why they didn't just call this the 530. It would have made more sense. Other than the slightly better processor (probably no difference at all in real-world use), it's basically a step down from the 620. As a successor to the 520, it's a nice little bump, mostly just to screen quality.
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How many ??
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I want a dual sim 1520
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Too bad, no flash. Why can't Nokia produce a high end dual sim phone like galaxy note?
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635 looks like an incremental update to 521 with Quad Core and LTE. Screen is bigger but lower pixel density and battery is larger but that may be eaten up by Quad-Core and LTE. Camera specs are identical. The real question would be if you already own a 521- would you spend ~$180 on a 635 for Quad Core and LTE ? I think like the 521 maybe the answer will be yes after it drops below $100...
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Hate to say it; but it sure seems like there was a lot of hoopla about a reduction in features on all of these new phones. I was looking to upgrade all three of my Nokia phones in my family; but after seeing the specs I think we are going to stand pat for now and hope for something better in the future.
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cant believe I write this,but this is a P.O.S model of Lumia !
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Will definitely buy it if it's 1GB ram
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Happy to know that it has only 512MB RAM.
This clearly proves that there wont be any feature in WP8.1 which will be cut short for 512MB devices like Lumia 720. :) -
Suck Phone
Quad core with 512mb ram :lol -
quad core with 512 mb (630) or dual core with 1 gb ram(525)
or simply 620 with front camera and flash
as it can also run wp8.1 quite smoothly if 630 is running it with same amount of ram
which one is better -
The 625 as it has lte
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I was more interested at the settings. Can I put one sim in airplane mode. Do the messages open in one messgae box etc. Wanted to see how the dual sim is handled by WP for various scenarios
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Hi, Lumia 630 Dual sim has ambient light sensor and proximity sensor or not ??