Affordable no longer means cheap when it comes to smartphones. There isn’t as much of a gulf between the high, middle and low-end devices as there was two or three years ago. You could spend $400 on Amazon and walk away with a damn decent piece of kit. Manufacturers are starting to make a real effort into the affordable smartphones, and making them stars in their own right rather than a watered down version of that year’s flagship.
One company in particular,
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But which one reigns supreme? Well, I’ve gathered up two of the premier mid-range devices in the Lumia 830 and the HTC Desire EYE and put them to the test. Here’s what I found.
Design
HTC opted for a plastic polycarbonate matt design that doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the device as it can do with others. The upside of the the plastic design is that matt texture isn’t as slippery as all metal devices and feels more comfortable to hold.
The EYE has been well designed, mostly. The overall feel of the EYE is one of solid quality -not to mention that it’s fully water-resistant without the need for plugs. For a 5.2-inch device, the EYE is surprisingly light weighing at 154g, which is only 4 grams more than the smaller Lumia 830.
However, there are some small design problems that bring home the reality of the EYE’s place in the hierarchy. The external buttons on the side are a bit flimsy and don’t feel very secure. Similarly, the SD card slot and SIM slots are awkward and need a bit of fiddling to release them.
It’s impressive that HTC has managed to keep HTC’s trademark Boomsound speakers in this cheaper device. This is one of HTC’s defining - and in some cases deciding - factor that can differentiate it from a market oversaturated with identikit smartphones.
Music and films benefit hugely from the boosted sound-level that doesn’t come across as tinny or flat as most other external smartphone speakers. Conversely, the 830’s speakers are very quiet. Even at full blast they pale in comparison to the EYE (most devices do) - but their timidity is frustratingly noticeable.
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Microsoft’s Lumia 830 continues bulky trend other Lumia devices seem to suffer from, weighing in at 150g for 5-inch device. Aside from the extra bulk, the Lumia 830 is very nicely designed. It’s one of the few handsets that can sell itself so well just on how it looks and feels. The metal sides adds extra value to the 830 that’s not reflected in its price, and the general finish means the 830 punches above its weight in aesthetics.
The familiar removable back cover has returned, which, when taken off, reveals a replaceable battery and SD card slot - the latter being a key feature for affordable devices. Where the Micro SD slot on the Lumia is protected by removable back-cover, the EYE has a somewhat flimsy pull-out tray that looks and feels like a temporary peripheral that you will inevitably lose.
The fact that it’s not tethered to the handset tells me that the tray will be a cause for frustration, not to mention that losing it means that the device will no longer be waterproof.
Display
Despite the EYE’s 1080p 424ppi, the interface looks a bit pixelated, dated and washed out. This is perhaps mroe to do with HTC’s unattractive Sense UI, rather than the screen technology itself. But there is an issue with brightness, the EYE’s highest brightness level frankly isn’t very bright, which can affect video watching or picture browsing - two activities I like to whack the brightness up for.
It is, therefore, to Microsoft’s credit that it managed to squeeze so much quality in to 830’s screen that it comfortably beats the EYE’s UI. The vibrancy of the live tiles looks far more engaging than the bland Sense UI. But this is pretty much where the party ends of the Lumia screen. Whilst it has good brightness, the low-resolution is strikingly obvious when watching a HD video. It’s blurry, pixelated and generally not very nice to watch. Up against the EYE when playing a HD video, there’s no contest.
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Camera
The camera is perhaps the most fierce battle between the two devices. In HTC’s corner, dual 13MP front and rear cameras with a host of new features. In Microsoft’s corner, the Lumia 830’s 10MP PureView camera.
First up, the Desire EYE: HTC’s elevated cost largely comes down to the camera technology that’s been shoehorned into EYE. It has packed in two front and rear 13MP cameras that take good pictures and both are accompanied by a LED flash. Either camera can easily rival anything from the 2014’s flagship devices. Pictures are crisp, clear and the autofocus is as quick as it is in the M8. The front-facing camera appears to lighten pictures - to an almost comical level - to combat its inability to take a good low-light picture. However it doesn’t seem to do the same with the rear-facing camera - with low-light pictures not faring as well as the Lumia 830.
On the left the 830, on the right is the Desire EYE. Clearly, the 830 far outperforms the EYE in... [+]
The reason for a powerful front-facing camera is probably because HTC is targeting a very specific market that has a penchant relentless selfie taking. And that’s reflected in the accompanying apps and features in the software.
The front-facing camera has been renamed to simply “Selfie” just in case there was any confusion as to what its intended purpose is. Both cameras have similar functionality, with a few subtle differences. The selfie camera counts down from three when you take a picture and there’s a sliding ‘beauty’ scale that supposedly enhances your selfie - although in reality is just blurs and smoothes out the picture. The rear camera has more functionality including taking depth of field pictures, adding filters and a night mode.
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HTC’s post editing options are vast and, at times, baffling. A fully stocked gallery can be a daunting place and HTC hasn’t made it any easier with so many different sub sections for your edited photos from ‘photobooth’ to ‘live makeup’. The EYE is clearly for people who take their smartphone photography quite seriously.
A snippet of the many editing options
I was impressed, however, by the additional effects that could be added to pictures. Aside from the regular filters and frames, there’s also enhanced effects that allow you to intricately tweak pictures to get the desired effect. Although some of the effects like ‘eye enhancer’ and ‘face contour’ - which makes your face slimmer - perpetuate unsecurely obsessive vanity that seems to have gripped the selfie crazed.
There’s also some cool additional camera features that fall on the side of cool gimmick. The EYE can take split screen photos from both cameras at the same time, and automatically crop people into the photo - which works quite nicely. One of my favorite features, though, is how well both cameras work with Skype. When on a Skype video call with multiple people in one room, the EYE camera will separate out each person within the camera’s field of view and put their heads in individual boxes. So it looks as if each person is speaking directly to their own personal camera.
On to the Lumia: Microsoft’s Lumia doesn’t have the same 13MP front and rear camera. Instead it has a 10MP rear camera and a 0.9MP front facing camera, which, on paper, doesn’t look like it can compete. But the Lumia range is famed for its camera quality, and in particular Microsoft's PureView technology.
The rear facing camera is the main event. Pictures come out crisp, clear and can easily rival some of the flagship devices currently on the market. It’s not the best of the Lumia range, that medal goes to the 41MP 1020, but it’s still very good. Microsoft even boasted about how the 830’s camera rivals easily tops that of the Galaxy S5 and iPhone 5. This is down to the quality of picture, but also the post-photo editing options too.
EYE on the left and 830 on the right: there isn't much between the two cameras. Both are decent... [+]
The photo editing options, as with the EYE, are vast. And it’s interesting that two devices can take such a different approach to photo editing. Where the EYE focuses on selfie editing and enhancing the pictures to make them look more magazine-style photoshopped (with some standard framing and filter extras), the 830 takes a more professional approach.
Functions like the Dynamic Flash, which allows you to remove or add a flash in editing, is a genuinely useful feature. It does this by taking two photos, one with a flash and one without, and lets you add or remove the effect after.
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Most of these editing effects are part of the Lumia Creative Studio, which adds effects like choosing which part of the photo you want blurred, or colour enhancing. There’s also an extensive list of selfie editing options that include similar face altering effects and frames that place you in meme. Yes, these effects are silly, and someone my age probably shouldn’t be enjoying them as much as I did, but sometimes life is strange.
A key feature included in the Lumia software is the easily accessible tutorial menu. It seems so obvious, but the fact is that few manufacturers include this and many people have no idea how to manually tweak the settings for a better picture. There are six tutorials built into the device, with more online. These include advice on simple things like how take better low-light photos, to more advanced stuff like what adjusting ISO does.
Performance
The Desire EYE has a
I also ran the Antutu benchmark and it placed the EYE just behind the Galaxy Note 3 in terms of performance, two places below the Galaxy S5 and two places above the Sony Xperia Z2.
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The Lumia 830’s Snapdragon 400, 1.3GHz quadcore processor and 1GB of RAM isn’t as accomplished as the Desire EYE. Whilst you can swipe around the device with ease, when you start to open applications or tap on buttons, the lag starts to set in. There’s a very clear delay in some actions that only gets worse as the device is put under more pressure.
Although the amount of lag isn’t a deal breaker, it’s a few fractions of a second slower than the EYE. But at this price, you probably couldn’t ask for much more. The Antutu benchmark test gave the Lumia 830 a total score of 12014, which is significantly lower than the EYE’s 40865.
In terms of battery, both devices will give you around a day's worth of power under heavy duress - which means playing games, watching videos, listening to music and making calls. The Lumia 830's 2200mAh drained faster than the EYE's 2,400mAh battery, but both needed a charge by the end of the day.
Both have a power saving mode, although HTC's popular 'extreme power saving mode' is far more drastic than what Microsoft has to offer. The EYE's Qualcom chipset also comes with built-in fastercharge 2.0, which will charge the battery 75% faster. Although you'll need a separate cable - which, disappointingly, isn't included as part of the EYE's kit - to do this.
Windows Vs Sense UI
The Windows Phone experience is excellent. The live tiles and UI layout is intuitive and easy to use, not to mention aesthetically far ahead of Samsung and HTC. The Cortana personal assistant is the best of the personal assistants available, simply because of speed and its ability to understand requests.
It’s also well integrated into other apps in the software.For example, asking Cortana to remind you buy some flowers when you next pass supermarket will set a location based reminder.
Microsoft is seriously pushing its mobile productivity apps to gain market share and become a genuine contender. How well that will pan out is yet to be seen, but most of the Lumia devices come with a number of enticing freebies. As it stands, Lumia devices are pre-loaded with a premium Skype subscription, One Note, Cortana and the excellent streaming music service Mix Radio.
830 owners will also be able to download and view password protected Word documents without having to buy an Office 365 subscription. If you’re a power user of Microsoft software (this includes the Xbox One users) buying a Lumia is a bit of a no brainer.
However, if you’re not, then the usual arguments against switching ecosystem apply. In fact, they’re magnified because
Even basic apps like YouTube aren’t available on the Windows store (even though there’s a pretty decent third party app) and there have been constant issues with fake scam apps tricking users. The Windows app store has a lot of work to do if it wants to be a viable alternative.
Conversely, HTC benefits from the strength of Android. The Google Play Store needs no description or introduction - it’s the biggest platform in the US and has a mind boggling amount of choice for the consumer. It comfortably beats Windows’ app store hands down.
But HTC’s dominance in availability of apps doesn’t translate when you compare its UI versus Windows UI. HTC’s Sense UI that’s overlaid Android is quite frankly unattractive. The quick settings and notifications swipe down menus in particular, look dated.
It’s disappointing because Android Lollipop (which the EYE hasn’t been upgraded to yet) has really inventive notifications and an awesome newly designed overview feature that lists all open apps. Sense could really benefit from this, and maybe it still will when the updates come around. But until then, Sense doesn’t stack up against Windows’ live tiles.
HTC Sense does have some impressive features that enhance the Sense experience, however. Notably Zoey - it’s photo sharing social media network - and Blinkfeed - it’s intuitive newsfeed that replaces Google Now. Whilst I prefer to use Google Now, Blinkfeed does have its merits.
Conclusion
These are two quality phones that excel in some areas and fare less well in others. Clearly the main area of contention are the cameras. Microsoft has to be commended for getting so much out of a lower megapixel camera. Also, as with the EYE, the editing options are extensive and useful. There isn't much to call between the two cameras.
The Desire EYE’s dual 13MP cameras are a revelation and perhaps an experiment that we may see repeated elsewhere, but work needs to be done on low-light photography. The accompanying Skype functionality and editing apps make the camera experience genuinely excellent and gives it the edge against the 830. But the 830 isn't far behind thanks to the excellent rear camera.
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On performance, the EYE easily out muscles the 830. But the overall experience goes to the 830 because of free access to Microsoft apps and the superior UI. HTC really needs to work on Sense because it just doesn’t cut it with the latest rival handsets. To their credit as mid-range devices, both support NFC and LTE - features that are sometimes excluded from cheaper handsets.
The biggest difference, however, is in price. The EYE retails at the higher-end of the mid-range at $548, which can mostly be attributed to the camera technology and water resistant design. Whereas the Lumia retails for incredibly low $404, which reflects the lower grade technology under the hood. This will be a huge sticking point for some people.
The Lumia 830 is a quality device that punches well above its price-point, especially in the camera department. But the EYE is a powerhouse that might better suit a power user. If you’re looking for a out of the box overall good smartphone experience, then the Lumia 830 is for you. But if you're looking for a longer term solution and you're likely to download lots of apps, then the EYE is your best bet.
