Lumia 530 vs 520 vs 525 –Which One You Should Buy
When Microsoft announced the Lumia 530, the first question that got to my mind was, “What Happens to the 520 now, or is this the new 520”. The price of the Lumia 530 and current price of 520 is the same, while Lumia 525 is selling at Rs 1500 (appx 28$) more.
While the 520 has a significant impact on the market for its affordability 525 for its 1 GB RAM and is still affordable, 530, which we reviewed recently, comes with better battery life and improved hardware specs except for the 4 GB internal storage.
So in this post, we set out to compare the Quad-Core Powered Lumia 530, The Best Selling Windows Phone, the Lumia 520 dual-core 1 GHz, and 1 GB RAM powered Lumia 525.
Storage
Difference:
- Lumia 520 has 512 MB RAM. It has 8 GB of internal storage.
- Lumia 525 has 1 GB RAM with 8 GB internal storage
- Lumia 530 has 512 MB RAM with 4 GB internal storage.
Impact:
When you have 520 / 525, 6.5 GB is free storage space to start with and can make it through without an SD card for a very long time. You don’t need to worry about heavy games and apps which take up huge space on your internal storage. You will have around 2 GB still left with you after installing the most popular apps, which are enough for future updates.
If you still find it enough, take up a Class 4 micro SD card and move your music and movies. The games can stay back on internal storage.
When it comes to the Lumia 530, you only get 1.8 GB of internal storage space free after setting it up for the first time—having such a low internal storage calls in for a microSD card (class 10 recommended) right from day one since your apps need a better-performing card, especially games.
Application Performance:
Difference: Lumia 520 and Lumia 530 come with 512 MB RAM, while Lumia 525 houses a 1 GB RAM powered by QUALCOMM Dual Core 1 GHz Processor. Also, the Lumia 530 is powered by Snapdragon 200 1.2 GHz processor.
Impact: While Lumia 520 and 530 both have 512 MB RAM, Lumia 520 users will have all their apps installed on internal storage, consistently faster than the SD storage that users will need in 530 from day one. If you smartly choose a Class 10 SD card from day one, it will have better performance than the 520 because of the processor.
While Lumia 525 has old hardware and has better specs both in terms of internal storage and RAM. With 8 GB storage and 1 GB RAM, you will get the best performance by spending 1500 extra, which is worth it.
Game Performance:
Difference: Lumia 520 and Lumia 530 come with 512 MB RAM, while Lumia 525 houses 1 GB RAM. Also, the Lumia 530 is powered by Snapdragon 200 1.2 GHz processor.
Impact:
Lumia 520: There were no hiccups, glitches, hanging. The phone does heat up when you play it for a long, especially on a slow SD card. However, this did not cause any issue with game performance.
Lumia 525: This budget phone will never have to wait for any game to support it, as any game which comes out on Windows Phone supports 1GB. Like the 520, it does not have any hiccups or glitches, and it performs better.
Lumia 530: When playing any game on this, there are no hiccups, no lags, and even if you crash a car when playing it, the recovery is fast and without any frame drops. The problem is with the time it takes to open the game and even when you switch back. I had the games on the class 4 SD card, hence the performance issue.
I suggest that both the device grab a class 10 microSD for better performance and faster game download as it is damn slow on a class 4 microSD card.
Battery Life:
Difference: None. All the phones come with 1430 mAH battery power.
Impact: Powered with Snapdragon 1.2 GHz Quadcore Processor, 530 beats the 520 and the 525 big down when it comes to battery. We had an average of 20 hours of battery life in our review. On excessive usage, the phone lasted for 15 hrs while on casual, it lasted for 24 hrs.
While both Lumia 520 and 525 lasted for runs for 10 hours on heavy usage and can reach 14 hours on regular usage. While after the year, we saw the 525 running only for 6 hours tops when used all the time.
Camera (Photos + Video)
Difference: Lumia 530 comes with a 5 MP Fixed focus camera while both Lumia 520 and 525 have tapped to focus cameras. None of these phones have flash, and they support Nokia Camera.
Impact: Only for Casual Users, 520/525 wins here.
Pictures: Lumia 520 and 525 has a significant advantage over the camera of 530 for its apparent reason. You can tap and focus on an object you want to keep in focus while Lumia 530 camera is not even worth looking at. It’s there just because you should have a camera.
Video: Both in Lumia 525 and 520, the highest quality of Video you can record in 720p, while in the Lumia 530, it’s 480P, which is pretty poor. While I won’t say that the 720P recording camera is freaking awesome because it misses the sharpness, it’s better than what Lumia 530 offers.
Music / Speaker Quality:
All three devices have excellent speakers that sound good when loud at a volume of 20 of 30, except for gaming when you hit those volume knockers to 30. Music quality deteriorates a little at this level. I tried both online streaming services like the MixRadio and local music players, which was pretty good.
When used along with earphones, the quality was pretty excellent. Lumia 530 doesn’t come with earphones like the Lumia 520, so be ready to use an old one or grab a new one like the Coloud in-earphones.
Display & Screen Quality:
Difference: Lumia 530 comes with regular LCD while 520 comes with IPS LCD, which gives a better viewing angle.
Impact: 520/525 has a better screen than 530
Lumia 530: I did see the colors changing in the 530 screens where it went from light orange to deep red as I moved from left to right when an orange theme was selected.
Lumia 520 / Lumia 525 IPS LCD is why colors look great, even from wide viewing angles. So if there are a couple of people watching on your screen, they get to see the same colors.
Lumia 530 gets less moisture than 520/525: It’s a significant advantage for many of you who live in constantly changing weather conditions and high humidity areas.
Screen Response to touch is almost the same on both phones. Apart from this point, there are no significant differences between the screens. Both are almost of the exact resolution and fingerprint magnet. Sunlight readability should not be an expectation for this budget phone.
Build & Design:
Difference: Candy Design of 530 vs. Rectangular 520/525
Impact: Both the phones have a significant design factor and high-quality build except for the cases. While the Lumia 530 gets you a candy design that gives a better grip, the Lumia 530 is a brick factor. I found holding the 530 was better, even with a case on it.
Both the phones have a quality build even when you take off the rear case. Nokia maintained its quality standard, making it value for money design. When using the buttons, 530 buttons responded better than the Lumia 530. Also, they both weigh the same.
Like Lumia 620 and 820, Lumia 520 and Lumia 530 have an exchangeable shell.
So which one to buy?
With its recent update of Windows, Phone 8.1 has all the features you expected since it started. The platform has matured. You have enough apps. So the question is which one you need to pick up if given a choice. If I am in your place, I would pickup
Lumia 530 for these reasons:
- Better hardware (1. 2 GHz Snapdragon 200 Quad-Core)
- Amazing battery life. 20 to 24 hours
Lumia 525 / 520 for these reasons:
- Better Gaming Performance
- Camera with Tap to Focus and 720P Recording.
- More Internal Storage, i.e., 8 GB
- 525 for 1GB RAM.
So which one will you pick?
