Four current Windows smartphones for every budget

After the flops Windows CE and Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is once again playing a role in cell phone operating systems. However, the great smartphone offers in particular are attracting more and more buyers.

Windows Phone 7 wasn't bad, but its successor, Windows Phone 8, is at least a class above. In particular, the hardware restrictions have been removed, meaning that smartphones are now finally available that offer more than just a small screen and manageable performance. A lot has also changed on the software side. At the heart of this are the tiles familiar from Windows 8. The home screen in particular sets WP8 apart from Android and iOS:. It is not dominated by app icons but by live tiles. They automatically pull new information from the web in the background and display it directly. This allows the user to see upcoming appointments, new Facebook messages and the current weather at a glance.

Apps: light and shade

In addition to the good overview, the mobile Microsoft OS offers other advantages, such as high performance and ease of use. Another extra is even unique in the smartphone world, the "real" offline navigation solution "Here Maps" from Nokia. This solution works excellently both on foot and in the car. However, the app offering is not quite as good. Although there are now over 160,000 of these mini programs, this is still poor compared to Android and Apple with well over 500,000 apps. On the other hand, the Windows Store scores with its great look and logical structure. Another huge advantage is the ability to pay via PayPal. Neither Apple nor Google have managed to do this yet, so a credit card is basically a must.

Ultimately, however, it is the smartphones that impress with their unique functions or first-class price/performance ratio. Although the selection is manageable compared to Android, Nokia in particular has some extremely interesting devices on offer.

The new top model: Nokia Lumia 1520

Is it a tablet or a smartphone? Experts describe the gigantic Lumia 1020 as a phablet, i.e. a mixture of both device classes. The giant can hardly be considered a phone. In fact, it looks rather silly when you hold the chocolate bar-sized device to your ear. Nevertheless - the internal and external values are impressive: the great workmanship, the top screen, the fast quad-core processor, the modern features including LTE and the very good camera typical of Lumia make the 1520 a top device. Unfortunately, the price is not quite so top, the RRP is a whopping 799 euros. For this reason, and because of its chunky format, the Lumia 1520 is mainly of interest to well-heeled technology freaks.

The camera wonder: Nokia Lumia 1020

Nokia advertises the Lumia 1020 with a resolution of an incredible 41 megapixels. Mind you, this is a smartphone in the 500 euro class and not a professional SLR camera. But first things first: The Lumia 1020 actually snaps pictures in "Pure View mode" with a resolution of three, five or eight megapixels as standard. The photos contain so-called "super pixels". On the one hand, this minimizes the dreaded image noise, while on the other, the 1020 can offset up to eight pixels against each other and achieve a significantly better image quality than conventional camera phones. Users can also zoom into the subject and crop out individual image elements in top quality. Of course, you can also take photos at full resolution. The photos then have a choice of 38 megapixels in 4:3 or 34 megapixels in 16:9 format. There are also a wide range of setting options such as light sensitivity from ISO 50 to 1,600, exposure compensation and bracketing as well as a self-timer.

Tests show that the Lumia 1020 does not have to hide behind good compact cameras in terms of image quality. As a smartphone, however, it cannot be recommended without reservation. The working speed could be faster and the battery life is below average. At least it comes with all the latest data transfer technologies such as LTE, WLAN-n and NFC. (Further information about LTE tariffs and providers in comparison can be found here).

Affordable iPhone competitor: Nokia Lumia 925

The Lumia 925 is all about chic. The flat aluminum housing is particularly eye-catching. Nokia has also marginally improved the already excellent camera. It is also fast, thanks to a fast 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor, flanked by 1 gigabyte of RAM. The 4.5-inch AMOLED display also scores with great colors and a pixel density of 331.72 ppi at a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels. LTE is also on board. All this is available from around 300 euros, less than half the price of the iPhone 5s. No catches? Yes, at 16 gigabytes, the memory is anything but generous and cannot be expanded. In addition, in contrast to the photo quality, the video quality is not optimal. Tip: If you can do without the aluminum casing, go for the colorful Lumia 920 with a plastic casing. It's around 50 euros cheaper with almost identical features.

Nokia 720: The sensible one

Discreet and affordable: these three words probably best describe the Nokia Lumia 720. Visually alone, it makes a high-quality but unobtrusive impression. This continues with the technology. The Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor with 512 MB of RAM doesn't tear up trees, but it is well equipped for common everyday tasks apart from complex 3D games. The same applies to the camera, which, in contrast to many other Lumia smartphones, does not stand out, but with its 5.7 megapixel sensor it does take some very appealing photos. The only weakness: The measly, but still expandable memory and the lack of LTE support. However, the Lumia 720 is particularly fun to buy, as it can be yours for less than 200 euros. The price/performance ratio is simply first-class.

The screenshot in the article comes from the website: http://www.nokia.com/de-de/smartphones-handys/mobiltelefone/lumia1520/