The Nokia Lumia comes in seven colours, and each cover is a cut above the norm. Rather than being made of simple glossy plastic, each has two layers. The bottom is a thin layer of opaque plastic, topped with a secondary translucent layer that gives depth to the finish. It may not feel like a top-end phone exactly, but this makes the Lumia seem classier and more interesting than many other budget blowers, including its comparatively dull predecessor, the Lumia With a bit of imagination, you could even say that the red case gives the Lumia the impression of being ringed with neon, viewed from the front.

Fun energy and accessibility are what the Nokia Lumia is after, and it gets both in spades. A few years ago, the 3. Where most phone-makers tend to put power buttons up top and volume rockers on a side edge, the Nokia Lumia lays all its buttons along the right edge. As this button automatically launches the camera app, we were concerned holding the phone might accidentally set the thing off, but in-use we encountered no such problems.

This shutter button is a symptom of the ways in which Windows Phone is restrictive, but the Nokia Lumia also demonstrates some of the ways Windows Phone 8 has loosened up a few of these. Another recent improvement is the ease of file transfers. There are no such annoying restrictions here.

Owning a Windows Phone mobile comes with far fewer irritations than it used to. And, oddly, the headphone input is built into the case rather than the phone itself, connecting with little metal contacts, but functionally it makes no difference. Wireless connectivity is a different story. NFC stands for Near-Field Communication and lets devices communicate wirelessly over short distances. The most attention-grabbing use of NFC is in making payments on the high street without a credit card, but it can also be used to transmit information between devices.

Windows Marketplace even offers a section in its app store showing off NFC-based apps. It even bests the hardy HTC 8S. Naturally, this isn't representative of the battery with more moderate use, but the Lumia did better in this regard, too. It typically gave us two days of use before cutting out. This entailed plenty of web browsing, listening to offline playlists and a handful of calls and email replies.

Its benchmark results don't stand up to phones with beastlier processors like the or , but the still manages a respectable sub-1, score on SunSpider. Meanwhile, the dearth of highly polished Windows Phone games to push the technical abilities of the hardware makes it even harder to differentiate real-world performance between the three phones. On the rare occasion the device froze, it was often during data upload from the camera app to SkyDrive, but the experience was otherwise smooth and without issue.

During our tests on Three UK, we were picking up download speeds of around 5 Mbps, while uploads hovered just below 1 Mbps.

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If Nokia US decides to offer the phone directly to customers, it could prove to be a tempting introduction to Windows Phone without the fiscal carrier hangover. Read our Windows Phone 8 review?

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Or our reviews of those bigger Nokia models? Then sadly, there's not much new to tell you here. But that's actually good news -- despite those lower specifications, the phone gets Nokia Music and Maps, not to mention those Lumia-specific camera enhancements. Mix Radio throws in a substantial amount of offline music your way for free, while Nokia's map navigation loads quickly and reliably. There's also the option to download countrywide maps ahead of any trips abroad. Problems still left to be solved include some major apps that are MIA, including Dropbox, Instagram and Spotify -- the music service remains available on last-generation Windows Phone devices.

Despite that Xbox brand association, gaming remains a shallow experience. If you're making noises about having Angry Birds in , there's an issue. It's also worth mentioning that after getting hands-on with and feeling underwhelmed by Windows Phone 7. To get the full experience -- and join an app selection that will grow in the future -- you're going to have to pick up the Lumia , or Another benefit to the off-contract phone means there's no carrier bloatware to be found. The apps that do arrive pre-installed are mostly worth keeping around and getting rid of unwanted programs is just a long-press away.

The Lumia represents a new high-watermark for entry-level smartphones, regardless of OS. Ignoring the app drawbacks, the phone provides a great web browser experience alongside the full Windows Phone 8 feature set. It could be a very exciting phone for Nokia -- it's an exciting one for us.

We've mentioned the price several times during the review, but for a new smartphone with the latest version of its respective OS, it's a steal. The phone might house a less-capable camera, but for anyone sick of oversized, unwieldy, expensive smartphones, Nokia now has an entry-level Windows Phone to lure the bargain-hunting crowds away from Android, if the Nexus 4 proves too expensive. What's more, it's arguably more attractive than most Google-powered phones around the same price point and could prove to be a huge hit among smartphone beginners.

There's also a good chance that the more-gadget obsessed might pick up the Lumia as a second device to give Microsoft's mobile OS a try -- and with compatibility on two US networks, it might be worth an import. It delivers real-world performance as good as Windows Phones that cost more than double. If anything, it's making us reconsider whether those other rivals are worth the extra outlay.

All products recommended by Engadget were selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company, Verizon Media. If you buy something through one of our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. The Buyer's Guide. US Edition. Log in. Sign up. Show More Results.

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Nokia Lumia review 50 Photos Engadget Score Poor. Pros Attractively priced Good battery life Performance matches higher-end devices. Cons Middling camera performance Windows Phone 8 lacks app selection of entry-level Android phones. Summary The Lumia is a budget phone offering good performance and an attractive design. How would you rate the Lumia ? We want to hear what you think. Post a quick review now to join the conversation! Write a review. Hardware After trying out both the Lumia and the Lumia , it's a relief to see Nokia's phone footprint shrink so that it's closer to 's Lumia Display If you've been looking for a subinch Windows Phone 8 device, options have been pretty limited as of late.

Camera If there was one feature that we expected to be underwhelming, it was the camera. Nokia Lumia sample shots 19 Photos Battery life and performance So, the Lumia has the same resolution of the Lumia , memory expansion through microSD and even a pair of high-amplitude mics, but we had to see how Qualcomm's lesser Snapdragon S4 Plus processor would handle an almost-identical Windows Phone UX.