At an event in Berlin, Nokia has today announced the first high-end smartphone since the company's device division was purchased by software maker Microsoft. At a retail price of 330 Euros before tax and subsidies (approximately US$ 430) the Lumia 830 is what Microsoft calls an "affordable flagship" and comes with an 8.5mm slim body which is made, in true Nokia fashion, out of aluminum and polycarbonate. 

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The device runs Windows Phone 8.1 powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and comes with a 720p 5-inch display. This all sounds pretty mid-range but the camera specs look as if they could make the 830 be a good option for budget-conscious mobile photographers. The camera module offers a 10MP 1/3.4-inch CMOS sensor and F2.2 maximum aperture. What sets the Nokia apart from many competitors is the optical image stabilization system which, according to Nokia, is the thinnest in any of their devices, allowing for the 830's slim physique.

The Lumia 830 will ship with Nokia's latest Windows Phone update (called Denim) and includes a number of interesting new features in the Nokia Camera app. Rich Capture is a new Super-Auto mode that in low-light and high-contrast situations takes a flash or HDR image in addition to a standard exposure. The two images are then merged and you can modify the blend factor, basically allowing you to control flash intensity and HDR strength after capture. In demonstrations, the new feature looked impressive and we're looking forward to testing it out in-depth. 

Camera start-up and shot-to-shot times have both been improved and a long-press of the shutter button in the camera app will now take you directly to 4K-video recording. After capture you get the option to extract individual 4K-frames as stills or create an action composite still from more than one frame. The new camera features will also be made available to the Lumia 930 and 1520 flagship phones before the end of the year. Like previous high-end Lumias, the 830 is capable of recording DNG Raw format and comes with built-in wireless charging. It will start shipping globally this month.

Key specification:

  • 10MP 1/3.4-inch CMOS sensor
  • F2.2
  • Optical Image Stabilization
  • 4K-video
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core SoC
  • 1GB RAM
  • 16GM Storage
  • microSD support up to 128 GB
  • Wireless charging
  • 2200 mAh battery