Tech Tools review: Microsoft Lumia 650

It still feels a little odd to say Microsoft Lumia. The word "Nokia" keeps rearing its head, despite the fact that the brand name disappeared from the Lumia phone towards the end of 2014.

But some of the work begun by Nokia is continuing with the Lumia brand, most notably in the 600 series. That has always been the Lumia’s more budget-friendly, yet not quite rock-bottom in terms of specs, phone. But while the Microsoft Lumia 650 may have its roots in that thinking, the phone itself has moved on from its Nokia days.

Most significantly, it has grown up a bit. Gone are the bright colours; in their place are black and white handsets, with an aluminium strip that gives the device a more upmarket feel. The flagship Windows 10 Lumia 950 may be out of the price range of some users, but the Lumia 650 is intended to be the next best thing.

At €199 though, you can’t expect every single feature from the 950 to make an appearance. There is no Continuum support, for example, which allows you to hook up your phone to a dock and turn it into the brains of a computer. The 650 also fails to include support for Windows hello, which allows you to log into your device using eye recognition. Neither is essential for users, but they are nice extras, and make the devices a lot more flexible, particularly in a business environment.

One thing you notice is the weight of the phone. At 122g, it feels almost featherlike in your hand. That has a slight trade-off in the battery life of the device; at 2000 mAh, it’s adequate, but not stellar. You’ll get most of a day from a single charge, but heavy users may eat into that power a lot quicker.

The phone comes with 16GB of onboard storage, but also includes support for a microSD card that can expand your phone’s storage by up to 200GB. That’s a decent amount of space to store videos and still images from the phone’s eight megapixel camera.

That resolution alone won’t set the world on fire, but the camera performs decently overall. Low-light photos are reasonable, and the resulting footage looks great on the phone’s five-inch OLED display.

That’s one great thing about the 650 – the display, which has Gorilla Glass 3 and a resolution that is beyond what you’d expect for a phone of this price.

Where the phone falls down a bit is in its underlying power. The Snapdragon 212 is a little underpowered, and with only 1GB of RAM, you can’t expect too much from the phone. Try to push it too hard and you’ll find it slows down to a crawl.

It all has to be taken in the context of the price though. At €199, the Lumia 650 isn’t trying to displace the 950 or its more expensive brethren, but rather just carve out its own place in the market.

The good

The display is worthy of a mention, with the OLED screen making it into a budget phone. It fits in with the 650’s not-so-budget ambitions.

The not so good

The lack of a USB C port means the device isn’t compatible with Microsoft’s Lumia dock. No Continuum for 650 users, then. And no Windows Hello support either, so you are doomed to have to remember your passwords.

The rest

There’s no wireless charging in the Lumia 650, but there is support for a MicroSD card. That will provide a good boost to your storage capacity.

The verdict

HHH A budget phone with lofty aspirations, the Lumia 650 is a decent handset for the price. Just don’t expect too much of it.