IFA 2014: Nokia Lumia 830 and 730 hands-on

Nokia Lumia 730 and 735 hands-on

In the Nokia Lumia 730 and 735 pair, the former is the 3G/dual-SIM version while the latter has 4G LTE connectivity. Both are all about selfie shots whether you take them with the front or the back camera.

Nokia took a shot at the famous selfie that Ellen took at the Oscars - it became the most retweeted image ever but Nokia said the camera it was taken with (the 2MP front-facing camera of a Samsung Galaxy Note 3) just wasn't good enough.

The front-facing camera on the Lumia 730/735 has a 5MP sensor and a wide-angle 24mm lens. This lets you fit more people into the shot.

Strangely, this camera only records 720p video but Nokia has optimized it for video calls (Skype limits video on mobiles to 720p anyway). Cortana, the Windows Phone digital assistant, can place a Skype video call for you - just trigger it with "Hey, Cortana" (new in Lumia Denim) and ask it to Skype one of your contacts. Again, all Lumias get three months of free Skype Unlimited World calling.

The main camera has an unusual resolution of 6.7MP and a Zeiss lens with a very wide f/1.9 aperture, matched only by the Lumia 720 camera. Unlike the front-facing camera, this one can record 1080p video.

The 6.7MP camera with Zeiss optics on the Lumia 730

Here's a quick photo we took with the Lumia 730. The lighting wasn't the best but we weren't allowed outside with the phone.

Nokia Lumia 730 camera sample

The Lumia Selfie app can work with either camera - it uses face recognition tech to give you audio cues as you try to frame the shot. The Nokia Asha phones had a similar feature in the absence of a front-facing camera.

The Selfie app will be prebundled on the 730/735 duo but is available today in the app store for all Lumia phones, including the Lumia 530 and Lumia 630, which don't have a front-facing camera.

The Nokia Lumia 730 and 735 have 4.7" AMOLED screen of 720p resolution and ClearBlack.

A 4.7" AMOLED display with 720p resolution and Nokia ClearBlack

The phone runs Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim on a Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor and 1GB RAM. A 2,220mAh battery provides the juice.

The Lumia 730 is all plastic

The dual-SIM Nokia Lumia 730 and the 4G LTE-enabled Nokia Lumia 735 will ship this month at euro;200 and €220 respectively (before taxes and subsidies). The phones will come in Dark grey, Bright white, Bright orange and Bright green.

Update: We've shot a few camera samples with the Nokia Lumia 735: