Nokia Lumia 930 - Can it Challenge Galaxy S5, HTC One or iPhone 6?

Nokia's smartphone business is very soon going to be subsumed into Microsoft, meaning the brand which was once the world's biggest maker of mobile phones will inevitably lose some of its identity.

While the company made its name with feature phones, for the last three years it has been carrying the torch for Windows Phone, driving the (admittedly small) growth as it takes on the Android and iOS leviathans.

Nokia's Lumia smartphones have been big and bright with superior imaging technology as their core unique features - but the hardware has essentially been held back by the Windows Phone platform and Microsoft.

Now the company is launching one last high-end Lumia smartphone which neatly encapsulates how far the company has come since jumping off Stephen Elop's burning platform and embracing Microsoft's vision of a smartphone operating system.

Lumia 930

The Lumia 930 will launch in the UK in a couple of months time, at which point Nokia's smartphone business will be entirely in the hands of Microsoft.

It will ship with Windows Phone 8.1, the latest version of Microsoft's mobile OS which brings with it some key updates, including a notification centre, a super fast keyboard and of course the headline-grabbing Cortana - though the voice activated personal assistant won't be coming to the UK until the end of 2014 at the earliest.

Nokia can't be faulted for not producing enough Lumia smartphones. It has produced over 20 in the last three years, though this does mean it is sometimes hard to remember which is which, with the design language remaining pretty consistent throughout.

The Lumia 930 itself will come once again in the recognisably bright Nokia colours (as well as black and white), though not the iconic yellow previous models.

Nokia said customer feedback had told them that green and orange are all the colours of the moment, so in a bid to remain fashionable and relevant, the Lumia 930 will ship with these colours.

High-end smartphone

This is Nokia's new high-end flagship phone and will therefore be going compared to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One (M8), Sony Xperia Z2 and the iPhone 6 - whenever Apple reveias its plans for 2014.

Design-wise the Lumia 930 looks and feels a lot like the rest of the Lumia line-up. It's polycarbonate chassis looks great and it's overall dimensions are a lot less than the HTC One (M8) despite having similar-sized screens. It makes the phone much easier to hold and use one-handed.

The design is nothing radical but Nokia will be hoping that features like the 20 megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation, the bright colours and the new-and-improved Windows Phone 8.1 software will be enough to entice users to switch.

Indeed with the option of colours other than black or white, and the newly-customisable Windows Phone 8.1 interface, the Lumia 930 will be an attractive option for those who want thoer phone to make a statement, something an iPhone could never do.

Wireless charging

Another trick up Microsoft's sleeve is wireless charging. It is something the company has been trying to push for a number of years now, but the Lumia 930 has the technology built in, meaning there is no need for an additional case.

But to get people to actually use the technology, Nokia is giving everyone who buys the Lumia 930 a free charing pad, which should at the very least let people experience wireless charging for themselves.

Conor Pierce, Nokia's top man in the UK & Ireland told IBTimes UK the Lumia 930 would be subject to "one of the biggest joint marketing campaigns ever" when it launches at the end of June, indicating that Microsoft may finally be ready to put its full weight behind the Lumia brand.

With UK market share much higher than other parts of the globe, and enterprise share in the UK approaching 20% according to figures from Canalys, the Nokia Lumia brand looks to be in a good position when it is finally handed over to Microsoft at some point this month.

However, most of the consumer growth in the UK has been at the low end, with models like the Lumia 520 taking over from the BlackBerry Curve as the teenager's budget model of choice.

Whether the Lumia 930 is the phone to take the brand to the next level and challenge the big boys like Apple, Samsung or Sony is doubtful.

The Nokia Lumia 930 will be released in the UK in late June/early July with pricing or netowrk support yet to be announced.