Battery
While the Nokia Lumia 530 comes with the smallest battery of the three - a mere 1430mAh - it should last plenty long enough on a single charge.
That's thanks to the power-efficient Windows Phone 8.1 OS, a typically frugal Snapdragon CPU, and the 530's small display. The Nokia Lumia 630 can claim two of those three assets, but its larger display means that a more capacious 1830mAh battery has needed to be installed.
However, it's the Motorola Moto G that comes packing the biggest battery of the three. Mind you, it needs every bit of power provided by its 2070mAh battery unit in order to sustain the power-hungry Android OS and that pixel-dense display.
All three will last you through a solid day's usage, but only the Moto G's battery cannot be swapped out for another. It's a point worth noting for frequent travellers.
Camera
Nokia typically makes the finest mobile cameras in the business, but that tends to apply to Lumia smartphones at the opposite end of the market to the 530 and 630.
Both of these budget Lumias are stuck with underwhelming 5MP snappers with no flash to support low light shooting. They also have no front-facing cameras, which rules out video calls and selfies. In decent lighting, though, we found that the 630 can take fairly adequate snaps.
The Motorola Moto G also has a 5MP camera, but it includes both an LED flash and a 1.3-megapixel front camera.
However, our time with the handset yielded poor results when it came to the quality of the final images, so this isn't the clear win that you might be expecting.
OS
This category divides the three devices into two camps. Both the Nokia Lumia 530 and the Lumia 630 run on the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1. They're two of only a small handful of handsets to do so.
Windows Phone 8.1 is a considerable improvement over previous versions, with a new Action Centre adding a drop-down notification menu and settings toggles.
The Moto G, meanwhile, runs on a near-stock version of Android 4.4 KitKat - one of the most flexible, powerful, and popular mobile operating systems around.
In general usage, a comparison of the two operating systems comes down to a simple matter of preference. It's worth noting, however, that the Moto G with Android has access to far more apps and games.
Early verdict
All three of these affordable handsets offer a distinctly modern smartphone experience for the kind of price we used to associate with feature phones. They're all well built, and you have to look quite closely to spot the compromises.
We'd suggest that parents looking to get their young kids on the smartphone ladder will be well served by the Nokia Lumia 530. It's cheap, colourful, intuitive, and its 4-inch screen is perfect for tiny hands.
For slightly older ones looking to get their first taste of the smartphone experience, you could do much worse than the Lumia 630. It's got all the benefits of the Lumia 530, but its screen makes it that much easier to see and use.
For those with a little more smartphone experience, or those who want to explore the wider and more customisable Android ecosystem, the Moto G is the perfect phone for you. Pound for pound, it's one of the best smartphones out there.
