Bright, sturdy shell with changeable covers, 5 megapixel camera on front, low price
Sub-HD, unresponsive screen, processor could be faster
Well we knew it was coming, and now here it is -- the first Microsoft Lumia handset, dispensing completely with the Nokia name. So has ditching that familiar and venerated brand helped to make a better phone?
The Lumia 535 is essentially an upgrade of the Lumia 530, and as well as a new name it adds a few improvements without upping the price. The glossy shell comes in a variety of bright colours and feels pretty sturdy, though it pops off easily enough if you press one of the corners to get at the battery, SIM and microSD cards.
You may want the latter as there's only 8GB of memory on board, though you can add another 128GB via microSD card, and you also get 15GB free cloud storage thrown in. The cover tends to pop off if you drop it too, which like a car's crumple zones is intended to absorb the impact so you only have to put your phone back together, rather than forking out for a new device.
Screen & Chassis
It's nice to see the 530's 4in screen expanded up to 5in but it's a shame the quality didn't make the leap too. With a resolution of 960x540 pixels (220ppi) it's sub-HD and on a screen this size it's noticeably less sharp than its HD rivals. Viewing angles are a disappointment too, and you need to be looking at it straight on to appreciate it so it isnt great for sharing. More disappointing is its unresponsiveness -- we often had to double swipe or double press to get our point across, which gets a bit irritating after a while.
Software & Processor
There's no 4G but that's no surprise at this price. The 1.2GHz quad-core processor is supported by a mere 1GB RAM, but it's still good to see this sort of engine on a budget device. It's no slouch either and is capable of playing HD games, albeit with the occasional stutter. Our AntuTu benchmark test gave it a score of 11,628, which is actually pretty high for a Windows phone.
Photography
The 5 megapixel camera on the back is more or less what you'd expect for the price, with perhaps some extras in the shape of autofocus and an LED flash (a step up on the 530 incidentally). Unusually though it's got a very similar 5 megapixel camera on the front too, with a wide angle lens so you can squeeze more faces into your selfies. Picture quality is pretty good for the price, and if they're not as sharp or detailed as some, we've certainly seen worse on more expensive devices.
It has a surprisingly small 1905mAh battery considering the size of the phone as as a result it doesn't deliver the kind of battery life we've got used to on Windows phones. It should get you through the day, just about, but not much more.
Conclusion
Despite the change of name, the Microsoft Lumia 535 is pretty much business as usual. It's a solidly put together budget-priced workhorse of a phone that will get most jobs done without particularly excelling in any department. It's a shame the screen's not a bit sharper or more responsive, but the quad-core processor keeps things nipping along and it's good to see a decent 5 megapixel camera on the front.
Software: Windows Phone 8.1
Processor: Quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 5in, 960x540 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 5 megapixel, LED flash, autofocus; 5 megapixel front-facing camera
Video playback: H.263, H.264/AVC, MPEG-4, VC-1, Windows video
Audio playback: MP3, WAV, eAAC+, WMA
Radio: Yes
Battery: 1905mAh
Size: 140x72x9mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
