Microsoft Lumia 535 is Microsoft’s first attempt to manufacture a budget phone and also the first phone release after Microsoft took over Nokia’s devices and service business. It also marks the beginning of many other devices to come under the Microsoft regime. Although there is a name change from Nokia Lumia to Microsoft Lumia, there is absolutely no difference in the design and look of the phone compared to the Nokia Lumia series. The only visible difference is that Microsoft has successfully replaced the name ‘Nokia’ with ‘Microsoft’.
That being said, a few features like the wide-angle lens in the 5MP front facing camera that enables it accommodate more people when taking a selfie, makes it stands out in the budget phone category.
DESIGN
The Lumia 535 is a dual SIM phone which retains the original design of the previous Lumia series. It is 5 inch in size with dimension of 140.2 x 72.4 x 8.8 mm. It has an almost perfect feel when holding, weighs 146g and feels smaller with a comfortable grip.
The build is all plastic with a Gorilla glass screen covering the display, at the front is the 5MP camera and the name ‘Microsoft’ written at the top (exact point we use to have Nokia written). I also noticed that the screen is a finger print magnet as my finger prints littered the whole screen after sometime.
At the back is another 5Mp camera with LED flash sitting right beside it, a very obvious Microsoft logo and the loud speaker. The power button and volume key which are easy to reach, sit at the right side of the phone. At the top and bottom are the headphone jack and the USB charging port respectively.
There is also a colourful and changeable back cover (available in various colours) which has a gentle curve that wraps around the display. This cover houses the dual-SIM card slots (micro SIM), battery and the memory card slot.
DISPLAY
The Lumia 535 features a 5-inch Gorilla glass, qHD IPS LCD display screen with a disappointing low screen resolution of 940×540 pixels and pixel density of 220 ppi. Trust me at this ppi level, you don’t get picture detail, images and text looks don’t look great and even high resolution pictures looks dull.
Outdoor visibility especially under direct sunlight is almost impossible, there is a bit of difficulty performing operations like reading text under direct sunlight. Microsoft offered a little bit of help here by with sunlight readability enhancements which slightly improves readability under sun when turned on. Well, you do not get the oversaturation that’s a common feature on Samsung devices here, saturation is fair as well as brightness.
I also found out that the touch display is not too responsive.
Multimedia experience like watching movies, playing games is a lot impressive, thanks to the 5-ich real estate display but the viewing angle is very poor. Front facing camera picture quality looks reasonably good under adequate light and otherwise under low light conditions.
CAMERA
There is a 5MP rear autofocus rear camera with LED flash at the back and a 5MP front facing wide angle camera dedicated for wide selfies and easy skype chats. Picture taken with the camera under adequate light is of average quality with a little bit of detail but doesn’t look too great on the display of the phone. Low light pictures don’t look good, they are prone to dull colours but can be enhanced a little with the flash.
There is a Lumia selfie app with filters which can be used to enhance photos taken with the front camera. The wide angle feature of the front camera allows you to fit in more people into the shot at a time.
The camera can do video recording of 848 x 480 pixel resolution at about 30 FPS. Some noticeable downsides are you don’t get a preview as well as thumbnails of your recent pictures directly within the camera app, also you cannot zoom in when using the camera……. I mean that’s just so weird.
SOFTWARE, FEATURES AND MEMORY
The Lumia 535 runs on the functional Windows Phone 8.1 OS. For people who are new to the windows phone platform, you might find the tiles and the whole interphase and usability a little bit overwhelming but with time you get used to it. Cortana which is Microsoft’s digital assistant is also present. Launching and switching within apps is easy. There is also a notification panel which you can access by swiping down from the top of the screen, similar to what you have on Android devices. This panel also gives you quick access to settings such as Bluetooth, brightness, Wi-Fi. You will also find lots of Lumia camera features after a Denim update
Sound quality is excellent during calls, same with the tiny speaker and headphones. Third party apps like Price Check Nigeria, Facebook also comes pre-installed on the phone.
Microsoft Lumia 535 is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 quad-core processor, browsing the internet was easy and smooth all the way. Performing regular everyday task on the phone went easy without hassle except for the annoying poor response of the touch screen. Playing games like Temple Run, Candy Crush were also smooth but high graphics game like Asphalt 8 didn’t run too smoothly.
RAM size is clocked at 1GB with 8GB internal storage which supports expansion up to 128GB with a microSD card.
BATTERY
The Microsoft Lumia battery is Li-ion with capacity clocked at 1,905mAh. Although battery juice is small, it was surprising to find out that on moderate use, you can still use it for about one and half days before the battery runs out. A slightly heavy usage is likely going to last you for a full day.
The battery is also removable which makes it easy to replace perhaps it goes bad or if you choose to carry an extra battery around.
The Microsoft Lumia 535 is a good budget smartphone with some impressing specs like the front 5MP camera and its wide angle feature. Although there are a few compromise here and there for example the low processor, the non-responsive touchscreen (getting a fix in the next update).
Another thing worthy of note is that the phone as a whole still very much looks like ‘Nokia’. It just looked like Microsoft just changed the branding on the device from Nokia to Microsoft.