Microsoft Lumia 535 vs Lumia 435
With Microsoft slowly petering out the Nokia Lumia brand in favour of its own Microsoft Lumia name, we’re seeing new Lumia handsets coming in thick and fast. Settling into the budget end of the spectrum, the company’s new Lumia 435 and Lumia 535 have wowed the critics thanks to their fair specs and affordable price tags.
But how do these two cheap smartphones fare when put head to head in our Microsoft Lumia 535 vs Lumia 435 battle?
Microsoft Design
Thankfully the switch from Nokia to Microsoft hasn’t lost the brand’s colourful take on life, and both handsets boast ever vibrant bodies, adding a splash of colour into the smartphone scene. The Lumia 535 is available in orange, green, white, grey, black and blue, whilst the new Lumia 435 can be picked up in a similar colour palette with the exception of the blue and grey variations.
There are even more differences between the 535 and 435 further than their colour schemes too. With a dinky 4-inch screen, the Lumia 435 is a slightly smaller handset than the Lumia 535 which boasts a 5-inch display. Speaking of screens, the smaller display on the 435 is actually slightly sharper, with 235 pixels in every inch, compared to the 220 pixel per inch (ppi) count of the Lumia 535.
Phone Specs
Targeted at the lower end of the market, the phone specs of the two Lumia handsets might not blow you away, but with a price tag that is sure to sweep you off your feet, we’re sure you’ll overlook this! So when it comes to specifications, which is the best Lumia phone?
Let’s kick off with the Microsoft Lumia 535: the smartphone features slightly stronger specs including a quad-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM which makes it just as speedy as most budget and mid-range handsets which are considerably more expensive.
On the other hand, the cheaper Lumia 435 has a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, putting it slightly behind its bigger brother in terms of power, but with an equal 1GB RAM and a smaller 4-inch screen to manage, the device is sure to live up to whatever you throw at it! The Lumia 435’s small screen also does it favours in the weight department, making the handset lighter than life at just 134g- though the Lumia 535 isn’t far behind with its 146g weigh in!
Two Budget Camera Phones
However much a phone costs- or doesn’t cost- we’ve come to expect a shiny camera on the back of our phones, and luckily Microsoft has heard our wishes with both the Lumia 535 and 435.
The larger of the two Lumia phones sports a 5 megapixel camera on both the front and the back of the handset which is great news for selfie enthusiasts! The Microsoft Lumia 435 on the other hand has a smaller 2 megapixel back camera and a VGA snapper on the front of the device. Although this will still let you take those all-important selfie shots, your snaps might not be as top notch as with the Lumia 535.
Windows Phone OS
Compared to a lot of budget smartphones on the shelves, Microsoft’s latest models boast the Windows Phone operating system, Windows Phone 8.1. And with this operating system on board, the Lumia 535 and 435 both sport a number of identical features which make the smartphones stand out of the crowd.
You can read more about the Windows Phone operating system in our Nokia Lumia 830 review.
Cortana
Cortana is Microsoft’s very own virtual assistant similar to Apple’s Siri and Android’s Google Now. Cortana essentially offers free voice recognition software that turns your smartphone into your very own PA; need a reminder to hand in an important deadline or to buy milk- just ask Cortana!
OneDrive
OneDrive from Microsoft is an online data storage platform which lets you share files and expand your computer storage by saving your documents to an online cloud. All you have to do is sync files to OneDrive from your Lumia smartphone and bob’s your uncle- everything will be there for you to access from any computer, phone or tablet!
Windows Phone App Store
Another advantage of having a Windows Phone is that you can download all of the best Windows Phone apps from the Marketplace. Whether you’re a social media addict or a serial gamer, with the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Flappy Birds available to download for free, there’s plenty on your Lumia 435 and Lumia 535 to keep you busy!
Microsoft Lumia 435 and Lumia 535 Price
Now to the really good stuff: price. Microsoft has never tried to shroud us from the fact that both Lumia smartphones are cheap handsets with budget price tags. But even still, the with the Lumia 435 costing just £50 SIM free and the Lumia 535 less than £100, both handsets are a real steal!
**Looking for an even cheaper phone? **Here’s our Nokia 215 review, a feature phone that’s cheap as chips!