Sections
- Page 1 Microsoft Lumia 435 Review
- Page 2 Software and Performance Review
- Page 3 Camera Review
- Page 4 Battery Life and Verdict Review
Microsoft Lumia 435 – Software and Performance
Customisable colourful tiles on a black screen interface is the Lumia calling card and it takes some getting used to if you’re new to the Microsoft OS. But for the most part it’s a simple, clean system that can be tailored to fit a person’s specific needs.
One of the biggest limitations on Microsoft Lumia phones is the patchy app support, though some of the most popular apps are available for the 435, including Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Twitter.
We seriously struggled to get signed into the Windows Store to download apps, though. When trying to sign in, we kept getting the error code “800c0005” indicating poor signal, despite being connected to Wi-Fi with a full strength connection. The fact that we were using it to browse the internet made the apparent issue even more baffling.
We even tried downloading apps on another Lumia device using the same connection and experienced no issues. We did manage to get a break through after about an hour and half though – I suspect the issue may have been caused by the tendency of Lumia devices to try and download updates for a large number of apps immediately after being switched on. The resulting app store fail makes for a poor first time user experience.
Microsoft does try to make up for the lack of apps by creating some good apps itself. News and Sport are good examples. Both hub apps for MSN news and MSN sport respectively, do a great job of pooling updates from sources that you select and present them in a clear and digestible way.
Of course, one of Microsoft’s biggest smartphone features is its voice assistant tool Cortana, which appears on the Lumia 435 courtesy of the Windows 8.1 OS and adds some advanced productivity functionality to this budget phone. Cortana can be used to assist you with anything from finding events nearby, to organising and reminding you of diary plans.
The phone’s 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 dual core processor seems to handle multitasking well enough, but the lag and jerky motion mentioned previously when navigating around the phone exposes the phone’s limitations. When playing graphically intensive games on the Lumia 435 expect jagged edges and some stuttering motion and audio. But you shouldn’t at expect much more at this price.
How we test phones
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
