Review: Nokia Lumia 735

The days of Nokia as a phone brand may be coming to a close, but Lumia phones, its Windows Phone devices, still keep coming under its new owner, Microsoft.

The newest, the Nokia Lumia 735, is, for fans of Windows Phone, another good effort. It's affordable, but that doesn't mean it should be consigned to the bargain bin of sluggish phones that have cheaped out on hardware. The phone has a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor, and comes with 1GB of Ram installed.

But that’s not where Microsoft is pitching this. Instead, it’s trying to capture the selfie fans, by providing an above-average front-facing camera so you can make the most of those moments.

The good

The thing that immediately strikes you about the Lumia 735 is how light it is. It feels so light, in fact, that we had to double-check the battery was actually installed (it was). That’s already a point in its favour. But the big selling point for the 735 is its front-facing camera. The phone has a wide-angle

five-megapixel camera so you can fit more into your selfies, but it also has the advantage of offering you a better Skype picture too.

Of course, there's competition. HTC and Huawei have also released phones that claim to take the selfie experience to the next level: HTC's Desire Eye has a 13-megapixel camera and Huawei's P7 Ascend sells the concept of the "groufie" group selfie. So how can the Lumia carve out its own niche?

One way is its price. Contract-free, the Lumia 735 will cost you €289. That’s unlocked, leaving you free to go with whatever network takes your fancy.

The screen size is another bonus for the 735; its display is 4.7in, but the phone itself remains reasonably compact. Nokia has managed to squeeze a little more screen into the handset without making it unmanageably large.

And those of you who bemoan the loss of the FM radio will be pleased to see it has made a reappearance here, so no more eating into your data plan by streaming radio over your mobile connection. Speaking of that mobile connection, the Lumia 735 supports 4G networks, so you will be ready to upgrade your mobile service to 4G if you feel the need.

The bad

There’s no way to say it nicely: the speakers on the Lumia 735 are not great. But then

who buys a phone solely for the excellent speakers? Some of Nokia’s rivals, including HTC, are betting that good speakers may be an added extra that can sway people in the competitive smartphone market, and have beefed up the built-in sound. For a budget phone, though, you can’t expect everything, and if that’s the trade-off for the Lumia 735’s price, so be it.

One weakness of the Lumia phone in general, some would argue, is in the amount of apps available in its store. The Windows Store has been building up its useful apps – Twitter, Facebook and Instagram now all have native apps in Microsoft's store – but it still trails behind the Android play store and iOS app store in terms of sheer numbers. And with the number of people still choosing Android and iOS ahead of Windows Phone, developers are going to go where the customers are. But most of the essentials are there, and with more apps being added, it becomes a little better all the time.

The rest

With all the focus on the front camera, what about the rear? That’s the one that most people usually concentrate on, and we’ve seen the megapixel count creep higher in recent times as manufacturers try to outdo each other. Not so with the Lumia 735. It’s rear camera comes in at 6.7 megapixels, which is an odd number to choose.

With most cameras on smartphones aiming for at least eight megapixels, this may fall a little short.

Nokia is still pursuing that preference for colour, with green, white and orange polycarbonate shells. It’s something a little different from the standard metallic colours, or the simple black and white, that many manufacturers offer. Brighter colours are starting to creep in elsewhere though, so it’s not something that Nokia has to itself any more. The Lumia 735, with a few added extras, will also support wireless charging, so if you like the idea of dropping your handset on a charging pad rather than having to plug it in each night, you can take advantage. The phone comes with 8GB of built-in storage. That’s not a huge amount, but there’s also the option to add a micro SD card, so you can expand it by up to 128GB if the funds allow.

Verdict

HHH Budget without being cheap.