Qotd

Following on from the ZTE Blade S6 review we published last week. We thought we would take a look at another budget smartphone.

The Lumia 535 is cheaper than ZTE’s offering and boy can you tell. It seems there’s a reason that Microsofts foray into the smartphone sector is over and the answer could lie in the Lumia range.

Whilst it was refreshing to see a smartphone manufacturer provide a, much, cheaper alternative in the face of incredibly high cost smartphones (with incredibly high profit margins too) it seems people were happy to pay the money so long as they got the equally incredible functionality that a modern smartphone can afford.

Unfortunately for the Lumia 535, it doesn’t really fit into this category.

On the positive side, the Lumia 535 has a 5” screen, it is an easy to use phone thanks to the inclusion of the excellent Windows 8.1 operating system- if you like the Windows ‘metro’ style interface layout you will love it- and the aforementioned price tag of around $137 is pretty commendable.

Still, the negatives unfortunately outweigh the positives.

The Lumia 535 is effectively let down by its slow processor speed which is provided by a Quad-core 1.2GHz. If you’re looking for a phone that can deal with multiple apps and configure games then you might have to be a bit more generous with your spending.

These days, people want results and they want them fast and the Lumia 535 doesn’t deliver in this respect.

Even if the processor was fast enough to deal with games, apps and the like, the screen probably wouldn’t be up to the task due to its relatively paltry 960 x 540 resolution.

Finished off with an average 5 Megapixel camera and a distinctly average battery life there is little to love about the Lumia 535.

Still, if you’re after a simple phone to complete easy, everyday tasks then it’s not a bad shout. If you’re a heavy user, you may have to be a bit more generous with your purchasing power.