NOKIA LUMIA 635

features 

GENERAL

Release date     May 2014

Form factor        Touchscreen

Dimensions (mm)           129.50 x 66.70 x 9.20

Weight (g)          134.00

Battery capacity (mAh) 1830

Removable battery         Yes

Colours                Bright Green, Bright Orange, Black, White

SAR value            NA

DISPLAY

Screen size (inches)       4.50

Touchscreen      Yes

Resolution          480x854 pixels

Pixels per inch (PPI)       221

HARDWARE

Processor            1.2GHz  quad-core

Processor make                Qualcomm Snapdragon 400

RAM      512MB

Internal storage               8GB

Expandable storage        Yes

Expandable storage type             microSD

Expandable storage up to (GB)  128

CAMERA

Rear camera       5-megapixel

Flash     No

Front camera     No

SOFTWARE

Operating System           Windows Phone 8.1

CONNECTIVITY

Wi-Fi     Yes

Wi-Fi standards supported          802.11 b/ g/ n

GPS        Yes

Bluetooth           Yes, v 4.00

NFC        No

Infrared               No

Wi-Fi Direct        No

MHL Out              No

HDMI     No

Headphones      3.5mm

FM          Yes

SIM Type             Micro-SIM

GSM/ CDMA       GSM

3G           Yes

4G/ LTE Yes

Supports 4G in India (Band 40)   No

SENSORS

Compass/ Magnetometer            No

Proximity sensor             Yes

Accelerometer Yes

Ambient light sensor     Yes

Gyroscope          Yes

Barometer          No

Temperature sensor      No

What is the Nokia Lumia 635

The Nokia Lumia 635 is the Windows Phone follow-up to the Nokia Lumia 630. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two – the 635 is 4G and comes with a glossy plastic body rather than a matt one. That's about it.

Since it first launched the Nokia 635 has dropped significantly in price. In fact you can now get it for just £60. That's dead cheap for a 4G phone and could be a great option for someone needing fast internet on the go, but doesn't have the budget to shell out on a more expensive handset. At this price it's hard not to recommend the Lumia 635, although you should read on to see if you can live with its limitations. There are a few, but at £60 these are to be expected.

The Lumia 635 has proven to be a popular phone for Nokia, partly down to the price and partly down to the colourful styling. User reviews have generally been positive, although there are a few elements that you should be aware of. The first is that the battery life isn't all that great – there are plenty of other phones out there with more stamina. The second is the design, which can make the phone tricky to hold.

Nokia Lumia 635 - Design

The Nokia Lumia 635 is a typical budget phone. It's a fair bit smaller than more expensive phones, but that mostly down to the fact that it comes with a 4.5-inch screen as opposed to a 5-inch or larger. It's not slim though, at 9.2mm thick it’s not too obsessed with being super-skinny.

All these elements give the Lumia 635 a small-but-chunky feel similar to the Motorola Moto G and, of course, the Lumia 630. Nokia has added a few nice touches to elevate it above some lesser budget phones, though.

The Lumia 635 comes in a variety of different colours. We’re trying the bright green version, whose larger-than-life shade is far enough removed from real neon lime green to avoid turning of 95 per cent of the population. But it is bright.

There are also orange and yellow versions, and the more conservative white and black shades. All have a glossy finish, and they use a translucent coloured layer rather than pure block colour in order to give the finish an appearance of depth.

While the finish of the Lumia 635 has that typical glossy plastic feel, this kind of translucent finish stops the phone from seeming too cheap and tacky. Nokia has also made the side buttons a similar shade of green as the rest of the body, once again pushing the phone’s looks above those of cheap and anonymous (generally Android) phones.

There are a few hardware changes you may notice from Nokia’s older Windows Phones if you’re a long-term fan, though. The camera button has been ditched, as have the hardware soft keys. These used to be part of the hardware requirements of the Windows Phone system, but since Windows Phone 8.1 they’re no longer demanded.

As the contrast and screen resolution of the Lumia 635’s display are less than perfect, the software nav keys do highlight that this is a budget phone a bit. But then the phone isn’t being sold as anything but a budget 4G Windows Phone – of which this is only the second, after the more expensive Nokia Lumia 625.

There aren’t as many cuts here as in the lower-end Lumia 530, though. You get a reasonable 8GB of storage and there’s a microSD card slot under the back cover, which pops off with a quick flick of your thumbnail.