Introduction

Brand new Windows Phones have been generally in short supply of late, so we bet that many of you folks are itching to know when they’re coming. Well, the wait is no more here in the US, as the Nokia Lumia 635, a slight variant of the Lumia 630 that features 4G LTE connectivity, is finally making its appearance stateside starting with T-Mobile and MetroPCS. It’s no powerhouse, that’s certainly for sure, but despite that, it’s aiming to win over people with its low price and new Windows Phone 8.1 experience.

The package contains:

• microUSB cable
• Wall charger
• Start Guide

Design

The cheap plastic material softens its looks, but there are color options available for its rear casing for some personalization.

Being a variant of the Lumia 630, the design here with the Lumia 635 isn’t surprising at all, seeing that it’s identical to its sibling – down to its size, weight, choice of materials, construction, and design language. Even though we’re not fans of the cheapish feel of the matte finished plastic casing, it’s nice to know that it’s replaceable with any of the alternative assortment of colored casings offered by Nokia. For the price point and all, we can’t be too critical about the design, which is obviously subdued in tone in comparison to other things we’ve seen put out by the company.

All of the usual suspects are found around its trim, like its power button, volume control, microUSB port, and 3.5mm headset jack, but Windows Phone fans will instantly realize that it’s missing the signature Start button below its display. To be fair, none of the usual Windows keys are found here, as they’re now incorporated into the Windows Phone 8.1 interface.

In the back, the Nokia Lumia 635 packs along a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera sans flash. However, those looking to do any sort of Skype video calls should know that this one lacks a front-facing camera. Removing the plastic rear cover, we’re given access to its 1830 mAh battery, SIM slot, and microSD card slot.

Display

Details isn’t its strength, but the 4.5-inch display produces accurate looking colors, and proves to be visible while the sun’s out.

No changes here with the display, so it’s the same 4.5-inch 480 x 854 IPS-LCD display with Nokia’s ClearBlack anti-reflection filter from before. As we can clearly see with our own eyes, it’s hardly the sharpest thing with its pixel density count of 218 ppi – more so when there’s visible pixilation upon closer inspection. Despite that, we’ll give props to the display for topping out at 440 nits, making it visible outside while the sun is present. At the same time, its panel is able to produce colors that are punchy and relatively accurate. For what it’s worth, it gets the job done, but don’t expect your eyes to explode.

Display measurements and quality

Interface and Functionality

Microsoft has retooled its platform to add some much-needed features to put in the same level as its competition. We couldn’t be happier to see them!

Rejoice US-based folks, that’s because the Nokia Lumia 635 is one of the first phones to run Microsoft’s brand new Windows Phone 8.1 experience out of the box – so the wait is finally over! We won’t get into too much detail in this review, since we’ve covered it in great detail with our Lumia 630 review, but we’ll simply say that Microsoft deserves commendation for really focusing the attention in supplementing the platform’s overall functionality.

Visually, the recipe remains intact here with Windows Phone 8.1, where its Start Screen continues to bear the same iconic live tiles that have been a staple of the platform. However, they’ve brought on the ability to add wallpapers to the Start screen, so that the image there dynamically moves as we’re scrolling vertically.

Notifications are no longer a jumbled mess with the platform, mainly because Windows Phone 8.1 introduces Action Center – an Android-like notification center that populates all of our notifications in one spot. In addition, we have access to a few connectivity functions and other settings. Convenient? You betcha!

If you don’t know Cortanta, it’s the platform’s response to rival personal digital assistant services, like Siri and Google Now, to give us better organization – and even some downtime conversation. From setting up appointments, to getting weather information, Cortana follows accordingly to its rivals – though, its voice is still a bit robotic. It’s worth mentioning that the service is still in beta technically.

Processor and Memory

The performance is undoubtedly tested by more demanding things.

A popular choice for many budget-conscious smartphones, the quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 512GB of RAM runs nicely with basic operations. However, it’s clearly not as spiffy or smooth with its performance as other higher spec’d Windows Phones. Just don’t expect to do a whole lot of gaming on this! Well, that’s unless you don’t mind choppiness.

Its 8GB of advertised storage actually translates to half that at 4.82GB out of the box, which isn’t a whole lot. Thankfully, its microSD slot is on-hand to supplement its capacity.

Internet and Connectivity

So what makes this phone different from the Lumia 630? Well, it’s most notable for having 4G LTE connectivity, which lends itself in loading web pages a lot quicker. Sure, a lot of pinch zooming is required because of the display’s insufficient detail, but besides that, it gets the job done for the web surfing occasion.
Aside from the LTE radio thrown in, this GSM based smartphone boasts all of the same connectivity features – such as aGPS with Glonass, Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. It’s worth mentioning that it also has Wi-Fi calling too courtesy of T-Mobile, but it’s still lacking NFC.

Camera

The camera’s main distraction is its inability to accurately produce colors. Despite that, its quality is middle-of-the-road for a budget offering.

The Lumia 635 comes with a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera. Unfortunately, the camera has no flash, and there is no front-facing camera either. Looking at the tech detail sheet, you’d see this 5-megapixel shooter comes with a tiny, even for smartphone standards, 1/4” image sensor. On top of that sensor sits a wide 28mm lens with rather narrow f/2.4 aperture. Nokia, however, stands out with a great camera app, Nokia Camera, available exclusively for Lumia handsets. Nokia Camera has got a very convenient interface, rich in manual controls that don’t get in the way when you don’t need them. The camera app is a bit slow to start (especially cold-start), but once it’s loaded, navigating the interface is quick and convenient – with intuitive and handy sliders for features like focus (you have manual focus!), white balance, ISO, etc. As an alternative, there’s also the updated Windows Phone camera app, but to tell you the truth, we prefer the Nokia Camera interface more.

It’s not terrible by any means, especially when its shots are definitely usable, but there are several unwanted qualities about its result that soften its overall quality. Its details are decent enough to accept, however, colors aren’t reproduced accurately – giving our shots a subdued look. Additionally, it takes roughly over 6 seconds for the camera app to start up and for us so snap a photo, which makes it pretty slow at capturing those candid moments.

For an entry-level spec’d thing, we’re not all too shocked by the handset’s maximum video recording resolution of 720p. Generally speaking, there are some pleasant things with the quality – like its clear audio recording, quick focus, and smooth recording. Still, its muddy details and inconsistent color production become rather distracting over everything else.

Multimedia

It’s not a multimedia beast, that’s for sure. Regardless, it suffices for most things.

With a vivid 4.5” display, the Lumia 635 has got the core asset for enjoying media on the go. It chewed through major video codecs with ease and we were able to play back 720p files with no slowdown.

For music, Nokia’s MixRadio is traditionally a great option for enjoying music on the go. It has Spotify-like on-demand music streaming at a very low price, but you can also use a lot of the functionality for free. In addition, you also have Microsoft’s standard Music application with tight integration for the rich Xbox Music catalog, where you can purchase tunes. Music output via the loudspeaker is indeed loud, but its output is accompanied with a reserved tone.

Call Quality

Impressively, call quality is a vast improvement over the Lumia 630. Clean and crisp toned voices!

Who knows if it’s an actual improvement to the hardware, or merely the result of our good coverage with T-Mobile’s network in our area, but the Lumia 635’s call quality is outstanding. Not only are voices clean and crisp on both ends of the line, but the high pitched volumes of its earpiece and speakerphone help to overcome some of the distractions in noisy environments.

Battery

The battery capacity isn’t particularly massive, but it delivers longer juice than what you’d expect.

The Nokia Lumia 635 climbs to near the top of the charts with its astounding battery life, as its 1850 mAh battery pulls in over 9 hours in our battery benchmark test. It’s not a record, but it’s nonetheless more long-lasting than other handsets with bigger batteries. In our experience, we’re able to get close to 2 days of normal usage from a full charge.

Conclusion

Making a phone overseas is one thing, but making one for the US is totally another. So, how did Nokia improve upon the Nokia Lumia 630? Well, they’ve outfitted the Lumia 635, a subtle variant of the aforementioned phone, with good ‘ol 4G LTE connectivity. At the same time, the Windows Phone 8.1 powered device sees improvements to its call quality to really deepen its worth for the budget-conscious consumer.Lumia 635 is attached with an amazing price point that makes it a bargain however way we dissect it. Specifically, T-Mobile is selling the phone for $0 down and $7 per month for 24 months through its Simple Choice Plan – giving it a total price point of $168. Furthermore, the handset is being offered at the promotional price of $99 through MetroPCS. Frankly, the price point alone is an aggressive one that undoubtedly adds more value to its package.

However, it's not without competition. Motorola Moto G is its biggest rival. The Moto G runs on the richer in terms of apps Android 4.4 KitKat operating system, and has a sharper 4.5” 720p HD display, slightly better camera, and is similarly well-packed in terms of specs. An even cheaper option is the Moto E, a phone with just a slightly smaller, 4.3” display, but also with good performance, offering great value for the money.

Software version of the review unit: Windows Phone 8.1

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