Some quick pointers on Microsoft's newest budget Lumia
While the Lumia 435 isn't the new Windows Phone for some, it's still an important device for Microsoft. With the success of the Lumia 520 being proof enough that there's plenty of device sales to be had at the low end, the Lumia 435 is right in that area of the market.
If it's priced right, the Lumia 435 has real potential to capture the first-time smartphone buyer, those new to Windows Phone or just someone looking for a good phone without breaking the bank.
Whatever your take, here's seven quick things you need to know.
The Lumia 435 has 1GB of RAM
This is important for a number of reasons, not least app support. While better than ever, there are still some apps out there in the Windows Phone Store that just don't support devices with 512MB of RAM. The 435 has 1GB, so this removes that issue. Windows Phone is still a really slick experience on 512MB devices, but more sometimes is better.
It's basically the same as the Lumia 532
The Lumia 435 was announced alongside the Lumia 532, and here's where the confusion comes in. They're basically the same phone. They look the same, they're the same size and they've got largely the same specs. The differences come in areas that aren't user facing. The Lumia 532 has a quad-core CPU to the dual-core in the 435 and it has a 5MP camera compared to 2MP.
That aside, the two are virtually the same. They may not go on sale in the same markets as each other, which would at least help someone who wants to buy one. But Microsoft isn't really helping when it comes to confusing names for its phones.
There's a removable battery
For some people a removable battery is an absolute must. Some of the more expensive Lumia devices like the 930 don't have removable batteries. For heavy users that means having to carry around a USB battery pack. Not so with the Lumia 435, however. The battery is pretty small at 1560mAh, but it pops out, meaning you can carry a spare or two in your pocket to get through even the toughest of days.
Denim for all
If you've been floating around the Windows Central homepage of late you'll have seen a lot of talk about Lumia Denim. This is Microsoft's latest and greatest firmware for the Lumia phones – which is separate to the OS despite many older phones receiving Denim and an OS update at the same time.
While Denim on lower end phones such as the Lumia 435 lacks some of the hot features like Lumia Camera 5, launching a new phone on the latest and greatest is important.
- Lumia Denim - Everything you need to know
Check your frequencies
For now, the dual-SIM version of the Lumia 435 is the one you'll most likely see. But it's also not officially launched at the time of writing in several markets which includes countries in Europe and North America. As such you might encounter some wonkyness when using one on your local carrier.
The best thing to do is make sure you check out the supported frequency bands the Lumia 435 supports and compare them to those your carrier operates on. If it won't play nice with your carrier's data signal it's going to become largely useless. So exercise caution.
It will take a 128GB microSD card
While they're still pretty expensive, the Lumia 435 is perfectly capable of supporting a 128GB microSD card to expand your total storage. The 8GB you get provided with internally (which is actually less than 8GB thanks to system files and what not) will soon fill up, particularly if you're offlining music and movies to watch on your phone.
With a 128GB microSD card inside, your Lumia 435 can boast more total available storage than Apple's most expensive iPhone.
Windows 10 ready
It's being thrown about a lot at the moment, but Microsoft has been working hard to make sure that all its current Lumia phones will run Windows 10 when it launches later in 2015. While not supported for the initial preview releases, the Lumia 435 will certainly be capable of a good experience with Windows 10 when the public release comes around.
If you want to see more on the Microsoft Lumia 435, check out our hands-on and first impressions here and our dedicated page here
