In the next week or two we’re likely to see the release of another budget 4G smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 635. Although it’s still likely to be more expensive than EE’s Kestrel, the higher spec Nokia handset will be providing stiff competition to handsets such as the Motorola Moto G 4G phone. The exact price of the Lumia 635 is as yet unknown, but it is expected to be available for around £145 sim-free.
The colourful Nokia Lumia 635 is an upgrade from the Nokia Lumia 625 and is a 4G version of the Lumia 630. It comes with a vibrantly coloured, shiny, replaceable shell so users can change the colour of the phone’s shell to suit their mood. They can also change the colours of the Live Tiles on their home screen to match. The black, green and orange variants of the phone are expected to be released on 3rd July 2014, and there will also be white and yellow versions.
Here are a few of the features we can expect to see from the Nokia Lumia 635 4G phone:
- Operating system: The Nokia Lumia 635 runs on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system which makes it a relatively high spec for the price.
- Display: The handset has a 4.5-inch ClearBlack display with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels.
- Speed: When the 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is combined with 4G LTE connectivity, the Lumia 635 is remarkably quick for a budget handset.
- Camera: The rear facing camera is 5MP and shoots video in 720p. Although there is no front facing camera for selfies, there are plenty of photo editing functions, a big improvement on previous budget Lumia models.
- Storage: The 4G phone has 8GB internal storage and 7GB of OneDrive cloud storage. Users can also make use of the MicroSD slot which will support up to 128GB.
Other benefits of the Nokia Lumia 365
One of the best features of the Nokia Lumia 635 4G phone is Nokia MixRadio which comes preinstalled and ready to use. Users can access unlimited music, with no advert breaks, and can either choose from hundreds of regularly update mixes or customise their own playlists. With 4G LTE music streaming is likely to be one of the most attractive features of the phone.
Another great feature of the budget 4G phone is the HERE Maps function. HERE maps can be used on the road for turn-by-turn directions, and can also give you up to the minute departure times for public transport. Offline maps that will get you where you need to be even when you don’t have signal, and detailed walking distance calculations all make sure you’ll never get lost again.
Finally the Nokia Lumia 635 is likely to include Microsoft’s WordFlow keyboard, which has been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest smartphone keyboard in the world. It allows users to swipe their finger across the keys rather than tapping individual letters. The prediction engine uses advanced intelligence to learn about the way you write so the more you use it the quicker it gets.
With the Moto G and the Lumia 635 being released at similar times, it will be interesting to see which one is the more popular budget 4G smartphone.