Microsoft Lumia 535 5 inch UK Sim-Free Smartphone - Black (Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 1.2Ghz, 1Gb Ram, 8Gb Storage, Wi-Fi, Bt, Camera, Windows 8.1)

This review is intended for people thinking of getting their first smart phone. I got mine to replace an ancient Nokia. Firstly is it a phone with a computer or a computer with a phone. I'd definitely think of it as the latter. First you need to get used to all that tapping and swiping. If you have Windows 8.1 on your pc then Windows phone is a great option - lots of things the same. Let's talk about the phone first. You can import your phone book if your previous phone has Bluetooth - mine didn't but by setting up your Microsoft account you can sync with your People app on your pc. I had to export from Outlook to people first - there's instructions on MS website. The quality of sound on the phone isn't great but it does get a signal where other's phones were failing. The touch to dial thing can led newbees like me to dial the wrong person until you get used to it. Battery life is good. One big omission from my point of view is that there is no built-in tile with the time on it - the time is tiny at the top of the screen - to get the time I had to put the phone in stand-by and wake it up again - 2 presses on a button but annoying as I've got used to not wearing a watch. you can get apps with the time on a live tile but it seems silly that MS didn't build it in. On the computer front this wins by integrating with my Windows 8.1 pc - contacts, calendar, documents, music, photos all sync to my PC when the phone is connected to Wi-Fi Set up is really easy. Just use Onedrive for photos, music and documents and the W8.1 apps for calendar and contacts. You can also get email easily. The build in office apps are ok but you'll find you can't edit spreadsheets if they have maros etc. Onenote App really works well synctonising across my devices.The camera is ok 3mpx but you can't zoom in and out which means its only really useful for basic shots. Video likewise. You will need to buy a microSD card to store stuff on as the 8gb on the phone soon fills up. I've also used StorageSense to move apps to the SD card. As a camera phone newbee I've found it really useful. You will also need to buy a charger and cable for the car and I also bought a hard cheap case as I keep on dropping it. By the way I find it too big for a trouser pocket!One thing I wasn't expecting was SatNav on the phone but the Maps and Drivehere app provide a basic but serviceable system - saved me the cost of the phone on buying a Satnav for the car as it is fit for my modest needs.Microsoft say this phone will run Windows 10All in all recommended for a newbee especially if you already use W8.1The app store is full of rubbish unless you are into apps full of ads but I found Atomic Clock (free) and Flashlight (free) useful.UPDATE: Sorry but no one is making apps for Microsoft phones so probably dead in the water now. Which is a shame as locking myself into Avaricious Apple or amateur android is not something I wanted to do.

I purchased this a second personal phone, I have an apple iPhone 6 for work.For the price this is an excellent phone, it is 5 times cheaper than the iPhone 6 so I was not expecting it to perform as well. However here is my take on the phone versus an apple:Goods / Pros1. Much cheaper2. Microsoft 8 operating system is reliable and fairly intuitive to use (even for an apple user)3. Expandable memory4. Large screen5. Adequate camera6. Pretty good battery life (+you can easily change it / carry a spare)Not so Goods (in comparison)1. Screen is not so clear or bright in daylight - although you can adjust the brightness2. Does not have the extensive apple store capability, nor the ability to link to my iTunes account (or i have not found out how yet)3. Not as intuitive as apple, but not bad -So bottom line is that Microsoft is clearly keen to get these out there so that apps get written for MS 10, hence the attractive price. If you want a very reasonably priced smart phone then this is hard to beat.

This is a good phone, easy to use and perfect for the person I bought it for. A good price too but beware buying things through Amazon that they do not directly sell themselves. After only one use the charger stopped working. I contacted the retailer direct who told me that I had to take the issue back to Amazon. I contacted Amazon who told me to contact the retailer direct!! I was offered two other options: 1. Return the phone which I didn't really want to do after spending quite a bit of time setting it up. 2. Find a charger on Amazon that they would pay for. Unfortunately this could only be an Amazon store product and there weren't any. So in the end I had to just buy another charger and pay for it. I know they don't cost much but I was pretty fed up that there was no simpler way to get the faulty one replaced. Sometimes it's just easier to go to a real shop!

I have always been a long-time iPhone user (and not always a fan) and was curious to see what other manufacturers were offering. In April, having accidentally ended the life of my trusty iPhone 5, I picked up one of these during Amazon's Deal of the Day...Overall this phone represents excellent value for money, doing everything a more expensive phone should and often better than the iPhone. However, the single biggest falling (and the reason I'm subtracting two stars and moving onto something else) is the touch screen. It is obnoxiously poor in terms of sensitivity. There is no point making such a good device and then crippling the user-experience with five year old touchscreen technology. Despite average sized hands, when sending text messages or emails I spent 75% of my time correcting mistakes. In the end I found myself actually walking to a PC to send an email, grabbing my tablet to browse the web and phoning people rather than sending them a text!

CON: This phone is a complete and utter piece of s***...1) The camera doesn't have an option to zoom when you're taking pictures which makes it more or less useless...2) You can't use Google store and the Microsoft store is crap which also means that you can't connect it to Google devices -.-" ...3) There isn't an app management option so you cannot turn of or disable apps from running.4) The battery life is bad as it has to be recharged ever second day................5) It doesn't give you any notification sounds whenever you get a message on Skype or anything and there is no options for sound for that!and ugh there are way too many to list here but these are the five that piss me of the most about this phone!PRO: It kind of looks pretty decent and the sound quality for music is alright.This is my first ever Micros*** phone as I was curious to see what theyare like ugh but from now on, I'm sticking to either Samsung or Sony!i!Avoid if you want the phone or expect the phone to have what is listed above!i!I've just thrown mines out in the rubbish and have ordered that new(ish) SamsungGalaxy S6 edge!