Microsoft Lumia 435 vs Lumia 532: Low profile

Display

The Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 utilize the same screen - a 4" LCD screen with 480 x 800 px resolution. The resolution is the lowest you can currently get on the market, but given the modest diagonal it works out to 233ppi density, which isn't too bad.

The 4" displays of the Lumia 435 and Lumia 532

But resolution isn't the main problem of the two screens - the low end panels also exhibit notable ghosting when scrolling rapidly and they have poor contrast and rather low brightness.

The viewing angles of the TFT units are pretty bad too, with contrast compression and color shift visible even with very minor tilts.

The only positive thing so far is that the lowly handsets get the color temperature and saturation options found on their more premium siblings. Yet even a very skillful tuner will find it hard to extract much performance from those two screens.

Sunlight legibility is disappointing too - but we didn't expect anything else given the very dim screens and the reflective glass on top.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Nokia 808 PureView
  4.698
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  4.485
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  4.033
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  3.997
• Apple iPhone 5
  3.997
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Apple iPhone 6
  3.838
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  3.799
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Oppo R5
  3.678
• Samsung Galaxy K zoom
  3.675
• Nokia Lumia 930
  3.567
• Apple iPhone 5s
  3.565
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  3.549
• Nokia Lumia 735
  3.547
• Motorola Nexus 6
  3.543
• Alcatel Idol X+
  3.527
• Apple iPhone 5c
  3.512
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  3.509
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  3.487
• LG G Flex2
  3.465
• YotaPhone 2
  3.453
• Motorola RAZR MAXX
  3.42
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  3.419
• Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
  3.406
• Nokia Lumia 925
  3.402
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  3.386
• Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4
  3.352
• Samsung Omnia W
  3.301
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  3.174
• Samsung I9000 Galaxy S
  3.155
• Samsung Ativ S
  3.129
• Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 mini
  3.127
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
  3.118
• Nokia N9
  3.069
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3.023
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.97
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  2.958
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2.95
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Lenovo S90 Sisley
  2.892
• Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express
  2.861
• BlackBerry Q10
  2.856
• Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
  2.832
• HTC Desire Eye
  2.815
• Gionee Elife S5.1
  2.812
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  2.801
• BlackBerry Z30
  2.79
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  2.765
• Sony Xperia ZR
  2.672
• Huawei Ascend P1
  2.655
• Sony Xperia Z3
  2.618
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  2.616
• Sony Xperia T3
  2.609
• BlackBerry Passport
  2.595
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Nokia Lumia 900
  2.562
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  2.546
• HTC One Max
  2.537
• Nokia Lumia 720
  2.512
• HTC One
  2.504
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• vivo Xshot
  2.465
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  2.424
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  2.422
• Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro
  2.416
• LG G Flex
  2.407
• HTC Desire 820
  2.372
• HTC One (M8)
  2.371
• Motorola RAZR i
  2.366
• Meizu MX4
  2.366
• Meizu m1 note
  2.362
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2.352
• HTC One M9
  2.334
• LG G4
  2.317
• HTC One (M8) for Windows
  2.291
• Oppo Find 7a
  2.279
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  2.262
• Nokia Asha 311
  2.25
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Nokia Lumia 820
  2.193
• HTC One (E8)
  2.185
• Oppo N3
  2.181
• Nokia Lumia 920
  2.17
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML
  2.149
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Nokia N8
  2.144
• Nokia Lumia 620
  2.142
• Nokia 515
  2.134
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• HTC Desire 500
  2.129
• Sony Xperia C3 Dual
  2.12
• Sony Xperia acro S
  2.119
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Nokia Lumia 1020
  2.103
• Oppo Find 5
  2.088
• Sony Xperia SL
  2.078
• Nokia Lumia 630
  2.056
• BlackBerry Z10
  2.051
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  2.024
• Samsung I9295 Galaxy S4 Active
  2.022
• Apple iPhone 4
  2.016
• HTC One mini
  2.003
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  2.001
• Huawei Ascend P7
  1.992
• LG G2
  1.976
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Oppo R819
  1.957
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
  1.955
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  1.952
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1.944
• Sony Xperia E3
  1.943
• Nokia Lumia 1320
  1.941
• HTC One mini 2
  1.94
• Samsung Galaxy Camera
  1.938
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime
  1.935
• Sony Xperia J
  1.932
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  1.931
• ZTE Blade S6
  1.927
• LG Nexus 4
  1.926
• LG G Pro 2
  1.922
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  1.913
• Nokia Asha 308
  1.911
• HTC Butterfly 2
  1.905
• Sony Xperia T
  1.894
• Nokia Lumia 830
  1.887
• HTC Desire X
  1.878
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  1.873
• HTC Butterfly S
  1.867
• Huawei Ascend P6
  1.865
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  1.845
• LG G2 mini
  1.838
• LG G3
  1.82
• Nokia Lumia 1520
  1.813
• HTC Desire 616 dual sim
  1.797
• Sony Xperia V
  1.792
• HTC Desire 816
  1.783
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  1.772
• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  1.769
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Meizu MX3
  1.754
• LG Optimus G
  1.753
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  1.74
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  1.735
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  1.734
• Sony Xperia SP
  1.733
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1.691
• Oppo Find 7
  1.691
• HTC One V
  1.685
• BlackBerry Q5
  1.682
• LG Optimus Vu
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  1.672
• LG Optimus GJ
  1.666
• LG Optimus 3D Max
  1.658
• HTC Desire V
  1.646
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1.632
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  1.622
• Microsoft Lumia 532
  1.615
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Microsoft Lumia 435
  1.598
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  1.578
• Sony Xperia go
  1.577
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160
  1.566
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  1.563
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1.552
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• LG Optimus 3D
  1.542
• Nokia Asha 302
  1.537
• Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
  1.507
• BlackBerry Curve 9320
  1.488
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Oppo N1
  1.47
• Sony Xperia E4
  1.467
• Meizu MX 4-core
  1.462
• Nokia Lumia 610
  1.432
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  1.4
• Sony Xperia M2
  1.393
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1.393
• Microsoft Lumia 535
  1.393
• Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
  1.38
• Sony Xperia E1
  1.372
• Nokia Lumia 625
  1.371
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355
  1.361
• Sony Xperia L
  1.351
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8
  1.35
• Xiaomi Redmi 1S
  1.35
• HTC Desire 510
  1.34
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  1.331
• Sony Xperia miro
  1.324
• Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand
  1.321
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  1.315
• Xiaomi Redmi 2
  1.311
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Nokia X
  1.291
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Nokia Asha 503
  1.281
• Nokia Asha 501
  1.27
• LG Optimus L7
  1.269
• Nokia Lumia 510
  1.268
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  1.245
• LG Optimus L9
  1.227
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Samsung Galaxy Young
  1.22
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215
• Nokia XL
  1.204
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1.203
• Asus Memo Pad 7 ME176C
  1.198
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  1.18
• Nokia Asha 305
  1.178
• Nokia Asha 306
  1.175
• Sony Xperia neo L
  1.169
• Sony Xperia tipo
  1.166
• Nokia Lumia 520
  1.161
• Samsung S6802 Galaxy Ace Duos
  1.148
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2
  1.114

There's very little good that can be said about the Lumia 532 and Lumia 435 displays - those were the first most obvious corners cut to achieve the price. Yet, it's not hopeless for them as most of the other smartphones in this price range are just as poor. So while the screens certainly won't be earning those two much fans, they might just be good enough so they don't lose any to the competition.

Battery life

Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 are powered by the same kind of battery unit - the BV-5J with 1,560 mAh capacity. This sure doesn't seem much, but let's don't forget these are entry-level compact smartphones. Windows OS has a good energy-efficiency track record lately, so we expected these two Lumia phones to do fine.

And they sure did. The Lumia 532 offers Glance screen and we naturally tested it with this option turned on. If you decide not to opt for the Glance extras, you'll get the same great battery endurance as the Lumia 435.

The dual-SIM flavor of the Lumia 435 is good for 58 hours straight if you use it for an hour of 3G talks, an hour of web browsing and an hour video playback each day. You can squeeze 6 more hours up to 64h endurance rating by using just one SIM card.

As we mentioned, the Lumia 532 had its Glance screen turned on, so its dual-SIM endurance dropped down to 55 hours, which is still a decent achievement. By turning one of the SIMs off you'll get an additional 5 hours up to 60 hours.

Connectivity

The Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 have quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support. The Lumia 435 offers dual-band, while the Lumia 532 has quad-band 3G with HSDPA. The Dual SIM models, as ours, support dual standby.

In terms of local connectivity, the two handsets offer 2.4GHz Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA and Wi-Fi Hotspot, and stereo Bluetooth 4.0, with file transfer support.

For positioning, the Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 call on GPS and GLONASS. Compass isn't available though.

FM radio is on board, a nice alternative source of news and music that many Androids have been dropping recently in favor of its online streaming alternative.