Nokia Lumia 735 Review - Initial Impressions
So in the last couple of posts I discussed my decision to A) replace my 4 month old Lumia 635 and B) to try the new Lumia 735 - RM-1039.
I bought from B&H Photo for $299 which included an 8GB Micro SD card.
So first off what surprised me was the packaging. Which was quite compact at 5" x 5" and maybe an inch thick. Contents were simple - the phone body, battery and a plugin charger.
The charger to me is better than what comes with the 635 in that it uses a USB connector at the plug and so that cable can also be used for charging from a laptop or any USB power source. The 635s used a fixed cord at the plug end.
I was hoping to just pop the SIM and SD card out of my 635 and be working immediately, but the 735 uses a Nano SIM versus the Micro SIM in the 635. So had to run off to local TMO store and get one. I do have to say the TMO makes it really easy to switch SIMS via an app on their Web site.
My RM-1039 is actually a Central/South American unit. When I first powered on the default selected language was Spanish and Portuguese was also selected. I easily changed to US English and the phone booted up no problem.
Most important it immediately recognized the TMO LTE bands and I connected in seconds. The label lists LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 7 & 17 along with wCDMA 1, 2, 4, & 5 and Quad GSM - so assuming 800, 850, etc.. So voice and data - no problem.
The unit comes with the Lumia Denim firmware and WP 8.1 Update 1 - version 8.10.147157.200.
The feel in the hand is great - it's just 1 mm wider and 5mm taller than my 635. It also feels very solid in construction - while feeling very light - even though its the same 134g weight as the 635. The 735 is also slight thinner at 8.9mm vs 9.2mm for the 635
The layout is typical Lumia - 3.5mm headphone jack - top center, up/down volume switches on right side along with power button and micro USB at bottom. As with the 635 there is no dedicated camera button.
The removable rear case fits snugly and while some feel that polycarbonite shells look cheap - this does not with a nice flat no smudge finish. I feel polycarbonite shells are much more damage resistant than some metal shelled devices. There is also the option to buy a Qi charging back.
While the 735 uses the same quad core 1.2 Ghz Snapdragon 400 processor as the 635, the upgrade to 1Gb RAM really makes the phone seem much faster. Apps like Lumia Camera and Good Messaging definitely load quicker than on my 635.
The 1280 x 720 screen is dramatically clearer than the 854 x 480 in the 635. While both are Clear Black the 635 used IPS LCD while the 735 is OLED. From in overall screen real estate size the 735 is slightly larger at 4.7 vs 4.5 - mostly due to height. Pixel density is 312 vs 221
The biggest initial change I had to get used to with the higher resolution screen was actually looking at much smaller live tiles. So while the tiles do the same small, medium and wide sizing - with the much higher screen res - a "wide" tile only covers 2/3 of the screen width. On my 635 a wide tile would take the entire screen width. At first I thought this was going to be a real issue with overall readability - but while the live tiles are dramatically smaller they are actually quite readable. My old layout of either 2 medium tiles or 1 wide per row are now replaced by 1 wide and 1 medium or 3 medium.
The factory "build" on this unlocked device was actually a little buggy. For example even though I was connected to WiFi - some of the MSN apps - like Weather, Sports, etc said they could not connect. News and Finance said the same, but when I exited, the live tile started to update. It took a restart to get all of them to work.
I loaded Preview for Developers and updated - so now running 8.10.14219.341 and things seemed to have stabilized quite a bit.
Then there are the features that the 635 just did not have.
First - The rear 6.7Mp Camera with LED Flash and Zeiss Optics. It does surprising well in low light without flash and even other camera use cases like depositing a check work much better. With the 635 - I often had to take the photo several times to get it to take with the bank. First try today and it worked great - even with hand written checks. The autofocus is also much better and overall the camera function are faster.
The front facing "selfie" camera is an eye opener. Considering its the same 5Mp as the rear camera on the 635. I'm not a big selfie or video chat kind of person - but could see where it would play nicely in that use case.
Sound is very clear and rich and does not distort out at higher volume levels and the addition of an equalizer was very nice.
There is also NFC capabilities with the 735 and while I did not get a Payment SIM from TMO - I may consider it and try the Wallet App since my bank is one of the supported payment methods.
The 735 also has an Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor and Magnetometer on top of the SensorCore and Accelorometer that the 635 has.
Visual Voicemail works fine, but since this is not an official TMO phone, none of the TMO add-on apps like WiFi Calling, MyAccount, RealID and TMO-TV are installed. Since I really don't use those apps - these are not a big loss to me.
Double Tap to wake works fine.
The one area that may be a challenge is the radios - which is surprising for a Nokia device.
I've noticed slightly lower signal strength on LTE than with the 635. I did run a speedtest - and got over 30Mbps down and 12Mbps up with just 1 and 2 bars of LTE strength - so I expect over 60Mbps with full bars.
Similarly with WiFi. I have multiple 802.11n access points in my house and could often walk through the entire home and stay connected with the 635. The 735 in contrast tends to loose signal more easily.
GPS is fine - so far no problems there.
Denim adds Bluetooth v4 capabilities. I had no problems connecting my Plantronics Voyager Pro headset and experienced a much smoother connection with my cars BT stack than with the 635. I was able to pair with my laptop running an Intel 7260 dual band WiFi/BT card and the Intel stack on Windows 8.1 - but the connection seems to fail - so some work there.
I haven't had the phone long enough to comment on battery life - but will know more once I take it out on the road next week. The 635 had an 1830mAh battery while the 735 as a 2200 - but it has to power more RAM, sensors and a higher res screen.
Bottom line - the 735 is quite a step up from the 635 in look, feel, features and capabilities - and now I better understand the $299 price tag versus the $129 I paid for the 635. You are actually getting quite a bit more technology in the 735 and therefore I think the price is fair. It also confirms to me that the 830 is overpriced @ $450 - and I bet that price drops like a rock in Jan.
What I still don't understand is this. Why is the 735 not available today at either an MS store or TMO & AT&T ? It really seems to be an excellent mid-range phone and MS in my opinion is loosing out on holiday sales by not having the device out in the US market.
While it may be possible that some of the radio issues and software glitches I experienced out of the box caused it not to pass carrier QA or that a September release was too late for the carriers to get their builds through to manufacturing - I doubt that was the reason.
To me what is more likely is that this is a transition device. With MS making the Lumia brand announcement and transitioning to MS branded devices - the US carriers may just be waiting for those new devices and passing on the last of the Nokia devices. To that end the 735 may be going through a branding change and will be the second MS Lumia device in the Jan / Feb time time frame.
I'm going to test drive the 735 through the holidays before I make a decision on either A) giving it to my wife and trying something else or B) buying a second unit. I know that a new flagship device from MS probably won't be available until Sept of next year when WP 10 releases.
I bought from B&H Photo for $299 which included an 8GB Micro SD card.
So first off what surprised me was the packaging. Which was quite compact at 5" x 5" and maybe an inch thick. Contents were simple - the phone body, battery and a plugin charger.
The charger to me is better than what comes with the 635 in that it uses a USB connector at the plug and so that cable can also be used for charging from a laptop or any USB power source. The 635s used a fixed cord at the plug end.
I was hoping to just pop the SIM and SD card out of my 635 and be working immediately, but the 735 uses a Nano SIM versus the Micro SIM in the 635. So had to run off to local TMO store and get one. I do have to say the TMO makes it really easy to switch SIMS via an app on their Web site.
My RM-1039 is actually a Central/South American unit. When I first powered on the default selected language was Spanish and Portuguese was also selected. I easily changed to US English and the phone booted up no problem.
Most important it immediately recognized the TMO LTE bands and I connected in seconds. The label lists LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 7 & 17 along with wCDMA 1, 2, 4, & 5 and Quad GSM - so assuming 800, 850, etc.. So voice and data - no problem.
The unit comes with the Lumia Denim firmware and WP 8.1 Update 1 - version 8.10.147157.200.
The feel in the hand is great - it's just 1 mm wider and 5mm taller than my 635. It also feels very solid in construction - while feeling very light - even though its the same 134g weight as the 635. The 735 is also slight thinner at 8.9mm vs 9.2mm for the 635
The layout is typical Lumia - 3.5mm headphone jack - top center, up/down volume switches on right side along with power button and micro USB at bottom. As with the 635 there is no dedicated camera button.
The removable rear case fits snugly and while some feel that polycarbonite shells look cheap - this does not with a nice flat no smudge finish. I feel polycarbonite shells are much more damage resistant than some metal shelled devices. There is also the option to buy a Qi charging back.
While the 735 uses the same quad core 1.2 Ghz Snapdragon 400 processor as the 635, the upgrade to 1Gb RAM really makes the phone seem much faster. Apps like Lumia Camera and Good Messaging definitely load quicker than on my 635.
The 1280 x 720 screen is dramatically clearer than the 854 x 480 in the 635. While both are Clear Black the 635 used IPS LCD while the 735 is OLED. From in overall screen real estate size the 735 is slightly larger at 4.7 vs 4.5 - mostly due to height. Pixel density is 312 vs 221
The biggest initial change I had to get used to with the higher resolution screen was actually looking at much smaller live tiles. So while the tiles do the same small, medium and wide sizing - with the much higher screen res - a "wide" tile only covers 2/3 of the screen width. On my 635 a wide tile would take the entire screen width. At first I thought this was going to be a real issue with overall readability - but while the live tiles are dramatically smaller they are actually quite readable. My old layout of either 2 medium tiles or 1 wide per row are now replaced by 1 wide and 1 medium or 3 medium.
The factory "build" on this unlocked device was actually a little buggy. For example even though I was connected to WiFi - some of the MSN apps - like Weather, Sports, etc said they could not connect. News and Finance said the same, but when I exited, the live tile started to update. It took a restart to get all of them to work.
I loaded Preview for Developers and updated - so now running 8.10.14219.341 and things seemed to have stabilized quite a bit.
Then there are the features that the 635 just did not have.
First - The rear 6.7Mp Camera with LED Flash and Zeiss Optics. It does surprising well in low light without flash and even other camera use cases like depositing a check work much better. With the 635 - I often had to take the photo several times to get it to take with the bank. First try today and it worked great - even with hand written checks. The autofocus is also much better and overall the camera function are faster.
The front facing "selfie" camera is an eye opener. Considering its the same 5Mp as the rear camera on the 635. I'm not a big selfie or video chat kind of person - but could see where it would play nicely in that use case.
Sound is very clear and rich and does not distort out at higher volume levels and the addition of an equalizer was very nice.
There is also NFC capabilities with the 735 and while I did not get a Payment SIM from TMO - I may consider it and try the Wallet App since my bank is one of the supported payment methods.
The 735 also has an Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor and Magnetometer on top of the SensorCore and Accelorometer that the 635 has.
Visual Voicemail works fine, but since this is not an official TMO phone, none of the TMO add-on apps like WiFi Calling, MyAccount, RealID and TMO-TV are installed. Since I really don't use those apps - these are not a big loss to me.
Double Tap to wake works fine.
The one area that may be a challenge is the radios - which is surprising for a Nokia device.
I've noticed slightly lower signal strength on LTE than with the 635. I did run a speedtest - and got over 30Mbps down and 12Mbps up with just 1 and 2 bars of LTE strength - so I expect over 60Mbps with full bars.
Similarly with WiFi. I have multiple 802.11n access points in my house and could often walk through the entire home and stay connected with the 635. The 735 in contrast tends to loose signal more easily.
GPS is fine - so far no problems there.
Denim adds Bluetooth v4 capabilities. I had no problems connecting my Plantronics Voyager Pro headset and experienced a much smoother connection with my cars BT stack than with the 635. I was able to pair with my laptop running an Intel 7260 dual band WiFi/BT card and the Intel stack on Windows 8.1 - but the connection seems to fail - so some work there.
I haven't had the phone long enough to comment on battery life - but will know more once I take it out on the road next week. The 635 had an 1830mAh battery while the 735 as a 2200 - but it has to power more RAM, sensors and a higher res screen.
Bottom line - the 735 is quite a step up from the 635 in look, feel, features and capabilities - and now I better understand the $299 price tag versus the $129 I paid for the 635. You are actually getting quite a bit more technology in the 735 and therefore I think the price is fair. It also confirms to me that the 830 is overpriced @ $450 - and I bet that price drops like a rock in Jan.
What I still don't understand is this. Why is the 735 not available today at either an MS store or TMO & AT&T ? It really seems to be an excellent mid-range phone and MS in my opinion is loosing out on holiday sales by not having the device out in the US market.
While it may be possible that some of the radio issues and software glitches I experienced out of the box caused it not to pass carrier QA or that a September release was too late for the carriers to get their builds through to manufacturing - I doubt that was the reason.
To me what is more likely is that this is a transition device. With MS making the Lumia brand announcement and transitioning to MS branded devices - the US carriers may just be waiting for those new devices and passing on the last of the Nokia devices. To that end the 735 may be going through a branding change and will be the second MS Lumia device in the Jan / Feb time time frame.
I'm going to test drive the 735 through the holidays before I make a decision on either A) giving it to my wife and trying something else or B) buying a second unit. I know that a new flagship device from MS probably won't be available until Sept of next year when WP 10 releases.
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