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MagyarMicrosoft Lumia 532 Smartphone Review
For the original German review, see here.
The Redmond-based manufacturer has started a product offensive that has spawned many new devices, particularly in the low-cost smartphone sector, since it took over the mobile device division from Nokia. That is also imperative seeing that Microsoft is virtually the only manufacturer that currently installs the proprietary Windows Phone operating system on its devices. Although that is to change with the new Windows 10, it is up to the Lumias to secure the market share until then.
The lowest-priced and weakest device in the Lumia lineup is Microsoft's Lumia 435 that is now available as a dual-SIM version. It is dubbed Lumia 532 but is not in any way related to the Lumia 535, which features a different casing, a large screen, and more power. At the same time, the Lumia 435 is also available as a dual-SIM model in online shops, and then there is the Lumia 530 with even less storage, a different casing, but a better camera than in the Lumia 435. Confused? Well, it is not easy to unravel the name-giving policy.
At any rate, Microsoft's Lumia 532 is a 4-inch device that costs just over 90 Euros (~$97) and has the performance specs and casing in common with the Lumia 435. The most serious rivals are likely affordable Android phones such as the Motorola Moto E, LG L40 and Acer Liquid Z4 Duo.
Case
Like that of the Lumia 435, the smartphone's casing actually comes from the Nokia X, the manufacturer's short-lived excursion into the Android world. The casing is allover polycarbonate, the back cover can be removed and allows accessing the removable battery, both micro-SIM slots, and the micro-SD slot. The rear is available in different colors: plain white or black, and neon orange and green are available. The exchangeable covers can also be purchased separately.
The casing's stiffness is still good, and only strong pressure on the screen becomes visible in the liquid crystals. The Lumia 532's height and width have increased marginally, likely due to the second SIM slot.
Connectivity
Like the Lumia 435, the Lumia 532 offers quite a bit of storage capacity for the money with 1 GB RAM and 8 GB flash. It is also possible to add up to 128 GB via a micro-SDXC card. An FM radio is also installed, but headphones are needed because it is used as an antenna. A headset is not included for the device.
Software
Microsoft preloads the latest Windows Phone version; its exact specification is 8.10.14234.375. Furthermore, the newest extension of the software is included with Lumia Denim, which is exclusively found on Microsoft devices. For example, it includes a screen viewer that displays basic information in black and white when the phone is turned off like in Motorola's Moto smartphones. Thus, the user does not have to boot the phone every time just to see the time or check new messages.
Besides that, Microsoft installs all Lumia apps even in its low-cost devices, such as extended camera software, Storyteller, Mix Radio, HERE Drive+, AppSocial, and more. An update to Windows 10 will likely also be available for the Lumia 532.
Communication & GPS
The Lumia 532 can utilize four GSM networks and two UMTS networks. Thus, globetrotters going to exotic destinations should not rely on high-speed Internet everywhere. LTE is not at all installed, but that is (still) common in this price range. The Wi-Fi module can connect to networks that support the 802.11 b/g/n standards with a rather middling reception quality. We only had half the signal at a distance of ten meters and through three walls, but websites were still opened quite fast.
At first glance, the GPS module seemed quite reliable and located us with an accuracy of 5 meters outdoors. However, the determined position deviated by a few hundred meters from our actual location. Like our previous experiences with the Lumia 435 and its GPS module showed, full confidence should not be placed in the tracking module.
Telephone & Voice Quality
The audio quality is very similar with that of the Lumia 435: We heard a treble-heavy but overall quite balanced sound over the earpiece. Of course, it cannot be compared with a premium-range smartphone, but it is still decent. Some contacts may, however, perceive sibilant sounds like "s" or "sh" as unpleasantly loud. We did not like the microphone as much: our contacts perceived the sound as inaccurate and stifled.
The phone's dual-SIM feature functions properly and is also cleverly implemented and easy to use owing to dedicated tiles for both SIM cards. Users can also join the tiles and select the corresponding SIM card before making a call. The SIM cards can also be enabled and disabled singly, renamed, and mobile data use can be determined in the options. The options are overall diverse and we did not really miss anything.
Cameras & Multimedia
The camera in the Lumia 532 has a resolution of 5 megapixels, which is definitely an improvement over the Lumia 435 with only 2 megapixels. The pictures look good at first glance, but it becomes evident that details are blurred and areas look spotty when looking closer. The color dynamic is quite good, and the Lumia 532 is quite suitable for occasional snapshots when excessive zooming or editing is not planned. However, sufficient light should be available because there is no flash and the pictures quickly look blurry in low light.
A 0.3-megapixel camera is again installed in the front. It is barely suitable even for video calls and can sooner be considered a placeholder than a useful camera.
Input Devices & Controls
The keys of the virtual keyboard look very small at first glance, but the keyboard implements inputs very accurately. It offers word suggestions and inputting via swiping. However, handwriting or dictation directly from the keyboard is not supported. The alpha version of the voice assistant Cortana is again installed, but it simply redirects many questions to Bing.
It is possible to wake up the device by double tapping on the screen in the view mode where only the time and messages are displayed in black and white. However, that does not always function reliably. Furthermore, the screen's lower right corner is no longer sensitive enough to detect inputs. That should barely have an adverse effect in practice, though.
Display
The small 4-inch screen has a resolution of 800x480 pixels, which put it on the same level as most comparison devices. Its resolution is sufficient for a 4-inch screen, but the content naturally looks sharper on a screen with a higher resolution. The screen's finish is also grainy, which is particularly visible on large color areas. The average brightness of 302.4 cd/m² is marginally higher than in the Lumia 435 in total but is still second last in the comparison with its contenders.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 93 %
Center on Battery: 301 cd/m²
Contrast: 519:1 (Black: 0.58 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 6.36 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 7.49 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
Gamma: 2.58
| Microsoft Lumia 532 Adreno 302, 200 MSM8212, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Microsoft Lumia 535 Adreno 302, 200 MSM8212, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Microsoft Lumia 435 Adreno 302, 200 8210, 8 GB eMMC Flash | LG L40 Adreno 302, 200 8210, 4 GB Flash | Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 Adreno 302, 200 8210, 4 GB Flash | Acer Liquid Z4 Mali-400 MP, MT6572, 4 GB Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 28% | 3% | 22% | 22% | -18% | |
| Brightness middle | 301 | 431 43% | 284 -6% | 396 32% | 373 24% | 373 24% |
| Brightness | 302 | 424 40% | 282 -7% | 380 26% | 365 21% | 348 15% |
| Brightness Distribution | 93 | 90 -3% | 92 -1% | 91 -2% | 96 3% | 81 -13% |
| Black Level * | 0.58 | 0.64 -10% | 0.56 3% | 0.51 12% | 0.5 14% | 0.6 -3% |
| Contrast | 519 | 673 30% | 507 -2% | 776 50% | 746 44% | 622 20% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 6.36 | 3.6 43% | 5.64 11% | 6.01 6% | 4.84 24% | 12.31 -94% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 7.49 | 3.71 50% | 5.69 24% | 5.45 27% | 5.62 25% | 13.06 -74% |
| Gamma | 2.58 85% | 2.4 92% | 2.11 104% | 2.29 96% | 2.59 85% | 1.88 117% |
| CCT | 9135 71% | 6878 95% | 7817 83% | 6954 93% | 7943 82% | 15301 42% |
* ... smaller is better
None of the comparison devices can really boast with a low black level and very high contrast. However, the Lumia 532 does a worse job than most devices from this price range. The black level of 0.58 cd/m² is acceptable, but black areas look a bit grayish. The resulting contrast of 519:1 is quite low, and colors look very pale and not very vivid. Besides that, it is quite difficult to tell very similar color hues apart.
A clear bluish cast is evident in our color reproduction tests. It is visible to the naked eye that the medium and light grayscale levels have a much too high blue content. The average color temperature of over 9000 Kelvin is high and also points to a bluish reproduction.
The glossy surface and low brightness make outdoor use difficult. In fact, it is almost impossible to recognize anything on the screen in bright surroundings even when using maximum brightness.
TN-LED screens are not really known for stable viewing angles, and the colors deviate very strongly in the Lumia 532 when the phone is tilted too much. That could make it difficult to determine single colors with certainty in flat angles. Furthermore, the contrast decreases to such an extent that even text is no longer well legible.
Performance
The installed SoC discloses yet another difference to the Lumia 435. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 MSM8212 has four cores while the Lumia 435 has to be satisfied with only two processing cores. However, the clock rate of 1.2 GHz is the same. The performance difference in the synthetic benchmarks is not very great, but it is still obvious. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 MSM8212 also powers Microsoft's Lumia 535, which is why the Lumia 532 achieves identical scores in the benchmarks.
The Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 are equally fast in Internet browsing, but the preloaded Internet Explorer belongs to the swiftest browsers anyway. Android devices manage a considerable speed advantage here.
The graphics unit in all three Lumias used for comparison is the same: The Adreno 302 is enough for basic gaming. The screen cannot offer a really high resolution to start with. At least GFXBench ran on the Lumia 532; it refused to run on the Lumia 435. However, the Windows Phone version of the benchmark did not provide any frame rates so that a comparison with Android devices is, unfortunately, not possible.
| Linpack Android / IOS | |
| Single Thread (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 535 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 435 | |
| Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 | |
| Multi Thread (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 535 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 435 | |
| Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 535 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 435 | |
| LG L40 | |
| Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 435 | |
| LG L40 | |
| Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 | |
| Google V8 Ver. 7 - Google V8 Ver. 7 Score (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 535 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 435 | |
| Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 | |
| Acer Liquid Z4 | |
| Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 535 | |
| Microsoft Lumia 435 | |
| LG L40 | |
| Acer Liquid Z4 | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| LG L40 | |
| Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Microsoft Lumia 532 | |
| LG L40 | |
| Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 | |
* ... smaller is better
Games
Graphically demanding games like Asphalt 8: Airborne run fairly lag-free when the details are not set to max, but minor stutters are visible. Hardcore gamers will thus unlikely be happy with Microsoft's Lumia 532. The Adreno 302 in the review sample will completely satisfy users who only occasionally play Angry Birds.
Emissions
Temperature
There is no need to worry about the temperatures of Microsoft's Lumia 532. The casing barely heats up even after a longer period of full load. The absolute maximum temperature was 35.9 °C, which is palpable but not unpleasant. The device is even considerably cooler with a maximum of 28.8 °C in idle mode.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 35.9 °C / 97 F, compared to the average of 35 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 56 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 33.6 °C / 92 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 27.7 °C / 82 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
The speaker in the Lumia 435 already surprised us, and it again sounds quite decent for the scope of its possibilities this time. Of course, it cannot be compared with the sound of an HTC One M9, particularly since low pitches and mids are quite undeveloped. However, trebles are rendered impeccably, and the maximum volume is high.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The Lumia 532's power consumption is not a very glamorous chapter, which is likely also due to the device's dual-SIM feature. Furthermore, the SoC seems to be quite power-guzzling because the Lumia 535 also struggled with high consumption. The Lumia 532 consumes up to 2.1 watts when idling. However, it is quite modest in load with a maximum of 2.8 watts. The high standby consumption of 0.8 watts cannot be brought under control even when disabling the "view" feature.
| Off / Standby |   0 / 0.8 Watt |
| Idle |  1.3 / 1.8 / 2.1 Watt |
| Load |
2.4 / 2.8 Watt |
    
| |
Battery Runtime
Like in the Lumia 435, long runtimes are hardly possible considering the Lumia 532's rather limited battery capacity alongside the partly relatively high power consumption. The phone shut down after almost 5 hours in the Wi-Fi test although all other communication modules are disabled and the screen is dimmed to approximately 150 cd/m². 10:23 hours is possible in idle mode, i.e. enabled screen without consumers and reading text documents. The manufacturer states a runtime of 21 hours in the 2G net, which seems rather unrealistic in view of our test results.
| Microsoft Lumia 532 Adreno 302, 200 MSM8212, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Microsoft Lumia 535 Adreno 302, 200 MSM8212, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Microsoft Lumia 435 Adreno 302, 200 8210, 8 GB eMMC Flash | LG L40 Adreno 302, 200 8210, 4 GB Flash | Motorola Moto E 1. Gen 2014 Adreno 302, 200 8210, 4 GB Flash | Acer Liquid Z4 Mali-400 MP, MT6572, 4 GB Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | 52% | 18% | 114% | |||
| Reader / Idle | 623 | 948 52% | 735 18% | 1336 114% | ||
| WiFi v1.3 | 298 | |||||
| WiFi | 376 | 376 | 860 | 846 | 498 |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
Unruffled by the somewhat confusing name-giving policy of Microsoft's low-cost smartphones, price-conscious buyers will always find a good bargain among them. The Lumia 532 comes with an acceptable camera, enough power for smooth use and a lot of preloaded software for not quite 100 Euros (~$107). Although obvious compromises have to be made in terms of connectivity and, above all, screen most buyers will be able to tolerate that in this price range.
In total, the Lumia 532 is a solid deal for anyone looking for a smartphone with a stiff casing, acceptable sound quality, and dual-SIM support.
Although the microphone was not compelling, the device provides plenty of storage and a removable battery, which compensates for the short battery life to some extent.
Microsoft Lumia 532
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04/05/2015 v4(old)
Florian Wimmer
Pricecompare
