Nokia Lumia 730/735 review: Golden mean

Nice Photos app

In Windows Phone 8.1 the Photo Hub has lost the magazine UI in favor of the traditional WP page view. You get three swipe-able pages - all, albums and favorites - all pretty much self-explanatory.

Automatic OneDrive backup is available, you just need to enable it from the settings. Microsoft gives you 15GB for free plus 3GB for the each device on which you turn on the automatic OneDrive camera upload.

Pictures hub

Sharing options include Bluetooth file transfer, messaging, email, Facebook, OneDrive and other available social services.

Xbox music app

The default Xbox music player in Windows Phone 8.1 uses the familiar page layout - you get Now Playing page; Collection view with shortcuts to artists, albums, songs, genres, playlists, and Music Store highlights. It also allows you to create, edit and delete playlists straight from your phone.

Music app with Now Playing screen and its album view • Collection and Music Store

The player is compatible with your Xbox Music account and can stream your songs if you have active connection without saving them on the phone.

Browsing your collection

Unfortunately, the Music app doesn't support FLAC playback. Equalizer options are available from Settings -> Audio. You can either user presets or customize your own. Dolby Virtual Surround and Dolby Dialog Enhancer (in movies) are available, too.

FM radio with RDS

There's an FM radio with RDS support on board the Lumia 730/735. You can use the loudspeaker for the FM radio, though you still need the headset connected as it doubles as an antenna.

FM radio

Same video player with limited codec support

The video player is a separate app called Video. It has a four-page layout - your collection, movie store, TV store and spotlight.

The Video hub

The video player supports XviD, DivX, MOV and MP4 videos up to 1080p resolution. The few things it won't play are MKV files and videos using the AC3 audio codec. There is a limited subtitles support.

Playing a video

Audio quality is solid

The Nokia Lumia 735 is a pretty solid smartphone when it comes to audio playback duties. Its scores when plugged into an active external amplifier were great and the volume levels are higher than the majority of smartphones out there.

Plugging in a pair of headphones does cause a notable spike in stereo crosstalk, while the frequency response worsens a bit but still remains very good. Volume levels drop a bit too but again remain above average.

Overall, the mid-range Lumia may not be the best audio player on the market, but it punches well above its price class and that's a pretty decent achievement too.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Nokia Lumia 735	+0.07, -0.04	-90.6	91.4	0.0093	0.084	-91.2
Nokia Lumia 735 (headphones attached)	+0.35, -0.21	-89.4	91.2	0.013	0.194	-55.9
Nokia Lumia 930	+0.12, -0.02	-91.4	90.7	0.0099	0.101	-90.3
Nokia Lumia 930 (headphones attached)	+0.19, -0.43	-89.4	90.7	0.012	0.501	-55.8
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini	+0.03, -0.04	-92.6	90.7	0.016	0.018	-94.0
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini (headphones attached)	+0.23, -0.05	-86.7	86.2	0.052	0.167	-55.7
HTC One mini 2	+0.02, -0.09	-94.8	93.8	0.010	0.011	-93.5
HTC One mini 2 (headphones attached)	+0.08, -0.03	-94.9	93.8	0.028	0.022	-90.1

Nokia Lumia 735 frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.