Physical Properties, Call Quality, and Networking
For a $ 100 phone, Hydro Life feels solid. It measures 5.19 by 2.57 by 0.43 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.8 ounces; It fits comfortable in smaller hands, to be suitable for children or small adults-pawed.
The back is textured plastic, a little rubber on the top and bottom say "substantial," and the chrome side is a fine touch at this price. The Hydro Life is rated for 30 minutes of water resistance to 3 feet. After 30 minutes dunking, we found the screen to be experienced from the ghost touch, but a reboot fixed. It can be a huge benefit for those who tend to drop or dip their phone.
The screen is one of the nicest things about this phone. The 4.5-inch, 960-by-640 IP LCD is bright, with many colors, and decently on the outside. Not all panels of 960-by-640 is the same; The Alcatel One Touch Mustang 2 of $ 126.00 on T-Mobile screen, for example, is dim compared to this one.
The Hydro Life uses "smart sonic receiver," Kyocera which vibrates the entire screen to make the sound rather than pumping it through a small earpiece. That is an interesting tactic, but I found it disappointing all around; sound through the earpiece is not too quiet for my taste, and somewhat tinny. The back-ported speakerphone is deep and much heartier, although I kept to turn the phone around so faced me. Sending the main microphone there really be heard in noisy places, but sounds better coming from the speakerphone, oddly enough. Phone supports both Wi-Fi calling and T-Mobile HD Voice.
Like all of the $ 100 phone T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 635 except the $ 99.84 T-Mobile, the Hydro Life Less LTE. That makes me really hesitant, as T-Mobile is pouring its investment in LTE networks today, and all owners of this phone will not see any of the range and quality improvements in the works. The phone also stopped HSPA + 21, not even HSPA + 42, so the download speed we saw around 3-5Mbps. Hydro Edge also supports quad-band GSM for the (slow) global roaming and 802.11b / g / n Wi-Fi, though only in the crowded 2.4GHz band. GPS and Bluetooth 4.0 LE also on board, as usual.
Battery life is not very impressive. We have 4 hours, 38 minutes of video streaming on HSPA 2,000mAh battery.