Microsoft launches the Lumia 535 with 5” qHD display

Microsoft has officially unveiled its first smartphone without Nokia branding - Lumia 535. The smartphone will be available in dual-sim and single sim variants from November at an estimated price of 110 euros (Rs 8,400 approximately) with sales starting in China, Hong Kong and Bangladesh. There's no information on the India pricing and release of the phone.

Announcing the news via the Lumia Conversations blog, Microsoft said, "Today sees the launch of the new Microsoft Lumia 535, our "5x5x5" smartphone package bringing a 5-inch screen, 5-megapixel front- and rear-facing camera, and free integrated Microsoft experiences (such as Skype and OneNote) to more people at an affordable price."

Lumia 535 looks similar to Lumia 530 which was unveiled earlier this year, complete with rounded corners and a coloured back cover. However, it does not sport any Nokia branding. Also, Microsoft has tried to fill in some gaps to make it more feature complete.

The smartphone runs Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim update and features a 5-inch IPS LCD display with a qHD (540x960 pixels) resolution and a pixel density of 220ppi. It also sports Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

The Lumia 535 have a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, with 1GB of RAM and a 1,905mAh battery. There's 8GB of onboard storage, coupled with a microSD card slot for up to 128GB of extra capacity.

The device is also 3G-only, which is understandable given it's aimed at people who are unlikely to have a 4G data plan. The main camera is also a 5-megapixel affair, but with an LED flash, and like all Lumias, there will be several color options: Green, cyan, orange, black and white.