First Microsoft Lumia launched in India for Rs9,199

[Dinesh jain]

Now that Microsoft has started to phase out
the Nokia brand from its products, it has
launched the first Lumia Windows Phone under
its own branding. The Lumia 535, which was
launched in India on Wednesday costs Rs
9,199, and is Microsoft's latest salvo against
the deluge of low-cost high performance
Android smartphones from the likes of
Motorola, Micromax and Xiaomi.

The dual-SIM Lumia 535 phone will be
available in stores and online retail from 28
November.
"We have 1.5billion people using Windows
every day, we have 1.7billion people using
Office. These are the experiences we are
lighting up on the phone. Microsoft's five
prestigious services, Office, Skype, Bing,
OneNote and OneDrive are available for free
through out the life of the phone," said Ajay
Mehta, head of Microsoft Devices in India.
Microsoft touts the power of three 5's - a 5-
megapixel front camera, a 5-megapixel rear
camera and a 5-inch screen all packaged in a
typical colourful Lumia polycarbonate shell.
Internally, the phone has a quad-core
Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor clocked
at 1.2GHz tied in with 1GB RAM. Previously,
Nokia had skimmed on the RAM on phones like
the Lumia 630, but with the 535 there are no
such compromises.

Some Windows Phone games and apps don't
work on phones with lesser than 1GB RAM,
hence its addition is an important one.
Its screen is a 5-inch panel with a 960x540
qHD resolution, which is sharper than some of
the previous Lumia phones. It also has
Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 for an added layer of
protection.

There is no compromise on photography too as
there's a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera on
the back (previous models have sported an
inferior fixed focus sensor). On the front too,
there is not only a camera for Skype calls and
selfies, but a high resolution 5-megapixel
snapper, a rarity on Windows Phones, leave
alone phones in the price band.

In terms of video, the phone is slightly weak as
the phone can only shoot at 480P.
The phone has usual amenities like a microSD
card slot with support for up to 128GB of
expansion, 8GB ROM, a 1,905mAh battery, FM
Radio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0.

The phone is available in five colours - black,
white, grey, orange, blue and green.
On paper, this appears to be Microsoft's
strongest attempt to crack the low-end market
in 2014, after it fell behind post the launch of
products like the Moto G.
Last year, Microsoft's Lumia 520 and Lumia
525 were critically acclaimed and also quite
popular for offering a fluid smartphone
experience at a low price. In 2014, things
changed as Android smartphone vendors
caught up and raised the bar.

"The phone in India becomes of great
importance. The next 300 million people will
access the internet via the phone. In India, it
may not be a mobile first world, but perhaps a
mobile only world. With the new generation of
Lumia smartphones every person will have a
PC in their home," said Bhaskar Pramanik,
Chairman Microsoft India.

First Microsoft Lumia launched in India for Rs 9,199