A phone for every budget? First Lumia phone launched by Microsoft looks at low-cost buyers market
The first Lumia device has been officially launched today as the Lumia 535, a smartphone, which doesn’t offer much more than some of Microsoft’s Windows Phones, but is the first Lumia device available minus the Nokia brand. The phone offers two models, one with Dual SIM. Both are relatively cheap, and it seems they’re aimed at mostly developing nation buyers with less spending power.
Microsoft’s strategy with the Lumia 535, all of which run the latest Window’s 8.1 operating system, is “bringing the latest Microsoft experiences to more affordable price levels,” according to an official Microsoft news report. “Lumia 535 comes with our ‘5x5x5’ proposition,” said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for Phones at Microsoft said. “Innovation should be available to everyone, and we are doing this through the very best integrated Microsoft services included and out of the box, a 5MP wide-angle front-facing camera, and a spacious 5-inch qHD screen — all at an affordable price.” Affordable translates to around $135.
The initial sales in November will start in China, Russia, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Indonesia and Philippines, and a month later the Lumia 535 will be released in Thailand, some countries in Africa, as well as Australia and Vietnam. At the beginning of 2015 countries belonging to Latin America will also start selling the Microsoft’s “affordable” device.
The phone itself doesn’t look much different from the Lumia 530, although it’s larger in size and a little slimmer. It has a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor; 5-inch (960×540-pixel display), and offers 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, as well the capability of storing 128GB of data through a memory card. Microsoft’s “5” services available on the device include: Skype, Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), OneDrive, Outlook, and OneNote. The 5-megapixel (front-facing) camera has a wide-angle lens with a 24mm focal length. The rear end camera comes with a flash, something not available on most budget phones. It’s 3G only, which is not surprising given its low-cost strategy.
For more specifications on Microsoft’s budget Lumia go to their official page.
Photo credit: Microsoft
Since you’re here …
… We’d like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.
If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.
