Microsoft Lumia 535 ditches Nokia brand for the first time
Microsoft's first Lumia smartphone without the Nokia branding is a mid-range handset that won't break the bank
Microsoft has officially revealed the Lumia 535, the first smartphone not to use Nokia branding after the company’s Devices division was bought out in April this year. As predicted by early leaks, the budget handset might not have a Nokia logo, but it certainly carries Nokia DNA; it’s bright, colourful and runs Windows Phone 8.1, but won’t cost a fortune.
Designed primarily for emerging markets, with China, Hong Kong and Bangladesh first on the list to recieve it, the Lumia 535 isn’t yet confirmd for launch in the UK, but as Microsoft’s first phone to go it alone without the Nokia brand it’s worth closer inspection; it will give us an idea what to expect from more powerful devices when Microsoft gets round to revealing them.
The most immediate changes are Microsoft logos in place of the Nokia one on the font and back of the handset, but it appears Microsoft has ditched all of Nokia’s dedicated Windows Phone apps too.
Inside, the Lumia 535 is decidedly basic; powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 sytem-on-chip (SoC) running at 1.2GHz, paired with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, it won’t be setting any benchmark tables alight. It does at least have a microSD card slot, for adding up to 128GB of extra space, and the 1,905mAh battery should be 23 days of standby time, 11 hours of talktime or six and a half hours of video playback.
That’s all backed by a 5in, 960×540 resolution display, with 5-megapixel cameras on the front and back of the handset. The LED flash on the back should help with low light photography, but the low video resolution of 848×480 will limit the phone’s usefulness when it comes to shooting film clips.
As you would expect for a Lumia device, the Lumia 535 will be available in a multitude of bright colours, including green, orange, white, dark grey, black and cyan. The handset will be launcing in single and dual-SIM variants, and is expected to go on sale later this month in ‘key markets’, with an RRP of around €110 – roughly £90 before tax and VAT.
