The new Lumia 535 hit Indian stores last week, bringing Microsoft's latest smartphone to one of the biggest markets in the world. With a price tag of Rs.9,199(USD147.80), Lumia 535 by Microsoft is the first smartphone by the IT giant that does not carry the Nokia brand. It features both dual-SIM and single-SIM option, and carries a 5x5x5 proposition, 5MP front and rear camera and a 5-inch qHD screen. It also comes with a 15GB of free OneDrive cloud storage and boasts a vibrant and rich colour range - bright green, bright orange, white, dark grey, cyan and black.
Microsoft acquired Nokia Devices and Services earlier this year for USD7.2 billion. The release of this latest Lumia device under the Microsoft brand follows the extensive rebranding exercise carried out by the company to transition the Nokia Devices and Services into becoming part of the Microsoft Brand. According to one of its blog posts, the rebranding of Nokia Lumia as Microsoft Lumia is joined by similar changes across its websites, packaging and customer touch points. The rebranding will also see Nokia smartphone applications as well its various channels being rebranded under Microsoft.
With the new Lumia 535 now becoming the official Microsoft smartphone, users can expect faster access to some of the popular services under the Microsoft family including Office, OneDrive. Skype and Bing. The Lumia 535 has a built-in Skype integration that delivers seamless Skype video calls and switching between voice and video. The Microsoft Lumia can also access, edit and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint presentations as well as OneNote notebooks from anywhere with the pre-installed Office suite.
According to the blog post, although the new Lumia 535 will mean that the 'Nokia' brand will slowly be eased out of the picture, Microsoft said that it will continue to sell and support Nokia Lumia phones in the market, including the Lumia 830 and Lumia 730/735 released this year.
