Microsoft Lumia 532: First impressions
Almost three months after the launch of the first Microsoft-branded budget smartphone, Lumia 535, the Redmond giant has introduced two new entry-level Windows Phone handsets. Christened as Lumia 532 and Lumia 435, the two phones also carry the Microsoft label (and not the Nokia one) and are targeted at young buyers who're probably buying their first smartphone.
The company has positioned the phones in a price band where they compete with low-cost Android phones and this was also pretty apparent during the event.
We got a chance to spend some time with the Lumia 532 and here's what we feel about the phone...
In terms of design, the Lumia 532 reminded us of the Nokia X2, the company's last Android-based smartphone, although we've seen some elements in some Asha series phones as well.
Just like some other budget Nokia phones, it employs the same design that involves a changeable coloured back cover that wraps around the phone.
There's a frosty-looking, translucent plastic coating around the edges of the back cover that Microsoft likes to call semi-transparent layered design. This makes the phone look different, a feat difficult for entry-level phones.
Our white coloured demo unit sported a matte finish and was not very susceptible to smudges. The right edge of the phone features the power and volume rocker keys, in the same colour as that of the shell and offer good tactile feedback. The top edge sports the 3.5mm headset jack while the bottom features the micro-USB port.
The removable shell hides the battery(also removable) which is branded Microsoft, two micro-sim card slots and a microSD card slot.
Unlike the Lumia 535, the phone features capacitive navigation keys that are not backlit.
Materials used in the phone are of good quality and feel durable. We did not notice any wobbles or squeaks.
The front of the phone features a 4-inch WVGA (800x480p) display. Viewing angles were wide and brightness levels were decent. Thanks to the small screen size, we didn't notice much pixilation. In our brief use, we found that the display responded to touch in a better manner compared with the Lumia 535.
The phone also has a 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera for selfies and video chats.
The back features a 5MP rear camera and a speaker outlet in addition to some Microsoft branding.
In our brief time with the phone, we found the camera app to be responsive and the quality of pictures to be decent though we do miss the LED flash.
Lumia 532 runs Lumia Denim which is essentially Windows Phone 8.1 with Update 1 with some Nokia-exclusive features.
Update 1 brings features like Live Folders, Cortana support (alpha) for India, SMS merge and forwarding, consumer VPN and Internet Explorer improvements.You can now organise apps or games by grouping them into folders similar to iOS and Android. You can press, hold and drag an app over another to create a new folder on the Start screen.
The Lumia 532 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor with 1GB RAM under the hood and comes with 8GB internal storage and microSD card support up to 128GB. We like the fact that Microsoft has finally started shipping entry-level devices with 1GB RAM, making the phones compatible with a wider set of apps and games. Microsoft is also offering 30GB free cloud storage with the phone.
Lumia 532 comes with a 1,560mAh battery and Microsoft claims that the phone can offer up to 12 hours of 3G talk time and 22 days of dual-sim standby time.
In our brief use, we did not experience any lag while launching and switching between apps.
We'll need to spend more time with the phone to comment on its hardware performance.
At a price of Rs 6,499, the phone competes with the likes of Android One devices, Motorola Moto E, Asus Zenfone 4 and a number of Micromax phones.
Almost three months after the launch of the first Microsoft-branded budget smartphone, Lumia 535, the Redmond giant has introduced two new entry-level Windows Phone handsets. Christened as Lumia 532 and Lumia 435, the two phones also carry the Microsoft label (and not the Nokia one) and are targeted at young buyers who're probably buying their first smartphone.
The company has positioned the phones in a price band where they compete with low-cost Android phones and this was also pretty apparent during the event.
We got a chance to spend some time with the Lumia 532 and here's what we feel about the phone...
In terms of design, the Lumia 532 reminded us of the Nokia X2, the company's last Android-based smartphone, although we've seen some elements in some Asha series phones as well.
Just like some other budget Nokia phones, it employs the same design that involves a changeable coloured back cover that wraps around the phone.
There's a frosty-looking, translucent plastic coating around the edges of the back cover that Microsoft likes to call semi-transparent layered design. This makes the phone look different, a feat difficult for entry-level phones.
Our white coloured demo unit sported a matte finish and was not very susceptible to smudges. The right edge of the phone features the power and volume rocker keys, in the same colour as that of the shell and offer good tactile feedback. The top edge sports the 3.5mm headset jack while the bottom features the micro-USB port.
The removable shell hides the battery(also removable) which is branded Microsoft, two micro-sim card slots and a microSD card slot.
Unlike the Lumia 535, the phone features capacitive navigation keys that are not backlit.
Materials used in the phone are of good quality and feel durable. We did not notice any wobbles or squeaks.
The front of the phone features a 4-inch WVGA (800x480p) display. Viewing angles were wide and brightness levels were decent. Thanks to the small screen size, we didn't notice much pixilation. In our brief use, we found that the display responded to touch in a better manner compared with the Lumia 535.
The phone also has a 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera for selfies and video chats.
The back features a 5MP rear camera and a speaker outlet in addition to some Microsoft branding.
In our brief time with the phone, we found the camera app to be responsive and the quality of pictures to be decent though we do miss the LED flash.
Lumia 532 runs Lumia Denim which is essentially Windows Phone 8.1 with Update 1 with some Nokia-exclusive features.
Update 1 brings features like Live Folders, Cortana support (alpha) for India, SMS merge and forwarding, consumer VPN and Internet Explorer improvements.You can now organise apps or games by grouping them into folders similar to iOS and Android. You can press, hold and drag an app over another to create a new folder on the Start screen.
The Lumia 532 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor with 1GB RAM under the hood and comes with 8GB internal storage and microSD card support up to 128GB. We like the fact that Microsoft has finally started shipping entry-level devices with 1GB RAM, making the phones compatible with a wider set of apps and games. Microsoft is also offering 30GB free cloud storage with the phone.
Lumia 532 comes with a 1,560mAh battery and Microsoft claims that the phone can offer up to 12 hours of 3G talk time and 22 days of dual-sim standby time.
In our brief use, we did not experience any lag while launching and switching between apps.
We'll need to spend more time with the phone to comment on its hardware performance.
At a price of Rs 6,499, the phone competes with the likes of Android One devices, Motorola Moto E, Asus Zenfone 4 and a number of Micromax phones.
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