Key Features: 5-inch, 960 x 540 screen; Snapdragon 200 processor; 5MP cameras front and rear
Manufacturer: Microsoft

Lumia 535 is the first official Microsoft phone – First Impressions

Nokia is no more. While the Lumia smartphone brand it championed remains, the Lumia 535 is the first phone branded by Microsoft. But this isn't a revolution, as the Microsoft Lumia 535 still has its roots in Nokia phones – it's kind of an upgrade to the lacklustre Nokia Lumia 530. It's too early to say if this is the supreme budget phone that Microsoft hopes it is, but it's a clear improvement on the 530.

Lumia 535 Release Date and Price: The Lumia 535 will go on sale by the end of the November for €109 before tax. UK price to follow. Microsoft currently has no plans to sell the Lumia 535 in the US.

Key to this transformation is the screen, a 5-inch display with a 960 x 540 resolution. It's an improvement over the ugly TN-based LCD screen of the Lumia 530. It's not hugely sharp, but colours appear above average and the viewing angle is adequate. Microsoft also claims superior outdoor visibility, though I had no chance to test this out.



That's not the only improvement, as both cameras get an upgrade. You now get 5-megapixel front and rear cameras, and there's an LED flash on the back. Better still, the Lumia 535 follows the lead of the Lumia 735 and Lumia 830 in having a wide-angle lens at the front for better 'group selfies'. I also found the focusing speed and performance of the Lumia 535's camera a marked improvement on the 530, although it's a little early to make any further claims.

These two improvements address two key failings of the 530, but similarities remain. For example, the Lumia 535 uses the same quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor as the 530. This sounds good, but we weren't impressed by its performance in the 530 and it's arguably less powerful than the dual-core processor found in the ageing Nokia Lumia 520. I found the Lumia 535 wasn't 100% smooth in my time with it, but it was running non-final firmware, so it's likely to improve ahead of launch.

For those wondering, this is a 3G-only phone. That might disappoint some people, but if you're after an affordable 4G Windows Phone then you should look to the Lumia 735. Storage is quite generous on the Lumia 535, though – it has 8GB built in and supports microSD cards. You may find the 8GB is enough if you don't have much music to load onto the phone.



As for the design, the Lumia 535 sticks to the tried and tested colourful style of previous Lumia handsets with great success. There's a choice between glossy green and orange covers, and matte options of black, white and cyan – I'm assured this is not just 'blue', by Microsoft reps. Keen observers will note cyan makes a return after a short hiatus and this was my pick of the removable colours, mainly because it's colourful but not glossy like the green and orange options.


First Thoughts

Until we have a final UK price it's tough to make a decent judgement on the Lumia 535 – such are the tight margins in budget phones that a few pounds here and there make a big difference.

What I can say, however, is that the Lumia 535 is a promising budget phone. It looks great and has a decent, though not spectacular, feature set. My only serious concern is whether the Snapdragon 200 processor that held back the Lumia 530 will do the same here. We'll know more once we get a final version to test.