Microsoft lands its first Lumia phone in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - Last week, Microsoft Philippines formally introduced its very first Lumia smartphone in the country.

The Lumia 535 is the first smartphone under the new Microsoft Lumia brand, eschewing the Nokia label which it bought the division from a year ago.

With a suggested retail price of just under Php6,000, the Lumia 535 could be a sign that Microsoft is putting attention to the entry-level market. That’s a good move considering that in a market like the Philippines, the growth potential of smartphones are in the entry-level segment.

The Lumia 535 features a 5-inch IPS display, powered by a quad-core Snapdragon processor and 1GB of RAM.

It  has dual-SIM 3G functionality that allows you to use two separate SIMs from any network, a common feature that a lot of people look for these days.

The Lumia 535’s crowning feature is the 5-megapixel rear camera with a similar 5-megapixel front-facing camera with wide-angle lens, allowing for better selfie photos.

Microsoft Lumia 535 specs:

5-inch qHD IPS display @ 960 x 540 pixels, 220ppi

Corning Gorilla Glass 3

1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 quad-core CPU

1GB RAM

8GB internal storage

Up to 128GB via microSD

5 megapixel AF rear camera w/ LED flash

5 megapixel wide-angle front camera

Dual-SIM, Dual-Standby

3G HSPA+

WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth 4.0, A2DP

GPS with A-GPS support, GLONASS

USB 2.0

Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim

1,905mAh Li-Ion removable battery

140.2 x 72.4 x 8.8 mm (dimensions)

146 grams (weight)

SRP: Php5,990

Along with the Lumia 535, Microsoft also launched the Lumia 735, a mid-range handset with  a slightly more capable hardware.

While it has a smaller display at 4.7-inch, the handset sports a faster Snapdragon 400 processor with LTE support.

Microsoft Lumia 735 specs:

4.7-inch HD OLED display, 1280×720 pixels, 312ppi

1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 MSM8926 quad-core CPU

Adreno 305 GPU

1GB RAM

8GB internal storage

Supports up to 128GB Micro-SD card

4G/LTE, 3G/HSPA connectivity

Micro-SIM

6.7MP rear camera with LED flash

Zeiss optics with f/1.9 aperture

1080p video recording @30fps

5MP front camera w/ f2.4 aperture

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth 4.0 LE

NFC

FM Radio

GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou

2220mAh Li-Ion Battery

Windows Phone 8.1 Denim Update

Dimensions: 134.7 x 68.5 x 8.7mm

Weight: 133g

The Lumia 735 also comes with a nice set of shooters – 6.7-megapixel rear camera with Zeiss optics and f/1.9 aperture plus another 5-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.4 aperture.

Microsoft did not reveal the retail price of the Lumia 735 since Globe Telecom will be exclusively carrying the handset with their postpaid plans (comes free on Plan 1200).