Microsoft drops ‘Nokia’, launches Lumia 535 starting at $136

With an eye on emerging markets, Microsoft on Tuesday launched the latest Lumia smartphone sans the Nokia logo, priced at $136 (about ₹8,300) — the US giant's first since buying the Finnish company in April.

It will available for customers in China, Hong Kong and Bangladesh this month, but the company didn't immediately respond to a question about
plans for India.

The Nokia logo has been replaced by the Microsoft name on the front, above the five-inch screen, and in the centre of the rear plastic cover.

Lumia 535, as the new range is called, comes in two versions — 3G single SIM and 3G dual-SIM. It has a 5" display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM and 8 GB on-board memory expandable to 128 GB via microSD. It has 5MP front and rear cameras —the '535' name is built around the 5" screen and the two 5MP cameras.

"The Lumia 535 will be available in selected markets in November. Pricing will vary by market and operator, but is estimated to be around ¤110 before taxes and subsidies," Microsoft said in its blog.

The devices will come loaded with Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, Lumia Denim software and Cortana, a personal assistant app similar to iPhone's Siri.

Named after a character from the Halo games series, Cortana is a voice-activated assistant that can perform a search, make calls, dictate messages, set reminders etc.

Nokia had been losing share of the smartphone market, and lags way behind Apple and Samsung.