In the Smartphones market, most manufacturers tend to focus on the high-end devices and those are the ones that make the news quite a lot. With this, most people forget that we have affordable Smartphones that are more appealing to a huge percentage of the population. Microsoft is one company that seems to know this with its ever-growing list of devices in the low-end segment of the market.
Read: Microsoft Introduces the Nokia 215, the Most Affordable Internet-Ready Phone
The company has today announced two more Smartphones to join its Lumia family. These are the Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 that Microsoft says will be the cheapest Lumia Smartphones to date. They are also the cheapest Windows phone devices to date.The Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 are the perfect Smartphones for those who are upgrading from feature phones. According to Microsoft, these Smartphones provide a balance of power and features.
The Lumia 435 is the first Smartphone in the Lumia 400 series and is the most affordable Lumia yet. This Smartphone is meant to open the Windows Phone ecosystem to more people with its core Smartphone features, access to the latest apps and incredible Windows phone experiences.
Read: Microsoft Has Officially Introduced the Lumia 535 in Kenya
The Lumia 532 on the other hand joins the Lumia 500 series and has more advanced features. The Lumia 532 is supposed to build on the success of the Lumia 530 with its quad-core processor, premium layered design, front facing camera and glance screen. With the Lumia 532, users are able to:
- Switch effortlessly between voice and video calls with built-in Skype integration and a front-facing camera.
- Read, review, edit and share on the go with the full suite of Microsoft Office on Windows Phone preinstalled.
- Keep your photos, videos and Office documents safely backed up with 30GB of free OneDrive cloud storage.
- Meet Cortana, the most personal of virtual assistants, who anticipates your needs and makes tailored suggestions as a result. Cortana is still not available in Kenya so this may not be that appealing right now.
- Easily manage work and personal correspondence on the fly, with Microsoft Outlook straight out of the box.
- Capture photos quickly and easily with Lumia Camera right out of the box, and take, edit and share great selfies with the front-facing camera and Lumia Selfie app.
- Have your home screen your way with the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1 and the Lumia Denim update, complete with one-swipe Action Center, Word Flow and Live Folders.
- Stay up-to-date with the best new features through regular Windows updates too.
“When we launched the first Lumia devices over three years ago, we said we were committed to bringing devices to as many people and price points as possible,” said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for Phones at Microsoft. “With the Lumia 435 and Lumia 532, we’ve realized our goal of creating the most affordable Lumia devices to date, opening up the opportunity to reach those people who are buying a Smartphone for the very first time. Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 deliver competitive hardware alongside innovative software that will continue to receive the very latest updates and enhancements, keeping users up-to-date with the best new features.”
Read: The Microsoft Lumia 535 is all About Innovation at an Affordable Price Tag
The Lumia 435 and 532 will be available as from February in both single and dual-SIM variants. The estimated retail price for the Lumia 435 is 69 euros (approximately Kshs. 7,400 before taxes) while the Lumia 532 will retail at 79 euros (approximately Kshs. 8,500 before taxes).
The prices for the Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 are really low, it will be interesting to see how the market receives them and how they compete with the Lumia 530.
