The first Lumia device has been officially launched today as the Lumia 535, a smartphone, which doesn’t offer much more than some of Microsoft’s Windows Phones, but is the first Lumia device available minus the Nokia brand. The phone offers two models, one with Dual SIM. Both are relatively cheap, and it seems they’re aimed at mostly developing nation buyers with less spending power.

Microsoft’s strategy with the Lumia 535, all of which run the latest Window’s 8.1 operating system, is “bringing the latest Microsoft experiences to more affordable price levels,” according to an official Microsoft news report. “Lumia 535 comes with our ‘5x5x5’ proposition,” said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for Phones at Microsoft said. “Innovation should be available to everyone, and we are doing this through the very best integrated Microsoft services included and out of the box, a 5MP wide-angle front-facing camera, and a spacious 5-inch qHD screen — all at an affordable price.” Affordable translates to around $135.

The initial sales in November will start in China, Russia, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Indonesia and Philippines, and a month later the Lumia 535 will be released in Thailand, some countries in Africa, as well as Australia and Vietnam. At the beginning of 2015 countries belonging to Latin America will also start selling the Microsoft’s “affordable” device.

The phone itself doesn’t look much different from the Lumia 530, although it’s larger in size and a little slimmer. It has a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor; 5-inch (960×540-pixel display), and offers 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, as well the capability of storing 128GB of data through a memory card. Microsoft’s “5” services available on the device include: Skype, Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), OneDrive, Outlook, and OneNote. The 5-megapixel (front-facing) camera has a wide-angle lens with a 24mm focal length. The rear end camera comes with a flash, something not available on most budget phones. It’s 3G only, which is not surprising given its low-cost strategy.

For more specifications on Microsoft’s budget Lumia go to their official page.

Photo credit: Microsoft