Microsoft Lumia 535: Company's First Non-Nokia Smartphone Set for India Launch on 26 Nov; Five Key Features

American technology giant Microsoft is all geared to launch the company's first non-Nokia smartphone -- Lumia 535 -- in India on 26 November.

The company is holding a simultaneous event at country's Silicon Valley Bengaluru and three other metros (Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai) in India to officially reveal the price and availability details of the Lumia 535.

Lumia 535 has gained lot of attention for being the Microsoft's first true Windows Phone after breaking away from Nokia brand. To provide some perspective on the new device we have listed key aspects which users can use to decide whether or not the Lumia 535 is worth the money.

Here are five key salient features of Microsoft Lumia 535:

New Windows Phone 8.1 OS with Lumia Denim: The new OS bring the much-needed – 'Action Center', similar to the Notification center found in Android devices. The new – Live Tiles -- an animation based feature of Windows Phone 8.1 enables the user to resize application face on the home screen based on their priority. It also shows real-time updates just with a hover of the finger on the screen.

That's not all. Microsoft's native app tiles are now transparent, enabling user to choose wallpaper as a background image. User can also change the accent colour and switch between dark and light backgrounds. The only complaint among the Windows phone users are that Nokia's HERE maps and other service apps are still opaque hurting the visual appeal of the home screen.

Cortana Voice Assistant: Microsoft's Cortana is an intuitive personal digital assistant similar to Siri (in Apple devices) and Google Now (in Android Devices), inspired by the popular artificial intelligence character (Master Chief's AI side-kick) seen in much-loved "Halo" video game series. It is powered by Microsoft's very own search engine Bing.

One of the key aspects of Cortana is that it will learn your search and phone operation patterns (with your permission) and in time get better with predicting your behavior. It checks in with you before assuming you're interested in something and gives suggestions/recommend options, such as nearest restaurant and best food in the locality. And in the morning, it will dish out real-time traffic and weather reports to help you plan your travel accordingly.

Free Microsoft Office apps and OneDrive cloud space: One of the key privileges of owning a Microsoft devices is that the users will get free value-added Office apps, which include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. These apps with the help of OneDrive cloud storage makes project work documents available at any Windows operable devices, making it seamlessly accessible anywhere.

Front-Camera: One of the key aspects of Lumia 535 is its 5.0-megapixel wide-angle snapper on the front. The front camera also features f/2.4 aperture, 24 mm focal length, still image capture, video call (via Skype) and video recording ability. It is specifically targeted to attract budget-conscious youth.

Price: During the officially unveiling earlier this month, the company confirmed that Lumia 535 - single and dual-SIM versions will have an estimated price-tag of €110 (around $137/₹8,410). Considering the additional import duty taxes, it is likely to be priced between ₹9,000 and ₹9,500 in India. Going by the specifications, it's a smart buy.

Key Specifications of Microsoft Lumia 535:

[Image credit: Microsoft]