Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM Now Available At Rs 5,999

Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM, the company’s most affordable Dual SIM Lumia smartphone is now on sale in India though the official Microsoft Shop. It was announced last month and packs a 4-inch WVGA display, is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 SoC and runs on the latest Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim update. It has a 2-megapixel fixed-focus rear camera without flash and VGA front-facing camera.

Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM Specifications

4-inch (800 x 480 pixels) LCD display
1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor with Adreno 302 GPU
1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, up to 128GB expandable memory with microSD
Windows Phone 8.1 OS with Lumia Denim
Dual SIM
2MP fixed focus rear camera
VGA front-facing camera
11.7 mm thick and weighs 134.1 grams
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS / aGPS
1560mAh battery with up to 11.7 h talk time
The Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM comes in bright green, bright orange, white and black colors and is priced at Rs. 5,999 in India. Currently only the black and white color variants are on sale. The Lumia 532 Dual SIM that was announced along with the Lumia 435 is also listed on the Nokia Shop, so it is expected to go on sale soon.

Microsoft Launched Lumia 435 and 532 Affordable Windows 8.1 Smartphone Priced Below Rs 6,000

“The Microsoft Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 come with 4-inch displays, 8GB of internal memory, and optional dual-SIM variants”

Microsoft has finally launched the long rumoured Lumia 435, its most affordable Lumia smartphone till date. In addition, the Redmond-based tech giant has also announced the Microsoft Lumia 532. Both the smartphones run Windows Phone 8.1 with the Lumia Denim update, and will be available in Europe, APAC, and IMEA regions later this month.

The Microsoft Lumia 435 offers a 4-inch display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. It is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, supported 1GB of RAM. The device houses 8GB of internal memory, which is further expandable up to 128GB via a microSD card. Other features include a 2MP fixed-focus rear camera, a VGA front snapper, a 1,560mAh battery, and pre-loaded Nokia HERE maps.

The Microsoft Lumia 532 on the other hand features a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 CPU and a 5MP rear camera. The rest of the specs of the smartphone are similar to the Lumia 435. Both the devices come with the latest Lumia Camera app, built-in Skype integration, free OneDrive storage of up to 30GB, and the Cortana voice assistant.

The Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 will be available in bright green, orange, white and black variants. Both the smartphones will be sold in single-SIM and dual-SIM variants. The Lumia 435 is priced at €69 (around Rs 5,050), while the Lumia 532 is offered for €79 (approximately Rs 5,780).

Rumour Microsoft Windows may soon Support Android Apps

It is safe to say that Windows Phone has thus far failed to gain a substantial traction in the market. Microsoft’s mobile operating system is still playing catch up with Android and iOS, the two platforms that boast far more number of users, apps, and dedicated developers. Microsoft realizes that it won’t succeed until it solves its ‘app-gap’ problem, and it may have found a solution.

If sources of ZDNet’s Foley are to be believed, the company is considering adding support for Android apps on both Windows Phone and Windows platforms. According to the report, Microsoft’s Developer Experience (DX) team, which has until now focused on broad evangelism and application acquisition, is now contemplating adding support for Android apps to attract more developers and independent software vendors.

The report further reveals company’s two plans that it has in place to get more apps on the platform. Plan A for getting apps on Windows and Windows Phone is to move to the Universal App model. This model, which has already been publicly demonstrated by Microsoft, allows software developers to quickly turn their Windows applications into mobile apps with minimal amount of efforts. While that has resulted in getting more apps on the Windows Phone Store, the company is yet to lure app developers and bring in mainstream and popular apps onto the platform.

Plan B is to enable support for Android apps. While this may seem absurd to many, this is possible with Google’s AOSP project, as we have seen with Amazon on its Kindle devices and on Nokia X platform. But the company is putting more effort on bringing in developers on its own platform, and Microsoft’s Developer Experience team has been trying to improve its status among software vendors.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out eventually. But Microsoft’s Plan B already has its share of detractors. Windows Phone developer Rudy Huyn recently wrote on Reddit, how it is a “foolish” idea, since it would basically kill any developer enthusiasm for the platform all together.

HP Stream 8 with 8-inch Display 1.8Ghz Quad core processor 3G Windows 8.1 Tablet Now Available At Rs 16,990

HP announced the Stream 7 and Stream 8 Windows 8 tablets last year. Now the HP Stream 8 tablet is available in India from the official HP online Store and Flipkart. It has a 8-inch (1280×800 pixels) IPS screen, is powered by an quad-core Intel Atom Z3735G processor and runs on Windows 8.1 OS. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with free Microsoft Office license for one year and 1TB OneDrive cloud storage.

HP Stream 8 specifications

8-inch (1280 x 800 pixels) anti-glare multi-touch IPS display
1.8GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3735G processor with Intel HD Graphics
1GB DDR3 RAM, 32GB of internal storage, expandable with microSD slot
Windows 8.1 OS
5MP auto focus rear camera
2MP front-facing camera
Dimensions: 124 x 209 x 8.9 mm; weight 410 grams
3G (via SIM card slot), WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
4000mAh battery
The HP Stream 8 comes in Black color and is priced at Rs. 16,990. This competes with Notion Ink Cain 8similar specifications.

Lumia Denim Update will Let users Download OS Update onto handset’s SD Card

Lumia smartphone users will soon be able to download the operating system update onto their handset’s SD card. Microsoft has revealed that this option will arrive with the Lumia Denim update to select handsets.

The Lumia Denim update is Microsoft’s latest firmware update for Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia smartphones. The update, which started rolling out recently, brings with it the voice assistant Cortana to a few more regions, Apps Corner app, and a range of bug fixes and improvements.

Lumia software update OS version 8.10.14219.341 (formerly Denim), or above enables support for downloading phone software updates to a SD memory card. The supported devices list includes: Lumia 530/530 Dual SIM, 630/630 Dual SIM, 635, 636, 638, 730 Dual SIM, 735 and 830. The feature will be available for possible software updates coming after 8.10.14219.341.

As noted by the company, the feature will only be available to select Lumia handsets, namely, the Lumia 530, Lumia 630, Lumia 635, Lumia 636, Lumia 638, Lumia 730, Lumia 735, and the Lumia 830. It will arrive with the Denim Update v 8.10.14219.341. Interestingly, Microsoft hasn’t mentioned why other Lumia handsets that are eligible to snag the Denim firmware update won’t support this feature.

By downloading the operating system’s update file on the SD card (or microSD card), users will be able to save a lot of space on their device. This will come in handy to the handsets that ship with 8GB or less storage. Microsoft hasn’t clarified if users will be able to transfer the update file to other similar handsets.

The Lumia Denim update will also fix the touch-sensitivity issues smartphone. Once the update has been installed on Lumia handsets, users will also be able to download the latest update to the stock camera app which comes with much-needed improvements including faster boot and better support for dynamic HDR.