First Impression: Microsoft Lumia 532 Hands-On Review

Microsoft announced its new low-cost Lumia, the Lumia 532. Priced at Rs 6,499 the Lumia 532 is a compact Smartphone for those wanting a budget Windows phone and joins the entry-level portfolio of the Redmond giant. The company has positioned the phones in a price band where they compete with low-cost Android phones and faces tough competition. In terms of design, the Lumia 532 reminded us of the Nokia X2, Nokia’s experimental phone with Android. Like rest of the low-cost Lumia, the 532 has changeable coloured back cover that wraps around the phone. It also has a translucent plastic coating around the edges of the back cover that Microsoft likes to call semi-transparent layered design. The Lumia 532 features a 4-inch WVGA LCD screen and an 800×480-pixel resolution, which feels just right for the small screen size. Compared to the big phones these days, the Lumia 520 is quiet small but then there are many who are comfortable with this size. The right edge of the phone features the power and volume rocker keys, in the same colour as that of the shell and offer good tactile feedback. The top edge sports the 3.5mm headset jack while the bottom features the micro-USB port. The build quality looks good and should be durable. It should handle the occasional falls and bumbs casually. [gallery columns="5" link="file" ids="8618,8619,8620,8621,8622"] Talking about the internal specs, Lumia 532 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor that should be just about enough to handle the load. There is an 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage and there is an option for microSD card slot. Lumia 532 runs Lumia Denim which is essentially Windows Phone 8.1 with Update 1 with some Nokia-exclusive features. You need to struggle to remove the back panel, a small wedge on the sides would have made things easier. Once in side you find a removable 1,560mAh battery.The Lumia 532 has a rated talk time of up to 12 hours over 3G and a rated standby time of 22 days. You have a dual-SIM slots as well as the microSD slot that can support up to 128GB in external storage. You can also avail the 30GB cloud storage from OneDrive. For the camera, you are looking at a 5-megapixel fixed cocus rear lens with no flash. There’s a VGA front camera just for the sake of it. Clearly, the photos will not be the 532’s strong points. P.S The following sample images where shot indoors at poor lighting conditions. [gallery link="file" columns="4" ids="8624,8625,8626,8627"] Typical of Lumia color outfits, the 532 will also be available in bright orange, white and black along with this green version I have here. Also See: Our Lumia 532 First Impression Video http://youtu.be/G1O1-deIR5E The Lumia Five series has been the most popular series in the Lumia lineup and addition of the 532 would keep the momentum going for the Lumia. Facing the legions of Android budget smartphones might be a difficult battle for Windows Phone but good to see Microsoft putting all their efforts into the Lumia bucket to keep it afloat. If you are looking for a budget Windows Phone, there are many Lumia devices now to choose from including Lumia 532, we will reserve our final words till we use the phone extensively. To start with, for WP lovers wanting a compact phone on a tight budget, Lumia 532 looks an attractive proposition.]]>