Microsoft Lumia 735 goes on sale in the UK on 2 October
With all eyes on the latest iPhone, Microsoft has kicked off UK sales of its more affordable flagship, the 4.7-inch Lumia 735 — the first Lumia available in the country with a beta version of the voice assistant, Cortana.
Brits without the budget or desire for an iPhone 6 will be able to get their hands on Microsoft's LTE-equipped Lumia 735 on 2 October.
Since announcing the Lumia 735 last month, Microsoft has touted the device, alongside the Lumia 730 and Lumia 830, as affordable smartphones that don't compromise on features.
Today Microsoft revealed the Lumia 735 will cost £20 on contract and will be available "from all major retailers", however it hasn't said yet what the final off-contract pricing will be. Previously the company has indicated that the Lumia 735 would cost €219 (£172) before taxes and subsidies, while the 3G Dual SIM Lumia 730 would cost about €199 (£156) before taxes and subsidies.
Latching on to demand for better selfie pictures, Microsoft eliminated the disparity between secondary and main camera in the Lumia 735, giving it a five-megapixel (MP) front-facing camera and a 6.7MP rear camera with additional help from the Lumia Selfie app.
Also, the Lumia 735 will be shipping with Microsoft's new Denim Windows 8.1 firmware for Lumia devices and will finally bring a beta version of its personal assistant, Cortana, to the UK.
Other key features include a 4.7-inch OLED display with a 720 by 1280 pixel resolution, a 2,220mAh battery, 1GB of RAM and a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC. The Lumia 735 comes with 8GB of onboard storage plus a MicroSD card slot that supports up to 128GB of external storage, in addition to 15GB of OneDrive cloud storage.
Microsoft said the Lumia 735 would come with with in-built wireless charging, but what it actually meant was that owners can replace the back cover with a wireless charging shell that's compatible with a separately-sold charging pad.
The handset will be available in Lumia's signature bright colours, including orange and green as well a toned-down grey and white.