Microsoft's first non-Nokia Windows Phone is the £90 Lumia 535

MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED the Lumia 535, a £90 Windows Phone handset that is the first to ditch the Nokia branding.

We knew it was coming, and Microsoft took the wraps off its first own-brand smartphone on Tuesday. 

Microsoft is calling the Lumia 535 a phone of 'fives'. The budget device sports a 5in 960x540 qHD screen, a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing camera, as Microsoft looks to offer a cheap alternative to the likes of the Lumia 735 and HTC Desire Eye.

"Lumia 535 comes with our '5x5x5' proposition," said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for phones at Microsoft.

"Innovation should be available to everyone, and we are doing this through the very best integrated Microsoft services free and out-of-the-box - a 5MP wide-angle front-facing camera and a spacious 5in qHD screen - all at an affordable price."

The Lumia 535 comes with a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and 1GB RAM under the hood, paired with Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, complete with the Lumia Denim update. 

There's 8GB onboard storage, expandable up to 128GB via microSD, and a 1,905mAh battery which Microsoft promises will offer 13 hours of talk time.

The Lumia 535 will be available in single and dual-SIM variants, and in six colours: black, white, blue, orange, grey and green. 

The handset will launch this month priced at €110 (around £90), but Microsoft has told us that there will not be a UK release until the first quarter of 2015.