Last year, Microsoft unveiled the selfie-focused Lumia 730 and 735. Back then, we heard the handset would arrive on Verizon in early 2015, later it was rumored to be Spring. It’s not surprising to see that Verizon has pushed back the launch of a smartphone, it has happened on several occasions before as well. But, it seems the Lumia 735 may finally hit the retail shelves at the Big Red, and that too with Microsoft branding.
Not too long ago, some photos and information regarding the handset was spotted on the FCC as the confidentiality request expired. The photos reveal the usual Verizon branding on the front and back of the device. Unlike the standard Lumia 735, this one sports Microsoft’s new logo on the back instead of Nokia.
As a quick recap, the Lumia 735 is a mid-range offering from Microsoft, but this variant comes with support for Verizon’s network and LTE bands. The Lumia 735 has a 4.7-inch 1280 by 720 pixels display, a quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, coupled with a microSD card slot for expansion. The handset comes with a 5MP selfie-focused front-facing camera with a wide angle lens, a 6.7MP rear shooter for photos and videos, a 2,200 mAh battery and ships with Windows Phone 8.1 as its operating system.
Obviously, there’s no word from Verizon Wireless about the launch of the handset or anything related to its pricing, but it shouldn’t be too expensive once it hits retail on the Big Red. Although I’m not sure if it will be able to attract as many customers since Microsoft has launched similar devices — the Lumia 640. The handset is coming to T-Mobile soon in the US, but users interested in picking up the device can head over to Expansys for the unlocked variant. But if you’re a Verizon customer, all you have to do is wait for the carrier to announce the device — come on, launch it already Verizon!