14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like the Windows Phone market is saturated with budget-friendly smartphones, which makes the competition fiercer in emerging markets.
Since Microsoft allowed its partners to release Windows Phone handsets without paying any licenses, many OEMs launched cheap smartphones in the last year or so.
However, many people complain that there are too few high-end Windows Phones available on the market and Microsoft doesn't seem to have any plans for new top-notch smartphones.
If Microsoft doesn't make any announcements at Mobile World Congress 2015 trade fair next month, then the company will probably launch its next flagship smartphone in fall.
Until then though, here is another budget-friendly Windows Phone handset that has just been released in one of the most important markets for Microsoft, India.
This isn't a Microsoft smartphone, on the contrary it will compete to Redmond-based company's Lumia handsets available in India.
XOLO's new Win Q1000 is the sequel to Q900, which was released late last year. This means that there's a market for Windows Phone handset in India as well, otherwise Indian OEMs wouldn't bother launching new smartphones anymore.
The Win Q1000 is now available for purchase for just Rs 8,499 ($135 / €120) outright, which is lower than many Lumia smartphones in the same category range.
It's dual-SIM and comes with MS Office, Outlook and Skype apps
XOLO's smartphone ships with Windows Phone 8.1 and sports a more than decent 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen OGS (One Glass Solution) display that supports HD (720p) resolution.
On the inside, the Win Q1000 is equipped with a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory. The phone comes with microSD card slot for memory expansion as well (up to 64GB).
On the back, the mid-range smartphone features an 8-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus and LED flash, while in the front there's a secondary 2-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls.
Last but not least, XOLO Win Q1000 drains energy from a 2,200 mAh battery that should provide up to 500 hours of standby time or up to 12 hours of talk time.