Microsoft today revealed two new additions to its Windows Phone family: one with a more “normal” screen size and one that’s a bit larger.
The Microsoft Lumia 640 is an updated version of the Lumia 630/635 that debuted in mid-2014. The Lumia 640 boasts a 5-inch 1280x720 ClearBlack LCD screen, an upgrade from the 4.5-inch 854x480 display found on the Lumia 630/635. The new Lumia 640’s also got an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash on its rear and a 0.9-megapixel wide-angle shooter on its face.
Packed inside of the Lumia 640’s colorful shell is a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, a microSD card slot, 4G LTE, and a 2500mAh replaceable battery. Its back cover is replaceable as well.
The Lumia 640 will launch in April in glossy cyan, orange, white, and matte black. The 3G model is slated to cost around €139 ($156 USD), while the LTE model will be priced around €159 ($179). Microsoft also notes that while the Lumia 640 will launch with Windows Phone 8.1, it’ll be updated to Windows 10.
Microsoft also revealed the Lumia 640 XL today. As you might expect, the Lumia 640 XL is a bigger version of the Lumia 640, packing a 5.7-inch 1280x720 ClearBlack LCD screen. The XL version’s also got beefed up cameras, offering 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front shooters. The Lumia 640 XL’s got a larger battery to help keep the bigger screen and upgraded cameras running: the Lumia 640 XL’s battery is a replaceable 3000mAh juice pack.
The Lumia 640 XL will begin rolling out in March in cyan, orange, white, and black color options. Pricing will be set at €189 ($212 USD) for the 3G models and €219 ($246 USD) for the LTE flavors.
T-Mobile has confirmed that it both it and its MetroPCS prepaid brand will sell the Lumia 640 this spring. T-Mo didn’t say how much it’ll charge for the new Windows Phone device. AT&T says that it’ll sell both the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL and that it’ll announce launch and pricing info later.
Mcrosoft’s new Lumia 640 and 640 XL look like a nice pair of mid-range Windows Phone devices. Their 720p displays are considerably higher-res than the Lumia 630/635 and they’ve got some beefy batteries as well. They also manage to be pretty easy on the wallet, though. All things considered, they could be good for folks that want to get into Windows Phone at a low cost and know that they’ll get to see what Windows 10 is all about in the future.
Finally, Microsoft said today that those of you waiting for a new flagship Windows Phone device will need to wait a bit longer. The Redmond firm has no plans to release a Windows Phone flagship until the second half of the year, following the public release of Windows 10.
