Microsoft really does a great job when it comes to building a budget smartphone. The company’s latest line of Lumia smartphones, the Lumia 640 and the 640 XL are very attractive and also have reasonably powerful specs, even though they’re relatively cheap.
The new Lumia smartphones from Microsoft are very similar in terms of design to the previous Nokia models. It’s true that neither of the two smartphones is to die for but they are pretty nice, not to mention that they’re both ready for the new Windows 10.
Here is our Microsoft Lumia 640 review.
Design
Microsoft tried to stay true to the styling of Nokia on every Lumia smartphone they released under its name and the Lumia 640 is definitely not an exception. The smartphone comes with a colorful case that can be removed and replaced with another from the line-up offered by Microsoft. It’s made of a very sturdy and nice plastic that doesn’t look like it’s going to break or flex when put under a small stress. This is good news, seeing how most mid-range devices suffer from this problem.
The Lumia 640 XL comes only in a matte finish, but there are plenty of colors to choose from, such as black, white, cyan, bright orange and neon green. The Lumia 640 comes in a two toned shiny plastic and is available in all of the colors listed above. The cyan back of the smaller Lumia 640 viewed in different lightings looks like it has different blue shades. The edges of the smaller smartphone also appear to be darker than its body.
However, the two-toned effect on the back of the Lumia 640 comes with a downside. The shiny look makes it a fingerprint magnet. If you’re easily upset by fingerprint smears and dust then you would be better off choosing the matte version. Other than this, the only major design distinction between the two smartphones is their size. The Lumia 640 XL comes with a 5.7 inch display, which makes the 5 inch Lumia 640 seem rather tiny by comparison. The Lumia 640 XL is the same height as Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus.
The two Lumias are relatively thin and light, mainly because of their plastic casings but they do feel a little chunkier when compared to other smartphones from Nokia. This time, however, it’s Microsoft’s name that is branded on the devices, not Nokia’s. The tech-giant put its name on the back of the Lumia 640s and on their front top.
Based on looks, the Lumia 640 and the Lumia 640 XL are right at home between the existing line-up. While the colors may not be for everyone, there is always the possibility to buy a simple black or white back. Also, the cyan back looks very nice on the smaller device.
Hardware
It’s true that the specs on these smartphones aren’t exactly top-notch, but they are mid-range, to say the least. Both phones are powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip and come in two different options: 8GB of storage with 1GB RAM and 16GB storage with 2GB RAM. Both options offer a MicroSD card slot and you can expand the storage capacity by 128GB.
Both Lumias seemed responsive and fast when we tested them. Animations were really smooth, browsing was fast and everything seemed to work well. Both smartphones come with the full Office app installed and both offer OneDrive storage. On top of this, Microsoft is also offering 1TB OneDrive storage and a full year of Office 365 when buying either one of these two devices.
At this time, to have a powerful smartphone you don’t necessarily need the fastest processor on the market. This is why mid-range smartphones like these ones are very attractive. If you want a very reliable mid-range mobile phone and you don’t care if you have the best processor on the market, shiny features and a great screen resolution, the Lumia 640 may be the right choice for you.
Battery
We can’t really say if the battery will last as long as Microsoft claims it will but the batteries inside the two smartphones are quite big. The Lumia 640 XL comes with a 3,000 mAh battery and the smaller one comes with a 2,500 mAh one. Microsoft claims that the battery life on both Lumias will last for two days.
Camera
The Lumia line-up has always been great at taking shots. While the Lumia 640s don’t have incredible cameras, they both take pretty decent photos, mainly thanks to the camera software. You can adjust lighting, control exposure and have several effects at your disposal and you can also create living pictures that will show you the changes you’ve made to your image from start to finish in a format resembling GIF.
Lumia 640 shoots lesser quality photos, however. For some reason, the smaller Lumia comes with weaker cameras. It comes with an 8MP camera on the back and a 1MP camera on its front. Seeing how selfies are the new trend right now, we can’t understand why Microsoft chose to put such a small front-facing camera on its device.
The bigger Lumia 640 comes with far better cameras. It features a 13MP camera on the back and a 5MP camera on its front. The Lumia 640 XL is very capable of taking sharp selfies with its front-facing camera and great pictures with its back camera.
Windows 10
Both devices are running Windows 8.1 as Windows 10 is not yet available for mobile phones. However, both the Lumia 640 and the 640 XL are ready for Windows 10. The update to Windows 10 will come to these two devices as soon as Microsoft launches its new OS. The two smartphones perform very smoothly in Windows 8.1 and the Lumia Denim update works really well.
Wrapping up
PROS
– Great quality of plastic
– Compatible with Windows 10
– Great specs
– Lumia 640 XL has great cameras
– Both smartphones are affordable
CONS
– The devices are still running on Windows 8.1
– Lumia 640 doesn’t have great cameras
Verdict
Even though the two new Lumias from Microsoft aren’t high-end they are definitely nice. For their low prices, Microsoft clearly made some good mid-range devices.
