Microsoft took to MWC 2015 to announce its next addition to the mid-range Lumia range, the Microsoft Lumia 640, and we got a bit of time to play around with the new handset.
Don’t expect the world to change with this new handset, the same design language as the Nokia Lumia 635 is here with the plastic back coming in either vibrant cyan or orange, or the much duller black or white.
This time around the corners have been a little more rounded off but it still feels a little slippery in the hand, it doesn’t have the best grip available at this range.
The thickness of the handset has been knocked down a little, though Microsoft has yet to confirm the exact dimensions of the new handset. The buttons and features all remain in the same place with the power button sitting comfortably on the right for your thumb and a volume rocker just above.
On the bottom of the handset sits a microUSB slot for charging and getting data onto the phone while the 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top edge of the handset.
The real bonus of a removable back panel is it means the microSD and SIM card slots can be hidden beneath the surface but it may prove a bit of a pain to get the back off if you’re regularly switching around either of those.
A Microsoft representative confirmed to TechRadar that it will come with 16GB of internal storage with support for microSD cards up to 128GB but that has yet to be confirmed by Microsoft officially.
On the front is a Full HD 1080p 5-inch display which is a stand out feature for this level of handsets.
The Lumia 640 looked beautiful during a play through of the apps and it was one of the brightest Windows Phone handsets I’ve ever used, and that’s including flagship devices.
Microsoft’s logo is now emblazoned on the back with the rear camera sitting in the middle right at the top.
We’ve yet to play around with the camera properly but it has an 8MP sensor with an LED flash and the Lumia camera software right out of the box.
The device has a front facing camera but no details for it have been confirmed yet – we can expect it to be reasonably powerful considering it’ll need to cope with Skype video calling and selfies galore.
There’s a a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset under the hood, clocked at 1.2GHz with 1GB of RAM included as well.
There is also a 2500mAh battery that Microsoft claims will keep the handset going all day long but we can’t speculate on its lasting power just yet.
It is currently running Windows Phones 8.1 with all the features you’d come to expect to such as Office 365 and Cortana but it’ll be getting the update to Windows 10 before the end of the year.
There’ll be a 3G and LTE version with single or dual-SIM versions of both handsets also available.
Microsoft also announced the Lumia 640 XL to accompany this handset featuring a 5.7-inch display that proved a little more difficult to handle. It may be a more appropriate choice for some though with slightly higher specs, especially in the camera department. Be sure to check out our hands-on with the Lumia 640 XL as well.
Microsoft revealed the handset will be launching around the world in April 2015 with the 3G version costing €139 (about £100, US$155, AU$200) and the LTE version costing €159 (about £115, US$180, AU%225).
- Check out the rest of our MWC 2015 coverage
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