Lumia 640 and 640 XL versus their predecessors

As it had been coming for a few months, Microsoft has taken advantage of the first day of Mobile World Congress 2015 to launch its first phones Fourth generation Lumia, the brand new Lumia 640 and 640 XL.

As has become customary in the company, the focus of these launches is the low-middle segment of the market, which is where Redmond believes that there are the biggest opportunities to increase in market share. Let's take a detailed look at what these new devices offer us when comparing them with their predecessors.

Lumia 640, evolution in screen and camera

We begin by analyzing the Lumia 640, a phone with Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2, ready to upgrade to Windows 10, and which it intends to replace to the Lumia 630, boosted (even more) the lower-middle range of Microsoft. The main improvements that the new Lumia 640 brings us are found in the sections of camera and screen

Regarding the latter, the equipment offers a size of 5 inches, increasing by 0.5 inches compared to the size of the 630. The resolution is also increased, from the FWVGA (854 x 480) of the Lumia 630 up to the HD resolution (1280 x 720) included in the Lumia 640. This means that the pixel density also increases, from 221 ppi to 294, thereby approaching a level of detail in which the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.

In turn, the use of technologies such as ClearBack and Corning Gorilla Glass is maintained , which make it easy to view in bright sunlight, and protect the screen from drops and bumps.

And as we mentioned, the Lumia 640 also incorporates great improvements in terms of cameras. The rear camera goes from 5 to 8 megapixel resolution with Carl Zeiss optics, and adds the much-requested flash, thus remaining at a similar level to the Lumia's camera 820, an upper-midrange phone from 2012. Video recording quality is also improved, from 720p to 1080p, and a 0.9 megapixel front camera is added , making the device more attractive to selfie lovers or those who want to use video conferencing.

Other interesting improvements are connectivity LTE, the increase in sensors, such as the ambient light sensor, magnetometer and proximity sensor ( all of which were absent on the Lumia 630), the increase in RAM, from 512 MB to 1 GB, and the increase in battery capacity, going from 1830 to 2500 mAh, with which we are almost guaranteed a good autonomy in the use of the equipment.

The Lumia 640 will go on sale in April for a price of 159 euros.

Lumia 640 XL, a new affordable phablet to replace the Lumia 1320

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With the Lumia 640 XL the first thing that catches our attention is the nameApparently Microsoft has decided to change the nomenclature of its equipment, abandoning the 1300 series (previously reserved for cheap phablets), and instead adopting the surname XL>."

Therefore, the Lumia 640 XL has little to do with the previous Lumia 600 series, being rather a successor to the Lumia 1320(the same successor of which we had already discussed dozens of rumors).

The main improvements offered by the 640 XL are in the section of camera, where the rear resolution increased from 5 to 13 megapixels, aperture is improved from f/2.4 to f/2.0, and the resolution of the front camera is also improved, which goes from 0.3 to 5 megapixels, thus matching the selfie-phones of the Lumia range: the 735 and 535.

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There are also great advances in terms of weight and dimensions. To do this, the 640 XL went on a diet>reducing almost 50 grams of weight (220 vs. 171 grams). This is probably intended to attract users who at the time discarded the Lumia 1320 as too big, tempting them with a phone with a large screen but a slightly smaller size."

Weight and size are significantly reduced, trying to appeal to users who previously dismissed the 1320 as too big

Interestingly, although the battery capacity is reduced, the official battery life is increased, according to the official specifications. Assuming these figures are correct, the increase could be explained by lower power consumption from a smaller screen and/or higher efficiency of the Snapdragon 400 processor (versus the 1.7GHz S4 that included the Lumia 1320).

Otherwise, the Lumia 1320 and 640 XL are nearly identical. Both allow record video in 1080p at 30fps, use similar screen technology (IPS LCD), have 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal space expandable via microSD , etc.

The Lumia 640 XL will also be on sale from April, for a price of 219 euros.

Office 365 Personal free for 1 year

An interesting move accompanying the launch of these new Lumias is the delivery of an annual subscription of Office 365 Personal (which includes also 1 TB in OneDrive and 60 monthly minutes in Skype) for everyone who buys any of these new equipment. This is a new strategy to boost sales of Lumia devices by creating synergy with other Microsoft products.

This is clearly a very good offer that is worth taking advantage of, in case we are about to renew our phone and we are looking for a new mid-range terminal. The only question remains whether Microsoft will extend this promotion to the other fourth-generation phones that it launches this year. Hopefully it will be like that.

Conclusions

As we have seen in this comparison, the new Lumia launched today by Microsoft constitute 2 very solid proposals for the lower-middle segment of the market. Unlike the Lumia 630, which was plagued with inexplicable shortcomings (such as no flash on the camera), the 640 and 640 XL have what it takes to offer great user experience for a reduced price.

We are facing 2 very solid proposals for the lower-middle segment of the market, but we are still waiting for a new flagship

Anyway, it's impossible to finish this article without mentioning a slight disappointment that Microsoft continues to delay the launch of a new flagship for Windows PhoneUntil now there was hope that the release of this would be a bit early, and we could enjoy a high-end team during the first half of this year, but now Redmond confirms that they are waiting for the final version of Windows 10 for phones to announce such a device.

What's the problem with releasing it earlier and then offering an upgrade to the new OS, as is being done with the Lumia 640 and 640XL? We can only hope that the wait is worth it, and that when the new flagship finally sees the light, it will be a revolutionary team just like the Lumia 920 was at the time.