Latest Lumia additions are upgradeable to Windows 10 later this year
Mobile World Congress: Today Microsoft introduced the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL smartphones. Both phones are upgradeable to Windows 10, which offers more personal computing and greater productivity.
Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL customers will be able to access new Windows 10 features and innovation through the Windows Insider Programme, as well as upgrade to Windows 10 later this year.
Microsoft’s Steven Elop commented at the company’s press conference in Barcelona today: “It is our intention to bring Windows 10 to all Windows 8.1 phones. We’ve kept what’s great about Windows 8.1 but taken the opportunity to improve things.”
Key features and improvements of Windows 10 include: new universal apps such as Office, Mail and Calendar, and Photos; IP-based messaging from Skype and others integrated directly into the messaging experience; an entirely new browsing experience with the new Project Spartan browser; and extended integration of the Cortana personal assistant.
Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL also come with a one year subscription to Office 365 Personal, which includes the latest Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote) on the Lumia as well as on one PC or Mac and one tablet, plus 1TB of OneDrive storage, and 60 free minutes of Skype Unlimited Worldwide calling per month.
The devices include HD displays with the 5 inch screen on Lumia 640 or 5.7 inch screen on Lumia 640 XL. Users can capture detail-rich photos even in low light with the 8MP camera on Lumia 640 or 13MP ZEISS optics on Lumia 640 XL. Both feature LED flash, a front-facing camera for Skype video calling, and Lumia Camera software right out of the box.
The devices enable users to quickly access important documents or run popular websites, apps and games thanks to the onboard 1GB of memory and Qualcomm Snapdragon processor featuring quad-core CPU running at 1.2GHz.
Plus users can keep going with the long-lasting battery; 2500 mAh for Lumia 640 and 3000 mAh for Lumia 640 XL.
“Our newest Lumia devices build on our momentum in the affordable smartphones space,” said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for phones at Microsoft. “With the Lumia 640 and Lumia640 XL, we continue to make innovation accessible to more people. We have packaged competitive hardware with innovative Windows software and Microsoft services to help you achieve more, wherever and whenever you want.”
Lumia 640 XL will begin rolling out globally in March and the Lumia 640 will be available starting in April. Both Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL will be available in single-SIM and dual-SIM LTE and dual-SIM 3G variants. Lumia 640 XL will also be available as a single-SIM 3G variant. Lumia 640 is estimated to be around Euro 139 for the 3G model and Euro 159 for the LTE model, before taxes and subsidies. Lumia 640 XL will be around Euro 189 for 3G and Euro 219 for LTE, before taxes and subsidies.
