It is not just the smartphone heavyweights that are launching their flagship devices in the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 at Barcelona, Spain. The sentimental and small players are also making their own small waves with some coming up with big splashes too.
Microsoft has joined the fray by also launching two mid-range phones – the 5-inch Lumia 640 and the 5.7-inch Lumia 640XL. Ironically or strategically, the Microsoft smartphones actually resemble the display sizes of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, notes The Australian.
But the American tech company is actually planning to position its new mid-range handsets to the masses and not directly compete with the high-end flagship smartphones.
Universal applications
Stephen Elop, former CEO of Nokia, and now vice president of Microsoft, made the presentation of the company’s latest Lumia smartphones at the MWC 2015.
More than its affordable prices, Elop actually highlighted the benefits of the upcoming Windows 10 operating system which shall become a standard on the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640XL. He added that Microsoft is also laying down the groundwork for promoting universal applications that will run across all Microsoft device platforms.
This means that all Microsoft devices can be interconnected including PC, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles too, which is something that other smartphone makers, including the big players cannot do at this time, with Apple being the close second to Microsoft with such capability.
He disclosed that some 2.8 million people have already registered with the Microsoft Insider Program and are now accessing developer versions of the new OS, which should augur well for the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640XL and other Microsoft devices.
The two mid-range smartphones from Microsoft will debut in the retail market in April. They will initially be shipped with Windows 8.1 for its operating system but Microsoft says that the hardware of the new smartphones is ideally built for Windows 10.
It is likely that Microsoft will be making an OTA (over-the-air) update of the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640XL from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 once the new OS officially rolls out.
Great features
In addition to its great cost, which is projected to be around $200, the Microsoft Lumia 640 will have a 720-pixel HD resolution and shall also have an 8-megapixel camera with a dynamic flash and HDR as well as a front-facing camera with a wide-angle lens.
The Lumia 640XL shall have a 1080-pixel HD display resolution with PureView camera system and a dedicated camera button. It shall also feature a 13-megapixel camera and 3000 mAH battery. It is also 9 millimeters thick.
What makes the Lumia 640 a cut above the high-end smartphones of today are its removable battery and microSD card port which can add 128GB of storage to the 8GB that is available internally. It shall also have two SIMs, a 3G and a 4G LTE version.
Stephen Elop also demonstrated some of the Windows 10 phone features at the MWC 2015 showing it on the Microsoft Lumia 640 and Lumia 640XL to extol consumers on its benefits.