Lumia 640 and 640 XL were recently presented by Microsoft, both devices bringing with them mid-range specs but without the corner cutting Nokia exhibited for the last two generations. With these devices, Microsoft has finally – on the third attempt – surpassed its previous offering. Do these devices live up to the standards expected of modern mid-range smartphones?

Microsoft-Lumia-640

The Lumia 640 is what the Lumia 635 wants to be when it grows up. It features the same curved box design as the 630 with the only change being the slight protrusion of the headphone jack breaking up the back. The only branding on this phone was the Microsoft branding in place of Nokia. It now features on the back of the device and front of the design where the Nokia text would have been, made to stand out as solid black.

The device fits nicely in the hand and at 145 g is slightly lighter than the Lumia 830’s 150g. Although I would be remiss to neglect to add that the 640 is both wider and taller than the 830, which is already taller than the 930. If you found any of those devices a stretch then you would no doubt find the 640 slightly more difficult to use. Windows Phone’s placement of elements at the bottom and reliance on swipe gestures comes in handy here to mitigate the mild discomfort of palm stretching.

Display

The Lumia 640 comes with a bright and well calibrated 5 inch HD (720p) IPS LCD screen. It shares the same 294 PPI as the Lumia 830 and 540. What this means in practice is that while images are sharp and clear most of the time, you will be able to spot pixels if you stare long enough. Whether this is a bad thing or not depends on your frame of reference, and for a handset which is generally priced under N35,000, I feel it’s an acceptable compromise.
Viewing angles are generally decent, with colours remaining near- accurate at all natural viewing angles of the screen. The inclusion of Clearblack display (lite) on this device also helps reduce reflectiveness of the screen outdoors in sunlight though not as well as the full CBD present in the superior and more expensive models.
Thankfully, Microsoft also included glance on this model, a shift back from the last generation of Lumia device where only one device was capable of using glance. Its a sign that the firm has listened to complaints about its low-end devices and sought to mitigate them by reducing the compromises and increasing their value for money as a result, buyers should find the results very pleasing.

Cameras

The Lumia 640 comes with an 8 megapixel non-zeiss lens on the rear and a 0.9 MP wide angle lens for the front, it is also preloaded with Lumia Camera 5 and the default Microsoft Camera app only accessible through the settings menu. Hardware wise it’s a major step up from all previous Lumia 6xx cameras which featured 5 megapixel rear cameras and VGA front cameras at the most.

384203-microsoft-lumia-640-xl-camera

The front camera is alright. Paired with Lumia selfie you can actually take decent selfies .

You’ll most likely be using it for Skype as well and It works well for that too. The main issue I have with the camera is that while it takes ok shots of the subject, the background generally turns into mush. If your selfie depends on the background being clear, you may need to pay more attention to the photo taking process.

Performance

The Lumia 640 is equipped with a 1.2 GHz quadcore snapdragon 40 processor, a configuration that has shown up in a few other Lumia devices including the Lumia 830, 730 and 640 XL. While it is no Snapdragon 810, Windows Phone’s resource management ensures that the OS runs smooth on that hardware combination.

Tapping out a few emails, sending texts, listening to music in a non-Xbox Music app – all these tasks were carried out without a hitch

Let’s not forget the 640 is also a smartphone and believe it or not, people do make calls on this thing. Call quality was superb here with voices coming out loud and clear. You’ll have no trouble keeping up a conversation with your friends and family on this.

Battery

The Lumia 640 comes with a meaty battery capacity of 2500mAh, an important metric often neglected in the race for thinner and lighter. In practice, the Lumia 640 can last a whole day for the average user. It got me through a day of watching videos on the tube, playing music and using maps in addition to using social media and messaging apps on the go. If you need more power, then consider buying power bank where you can charge your device on the go. There’s also the option of removable batteries so you can swap around if necessary.

Software

The Lumia 640 is one of the very first phones to run Windows Phone 8.1 GDR2. This is a minor update bringing only Bluetooth peripheral support (keyboards, remote shutters), support for MKV playback and an organized and searchable settings menu. While it’s small, these small fixes do add up to improve the Windows Phone experience for the vast majority of users.

In terms of apps preloaded, the device comes with only three non Microsoft apps: Fitbit, Facebook and Barclays Ping which are all easily uninstallable should you not feel the need to use any of them. Otherwise for imaging you get Lumia Camera 5, for navigation, Here Maps and Here drive, the MSN apps suite and Lumia Help and Tips for getting you started with your new device.

Pricing and availability

2015 to Africa . We currently have no information on pricing and availability for Nigeria. Microsoft Lumia 640 Price in Nigeria should range from N30,000 to N40,000 at launch.Microsoft Lumia 640 is not available in Nigeria, it will start shipping in May,





Conclusion

Starting at N30,000, the Lumia 640 is one of the most amazing value handsets to come out of the Lumia line. Where previous Lumia devices in its price range have floundered, the 640 stands strong, offering the promise of strong performance and decent imaging at a price that won’t break the bank. It doesn’t have the sharpest screen – but that’s OK, it doesn’t have the fastest processor, that’s fine too. What it does have is “good enough ” performance and quality all round, and really you can’t ask for more.
More than that, the Lumia 640 is exciting for users who would prefer more powerful handsets. If the low-end is this good, then how would the mid-high end devices look? It’s pretty exciting, and we can’t wait to find out what the Lumia team has in store for us.





Box Contents

Microsoft Lumia 640
Product user guide
Battery
Charger

Pinshures

The op is supposed to include the picture

But According to Microsoft Lumia 640 wont be availble for Nigeria Market .for more http://www.windowsphoneafrica.com/microsoft-lumia-640-review-price-and-spec/