Microsoft Lumia 640 XL first impressions

Lumia 640 XL

Both were introduced at Mobile World Congress in March and the XL stands for exactly what you lot remember it does. At v.vii-inches, this is a pretty big Windows Telephone.

To recap on the specs:

Windows Phone 8.one with Lumia Denim
1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
5.7-inch 1280x720 IPS LCD brandish, 259 PPI
1GB RAM
8 GB storage, microSD card expansion
13MP rear camera with Zeiss lens
5MP front facing camera
3000mAh removable battery
Weight: 171 k
Size: 157.9 10 81.5 x 9 mm

Lumia 640 XL

The 640 XL is the spiritual successor to the Lumia 1320, only Microsoft seems to have done away with the iv-digit phone naming scheme, at least for now. Just while it might be a successor, it's more than just an iteration what came before it. Design wise, from the front end the XL looks like a larger Lumia 640. Understandable. From the dorsum, though, at that place's a feeling of the Lumia 1520 with that slight camera hump.

The 640 Twoscore shares near of the aforementioned internals as the Lumia 640, and as such it's not going to break the banking concern. The UK launch will run across prices around £219 for the LTE version and that'southward pretty respectable for a large class gene smartphone with some of what we're getting here.

Like the photographic camera, for example. It's a stride up hardware wise from the Lumia 640, with resolution upped to 13MP and Zeiss optics included. Pair this with Lumia Camera v and our initial impressions are pretty good. For a cheaper phone, a camera of this quality isn't oft found.

720p at five.7-inches isn't the highest PPI around, but that's non to say the Lumia 640 Xl has a bad display. Far from it. Deep blacks and bright colors make for a good viewing experience all round.

Lumia 640 XL

For a large telephone, too, it's surprisingly comfortable to handle. The 1520, for example, feels massive (and really is pretty massive) but the driblet from six-inches on the 1320 to 5.7-inches on the 640 Forty is noticeable and welcome. You still get a big screen experience without information technology existence quite and so, well, big.

The Lumia 640 40, like information technology'south smaller sibling, has a removable back comprehend to allow access to the SIM slot, microSD slot and the 3000mAh removable battery. We're hoping for acme notch battery life, but as a give-and-take of caution we should point out that we just a European 3G model being used here in the U.k.. Microsoft volition hopefully exist swapping it out for a proper, U.k. LTE unit at some point, so nosotros'll have a improve experience for it then.

So far, though, we're liking what we meet. Bigger phones aren't for everyone, merely the Lumia 640 XL looks like it strikes a good remainder betwixt design, hardware, experience and price. It'll keep sale in the UK later on this month merely it'due south already starting to filter out into some markets around the world. We'll accept a lot more on the 640 XL in the coming days including a full review, merely in the meantime be sure to cease by the Windows Central forums and bring together the discussion!