Microsoft may be saving its next flagship Lumia smartphone for the Windows 10 for mobile launch, but it did show off two brand-new Lumia phones back in March. The Lumia 640 and 640 XL are solid, mid-range devices that follow in the footsteps of the many other Lumia Windows phones that came before them.
Updated on 06-17-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Added AT&T pricing and availability for the Lumia 640 XL and news about the Lumia 640’s arrival at Cricket and T-Mobile.
The two Lumias come in two different versions: 3G and 4G, with one SIM or dual SIM options. The Lumia 640 XL hit the shelves in March in several different color options, including matte cyan, orange, and black, as well as both matte and glossy white. The smaller Lumia 640 came during April, with glossy cyan, orange, and white, as well as matte black color options.
Shortly after Microsoft’s announcement, AT&T said that it would carry the Lumia 640 and 640 XL this spring. The carrier finally announced pricing and availability for the larger 640 XL in June — the phone is a carrier exclusive — and will sell the device on June 26 in stores and online.
The Lumia 640 XL costs $0 down on an AT&T Next plan. You’ll pay $8.34 per month for 30 months on Next 24, $10.42 per month for 24 months on Next 18, or $12.50 per month for 20 months on Next 12.
There’s still no word on availability for the smaller Lumia 640 at AT&T. However, that phone is available on T-Mobile and Cricket. At the Uncarrier, it costs $0 and $5.41 a month for two years. Cricket offers the phone for its full price of $130.
Lumia 640 with LTE costs £170 on Microsoft’s UK store online, and you can order it there now. Given its size and specs, the Lumia 640 XL will be a tad more expensive, coming in around 190 euros for 3G and £220 for LTE. You can also order the XL on Microsoft’s UK store online. Microsoft is also offering a promotion to sweeten the deal, which includes an Office 365 subscription, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and 60 free minutes of Skype calling.
The two new Lumias share the same design and a few key specs, including the 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage (expandable via MicroSD card up to 128GB), 720p screen resolutions, and dual SIM card options. Both the 640 and 640 XL run Windows 8.1 and will be eligible for the upgrade to Windows 10 as soon as it’s available. In the meantime, the two devices come equipped with the Lumia Denim refresh for Windows Phone 8.1.
There are a few key differences between them. The biggest and most obvious difference is in screen size. The 640 has a 5-inch screen, while the 640 XL sports a 5.7-inch screen. Much like the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the XL dwarfs the standard 640, but it also packs better specs in a few key areas.
Microsoft popped a massive 3,000mAh battery into the Lumia 640 XL, while the 640 has a 2500mAh battery inside. While, it’s not much of a difference, the larger battery should give the 640 XL a little extra juice to get you through two days of normal use, Microsoft told us.
The cameras are also better on the XL, as the phablet-sized device has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a 13 megapixel back shooter. In contrast, the regular Lumia 640 has a 1-megapixel front-facing camera and an 8-megapixel rear sensor. Both feature Carl Zeiss lenses and the Lumia 5.1 camera features that are typically found on high-end Lumias.
Updated on 04-09-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Added news of preorder pricing from Microsoft in the U.K.
Updated on 03-02-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Added news of AT&T availability, though pricing is still unavailable.
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