Microsoft Corporation Launches Two New Lumia Phones

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Microsoft has added two new phones to its lineup, the Lumia 640 and 640 XL. The timing of the launch is crucial as it follows the launch of flagship smartphones from Samsung and HTC.

Free from Nokia branding

The new Lumia’s are similar to the previous versions, the Nokia Lumia 635 and 2013’s Lumia 520, two best sellers in the Windows Phone category. Just like the previous phones, the new phones from Microsoft are also positioned to low-to-mid budget consumer, with a price tag of 159 EUR (or around $177) without contract for the LTE version of Lumia 640, and 219 EUR for the LTE version of the Lumia 640 XL. Microsoft Lumia 640 XL will hit the markets in March while Lumia 640 will be available from April. AT&T, T-Mobile and MetroPCS will carry the Lumia 640 in the U.S.

The latest Lumia phones are free from Nokia branding, the creator of the Lumia line of devices. Microsoft acquired Nokia’s smartphone business last year, and released the Microsoft Lumia 535 late in the year, but the device failed to sell widely in the United States. So Microsoft is hoping that the Lumia 640 and 640 XL will help it carve out some market share in the smartphone segment.

Microsoft promising Windows 10 upgrade

Microsoft has made available various shades for the new Lumia’s, which are packed with quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processors having 1 GB of RAM, large HD screens and a front facing camera. The Lumia 640 will have a 5-inch HD screen with a 5 megapixel rear camera and 1 megapixel front shooter while the larger 640 XL has a 5.7 inch HD display, a 13 megapixel rear lens and 5 megapixel front camera.

Both the new devices have 8 GB of storage, which is expandable up to 128 GB through micoSD cards. Microsoft is also including 30 GB of OneDrive storage once the camera roll backup feature is flipped on. The software giant is also offering a one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal, which adds access to the PC, Mac and the tablet versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint and an additional 1TB of storage.

Both devices currently run on Windows 8.1, but Microsoft will soon upgrade them to Windows 10 when the new software becomes available later this year.

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