Microsoft reveals the Lumia 640 XL affordable-phablet Windows Phone with a 5.7-inch HD display

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Barcelona, Spain – This morning, Microsoft has announced a second new Windows Phone for their budget range of devices. Following on the heels of the 5-inch Lumia 640 is its bigger brother the 5.7-inch Lumia 640 XL, which also includes a 13 MP rear and 5 MP front-facing cameras.

Launching this month in various markets worldwide, the $245 (219 euros) dual-SIM LTE Lumia 640 XL from Microsoft looks to bring robust hardware at an affordable price to those who want a smartphone with a large display. Coming in a variety of colors, Glance screen, and 1 GB of RAM, the Lumia 640 XL appears to be a substantial replacement for the aging Lumia 1320.

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL covers and colors

Lumia 640 XL Specifications

  • Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim 
  • Windows 10 Ready 
  • Colors: Matte cyan, orange and black, as well as both matte and glossy white 
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8226), 1.2 GHz quad-core processor  
  • 5.7" HD (1280x720, 16:9) IPS LCD, 259 PPI, Glance screen, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Sunlight readability enhancements  
  • 1GB RAM  
  • 8 GB internal mass memory + up to 128 GB Micro SD & 30GB free OneDrive cloud storage  
  • Rear camera: 13 MP AF, 1080p @ 30 fps video (continuous autofocus), Flash: LED, Lumia Camera 5.0 (with Dynamic Flash, HDR)  
  • Front camera: HD 5 MP wide angle, 1080p video  
  • Connectivity: BT 4.0, microUSB2.0, Micro SIM, A-GPS+GLONASS, BeiDou, DLNA, Screen cloning with Miracast, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n/  
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Proximity, Ambient Light Sensor, SensorCore
  • Battery: 3000 mAh (BV-T4B) removable battery  
  • Weight: 171 g
  • Size: 157.9 x 81.5 x 9.0 mm

Microsoft has effectively ditched the Lumia 13xx series for affordable phablets and replaced it with the 'XL' designation. This change is a wise choice by Microsoft, as the Lumia 1320 was always a tad confusing with the 'higher is better' series designation set up by Nokia.

The Lumia 640 XL is a solid device with relatively impressive specifications for a $245 phone with dual-SIM LTE on board (the dual-SIM 3G version is even cheaper at $210, or 189 euros). The best part is it goes on sale this month in various markets.

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL family

To sweeten the deal, like the Lumia 640 Microsoft is Microsoft is tossing in a one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote on the Lumia as well as on one PC or Mac and one tablet. The subscription comes with 1TB of OneDrive storage and 60 free minutes of Skype Unlimited Worldwide calling per month.

With a 13 MP rear camera, 5 MP front-facing camera, Glance Screen, SensorCore, 1 GB of RAM and being ready for Windows 10, the Lumia 640 XL is an intriguing phone from Microsoft. The dual-SIM LTE version will indeed make this a viable device for emerging markets and those on a budget who want a quality, large-screened device.

Stay tuned for our hands-on with the Lumia 640 XL and more coverage of Mobile World Congress!

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL

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Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.