Evidence points to a Lumia 635 with 1GB of RAM heading to some carriers
The Lumia 635 is nearly a perfect budget phone. It has an excellent display with ClearBlack, a modern design with replaceable covers, and it even handles Windows 10 with ease. However, it does have a few faults, including the lack of a front-facing camera and 1GB of RAM. Indeed, the 512 MB currently found on the Lumia 635 seems antiquated and too little for modern phones.
An early report cited a Lumia 635 with 1GB of RAM on Telenor's website in Hungary. However, it does not take long to find carriers mislabeling devices – even with the wrong OS – to cast some skepticism on the hardware change. However, corroborating evidence has now been found to suggest that indeed, Microsoft is set to fix the Lumia 635 that was previously released under Nokia.
The site WindowsPhoneApps.es has found numerous references to a Lumia 635 with 1GB of RAM on Microsoft's servers that house various ROMs.
Lumia 635 software referencing 1GB versions was found for Movistar in Spain, one for Vodafone in Spain, and one for the Spanish country-variant, suggesting that the Telenor listing in Hungary was not in error.
Previously, Nokia would release a new phone with a new Lumia model number if it had more RAM, much like the Lumia 525. However, Microsoft has increasingly stepped away from releasing devices with 512 MB of RAM due to customer backlash. The drawback with less RAM is the inability to run some big-ticket games, and presumably the forthcoming Windows 10 OS works better with more RAM as well.
Microsoft so far has been quiet about the hardware refresh, although we are reaching out to them for comment. It is not clear how widespread the hardware refresh will go, if accurate, though it is something we will be following closely.
Source: WindowsPhoneApps.es
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
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.