Need a Windows phone is the Lumina 640 decent?
-
I have a single user that loves his Windows Phone, and it has been broken.
Looking at what AT&T has for sale, it appears that only the Lumina 640 XL is in their current line of phones and able to get Windows 10 when that ships.
I believe we have at least one Windows Phone user here, what do you guys think of this phone?
-
Paging @David-Scammell
-
I have the 640XL and I love it! Super long battery life easily goes 2 days without a charge.
Very fast response, decent camera.
can't tell you one thing about the plain 640 though.
-
@Dashrender said:
I have the 640XL and I love it! Super long battery life easily goes 2 days without a charge.
Very fast response, decent camera.
can't tell you one thing about the plain 640 though.
AT&T carries the XL, so that settles that...
-
I have the 640 LTE and it is fantastic.
Virtually the same as the XL, just not as big. -
The Lumia 640XL is a great mid-range product, so it depends on what the user had previously as to whether or not they enjoy the 640XL. For instance, if they had a Flagship device like a Lumia Icon, 930 or 1520, they will be disappointed as the specs are lower than these models. However, if they previously had a non-flagship device (e.g., 7xx or lower product) then they will be good with this device.
You can compare models on Microsoft's Lumia Smartphone site:
Newer devices won't be released until Windows 10 Mobile is released later this year. No official date, but most are guessing it will be in the September/November time frame.
I hope this helps!
-
@David.Scammell said:
The Lumia 640XL is a great mid-range product, so it depends on what the user had previously as to whether or not they enjoy the 640XL. For instance, if they had a Flagship device like a Lumia Icon, 930 or 1520, they will be disappointed as the specs are lower than these models. However, if they previously had a non-flagship device (e.g., 7xx or lower product) then they will be good with this device.
This may or may not be true. I picked up my first Windows Phone device last Dec with the Lumia 535 for $50 no contract. Pulled the SIM from my Galaxy S4 which I had become frustrated with. I did this mainly so I could have a device to install the beta released of Windows Phone 10, which I did and surprisingly it worked pretty good until about the April release of the Beta - after that I downgraded back to Windows Phone 8.1 and stayed.
@David-Scammell what is it about the higher specs that you think I'll love so much that will make me want to spend $800 on a new phone come this fall?
The current device is very snappy, 2 days of battery life, sure it only has 16 gigs memory, but it's SD upgradable, so I'm not wanting for space.
-
@Dashrender It's a matter of personal preference. I was saying that IF they had a higher spec phone, they might not like getting a lower spec'd phone. Interestingly enough, many folks are very happy with Lumia's lower spec'd devices because, like you pointed out, they are solid performers.
Personally speaking, I can tell a big difference between the performance of my Lumia 1520 (Flagship) and my Lumia 635. Even so, the Lumia 635 is a great device in light of the lower specs. I bought the Lumia 635 to play with earlier builds of Windows 10 Mobile, but now have W10M running on my Lumia 1520. In comparison, my brother moved from an older iPhone to a Lumia 635, and he is absolutely thrilled with it.
So, there's nothing wrong with the lower and mid-range Lumia devices ... they are excellent ... but performance will decrease if you used to using a Flagship Lumia device ... that's all!
-
Can you give me an example of the performance difference you notice? i.e. websites load faster, the camera app launches faster, etc?
Sure, their was some lag on the 635 (I mistyped earlier when I said 535), but the 640XL shows none of that lag. It makes me wonder if the 640 is noticeably slower than the 640XL.
-
@Dashrender Pretty much all the above ... if nothing else, specs kind of tell the story.
640XL = Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 1.2 GHz Quad Core
1520 = Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 2.2 GHz Quad Core640XL = 1 GB RAM
1520 = 2 GB RAM640XL = 13 MP rear camera (no OIS)
1520 = 20 MP rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization & PureView & Hi Res 2x Zoom640XL = Single LED flash
1520 = Dual LED flash640XL = Video Zoom, Continuous Autofocus, Video Light
1520 = Video Zoom, Continuous Autofocus, Video Light, Stereo Audio Recording, Lumia Rich Recording with Surround Surround, Lumia Rich Recording with 4 microphones, Lumia Video Trimmer app.640XL = 5.7" screen @ 1280x720 (259 PPI)
1520 = 6" screen @ 1920x1080 (367 PPI)640XL = 8 GB internal memory
1520 = 32 GB internal memory640XL = Up to 128GB microSD
1520 = Up to 128GB microSD640XL = 3000 mAh battery
1520 = 3,400 mAh batteryThe 1520 supports LTE, but the 640 XL does not unless you purchase the Lumia 640 XL LTE model. Don't remember off the top of my head which model AT&T carries, but I would (hopefully) assume it is the LTE model since they're always touting their LTE network.
However, the 640XL does have 5MP front camera, which beats out the 1520's 1.2 MP front camera. I believe it also is optimized for better selfies (24mm focal length). Therefore, the 640XL has a better Selfie camera!
The only other Lumia models that can "challenge" the 1520 is the Icon and 930, because they are basically all three the same phone in different packages.
-
Well you definitely use your phone more than I do.. Selfies - yeah just kill me. I've taken I think 10 in my life.
Sure the processor is faster, but if you can't tell any difference in app performance who cares? and it's probably just eating your battery faster.
Clearly the camera is better with more options, assuming those things are important to you. I didn't use to care about it.. but after having the crappy camera in the 635, yeah, I care at least a little.. and the 640XL is much better than the 635.
Screen size is a personal thing, not really advantageous or not.
How long does your battery last?
I'm pretty sure my 640XL is the LTE, internet is pretty damned fast on it - to the point that I almost never join an open hotspot because they are WAY slower than my data plan.