Nokia Lumia 640 and larger cousin 640 XL have been launched in India at a price of Rs 11,999 and Rs 15,799 respectively, much higher than the rumored prices.
Both phones come with one year’s subscription to Office 365 suite, and the XL comes with advanced photographic software.
For examples, said Microsoft, the XL actually takes multiple shots every time you take a photo, so that you can edit the final photo using components from the various shots.
The pricing is likely to disappoint fans as one can easily get LTE phones – such as Lenovo A6000 and A7000 – for a much lower price. Neither of the Lumias have LTE.
“Lumia 640 & 640XL are priced in the higher end. Was expecting 640XL in the 12-13 range. But #AchieveMore than I thought,” pointed out Aleem, a user on Twitter.
Both phones will support Windows 10, which will arrive later this year.
Interestingly, the 640 will be exclusively sold on Flipkart, while the XL will be sold through all channels.
At these prices, the 3-G only phones are unlikely to set the charts on fire, given that, in terms of specifications, they are quite unremarkable.
Comparing Lumia devices with those from companies like Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei and Motorola is becoming increasingly difficult as the Microsoft models inevitably come out as over-priced.
For example, the upcoming 5.5-inch Asus Zenphone 2 — priced at Rs 15,000 — will be two-and-a-half times as powerful as the XL, and come with both a full HD display and LTE.
Even when compared with existing Lumias, the current prices for 640 and XL come out as high.
The Lumia 535 is priced at Rs 8,200 in India. It comes with Snapdragon 200 series entry-level processor and a quarter HD display. Such a phone, in the Android world, costs about Rs 5,000.
Unlike the Lumia 535, both 640 and 640 XL come with 720p HD displays and have better processors and camera. The new phones are based on the Snapdragon 400 series chipset, and come with 1 GB of RAM and Gorilla Glass 3 protection.
Some specs of 640 Xl are even better than the 640. For example, the larger phone comes with a 13 MP camera, while the smaller one has an 8 MP camera
On the 640, the front camera is 1 MP, while on the XL, it is 5 MP.
Interestingly, the Thai version of the phones come with 4G, indicating that such a version would be launched in India sooner or later. The initial Indian version will not have 4g, according to dealers.
Meanwhile, HTC has launched its full-HD Desire 826 in India at Rs 26,000.
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