That kind of performance is going to get frustrating pretty quickly. Simply using some kind of navigation will quickly show the limits of using an A7 core.
On Android an A9 is dirt slow, while it's not bad running real Windows, much less Windows Phone.
I've got a 520 and a 635, and the A7 isn't an issue in the 635 at all...at least not for the stuff most people do (certainly including navigation software). This 640 looks like an awesome extension...2x the RAM and a larger screen. Naturally it's coming out not long after I bought a spare 635 lol
i do agree i got a nokia 820 seems to work well But the Main problem with windows phones is lack of ram some times background tabs are deep suspended and take to long to restore i ignore any windows phone with 512mb of ram but would recommend 2GB as a minimum
"I mentioned in my Moto E review that for a long time I recommended that users who wanted a cheaper smartphone go with Windows Phone over Android, because at the time the options on Android were janky, slow, and offered a poor experience. I can’t make that recommendation anymore, because the app gap is still here, while the experience gap in favor of Windows Phone is gone."
Really? L520 running quite smoothly through everything I throw at it (web browsing, some music playing, few notes in OneNote) andf it's a dual core A7 chipset (SD200).
The Krait is clocked at 1.0 GHz in the Lumia 520. It's pretty close in performance per clock to an A9, which itself is not much faster per clock than an A7. Overall 4 x A7 at 1.2 GHz is about as fast as 2 x Krait at 1.0 GHz for single threaded loads.
Got a Lumia 535 as secondary windows phone device (Got a Lumia 920 as my daily driver still - Dual-Core 1.5ghz Snapdragon S4, Adreno 225) which has a Quad-Core Snapdragon 200 and Adreno 302.
Both run without stutter and run smoothly in everything... With one exception, Internet Explorer, but even that's perfectly passable.
Even played with 520's, 525's, 610, 620, 630 phones and they have been fine... I would assume something must have been up with the reviewers device, one thing Windows Phone has always never had a problem with is fluidity.
Microsoft needs a new high-end device, I need an excuse to upgrade my Lumia 920 which is years old now, the 930 simply wasn't it.
I disagree. Performance is terrific on those devices, actually much better better than the much cited Moto E 2nd gen which requires a lot of tinkering to actually provide a comparable fluidity.
You're thinking it's the same as Android, Windows Phone (or Windows for phones, or wtf ever they call it) has generally been a lot smoother on lower spec phones than Android.
You're thinking it's the same as Android, Windows Phone (or Windows for phones, or wtf ever they call it) has generally been a lot smoother on lower spec phones than Android.
Well I have Lumia 625 (slower phone than this) and it is very fine in navigation! So no problem in there! It is not good for gaming, but every other task is just fine with this phone.
"After declining sales of Symbian devices, the company decided to go all in with Microsoft's Windows Phone platform"
Why is this false mantra repeated again and again? When Nokia decided to go Windows Phone, Symbian devices were being sold more than ever. Just check the statistics from the time.
Nokia used to be to the cell phone market kind of what Apple has become today. It's amazing how quickly they failed and were never able to recover. Failing to jump on the Android bandwagon early ultimately led to their demise.
That's not true. Reports from Gartner and IDC both agree that Nokia shipped significantly fewer devices in each quarter of 2011 than that same quarter in 2010.
last symbian flagship was nokia n8 which come out 2010, in 2011 n9 was nokia flagship and 2012 we saw lumia 900 and 920.
last s60v3 were nokia c5 and e5 both of them come out 2010, elop killed symbian at low end in favour of nokia asha. symbian was killed by nokia before the official anouncement in 2012.
808 was niche device to introduce nokia camera capability, at that time nokia already anounce symbian was dead platform. in 2012 nokia 900 and 920 were nokia flagship
They had effectively already killed Symbian early 2011 and sales didn't decline until the burning platform memo, plus canceling already announced/showed phones and giving up on Symbian development, which they transfered to Accenture already in the summer which later fired almost everybody within a year or so. By the time the N9 was out/showed they had made it clear the platform (MeeGo/Harmattan) was dead before the phone shipped and wouldn't receive any major updates or any new development.
They didn't really have a WP device of their own until Lumia 900 either. Lumia 800 was a Clevo-built/designed device. Thus they had nothing to sell between feb 2011 and april-june 2012 at all that they hadn't decided to stop development of and spoken out against. Neither did they have a WP8 device until November 2012.
Sales at the cost of profits. They made near zero on them as they HAD to make them extremely cheap. Otherwise you'd see sales going down much sooner and much faster.
Symbian was dead, it just didn't noticed it for short time...
Nice review. I definitely think that it is a fantastic phone for its price.
I can see how the apps situation for some would be a pretty big concern. As mentioned it is mainly Google and local apps that are missed. However at the same time, for those using Microsoft services, I have found it to be significantly better than Android. Exchange, OneDrive, OneNote and MS Office Apps all work beautifully and the ability to pin the live tiles for each to the home screen has saved myself tonnes of time.
That blue glossy case - yep, I would probably want to pass on that too. The matte black version is however also available and in my opinion much better.
I am not too sure about the performance though - especially at the price bracket. After breaking a Nokia 930 I tried to use an old HTC One M7 for a while, before finally buying a Lumia 640, and found the performance of that to be horrible after updating. However perhaps that was due to the HTC sense customisations or something?
My original intention was to use the Lumia 640 until the Lumia 940 with Windows Mobile 10 is released however I am not too sure I'll be able to justify the upgrade now...
The HTC stuff may not help, but from my experience Android is just dog slow. I've got a Surface 1 running (almost) real Windows 8, and it runs circles around faster ARM hardware running Android, which is just laughable considering how much better Windows is than Android.
Presumably Windows Phone has even lighter system requirements, so... Although who knows about that, given real Windows is probably optimized out the wazoo, while Windows Phone doesn't get as much attention, but still, my Windows Phones all feel fine, while my android stuff running on anything less than the highest end hardware feels slow.
In my experience, a proper operating system like Windows or OS X runs a lot faster than some generic, unoptimised version of Linux. I had a netbook with a quick-boot Linux thing, and I could actually turn off my backlight completely when I used it, but my battery would actually drain quicker than when I'd have the screen on in Windows.
unlike Android it's a requirement that all apps use GPU acceleration under normal use on windows even on old/new crappy 512mb windows phones run Very consistently (more like IOS iPhone/iPad) with Android your having to use Brute force with faster Flash and CPU (android is only been optimised now in 5.0)
Cmon microsoft, just give us sneak preview of 940 already. I'm sick of this badly chosen hardware budget phone. It's not even good enough in super saturated budget phone market in developing country.
I agree with pretty much all of the assessment of the Windows phone ecosystem in this article. Aside from users looking for a low end smartphone, there is one other group I consistently recommend windows phones for; first time smart phone users, especially those who are technology averse.
I've found the Windows phone interface is the easiest to pick up and start using with minimal foreknowledge. Beyond that, it requires the least maintenance over the long run (android trends to get bogged down/buggy if you don't stay on top of it, plus between Google, the manufacturer and the carrier, users end up with things like 3 different apps for looking at photos, or using Facebook. ios is more polished and consistent, but has a lot of Apple ecosystem "features" which deeply confuse people who don't already have (or understand) feature of Apple accounts like the iCloud or iTunes. The backup features especially seem to confuse people.
The lack of apps and Google services is a problem, but less so when you consider the phone for a group that is behind the curve. If someone is more active on pinterest, hangouts, etc, then a different phone would work better. But for the group I recommend this phone for, if they do have any accounts set up, they tend to be with Skype or Hotmail, either of which is all you need to get the phone going. This group is also likely to appreciate things like a decent camera and good build quality much more than gpu performance.
That's not a good market for Windows Mobile long-term, as first time smartphone users are a dwindling segment. But as of now, I'm very glad to be able to suggest out as an option.
And I disagree. While the ecosystem really is not that good there's one *huge* advantage to WP 8.1 which is often forgotten: it provides exquisite worldwide offline navigation, public transport information and a number of high quality applications out-of-the-box and there's no crapware which cannot be uninstalled unlike on Android devices.
For me the absence of the Google spyware is actually a big plus instead of a negative especially since it is close to impossible to run an Android device without Play Store. Also in favour for WP is the fact that business necessities (mail, calendar, notes, contacts) work much better out of the box than on Android, not quite as good as on iOS but for a fraction of the price; it's actually quite amazing which hoops one has to hop through to get CalDAV and CardDAV running (with DAVdroid and CAdroid) only to be greeted all the time with the warning that someone might be spying on you while at the same time Google is leeching personal information and sending it to its own servers...
"For me the absence of the Google spyware is actually a big plus instead of a negative especially since it is close to impossible to run an Android device without Play Store"
Google Spyware the Intelligent ware that help you to collate information, plan journeys and make your life much easier. Microsoft lost in the smartphone arena because their offering was too late and that tile interface to alien for users and the fact that they locked down their OS.
If you notice smartphone's are starting to be digital assistants to excel at this function they will have to know information about you, my bet is that users will trade 'spyware' privacy for the benefits ever increasing A.I (smarts) brings to them.
"Google Spyware the Intelligent ware that help you to collate information, plan journeys and make your life much easier."
Right. I have not found a single thing in Google that made my life easier compared to alternate offerings, privacy issues not even considered. For instance when it comes to journeys WP provides a much better service especially when taking the offline mode into account; Here Maps (WP only version) is quick and constantly updated and already has plenty of POIs built it plus it is very useful to pin tiles with important destinations for quick access to important destinations, Drive has outstanding routing capabilities, accurate traffic information (when online) and a very useful energy saving and driver friendly mode, Transit (and public transport planning in the other apps) works astonishingly well all around the globe and provides accurate pedestrian/public transport planning (especially when online it will also have and use current departure times to provide the best alternatives), City Lens is extremly useful to find nice places around you.
"If you notice smartphone's are starting to be digital assistants to excel at this function they will have to know information about you,"
B.S. I've used smartphones back in the times when the term smartphone wasn't even coined (they were called PDAs back then). The most important point is good synching capabilities (Android only syncs well with Googles' own services which are pretty much useless for professional and/or privacy concerned use) followed by applications with outstanding usability and both leave a lot to be desired out-of-the-box in Android -- funny enough the replacement application which Asus ships with their devices have much better usability than the Google built-ins.
Google's services offer a seamless fit across device types I like that I can order to go out for dinner on the desktop and get my calendar updated on my phone. That I Google Now knows my habits and will tell me if their are problems getting home from work. Your trying to make out as Nokia Maps is a killer feature which you can download on Android if you wanted anyway. The advantages of Live traffic updates far out way using a Sat Nav on offline mode we our living in a ever connected world get with the program.
Android is the Windows of the smartphone world. Its more open has lots of hardware, highly configurable in both hardware and software.
" funny enough the replacement application which Asus ships with their devices have much better usability than the Google built-ins." - yes Google Android platform allows others to innovate.....
"Google's services offer a seamless fit across device types I like that I can order to go out for dinner on the desktop and get my calendar updated on my phone."
Yes, that's called syncing. And Android devices are horrible syncers when services other than Google should (or need to) be used. That's a clear no-go for corporate and privacy concerned uses.
"Your trying to make out as Nokia Maps is a killer feature which you can download on Android if you wanted anyway."
No you can't. Here Maps on Android and iOS is a incomplete and halfassed solution requiring sign-up.
"The advantages of Live traffic updates far out way using a Sat Nav on offline mode we our living in a ever connected world get with the program."
No, it doesn't. Here Maps has exceptionally good live traffic updates when online. But you're obviously not coming around a lot if you don't see a problem streaming maps around the globe. Roaming charges can be horrific...
"Android is the Windows of the smartphone world. Its more open has lots of hardware, highly configurable in both hardware and software."
Again B.S., there're very few Android devices which work nicely out-of-the-box. Most of the devices are bloatware ridden and thus provide an inferior experience and abysmal battery life and often they're already dead right from the factory as they'll rarely see any updates which is a must due to the terrifying amount of security problems. There're only few exceptions mostly provided by Google itself and manufacturers for Google like Motorola, Samsung and Asus; but thanks to Intel even the custom rom approach is somewhat thwarted in certain price regions...
I've yet to see an Android device providing an enjoyable experience and acceptable battery life without wasting much time with tinkering. My Moto E (2nd gen) became pretty much usable after installing an unofficial CM12.1 ROM and freezing of all Google services -- over 9 days of battery life are more than okay nowadays, previously with (almost stock Android) Motorola software (both Kitkat and Lollipop) the battery was dead after no more than 2,5 days.
I do have plenty of other Android devices at my disposal if you need more input.
WP devices on the other hand do not require any tinkering and yet offer a much better general experience and battery life as well as nice apps without paying through your nose with your personal data.
iPhones do, too, however those are obscenely expensive compared to WP phones without providing any massive benefits worth the markup.
I have an Sony Xperia Z3 Compact & the battery life and out of the box experience are brilliant. I have not had to install a Custom Rom for years, that's for people with too much time on their hands.
if you want dumb phone battery life then why are you buying a Smartphone?
Windows Phone is so trash that you can't even browse the files on the system when you plug it into your PC.
With windows phone its hard to get it talking with your smart TV or NAS.
File Managers are also a joke. I tried windows phone 7 and saw how Microsoft thought they could lock you down like Apple and knew instantly that they would lose to Android.
Android is fine at synching to other services I have use yahoo mail, EverNote & OneNote with no problems also I have my photos from my phone camera and whatsapp automatically sync with both Amazon & Google Photos so I never lose a photo, I think you are spreading lies.
Windows Phone will never catch up to Android because it's has not Got the developers or consumers mindshare and this is coming from some-one with over two decades of professional Windows Development experience.
WP7, lol, was terrible. Its like saying i hate android because of android 2.3 (which was still pretty popular a couple of years ago. BTW, there is a files app on WP8.
If its worth anything "exquisite worldwide offline navigation" is now available on android and IOS, Here Maps. I like to mention that I would switch to Android, if I can select the apps that run in the background (please dont offer killing apps). Also Google on Tap should be offered as something parents would get to put on their childrens phone.
If you lock yourself into somethng that is platform-limited like Hangouts or even worse iStuff that's not MS' fault. Skype and FB Messenger for example run on just about everything. Same with Kindle, Dropbox, most MS services, etc. I tend to avoid services that don't have broad platform support. It's just retarded to say "Oh I can't buy or recommend that phone because I let myself become dependent on some proprietary lockware".
2) high end Samsung / Apple like specs phone with better camera, mSD+rem. battery? - YES (MS needs to make killer phone people will talk about and think about getting )
3) fixing missing apps -YES (MS as giant software company can not make the same in house apps as most popular Android / iOS apps? Or just pay developers to make the same apps for Windows Phone? How pathetic is that?)
Don't you think MS has not attempted to do that? Back in 2013 MS created a very beautiful Youtube app. I used it for a week in my Windows Phone. But Google made sure that it was removed from the windows phone store. Well known Windows Phone developer Rudy Huyn created an amazing client app for SnapChat. But when SnapChat removed all 3rd party apps, it removed this app too. This SnapChat app was miles better than the first party apps in iOS and Android. The developer requested many times to work with him to whitelist the app and get it in the Windows Phone store. But no response from the SnapChat. MS created a Pebble app and demoed it to the Pebble guy.. Little bit of google search will tell you what happened next.. It is not just entirely MS fault for the lack of apps.
Microsoft needs to get out of the U.S. carrier exclusivity agreement with their high end models. Many people now go with unlock international models that live in the U.S. Total bizarre that Microsoft's home market; they screw the consumer in flavor of the carrier!
I need a new non-contract phone and have been considering an Iphone. I have a Lumia 521 right now and even as a casual phone user it's gotten way too slow.
The thing is whether the Iphone is worth the 5x higher price than the 640. I can get the 640 and an Ipad Mini for around 420 and still save $200. And I work from home, so honestly I'm really not a heavy phone user. The 640 seems like it would be fine for everyday needs, and the few apps I want I can get a Ipad Mini for.
I hadn't considered those, thanks. Although for some reason I've been avoiding Android. I have no idea why. Maybe because I heard bad things about their low end phones, but based on that review I guess that's changed.
Either that or get a Lumia 640 and Surface 3 with accessories for about the same price as an iPhone by itself. I do however seem to be addicted to OneNote though :-)
Understand completely in regards to not being a heavy phone user. It doesn't matter how powerful they get, for actually getting stuff done, there is no comparison to using either a mouse and keyboard or a stylus (for diagrams and notes). Until of course phones are at stage where they can be docked and or properly utilise other input methods like the notebooks and tablets can today.
Out of curiosity, what's slow about the 521? It's main limitation is RAM I think, but then that mostly just means it has to load a bit more when switching programs.
Of the mobile OSes right now I like iOS best (though obviously I like real Windows far, far better), but I pad $950 for my iPhone and when it broke replaced it with a Lumia 635, and...honestly it's nearly as good, for my use at least. The podcast program actually syncs with iTunes too, and there's nothing on Android that does that for real. (I've seen things CLAIM to, but they don't actually.)
Once I upgraded to Windows Phone 8.1, it became noticeably slower. Apps crashing, phone freezing, getting the resuming message for 20 seconds or so. And I don't have that much loaded on it.
Unless you're set on Windows Phone, going with a Moto X 2013 (http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Moto-XT1058-16GB-Un... is probably the best option. Or, if you want/need SD card, get the newest Moto G. Make sure one of the ones with SD card slot, if Moto is still segmenting that.
From WindowsPhoneLand, there isn't anything that technically has a faster SoC that isn't $300+ iirc. At least, not now.
If you don't mind buying used, I would check out swappa.com, everything I've got off there has been great so far. hope it still is.
I have an iPhone 6 and it is super fast and has tons of high quality apps too! I use currently the iPhone 6 and Lumia 735. Both are 4.7". I would recommend the iPhone 6 if you can afford it! But the Lumia 735 is pretty nice at the now low price of $200. I purchase it at $300.
It's weird how Metro makes the phones look bulky and crowded, the childish icy iOS rainbows are quite the opposite. Not that M$ should copy that, just the message. They also need to dump this kind of back shell. Nokia, iphone 5c, Xiaomi Redmi and many others turned this kind of shell into the definition of cheap and the way they implement it makes the phones bulkier too. As for this device ,too bad for the SoC , guess for a startup like Microsoft it's normal to not have the resources to make it's software run on A53.
that kind of back shell does make an additional case 'which 75% of smartphone users add) unnecessary. I think the Nokia should be compared to case-equipped iPhone et al, and then the bulk issue goes the other way. I'm not a Nokia customer, but I'd love to have a similar design on my Androids.
Completely agree here. It's always been a massive benefit. They're normally thinner than even the most expensive phones with a case, that makes them feel cheap and fat anyway, or much better value and safer than using an alternative phone without one.
Additionally, as someone who has very rarely used phone cases, I have always found phones with easily replaceable cases beneficial for both appearance when I have dropped and damage them (no walking around with cracked phone cases or backs like so many people with iPhones) and for when I want to pass them down to other family members. After a fresh install and a new $15 back shell it's essentially like a new phone for those who aren't too concerned.
For the kind of user that is buying a $129 smartphone I think Microsoft has put it's priorities in the right place, a good camera and a screen that is readable in all conditions are things that any user will appreciate. I've helped dozens and dozens of normal users with all types of smartphones and I can only shake my head at the number of people paying $70mth to use a $700+ plus device that they only use for texting, email, FB and phone calls.
It lasts most of a day between charges (not really good enough). It has a decent camera, decent display and presumably syncs really well with MS Outlook (if not what are MS doing!).
Is it slow - yes
Will it run the very latest apps - no.
Is it good enough for 90% of market aged more than 25 - yes. Ultimately on a tech website we forget that most people do not need most of the features. Checking emails, using maps/navigation and the ability to check social media is good enough
And for all the bagging people are doing on MS for pushing out cheap phones, the strategy has really helped MS gain share outside of US/Europe. India, with its billions of people, might actually be a market to get into, no?
Sure, we want premium phones here, but the 1520 and 930 are by no means junk, even this long past launch.
That said, it's a shame WP coverage at Anandtech is so thin. Never reviewed the 1020. Never reviewed the 1520. But hey, let's review the cheap MS phones and then make conclusions about the ecosystem. It's been the problem MS has had all along--solid efforts and unique offerings are essentially shunned by the community. We need more than Apple and Google in this space.
I have this phone (changed from Note 2 on Sprint) and get an astonishing 2.5 to 3 days on a charge -- with light to moderate use. Also, no dropped calls in the 2 weeks I have owned it. For $129, it works great and I don't even worry about scratches on the case or having to protect it. The main drawback is that the Windows Phone iteration of popular apps are terrible (like Words with Friends).
I second this comment... I have a 635 - predecessor to this phone - and I can go multiple days without charging. I use GPS for directions and exercise, wifi and LTE antennae for streaming and web access. When I compare my battery life for WP with what I experienced with Android (on a Nexus 4 even)...it's no comparison. WP blows it out of the water. I have a charging cable I bought for my car...never use it.
i do find windows and blackberry phones Very reliable for LTE and calls (GSM phone)
blackberry Q10 i got here if it gets a wiff of 4G (real 4G>LTE for USA peeps) it will use it until it gets to low then drops to 3G (where as android phones just drop when signal is at 20-30% still)
quite sure the windows phone does the same thing it fast changes to LTE if available (but on EE UK 4G is bit Iffy at work and makes phone calls bugger up when you answer the phone, this is network issue not the phone, so tend to leave that phone on 3G max speed)
compared to the android phones i got its like i got New 4G masts installed in my area,, same network in an android phone i have to set it to 3g and back to 3g/4G or airplane mode or wait about 1-3 mines for it to maybe decide to use 4G (if i am on a motorway 4G is unlikely on android phone, but on windows phone or Blackberry very likely)
"All the other specifications are fairly typical for a phone of this price. 8GB of NAND, 1GB of RAM, and 2.4GHz 802.11n WiFi are all you get at this price."
NO! You are also getting microSD!! That means you can install huge amounts of storage and swap content in and out any time. With the good 5" display this thing has even movies will be quite watchable. I have the smaller Lumia 520 and love it for these reasons. And I won't buy a phone without microSD. So I really wonder why you don't even mention it. This is a lot more important than where the logo is printed, don'tcha think?
I had a lumia 928 for almost two years that I honestly loved. I was never really wanting for anything. I had to get an iPhone 5 for about six months that I honestly wasn't very impressed with.
I'm on a lollipop phone now though, and I can definitely tell the difference. Windows phone seems to go through booms and busts of parity. When 8.1 launched, it drew them nearly to feature parity with android or iOS of the day. Fast forward two years of mostly stagnant upgrades, and they're in a bad spot once again. Hopefully Microsoft will get it right some day, but until then I'll be happy to use their services on android
In fairness to windows phone and the lumia 640 - it would be nice if the comparison charts listed the phone price. And more appropriate comparable phones. Owning a 928, 635 and 822 - they do everything newer phones can do. Yes my wife's Icon is a magnificent piece of speedy hardware - however the 640 and other phones shouldn't be frowned upon based on their chipsets and gpu. Windows phone really does perform great on low end hardware. I think a more intriguing comparison would be the 640 vs the 735 (yes its in MOST of the charts) but also the 920, 820, 635 and 520. people silly enough to pay $700 for an iPhone or $600 for a galaxy simply don't care that you can accomplish 95% of the same tasks with a $130 Lumia.
Just one FYI, Glance has multiple modes, including "peek" where it only activates when it detects something moving over it (or leaving a space where it always is 'sensing' something (IE, a pocket)
And, yeah. Windows Phone uses a lot of battery life to have Wifi on. Dunno why. Even without any MS account on it and no non-native apps it still eats 2-2.5% of battery on 920. Haven't tested on other WP devices.
Nice phone for a good price, but it's positively huge with a 5 inch screen. Its disappointing that it's impossible to find a phone with decent specifications and a 3.5 inch screen. I can't imagine carrying this or any other phone that big around. I'd be tempted to tape a stick to it and use it as an oar.
As someone whose smartphone history is iPhone 4, Lumia 920, and now Lumia 1520, I can tell you that once you've used a bigger smartphone (1520 has a 6" screen), you cannot go back to the small ones. They feel like toys and browsing the internet or watching videos on them is intolerable.
Get a 735 then. It's a very nice piece and noticeably smaller than the 640 plus it has an AMOLED display. It's a bit larger than my 820 which for me has about the perfect screen size but it's thinner and much lighter (especially since it has Qi built-in rather than needing a special cover which adds additional bulk and weight).
Google does not just not make any apps for Windows Phone, it actively blocks anyone else from doing the same if at all possible. Hopefully with Windows 10 this will change due to the very nature of that OS . We'll see..
The remarks on Glance probably come from not having the extension app loaded which allows for backgrounds and more options.
The Glance Screen app doesn't show up in the store for all Windows Phones, Lumia 640 included. If you look at the list of Microsoft apps when browsing the store on the phone it's just not even there.
I've had this phone for several months and it feels great after Lumia 525. I certainly don't see the battery drain mentioned in this review, but I don't use most of fancy mobile apps aside from Viber.
"Microsoft's scroll speed cap also makes the entire operating system feel slow"
This issue is so underrated, and I believe (even with your criticism) that you were very diplomatic in your complaint. This is BY FAR my biggest issue with Windows Phone and I've nagged Microsoft so many times on uservoice and the feedback app about the speed of scrolling and inertia settings (speed and feel of the "flick"). Not only does it feel slow, it's also not even close to being natural.
iOS is slower than my liking too, but it feels more natural in a sense. I believe Samsung got the speed and the "flick" right with their devices, and Android followed after JellyBean. Microsoft needs to blatantly copy Android in that department, and screw what people say.
Agreed. I've recently got a 640, my first windows phone, and the scroll speed is slow. Why can't they have an option to adjust it as the user wishes? First thing I do on getting a new computer is to adjust the scroll stopped to max and I'd do the same here if I could.
this scroll speed issue is not an issue with windows phone, it's an issue with the specific phone. My HTC One M8 scrolls just as fast as android, or as slow. Depending on you swipe or flick.
About the camera app: Brandon, if you change either ISO or shutter speed the software is adjusting the other one to get you a picture as good as it can. If you want to over- or underexpose the image, there's a separate setting for that.
Honestly I don't know why anyone short of a professional photographer with a huge DSLR in a special situation would want to set ISO and shutter speed manually and try endless times to get just the right exposure. A live preview of the real captured image would help with that, but on a mobile screen outdoors that preview may not be very representative of how it looks like on a normal computer screen anyway.
I know, that's what you said in the article. However, my point was that one should use the exposure adjustment, optionally together with either ISO or shutter speed. This takes better care of pretty much anything you could want from manually changing ISO and shutter speed. Except for images which are pretty much only black or only white.. but those could be better produced with Photoshop than a camera.
Hardly. The manual mode is one of the best things about Lumia's and get copied often. You're not really seeing a good representation of the image until you get it on a pc anyway.
Actually it's a PEBKAC issue. The manual mode is identical to that of an SLR. There is no "preview" in view finder because it's not really possible to preview what adjustments the shutter speed has on an image in real time. Using 100 iso with 1/20 of a shutter speed vs 800 iso with 1/160 shutter will give the same exposure but provide much different images especially if you have a moving subject. I suspect all you are looking for is a way to tell if the exposure is correct or not. On an SLR there is usually a grid in the bottom of the OVF with +- 3 stops and a little arrow that will tell you if you are over or under exposed. This is represented by the EV (labeled brightness) number in the upper right corner. As MrSpadge said you can simply look at that number and use it to determine the correct exposure which is most cases it should read 0. That should be a much more precise value than trying to eyeball the brightness from a pseudo preview on screen.
Does anyone know why wp is so, relatively, inefficient? I'd been told that wp was going to offer so much better battery life than android b/c it didn't require a vm:)
In the test the glance screen with the LCD being always on probably killed idle battery life. The load results seem fine, but could certainly use a boost from a faster browser.
I just switched to Window Phone, with a better phone and same size battery as my Android. The Windows phone batter lasts 5-8 times longer than the Android phone...
I just made the switch to a Windows phone 8.1 about a month ago. I bought the HTC One M8. Here is a tidbit of my opinion.
One issue I have with this review is the scrolling speed on Windows. It must be specific to the this phone that is being reviewed here, not specific to Windows as the reviewer says. On my HTC One M8 Windows 8.1 I can scroll slow or fast. A gentle push and the screen scrolls slowly, a fast flick of the fingertip and the phone will scroll almost instantly to the bottom, too fast to see anything, just like my Android.
Going with the HTC One M8 and Windows was the best move I've ever made. The phone experience on Windows is so much better than Android (coming from an Galaxy S4) it's ridiculous. Everything is so much faster and smoother it's unbelievable. And I no longer have that stupid Android bug that would eat up the phones battery in 4 hours on occasion. On The best day with the S4 I could go about 24 hours before charging, on a high usage day, it would be dead by the afternoon and on a portable battery. When the bug hit, 4 hours or so and it was dead. This HTC One M8 with Windows will easily last 4 days with even heavier usage. I've just gotten into the habit of charging it on Mondays and Fridays, with no fear at all of running out of power, and that is with the battery saver feature disabled.. It's crazy how much better it is.
The phone app connects instantly, no delays like on my Android where I would hit a contact and sometimes wait 5 seconds for the phone to connect and dial.
It is missing a few apps I used on Android, and that is very disappointing. But the overall phone experience is so much better it's worth giving up a couple of those apps.
Sorry, but what you are stating here is quite fishy:
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4, under heavy use I get about 4h of screen on time. For light use, it can easily last 3 or even 4 days - the battery drains about 0.9% per hour if in deep sleep (albeit with an AOSP ROM, not the bloated Samsung original)
When a phone drains battery like there is no tomorrow, usually some app prevents the deep sleep of the phone. There are tools like GSAM Battery Monitor and Better Battery Stats in the Play Store to analyze this.
But lots of users prefer blaming Android instead of having a look at all the crap they have installed on their device, it is so much easier.
Also, your claim that the phone held only 4h on standbye really looks strange: To suck up the battery so fast, the load on the SoC would need to be incredibly high - such a phone would be _VERY_ warm - in fact so warm that you having a phone call would be displeasing!
As a matter of fact, the SGS4 holds quite long under some load if the screen is off - when I use WIFI tehering with the screen off, the battery consumption is about 10% per hour.
So if I assume that you posted true numbers (and not just some MS-propaganda), you either have bloated your phone with tons of crap software or your battery was broken.
Bugs happen. That same bug he describes happened several times to my wife on Android and to me on WP. If you have phone in your pocked you usually notice this because the phone gets warm. If the phone lies on the table, you don't notice it until you pick the phone and see 0 battery left.
You are correct, this also has happened to me once, albeit not so severe (the phone had ~5% per hour battery usage on standby or so)
But instead of throwing a tantrum and blaming Android, I installed GSAM Battery Monitor Plus, found the App which caused the wakelocks and deinstalled it.
Alternatively, it is also possible to install a wakelock blocker. Then you don't have to deinstall the app, you just block its wakelocks.
I didn't throw a tantrum, the tantrums are being thrown by people who apparently don't want anybody to criticize android. I'm sorry to say, android is not perfect.
You are the first person I have ever heard say that they could more than 24 hours with a galaxy s4, or any galaxy. That's why had the replaceable battery...
It depends on the software you use - nobody forces you to use the software the phone shipped with. For teh SGS4, I prefer AOSP-based ROMs or GPE-versions.
oh, and I am not ms propaganda. The phone wasn't bloated. Brand new out of the store with no apps it wouldn't last more than a day. The person at the store even told me that I would have to charge it every day. I also bought a replacement battery to use since it died so fast, that replacement battery works exactly the same as the stock battery. Barely 24 hours.
You claimed your WP-phone lasts 5-8 times longer than your Android phone, didn't you? Perhaps this was slightly exagerated?
But be it as it may, when I have battery problems I actually tend to install a tool to analyze things. Then I can deinstall or freeze the app which causes the problem or block its wakelocks. Problem solved.
Some other people may prefer to whine because of their low battery runtime instead, to each its own.
Two things I cannot confirm (using a fully updated HTC 8X). 1. Action center always flows smoothly. Never had any stuttering or freezing. 2. Generally Scrolling speed is proportional to swipe speed. I can scroll from top to bottom of the "Windows Phone" page of this review within 5 seconds if I swipe quickly, or 15 seconds if I swipe slowly. Top scrolling speed could be faster though.
Currently using lowly HTC 8s which was the worst WP8 phone till 435, no issues with action center - no delay or freeze. It has somewhat strange/unexpected opening, because it can be fully opened or just enough to play with those 4 buttons and or go in settings. I never had enough unattended notifications to be able to test scrolling there.
Camera - This isn't a proper camera with viewfinder or at least tiltable display. Ever tried underexposing something under bright sun? You wouldn't be able to see anything on the screen. But it would be good to have some notification to tell how many stops below the preview the image is going to end. If you are serious enough about manual stuff this should be enough to know how will the image turn out :)
As for idle battery drain - try activating battery saver and see the power draw then, plus check which apps drain the battery. If it is the same, probably screen, something failed to close / is intentionally running in the background or some other hardware/software bug. Shouldn't happen but does. Manually closing apps usually resolves the problem. If battery saver does help, play with sync settings for mail and similar. For me, syncing mails as they arrive instead of manually every now and then drops battery life from 3-4 days to 1-2 (light use - no demanding games). If you get tons of mail it will be even worse.
I just purchased an international version of the 735 and I love it for $300. It is unlocked. I purchased a cyan battery cover too. It feels like a iPhone 6 with a case on it! Same thinnest! The 400 is slow in some operations; but overall it pretty good overall. I switch to the iPhone 6 and back from day to day since they use the same nano SIMs card inside. My iPhone cost $900 so performance is quite a bit faster on everything. But still I like the change of environments. The WP does not have all the apps that I use so most case I pin the webpage and create an icon tile as a substitute. It works for a lot of Apple apps except for Apple Pay and Starbuck's Pay.
I'm just amazed at how people can deny the reality in front of them.
This phone has a better camera/screen than a Moto E and it is MUCH worse in every other regard. The app selection and quality of the apps is orders of magnitude worse. The web browsing experience is laughable. The overal OS experience and fluidity is worse, no matter how much iOS/WP fanboys keep repeting stupidities about android performance.
The only reason Windows Phone is alive is because Microsoft has a HUGE pile of cash they can burn if they want to stay in the game, and I seriously pity everybody who puts they hard earned money in such a shitty and undeveloped ecosystem.
Even with the screen and camera, I find no single person in the planet to which I'd reccomend this phone over a Moto E. And while I'm probably much less polite, the bottom line of the review is Brandon & Anandtech agree with that.
Quick check whether you need Android/iOS ecosystem: Need an app not on WP? Don't get WP. Really want anything social (games or apps)? Don't get WP. Completely tied to Google/Apple? Don't get WP. Note that plenty think they are tied to google but only really need their search, mail and youtube and could easily ditch the rest.
Not found yourself up there? You will bitch about WP... but you will bitch about Android and iOS as well :)
---
Want better hardware? Go with Lumia. Software? Moto E. Would I buy Lumia 640 though? Heck no. I have a WP dev phone already, don't need another. As a primary phone, this one still has too poor camera for my wishes. Lumia 830 is much more tempting, but costs quite a bit more.
MS is so pissing me off... First they destroy how I use my desktop, now since they bought Nokia NOT ONE NEW PHONE HAS COME OUT...
You can't get the 640 anywhere... T-Mobile has it coming soon for MONTHS... And no 640XL even mentioned... Even the MS Store doesn't mention the 640...
I'm through with Windows Phone... I'll keep one for DEV, but I'm getting an Android phone... I'd rather be able to get all the cool apps that don't come on Windows Phone...
Brandon notes that the key app gap, for him, is the absence of Google services. I would agree that certain Google services, the biggies (map and search), are missed on WP. Sadly, that is by a very deliberate design on the part of Google (admirably noted in the review), which is actively avoiding any of its services ever making an appearance on WP (note the saga related to MS's own YouTube app for WP). This may change, and change quickly, if WP gains a user base north of 100 million users (they are not far away from this milestone now, in fact).
However, I'm curious as to why he was so dismissive of the "alternatives," where they exist; in particular, OneDrive for Google Drive, and Skype for Hangouts. The MS alternatives are superior to Google's offerings here, and, unlike Google's versions, available on all platforms.
Also, why bemoan the fact that the official Twitter app is not as good as it is on iOS and Android, when the third party Tweetium app is clearly a superior app for Twitter over the "official" version on WP?
overall a thorough review- but what's the point of it? as long as the "app gap" is present (always will be with windows phones), there's just no reason to get one of these phones for anyone in any financial bracket.
i had the nokia lumia 1020 for a few months ( the allure of a 41 MP camera intrigued me) however i came to the same conclusion as the reviewer that that apps just are not there, or for some of the popular ones that are, there is limited functionality and virtually no updates. windows app store no longer has the chase bank mobile app or it's no longer supported officially by chase.
some folks are saying that with windows 10 things are going to change and it will be easier for developers to port apps to windows. i'm not buying it- they said the same thing with windows mobile 8 then 8.1 and it didn' t pan out.
why would any developer cater to a market that has less than 3 % of the market share with no viable growth in sight? microsoft and windows mobile is and always will be a niche market and a very small niche at that.
actually it is growing. thing is it takes ages to get even from tiny to small. by the way market share in europe is around 10% not 3% and that market is way bigger than the us in terms of volume. android is loosing over there.
the app gap is always stated and repels people as an argument which is odd seeing that research has shown that most users actually download less than one app a month on average and the overwhelming majority only uses standard apps that actually are available on all systems (like facebook, whatsapp, telegram, instagram, etc).
the real issue is 75% marketing 24% what the guy in the pub says and 1% actual problem with app availability for most people. the difference between the us and europe seems to be in europe the customers have realized this fact.
as for app development, the prospect to use microsofts new dev tools and crank out an app for all three platforms in one go with minimal adaptation, or import my android / ios app and create a unified windows store app for all windows devices with minimal effort ... hell yes this will work for me. the windows phone market is tiny ... but the pc/tablet windows market is not and if i can potentially just revamp my app in a few hours there, it basically is free money for me.
windows phone 8.1 was useless ... develop a new app for a tiny market? not gonna happen. reencode my existing app for the windows store or even creating one new app and exporting it easily to all platforms? no brainer.
If you are completely set to use googles apps there is only one system that makes sense for you anyway and that is android. Lamenting missing google apps on windows phone is like ranting about not having an itunes or facetime app on your samsung galaxy.
The battery life is something I was surprised about. We use 640s for our sales guys. They get through the day withput issues while working and those people are not light on battery life. We had constant complaints back when we used android based htc models.
Finally as for feeling slow, the only time I feel the system is slow is when loading up apps, which is to be expected on those old snapdragon 400. In the system itself, the settings etc. it feels smooth and more responsive than any android at the same price point I have tested, but that is just my subjective experience like you have yours.
As for the browser, that one definitely needs work, though I think this issue will disappear with wp10 and edge in a few months. Anyway browsing on a mobile is a pain in all cases in my opinion.
In the end, while the review tries to be comprehensive I think it is rather useless to have someone judge a system who is - through his app and cloud storage history - firmly set on using another system anyway.
Someone who uses icloud and apple services for any and everything will not find android all that appealing. You use google services extensively and preclude the possibility to switch to another environment ... windows phone is just not for you.
I think you are wrong regarding how the Action Center should be displayed. In it's current form, the user can pull it down only a small amount to expose the Commands. In it's current form, I can pull it down an inch and expose the command I need to use at the moment, and I don't lose context of where I am. If it was implemented as you stated it should, I wouldn't be able to access the commands until the Action Center was completely opened.
We own or ownerd Lumia 540, 635, 825, 925 and 640. One item you left out of your review is the new security feature that only the 640 currently has. They have this feature hidden under "Find My Phone" and is callled Recovery Protection/recovery key. No where in manual that came with phone from T-Mobile does it list this feature. I believe the feature mat have been listed during setup. When this feature is turned on, your phone cannot be restored or the ability to change/add a different Microsoft id. Preventing someone from stealing the phone and being able to reuse it. You have to make sure you register the phone on the Windows website so you can obtain a recovery code and don't' lose it, before something happens. The only problem with this is.....if your Microsoft account is ever hacked like my son's xbox account was over a month ago, Microsoft gave him a temporary id to use for 30 days and locked up the id that was hacked; which of course is the id registered on the phone. Once they locked up the hacked account, you are not able to turn off the recovery feature so you can put a new Microsoft id on the phone. Then when you call Microsoft lumia, or Windows phone, they tell you how to restore the phone so you can put a new Microsoft id back on the phone. However, once the phone restarts it gets locked on the recovery key request because your recovery key does not work because Microsft reported that I'd hacked. You cannot even access anything saved in the cloud, pictures, phone backups...nothing. The problem......no one at Microsoft even knows how to fix this, they don't even know about their own security feature. I've spent 40+ hours on the phone with numerous departments, filled out a million forms and finally 30 days later, this issue was escalated to much higher departments with no resolve. My son's 3 week old phone is rendered useless and Microsoft cannot unlock the phone, nor will they replace it. I am stuck paying for a phone that was used 3 weeks. Microsoft locked up the phone and all they can do is say...sorry, nothing we can do. Microsoft has the poorest customer support structure and won't take responsibility for their short comings. I used to love Windows phones....I'll never buy another!
this is one of the best under 10000 smartphone. my full hands on review i've posted on http://sandeepyc.blogspot.com/2015/11/lumia640revi... if your interested in detailed review, sample pics also i've posted in this as i cant upload pics here.
I would like to ask: Is there any charging time limit for the Lumia 640 / Lumia 640 dual sim variant? Is there any way to prevent overcharging the battery? Also, how can I read / interpret the charging time / charging duration graphic? 0.6 means? 1.2 means? I dont know how to read the graphic made to show the charging time required to normally charge the phone from 0 to 100 %. Does overcharging the battery 1 to 2 hours affect the battery severely? Please reply and thank you.
I have a Dual Sim Lumia 640, if you could provide me the information based on this model it would be even better. Is there any charging time difference between the single sim and the dual sim variant? The user manual does not show any charging time information. Thank you.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
130 Comments
Back to Article
WinterCharm - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
That's a really nice phone for the price! :DGreat look and design, too!
JohanAnandtech - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
That kind of performance is going to get frustrating pretty quickly. Simply using some kind of navigation will quickly show the limits of using an A7 core.Wolfpup - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
On Android an A9 is dirt slow, while it's not bad running real Windows, much less Windows Phone.I've got a 520 and a 635, and the A7 isn't an issue in the 635 at all...at least not for the stuff most people do (certainly including navigation software). This 640 looks like an awesome extension...2x the RAM and a larger screen. Naturally it's coming out not long after I bought a spare 635 lol
jospoortvliet - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
As the review makes clear - Windows Phone lost its advantages in terms of performance...jakoh - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
The review compares the 640 to a bunch of high spec'd android and IOS, it doesnt show that WP can run smoothly even on crappy specs.leexgx - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
i do agree i got a nokia 820 seems to work wellBut the Main problem with windows phones is lack of ram some times background tabs are deep suspended and take to long to restore i ignore any windows phone with 512mb of ram but would recommend 2GB as a minimum
darkich - Friday, June 12, 2015 - link
You clearly didn't even read the article.The author was specifically comparing this to low end Motorola moto E performance wise.
And he stated for several times that the whole OS and browser feel really slow in comparison.
SirPerro - Monday, June 15, 2015 - link
"I mentioned in my Moto E review that for a long time I recommended that users who wanted a cheaper smartphone go with Windows Phone over Android, because at the time the options on Android were janky, slow, and offered a poor experience. I can’t make that recommendation anymore, because the app gap is still here, while the experience gap in favor of Windows Phone is gone."Article is loud and clear
Murloc - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
not really, I have a 635 and the experience is fluid.testbug00 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Really? L520 running quite smoothly through everything I throw at it (web browsing, some music playing, few notes in OneNote) andf it's a dual core A7 chipset (SD200)./yawn
Cryio - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Lumia 520 has a dual core Krait CPU. Much faster than a dual core SD200.testbug00 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
yes, I forgot. My bad. Herp derp. Qualcomm's naming scheme is cr*p still.MrSpadge - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
The Krait is clocked at 1.0 GHz in the Lumia 520. It's pretty close in performance per clock to an A9, which itself is not much faster per clock than an A7. Overall 4 x A7 at 1.2 GHz is about as fast as 2 x Krait at 1.0 GHz for single threaded loads.StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Got a Lumia 535 as secondary windows phone device (Got a Lumia 920 as my daily driver still - Dual-Core 1.5ghz Snapdragon S4, Adreno 225) which has a Quad-Core Snapdragon 200 and Adreno 302.Both run without stutter and run smoothly in everything... With one exception, Internet Explorer, but even that's perfectly passable.
Even played with 520's, 525's, 610, 620, 630 phones and they have been fine... I would assume something must have been up with the reviewers device, one thing Windows Phone has always never had a problem with is fluidity.
Microsoft needs a new high-end device, I need an excuse to upgrade my Lumia 920 which is years old now, the 930 simply wasn't it.
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I disagree. Performance is terrific on those devices, actually much better better than the much cited Moto E 2nd gen which requires a lot of tinkering to actually provide a comparable fluidity.tipoo - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
What tinkering did your Moto E need? My Moto G runs just fine.SirPerro - Monday, June 15, 2015 - link
That's bullshitty at its best. Which "tinkering" is it required to make the Moto E fluid? (Answer: None)Frenetic Pony - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
You're thinking it's the same as Android, Windows Phone (or Windows for phones, or wtf ever they call it) has generally been a lot smoother on lower spec phones than Android.Frenetic Pony - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
You're thinking it's the same as Android, Windows Phone (or Windows for phones, or wtf ever they call it) has generally been a lot smoother on lower spec phones than Android.haukionkannel - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Well I have Lumia 625 (slower phone than this) and it is very fine in navigation! So no problem in there! It is not good for gaming, but every other task is just fine with this phone.kevloral - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
"After declining sales of Symbian devices, the company decided to go all in with Microsoft's Windows Phone platform"Why is this false mantra repeated again and again? When Nokia decided to go Windows Phone, Symbian devices were being sold more than ever. Just check the statistics from the time.
danbob999 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Declining market share.niva - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Nokia used to be to the cell phone market kind of what Apple has become today. It's amazing how quickly they failed and were never able to recover. Failing to jump on the Android bandwagon early ultimately led to their demise.Brandon Chester - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
That's not true. Reports from Gartner and IDC both agree that Nokia shipped significantly fewer devices in each quarter of 2011 than that same quarter in 2010.hemedans - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
last symbian flagship was nokia n8 which come out 2010, in 2011 n9 was nokia flagship and 2012 we saw lumia 900 and 920.last s60v3 were nokia c5 and e5 both of them come out 2010, elop killed symbian at low end in favour of nokia asha. symbian was killed by nokia before the official anouncement in 2012.
Cryio - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Last Symbian Flagship was the 808 which launched in 2012.hemedans - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
808 was niche device to introduce nokia camera capability, at that time nokia already anounce symbian was dead platform. in 2012 nokia 900 and 920 were nokia flagshipPenti - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
They had effectively already killed Symbian early 2011 and sales didn't decline until the burning platform memo, plus canceling already announced/showed phones and giving up on Symbian development, which they transfered to Accenture already in the summer which later fired almost everybody within a year or so. By the time the N9 was out/showed they had made it clear the platform (MeeGo/Harmattan) was dead before the phone shipped and wouldn't receive any major updates or any new development.Penti - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
They didn't really have a WP device of their own until Lumia 900 either. Lumia 800 was a Clevo-built/designed device. Thus they had nothing to sell between feb 2011 and april-june 2012 at all that they hadn't decided to stop development of and spoken out against. Neither did they have a WP8 device until November 2012.Klimax - Saturday, June 13, 2015 - link
Sales at the cost of profits. They made near zero on them as they HAD to make them extremely cheap. Otherwise you'd see sales going down much sooner and much faster.Symbian was dead, it just didn't noticed it for short time...
eanazag - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I hated Symbian. Buh-bye Symbian.Callum S - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Nice review. I definitely think that it is a fantastic phone for its price.I can see how the apps situation for some would be a pretty big concern. As mentioned it is mainly Google and local apps that are missed. However at the same time, for those using Microsoft services, I have found it to be significantly better than Android. Exchange, OneDrive, OneNote and MS Office Apps all work beautifully and the ability to pin the live tiles for each to the home screen has saved myself tonnes of time.
That blue glossy case - yep, I would probably want to pass on that too. The matte black version is however also available and in my opinion much better.
I am not too sure about the performance though - especially at the price bracket. After breaking a Nokia 930 I tried to use an old HTC One M7 for a while, before finally buying a Lumia 640, and found the performance of that to be horrible after updating. However perhaps that was due to the HTC sense customisations or something?
My original intention was to use the Lumia 640 until the Lumia 940 with Windows Mobile 10 is released however I am not too sure I'll be able to justify the upgrade now...
Callum S - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
*HTC Sense customisationsWolfpup - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
The HTC stuff may not help, but from my experience Android is just dog slow. I've got a Surface 1 running (almost) real Windows 8, and it runs circles around faster ARM hardware running Android, which is just laughable considering how much better Windows is than Android.Presumably Windows Phone has even lighter system requirements, so... Although who knows about that, given real Windows is probably optimized out the wazoo, while Windows Phone doesn't get as much attention, but still, my Windows Phones all feel fine, while my android stuff running on anything less than the highest end hardware feels slow.
testbug00 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Android runs fine when you don't skin it. Moto G/E use A7 quad cores. I believe the original Moto E used a dual core even.And, based on crash reports I've seen, Windows Phone seems to use under 125MB of RAM for the OS.
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Nope, Moto E (2nd gen) runs 4xA53 not A7. Also not to be underestimated the Moto E has a lower screen resolution.mkozakewich - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
In my experience, a proper operating system like Windows or OS X runs a lot faster than some generic, unoptimised version of Linux. I had a netbook with a quick-boot Linux thing, and I could actually turn off my backlight completely when I used it, but my battery would actually drain quicker than when I'd have the screen on in Windows.leexgx - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
unlike Android it's a requirement that all apps use GPU acceleration under normal use on windows even on old/new crappy 512mb windows phones run Very consistently (more like IOS iPhone/iPad) with Android your having to use Brute force with faster Flash and CPU (android is only been optimised now in 5.0)testbug00 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
probably HTC stuff. I have a Moto G (whatever year the original was released in) and it runs Android smoothly. It's a lot weaker than the M7 ;)WorldWithoutMadness - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Cmon microsoft, just give us sneak preview of 940 already. I'm sick of this badly chosen hardware budget phone.It's not even good enough in super saturated budget phone market in developing country.
anomalydesign - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I agree with pretty much all of the assessment of the Windows phone ecosystem in this article. Aside from users looking for a low end smartphone, there is one other group I consistently recommend windows phones for; first time smart phone users, especially those who are technology averse.I've found the Windows phone interface is the easiest to pick up and start using with minimal foreknowledge. Beyond that, it requires the least maintenance over the long run (android trends to get bogged down/buggy if you don't stay on top of it, plus between Google, the manufacturer and the carrier, users end up with things like 3 different apps for looking at photos, or using Facebook. ios is more polished and consistent, but has a lot of Apple ecosystem "features" which deeply confuse people who don't already have (or understand) feature of Apple accounts like the iCloud or iTunes. The backup features especially seem to confuse people.
The lack of apps and Google services is a problem, but less so when you consider the phone for a group that is behind the curve. If someone is more active on pinterest, hangouts, etc, then a different phone would work better. But for the group I recommend this phone for, if they do have any accounts set up, they tend to be with Skype or Hotmail, either of which is all you need to get the phone going. This group is also likely to appreciate things like a decent camera and good build quality much more than gpu performance.
That's not a good market for Windows Mobile long-term, as first time smartphone users are a dwindling segment. But as of now, I'm very glad to be able to suggest out as an option.
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
And I disagree. While the ecosystem really is not that good there's one *huge* advantage to WP 8.1 which is often forgotten: it provides exquisite worldwide offline navigation, public transport information and a number of high quality applications out-of-the-box and there's no crapware which cannot be uninstalled unlike on Android devices.For me the absence of the Google spyware is actually a big plus instead of a negative especially since it is close to impossible to run an Android device without Play Store. Also in favour for WP is the fact that business necessities (mail, calendar, notes, contacts) work much better out of the box than on Android, not quite as good as on iOS but for a fraction of the price; it's actually quite amazing which hoops one has to hop through to get CalDAV and CardDAV running (with DAVdroid and CAdroid) only to be greeted all the time with the warning that someone might be spying on you while at the same time Google is leeching personal information and sending it to its own servers...
pSupaNova - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
"For me the absence of the Google spyware is actually a big plus instead of a negative especially since it is close to impossible to run an Android device without Play Store"Google Spyware the Intelligent ware that help you to collate information, plan journeys and make your life much easier.
Microsoft lost in the smartphone arena because their offering was too late and that tile interface to alien for users and the fact that they locked down their OS.
If you notice smartphone's are starting to be digital assistants to excel at this function they will have to know information about you, my bet is that users will trade 'spyware' privacy for the benefits ever increasing A.I (smarts) brings to them.
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
"Google Spyware the Intelligent ware that help you to collate information, plan journeys and make your life much easier."Right. I have not found a single thing in Google that made my life easier compared to alternate offerings, privacy issues not even considered. For instance when it comes to journeys WP provides a much better service especially when taking the offline mode into account; Here Maps (WP only version) is quick and constantly updated and already has plenty of POIs built it plus it is very useful to pin tiles with important destinations for quick access to important destinations, Drive has outstanding routing capabilities, accurate traffic information (when online) and a very useful energy saving and driver friendly mode, Transit (and public transport planning in the other apps) works astonishingly well all around the globe and provides accurate pedestrian/public transport planning (especially when online it will also have and use current departure times to provide the best alternatives), City Lens is extremly useful to find nice places around you.
"If you notice smartphone's are starting to be digital assistants to excel at this function they will have to know information about you,"
B.S. I've used smartphones back in the times when the term smartphone wasn't even coined (they were called PDAs back then). The most important point is good synching capabilities (Android only syncs well with Googles' own services which are pretty much useless for professional and/or privacy concerned use) followed by applications with outstanding usability and both leave a lot to be desired out-of-the-box in Android -- funny enough the replacement application which Asus ships with their devices have much better usability than the Google built-ins.
pSupaNova - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Google's services offer a seamless fit across device types I like that I can order to go out for dinner on the desktop and get my calendar updated on my phone. That I Google Now knows my habits and will tell me if their are problems getting home from work.Your trying to make out as Nokia Maps is a killer feature which you can download on Android if you wanted anyway.
The advantages of Live traffic updates far out way using a Sat Nav on offline mode we our living in a ever connected world get with the program.
Android is the Windows of the smartphone world. Its more open has lots of hardware, highly configurable in both hardware and software.
" funny enough the replacement application which Asus ships with their devices have much better usability than the Google built-ins." - yes Google Android platform allows others to innovate.....
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
"Google's services offer a seamless fit across device types I like that I can order to go out for dinner on the desktop and get my calendar updated on my phone."Yes, that's called syncing. And Android devices are horrible syncers when services other than Google should (or need to) be used. That's a clear no-go for corporate and privacy concerned uses.
"Your trying to make out as Nokia Maps is a killer feature which you can download on Android if you wanted anyway."
No you can't. Here Maps on Android and iOS is a incomplete and halfassed solution requiring sign-up.
"The advantages of Live traffic updates far out way using a Sat Nav on offline mode we our living in a ever connected world get with the program."
No, it doesn't. Here Maps has exceptionally good live traffic updates when online. But you're obviously not coming around a lot if you don't see a problem streaming maps around the globe. Roaming charges can be horrific...
"Android is the Windows of the smartphone world. Its more open has lots of hardware, highly configurable in both hardware and software."
Again B.S., there're very few Android devices which work nicely out-of-the-box. Most of the devices are bloatware ridden and thus provide an inferior experience and abysmal battery life and often they're already dead right from the factory as they'll rarely see any updates which is a must due to the terrifying amount of security problems. There're only few exceptions mostly provided by Google itself and manufacturers for Google like Motorola, Samsung and Asus; but thanks to Intel even the custom rom approach is somewhat thwarted in certain price regions...
I've yet to see an Android device providing an enjoyable experience and acceptable battery life without wasting much time with tinkering. My Moto E (2nd gen) became pretty much usable after installing an unofficial CM12.1 ROM and freezing of all Google services -- over 9 days of battery life are more than okay nowadays, previously with (almost stock Android) Motorola software (both Kitkat and Lollipop) the battery was dead after no more than 2,5 days.
I do have plenty of other Android devices at my disposal if you need more input.
WP devices on the other hand do not require any tinkering and yet offer a much better general experience and battery life as well as nice apps without paying through your nose with your personal data.
iPhones do, too, however those are obscenely expensive compared to WP phones without providing any massive benefits worth the markup.
pSupaNova - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
I have an Sony Xperia Z3 Compact & the battery life and out of the box experience are brilliant.I have not had to install a Custom Rom for years, that's for people with too much time on their hands.
if you want dumb phone battery life then why are you buying a Smartphone?
Windows Phone is so trash that you can't even browse the files on the system when you plug it into your PC.
With windows phone its hard to get it talking with your smart TV or NAS.
File Managers are also a joke. I tried windows phone 7 and saw how Microsoft thought they could lock you down like Apple and knew instantly that they would lose to Android.
Android is fine at synching to other services I have use yahoo mail, EverNote & OneNote with no problems also I have my photos from my phone camera and whatsapp automatically sync with both Amazon & Google Photos so I never lose a photo, I think you are spreading lies.
Windows Phone will never catch up to Android because it's has not Got the developers or consumers mindshare and this is coming from some-one with over two decades of professional Windows Development experience.
Windows Tablets on the overhand do have a chance.
jakoh - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
WP7, lol, was terrible. Its like saying i hate android because of android 2.3 (which was still pretty popular a couple of years ago.BTW, there is a files app on WP8.
jakoh - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
If its worth anything "exquisite worldwide offline navigation" is now available on android and IOS, Here Maps.I like to mention that I would switch to Android, if I can select the apps that run in the background (please dont offer killing apps). Also Google on Tap should be offered as something parents would get to put on their childrens phone.
Alexvrb - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
If you lock yourself into somethng that is platform-limited like Hangouts or even worse iStuff that's not MS' fault. Skype and FB Messenger for example run on just about everything. Same with Kindle, Dropbox, most MS services, etc. I tend to avoid services that don't have broad platform support. It's just retarded to say "Oh I can't buy or recommend that phone because I let myself become dependent on some proprietary lockware".lolstebbo - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
"Since this Lumia 640 is locked to Cricket Wireless, I'm unable to also test it on LTE, which is unfortunate."Why would the 640 being locked to Cricket prevent you from testing it on LTE?
Brandon Chester - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Because I'm Canadian.milkod2001 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
MS has less then 5% mobile market share...What will break this curse?
1) another crappy low end phone? - NO
2) high end Samsung / Apple like specs phone with better camera, mSD+rem. battery? - YES
(MS needs to make killer phone people will talk about and think about getting )
3) fixing missing apps -YES
(MS as giant software company can not make the same in house apps as most popular Android / iOS apps? Or just pay developers to make the same apps for Windows Phone? How pathetic is that?)
colguy1 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Don't you think MS has not attempted to do that? Back in 2013 MS created a very beautiful Youtube app. I used it for a week in my Windows Phone. But Google made sure that it was removed from the windows phone store. Well known Windows Phone developer Rudy Huyn created an amazing client app for SnapChat. But when SnapChat removed all 3rd party apps, it removed this app too. This SnapChat app was miles better than the first party apps in iOS and Android. The developer requested many times to work with him to whitelist the app and get it in the Windows Phone store. But no response from the SnapChat. MS created a Pebble app and demoed it to the Pebble guy.. Little bit of google search will tell you what happened next.. It is not just entirely MS fault for the lack of apps.jakoh - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
I can say to for no 3, the new cross compiling feature in windows 10 which will allow Java or Objective C to be compiled for Windows will help.Harry_Wild - Thursday, June 18, 2015 - link
Microsoft needs to get out of the U.S. carrier exclusivity agreement with their high end models. Many people now go with unlock international models that live in the U.S. Total bizarre that Microsoft's home market; they screw the consumer in flavor of the carrier!mockyboy - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I need a new non-contract phone and have been considering an Iphone. I have a Lumia 521 right now and even as a casual phone user it's gotten way too slow.The thing is whether the Iphone is worth the 5x higher price than the 640. I can get the 640 and an Ipad Mini for around 420 and still save $200. And I work from home, so honestly I'm really not a heavy phone user. The 640 seems like it would be fine for everyday needs, and the few apps I want I can get a Ipad Mini for.
StormyParis - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Frankly, I'd get a Moto E or G instead. Here's Anand's Moto E conclusion: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9129/the-moto-e-2015...mockyboy - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I hadn't considered those, thanks. Although for some reason I've been avoiding Android. I have no idea why. Maybe because I heard bad things about their low end phones, but based on that review I guess that's changed.Callum S - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Either that or get a Lumia 640 and Surface 3 with accessories for about the same price as an iPhone by itself. I do however seem to be addicted to OneNote though :-)Understand completely in regards to not being a heavy phone user. It doesn't matter how powerful they get, for actually getting stuff done, there is no comparison to using either a mouse and keyboard or a stylus (for diagrams and notes). Until of course phones are at stage where they can be docked and or properly utilise other input methods like the notebooks and tablets can today.
Wolfpup - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Out of curiosity, what's slow about the 521? It's main limitation is RAM I think, but then that mostly just means it has to load a bit more when switching programs.Of the mobile OSes right now I like iOS best (though obviously I like real Windows far, far better), but I pad $950 for my iPhone and when it broke replaced it with a Lumia 635, and...honestly it's nearly as good, for my use at least. The podcast program actually syncs with iTunes too, and there's nothing on Android that does that for real. (I've seen things CLAIM to, but they don't actually.)
mockyboy - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Once I upgraded to Windows Phone 8.1, it became noticeably slower. Apps crashing, phone freezing, getting the resuming message for 20 seconds or so. And I don't have that much loaded on it.testbug00 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
oh, in that case, a 640 should be fine. The issue you're running into is most likely RAM.testbug00 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Unless you're set on Windows Phone, going with a Moto X 2013 (http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Moto-XT1058-16GB-Un... is probably the best option.Or, if you want/need SD card, get the newest Moto G. Make sure one of the ones with SD card slot, if Moto is still segmenting that.
From WindowsPhoneLand, there isn't anything that technically has a faster SoC that isn't $300+ iirc. At least, not now.
If you don't mind buying used, I would check out swappa.com, everything I've got off there has been great so far. hope it still is.
Harry_Wild - Thursday, June 18, 2015 - link
I have an iPhone 6 and it is super fast and has tons of high quality apps too! I use currently the iPhone 6 and Lumia 735. Both are 4.7". I would recommend the iPhone 6 if you can afford it! But the Lumia 735 is pretty nice at the now low price of $200. I purchase it at $300.jjj - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
It's weird how Metro makes the phones look bulky and crowded, the childish icy iOS rainbows are quite the opposite. Not that M$ should copy that, just the message.They also need to dump this kind of back shell. Nokia, iphone 5c, Xiaomi Redmi and many others turned this kind of shell into the definition of cheap and the way they implement it makes the phones bulkier too.
As for this device ,too bad for the SoC , guess for a startup like Microsoft it's normal to not have the resources to make it's software run on A53.
StormyParis - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
that kind of back shell does make an additional case 'which 75% of smartphone users add) unnecessary. I think the Nokia should be compared to case-equipped iPhone et al, and then the bulk issue goes the other way. I'm not a Nokia customer, but I'd love to have a similar design on my Androids.Callum S - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Completely agree here. It's always been a massive benefit. They're normally thinner than even the most expensive phones with a case, that makes them feel cheap and fat anyway, or much better value and safer than using an alternative phone without one.Additionally, as someone who has very rarely used phone cases, I have always found phones with easily replaceable cases beneficial for both appearance when I have dropped and damage them (no walking around with cracked phone cases or backs like so many people with iPhones) and for when I want to pass them down to other family members. After a fresh install and a new $15 back shell it's essentially like a new phone for those who aren't too concerned.
damianrobertjones - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Not bad at all really especially for people that don't care or ever need something faster.GlobeGadget - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
My first smartphone was Nokia Lumia 800, it was a pretty great phone but it wasn't as great as the 3310 when it met the pavement... :(gwydionjhr - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
For the kind of user that is buying a $129 smartphone I think Microsoft has put it's priorities in the right place, a good camera and a screen that is readable in all conditions are things that any user will appreciate. I've helped dozens and dozens of normal users with all types of smartphones and I can only shake my head at the number of people paying $70mth to use a $700+ plus device that they only use for texting, email, FB and phone calls.cjs150 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
This is a cheap phone.It lasts most of a day between charges (not really good enough). It has a decent camera, decent display and presumably syncs really well with MS Outlook (if not what are MS doing!).
Is it slow - yes
Will it run the very latest apps - no.
Is it good enough for 90% of market aged more than 25 - yes. Ultimately on a tech website we forget that most people do not need most of the features. Checking emails, using maps/navigation and the ability to check social media is good enough
Very tempted - but for the battery life
MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
And for all the bagging people are doing on MS for pushing out cheap phones, the strategy has really helped MS gain share outside of US/Europe. India, with its billions of people, might actually be a market to get into, no?Sure, we want premium phones here, but the 1520 and 930 are by no means junk, even this long past launch.
That said, it's a shame WP coverage at Anandtech is so thin. Never reviewed the 1020. Never reviewed the 1520. But hey, let's review the cheap MS phones and then make conclusions about the ecosystem. It's been the problem MS has had all along--solid efforts and unique offerings are essentially shunned by the community. We need more than Apple and Google in this space.
AEGorenberg - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I have this phone (changed from Note 2 on Sprint) and get an astonishing 2.5 to 3 days on a charge -- with light to moderate use. Also, no dropped calls in the 2 weeks I have owned it. For $129, it works great and I don't even worry about scratches on the case or having to protect it. The main drawback is that the Windows Phone iteration of popular apps are terrible (like Words with Friends).tdrroc - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I second this comment... I have a 635 - predecessor to this phone - and I can go multiple days without charging. I use GPS for directions and exercise, wifi and LTE antennae for streaming and web access. When I compare my battery life for WP with what I experienced with Android (on a Nexus 4 even)...it's no comparison. WP blows it out of the water. I have a charging cable I bought for my car...never use it.leexgx - Friday, June 12, 2015 - link
i do find windows and blackberry phones Very reliable for LTE and calls (GSM phone)blackberry Q10 i got here if it gets a wiff of 4G (real 4G>LTE for USA peeps) it will use it until it gets to low then drops to 3G (where as android phones just drop when signal is at 20-30% still)
quite sure the windows phone does the same thing it fast changes to LTE if available (but on EE UK 4G is bit Iffy at work and makes phone calls bugger up when you answer the phone, this is network issue not the phone, so tend to leave that phone on 3G max speed)
compared to the android phones i got its like i got New 4G masts installed in my area,, same network in an android phone i have to set it to 3g and back to 3g/4G or airplane mode or wait about 1-3 mines for it to maybe decide to use 4G (if i am on a motorway 4G is unlikely on android phone, but on windows phone or Blackberry very likely)
Arbie - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
"All the other specifications are fairly typical for a phone of this price. 8GB of NAND, 1GB of RAM, and 2.4GHz 802.11n WiFi are all you get at this price."NO! You are also getting microSD!! That means you can install huge amounts of storage and swap content in and out any time. With the good 5" display this thing has even movies will be quite watchable. I have the smaller Lumia 520 and love it for these reasons. And I won't buy a phone without microSD. So I really wonder why you don't even mention it. This is a lot more important than where the logo is printed, don'tcha think?
der - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Hi im hereDrumsticks - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I had a lumia 928 for almost two years that I honestly loved. I was never really wanting for anything. I had to get an iPhone 5 for about six months that I honestly wasn't very impressed with.I'm on a lollipop phone now though, and I can definitely tell the difference. Windows phone seems to go through booms and busts of parity. When 8.1 launched, it drew them nearly to feature parity with android or iOS of the day. Fast forward two years of mostly stagnant upgrades, and they're in a bad spot once again. Hopefully Microsoft will get it right some day, but until then I'll be happy to use their services on android
mercblue281 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
In fairness to windows phone and the lumia 640 - it would be nice if the comparison charts listed the phone price. And more appropriate comparable phones.Owning a 928, 635 and 822 - they do everything newer phones can do. Yes my wife's Icon is a magnificent piece of speedy hardware - however the 640 and other phones shouldn't be frowned upon based on their chipsets and gpu. Windows phone really does perform great on low end hardware.
I think a more intriguing comparison would be the 640 vs the 735 (yes its in MOST of the charts) but also the 920, 820, 635 and 520.
people silly enough to pay $700 for an iPhone or $600 for a galaxy simply don't care that you can accomplish 95% of the same tasks with a $130 Lumia.
testbug00 - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Just one FYI, Glance has multiple modes, including "peek" where it only activates when it detects something moving over it (or leaving a space where it always is 'sensing' something (IE, a pocket)And, yeah. Windows Phone uses a lot of battery life to have Wifi on. Dunno why. Even without any MS account on it and no non-native apps it still eats 2-2.5% of battery on 920. Haven't tested on other WP devices.
BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Nice phone for a good price, but it's positively huge with a 5 inch screen. Its disappointing that it's impossible to find a phone with decent specifications and a 3.5 inch screen. I can't imagine carrying this or any other phone that big around. I'd be tempted to tape a stick to it and use it as an oar.kyuu - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
As someone whose smartphone history is iPhone 4, Lumia 920, and now Lumia 1520, I can tell you that once you've used a bigger smartphone (1520 has a 6" screen), you cannot go back to the small ones. They feel like toys and browsing the internet or watching videos on them is intolerable.Daniel Egger - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Get a 735 then. It's a very nice piece and noticeably smaller than the 640 plus it has an AMOLED display. It's a bit larger than my 820 which for me has about the perfect screen size but it's thinner and much lighter (especially since it has Qi built-in rather than needing a special cover which adds additional bulk and weight).MrSpadge - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Consider the Lumia 435 then. Internally it's not much different from the 640 if you can live with a few compromises.paulheu - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
Google does not just not make any apps for Windows Phone, it actively blocks anyone else from doing the same if at all possible. Hopefully with Windows 10 this will change due to the very nature of that OS . We'll see..The remarks on Glance probably come from not having the extension app loaded which allows for backgrounds and more options.
Brandon Chester - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
The Glance Screen app doesn't show up in the store for all Windows Phones, Lumia 640 included. If you look at the list of Microsoft apps when browsing the store on the phone it's just not even there.MATHEOS - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
You definitely should have rating system!atata - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I've had this phone for several months and it feels great after Lumia 525. I certainly don't see the battery drain mentioned in this review, but I don't use most of fancy mobile apps aside from Viber.lilmoe - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
"Microsoft's scroll speed cap also makes the entire operating system feel slow"This issue is so underrated, and I believe (even with your criticism) that you were very diplomatic in your complaint. This is BY FAR my biggest issue with Windows Phone and I've nagged Microsoft so many times on uservoice and the feedback app about the speed of scrolling and inertia settings (speed and feel of the "flick"). Not only does it feel slow, it's also not even close to being natural.
iOS is slower than my liking too, but it feels more natural in a sense. I believe Samsung got the speed and the "flick" right with their devices, and Android followed after JellyBean. Microsoft needs to blatantly copy Android in that department, and screw what people say.
GlynG - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
Agreed. I've recently got a 640, my first windows phone, and the scroll speed is slow. Why can't they have an option to adjust it as the user wishes? First thing I do on getting a new computer is to adjust the scroll stopped to max and I'd do the same here if I could.Margalus - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
this scroll speed issue is not an issue with windows phone, it's an issue with the specific phone. My HTC One M8 scrolls just as fast as android, or as slow. Depending on you swipe or flick.Michael Bay - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I wish more WP phones had sensorcore thing. My 730`s pedometer is really quite handy.cheshirster - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
640 has it630 too
BMNify - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
The Matte Black Lumia 640 looks and feels much better.MrSpadge - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
About the camera app: Brandon, if you change either ISO or shutter speed the software is adjusting the other one to get you a picture as good as it can. If you want to over- or underexpose the image, there's a separate setting for that.Honestly I don't know why anyone short of a professional photographer with a huge DSLR in a special situation would want to set ISO and shutter speed manually and try endless times to get just the right exposure. A live preview of the real captured image would help with that, but on a mobile screen outdoors that preview may not be very representative of how it looks like on a normal computer screen anyway.
Brandon Chester - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
If you adjust both the preview doesn't change. The manual mode is poorly designed.MrSpadge - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
I know, that's what you said in the article. However, my point was that one should use the exposure adjustment, optionally together with either ISO or shutter speed. This takes better care of pretty much anything you could want from manually changing ISO and shutter speed. Except for images which are pretty much only black or only white.. but those could be better produced with Photoshop than a camera.tanyet - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Hardly. The manual mode is one of the best things about Lumia's and get copied often. You're not really seeing a good representation of the image until you get it on a pc anyway.bman212121 - Saturday, June 13, 2015 - link
Actually it's a PEBKAC issue. The manual mode is identical to that of an SLR. There is no "preview" in view finder because it's not really possible to preview what adjustments the shutter speed has on an image in real time. Using 100 iso with 1/20 of a shutter speed vs 800 iso with 1/160 shutter will give the same exposure but provide much different images especially if you have a moving subject. I suspect all you are looking for is a way to tell if the exposure is correct or not. On an SLR there is usually a grid in the bottom of the OVF with +- 3 stops and a little arrow that will tell you if you are over or under exposed. This is represented by the EV (labeled brightness) number in the upper right corner. As MrSpadge said you can simply look at that number and use it to determine the correct exposure which is most cases it should read 0. That should be a much more precise value than trying to eyeball the brightness from a pseudo preview on screen.tuxRoller - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Does anyone know why wp is so, relatively, inefficient?I'd been told that wp was going to offer so much better battery life than android b/c it didn't require a vm:)
MrSpadge - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
In the test the glance screen with the LCD being always on probably killed idle battery life. The load results seem fine, but could certainly use a boost from a faster browser.Margalus - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
I just switched to Window Phone, with a better phone and same size battery as my Android. The Windows phone batter lasts 5-8 times longer than the Android phone...Voldenuit - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
"Windows Phone isn’t going anywhere"Ironic double entendre is ironic.
Margalus - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
I just made the switch to a Windows phone 8.1 about a month ago. I bought the HTC One M8. Here is a tidbit of my opinion.One issue I have with this review is the scrolling speed on Windows. It must be specific to the this phone that is being reviewed here, not specific to Windows as the reviewer says. On my HTC One M8 Windows 8.1 I can scroll slow or fast. A gentle push and the screen scrolls slowly, a fast flick of the fingertip and the phone will scroll almost instantly to the bottom, too fast to see anything, just like my Android.
Going with the HTC One M8 and Windows was the best move I've ever made. The phone experience on Windows is so much better than Android (coming from an Galaxy S4) it's ridiculous. Everything is so much faster and smoother it's unbelievable. And I no longer have that stupid Android bug that would eat up the phones battery in 4 hours on occasion. On The best day with the S4 I could go about 24 hours before charging, on a high usage day, it would be dead by the afternoon and on a portable battery. When the bug hit, 4 hours or so and it was dead. This HTC One M8 with Windows will easily last 4 days with even heavier usage. I've just gotten into the habit of charging it on Mondays and Fridays, with no fear at all of running out of power, and that is with the battery saver feature disabled.. It's crazy how much better it is.
The phone app connects instantly, no delays like on my Android where I would hit a contact and sometimes wait 5 seconds for the phone to connect and dial.
It is missing a few apps I used on Android, and that is very disappointing. But the overall phone experience is so much better it's worth giving up a couple of those apps.
BabelHuber - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
Sorry, but what you are stating here is quite fishy:I have a Samsung Galaxy S4, under heavy use I get about 4h of screen on time. For light use, it can easily last 3 or even 4 days - the battery drains about 0.9% per hour if in deep sleep (albeit with an AOSP ROM, not the bloated Samsung original)
When a phone drains battery like there is no tomorrow, usually some app prevents the deep sleep of the phone. There are tools like GSAM Battery Monitor and Better Battery Stats in the Play Store to analyze this.
But lots of users prefer blaming Android instead of having a look at all the crap they have installed on their device, it is so much easier.
Also, your claim that the phone held only 4h on standbye really looks strange: To suck up the battery so fast, the load on the SoC would need to be incredibly high - such a phone would be _VERY_ warm - in fact so warm that you having a phone call would be displeasing!
As a matter of fact, the SGS4 holds quite long under some load if the screen is off - when I use WIFI tehering with the screen off, the battery consumption is about 10% per hour.
So if I assume that you posted true numbers (and not just some MS-propaganda), you either have bloated your phone with tons of crap software or your battery was broken.
Zizy - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
Bugs happen. That same bug he describes happened several times to my wife on Android and to me on WP.If you have phone in your pocked you usually notice this because the phone gets warm. If the phone lies on the table, you don't notice it until you pick the phone and see 0 battery left.
BabelHuber - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
You are correct, this also has happened to me once, albeit not so severe (the phone had ~5% per hour battery usage on standby or so)But instead of throwing a tantrum and blaming Android, I installed GSAM Battery Monitor Plus, found the App which caused the wakelocks and deinstalled it.
Alternatively, it is also possible to install a wakelock blocker. Then you don't have to deinstall the app, you just block its wakelocks.
Margalus - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
I didn't throw a tantrum, the tantrums are being thrown by people who apparently don't want anybody to criticize android. I'm sorry to say, android is not perfect.Margalus - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
You are the first person I have ever heard say that they could more than 24 hours with a galaxy s4, or any galaxy. That's why had the replaceable battery...BabelHuber - Friday, June 12, 2015 - link
It depends on the software you use - nobody forces you to use the software the phone shipped with. For teh SGS4, I prefer AOSP-based ROMs or GPE-versions.Margalus - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
oh, and I am not ms propaganda. The phone wasn't bloated. Brand new out of the store with no apps it wouldn't last more than a day. The person at the store even told me that I would have to charge it every day. I also bought a replacement battery to use since it died so fast, that replacement battery works exactly the same as the stock battery. Barely 24 hours.BabelHuber - Friday, June 12, 2015 - link
You claimed your WP-phone lasts 5-8 times longer than your Android phone, didn't you? Perhaps this was slightly exagerated?But be it as it may, when I have battery problems I actually tend to install a tool to analyze things. Then I can deinstall or freeze the app which causes the problem or block its wakelocks. Problem solved.
Some other people may prefer to whine because of their low battery runtime instead, to each its own.
leexgx - Friday, June 12, 2015 - link
most avg for battery life is a Nearly a working day for most smartphones (8-12 hours)(if you turn off mobile data 3 days is easy maybe even 5 if you can get your phone to use 2G only) and Most people do not AOSP ROM there phone
we - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
Two things I cannot confirm (using a fully updated HTC 8X). 1. Action center always flows smoothly. Never had any stuttering or freezing. 2. Generally Scrolling speed is proportional to swipe speed. I can scroll from top to bottom of the "Windows Phone" page of this review within 5 seconds if I swipe quickly, or 15 seconds if I swipe slowly. Top scrolling speed could be faster though.Zizy - Thursday, June 11, 2015 - link
Currently using lowly HTC 8s which was the worst WP8 phone till 435, no issues with action center - no delay or freeze. It has somewhat strange/unexpected opening, because it can be fully opened or just enough to play with those 4 buttons and or go in settings. I never had enough unattended notifications to be able to test scrolling there.Camera - This isn't a proper camera with viewfinder or at least tiltable display. Ever tried underexposing something under bright sun? You wouldn't be able to see anything on the screen. But it would be good to have some notification to tell how many stops below the preview the image is going to end. If you are serious enough about manual stuff this should be enough to know how will the image turn out :)
As for idle battery drain - try activating battery saver and see the power draw then, plus check which apps drain the battery. If it is the same, probably screen, something failed to close / is intentionally running in the background or some other hardware/software bug. Shouldn't happen but does. Manually closing apps usually resolves the problem.
If battery saver does help, play with sync settings for mail and similar. For me, syncing mails as they arrive instead of manually every now and then drops battery life from 3-4 days to 1-2 (light use - no demanding games). If you get tons of mail it will be even worse.
Harry_Wild - Monday, June 15, 2015 - link
I just purchased an international version of the 735 and I love it for $300. It is unlocked. I purchased a cyan battery cover too. It feels like a iPhone 6 with a case on it! Same thinnest! The 400 is slow in some operations; but overall it pretty good overall. I switch to the iPhone 6 and back from day to day since they use the same nano SIMs card inside. My iPhone cost $900 so performance is quite a bit faster on everything. But still I like the change of environments. The WP does not have all the apps that I use so most case I pin the webpage and create an icon tile as a substitute. It works for a lot of Apple apps except for Apple Pay and Starbuck's Pay.SirPerro - Monday, June 15, 2015 - link
I'm just amazed at how people can deny the reality in front of them.This phone has a better camera/screen than a Moto E and it is MUCH worse in every other regard. The app selection and quality of the apps is orders of magnitude worse. The web browsing experience is laughable. The overal OS experience and fluidity is worse, no matter how much iOS/WP fanboys keep repeting stupidities about android performance.
The only reason Windows Phone is alive is because Microsoft has a HUGE pile of cash they can burn if they want to stay in the game, and I seriously pity everybody who puts they hard earned money in such a shitty and undeveloped ecosystem.
Even with the screen and camera, I find no single person in the planet to which I'd reccomend this phone over a Moto E. And while I'm probably much less polite, the bottom line of the review is Brandon & Anandtech agree with that.
Zizy - Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - link
Quick check whether you need Android/iOS ecosystem:Need an app not on WP? Don't get WP.
Really want anything social (games or apps)? Don't get WP.
Completely tied to Google/Apple? Don't get WP. Note that plenty think they are tied to google but only really need their search, mail and youtube and could easily ditch the rest.
Not found yourself up there? You will bitch about WP... but you will bitch about Android and iOS as well :)
---
Want better hardware? Go with Lumia. Software? Moto E.
Would I buy Lumia 640 though? Heck no. I have a WP dev phone already, don't need another. As a primary phone, this one still has too poor camera for my wishes. Lumia 830 is much more tempting, but costs quite a bit more.
BaronMatrix - Monday, June 15, 2015 - link
MS is so pissing me off... First they destroy how I use my desktop, now since they bought Nokia NOT ONE NEW PHONE HAS COME OUT...You can't get the 640 anywhere... T-Mobile has it coming soon for MONTHS... And no 640XL even mentioned... Even the MS Store doesn't mention the 640...
I'm through with Windows Phone... I'll keep one for DEV, but I'm getting an Android phone... I'd rather be able to get all the cool apps that don't come on Windows Phone...
BestUsernameEver - Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - link
Brandon notes that the key app gap, for him, is the absence of Google services. I would agree that certain Google services, the biggies (map and search), are missed on WP. Sadly, that is by a very deliberate design on the part of Google (admirably noted in the review), which is actively avoiding any of its services ever making an appearance on WP (note the saga related to MS's own YouTube app for WP). This may change, and change quickly, if WP gains a user base north of 100 million users (they are not far away from this milestone now, in fact).However, I'm curious as to why he was so dismissive of the "alternatives," where they exist; in particular, OneDrive for Google Drive, and Skype for Hangouts. The MS alternatives are superior to Google's offerings here, and, unlike Google's versions, available on all platforms.
Also, why bemoan the fact that the official Twitter app is not as good as it is on iOS and Android, when the third party Tweetium app is clearly a superior app for Twitter over the "official" version on WP?
proheart - Tuesday, June 23, 2015 - link
overall a thorough review- but what's the point of it? as long as the "app gap" is present (always will be with windows phones), there's just no reason to get one of these phones for anyone in any financial bracket.i had the nokia lumia 1020 for a few months ( the allure of a 41 MP camera intrigued me) however i came to the same conclusion as the reviewer that that apps just are not there, or for some of the popular ones that are, there is limited functionality and virtually no updates. windows app store no longer has the chase bank mobile app or it's no longer supported officially by chase.
some folks are saying that with windows 10 things are going to change and it will be easier for developers to port apps to windows. i'm not buying it- they said the same thing with windows mobile 8 then 8.1 and it didn' t pan out.
why would any developer cater to a market that has less than 3 % of the market share with no viable growth in sight? microsoft and windows mobile is and always will be a niche market and a very small niche at that.
dustwalker13 - Sunday, July 5, 2015 - link
actually it is growing. thing is it takes ages to get even from tiny to small. by the way market share in europe is around 10% not 3% and that market is way bigger than the us in terms of volume. android is loosing over there.the app gap is always stated and repels people as an argument which is odd seeing that research has shown that most users actually download less than one app a month on average and the overwhelming majority only uses standard apps that actually are available on all systems (like facebook, whatsapp, telegram, instagram, etc).
the real issue is 75% marketing 24% what the guy in the pub says and 1% actual problem with app availability for most people. the difference between the us and europe seems to be in europe the customers have realized this fact.
as for app development, the prospect to use microsofts new dev tools and crank out an app for all three platforms in one go with minimal adaptation, or import my android / ios app and create a unified windows store app for all windows devices with minimal effort ... hell yes this will work for me. the windows phone market is tiny ... but the pc/tablet windows market is not and if i can potentially just revamp my app in a few hours there, it basically is free money for me.
windows phone 8.1 was useless ... develop a new app for a tiny market? not gonna happen. reencode my existing app for the windows store or even creating one new app and exporting it easily to all platforms? no brainer.
rburnham - Friday, June 26, 2015 - link
If Amazon's Music app was released for WP, I'd go back to it in a heartbeat.dustwalker13 - Sunday, July 5, 2015 - link
A nice article just a bit of critizism here...If you are completely set to use googles apps there is only one system that makes sense for you anyway and that is android. Lamenting missing google apps on windows phone is like ranting about not having an itunes or facetime app on your samsung galaxy.
The battery life is something I was surprised about. We use 640s for our sales guys. They get through the day withput issues while working and those people are not light on battery life. We had constant complaints back when we used android based htc models.
Finally as for feeling slow, the only time I feel the system is slow is when loading up apps, which is to be expected on those old snapdragon 400. In the system itself, the settings etc. it feels smooth and more responsive than any android at the same price point I have tested, but that is just my subjective experience like you have yours.
As for the browser, that one definitely needs work, though I think this issue will disappear with wp10 and edge in a few months. Anyway browsing on a mobile is a pain in all cases in my opinion.
In the end, while the review tries to be comprehensive I think it is rather useless to have someone judge a system who is - through his app and cloud storage history - firmly set on using another system anyway.
Someone who uses icloud and apple services for any and everything will not find android all that appealing. You use google services extensively and preclude the possibility to switch to another environment ... windows phone is just not for you.
OoklaTheMok - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - link
I think you are wrong regarding how the Action Center should be displayed. In it's current form, the user can pull it down only a small amount to expose the Commands. In it's current form, I can pull it down an inch and expose the command I need to use at the moment, and I don't lose context of where I am. If it was implemented as you stated it should, I wouldn't be able to access the commands until the Action Center was completely opened.Smiles5525 - Thursday, August 20, 2015 - link
We own or ownerd Lumia 540, 635, 825, 925 and 640. One item you left out of your review is the new security feature that only the 640 currently has. They have this feature hidden under "Find My Phone" and is callled Recovery Protection/recovery key. No where in manual that came with phone from T-Mobile does it list this feature. I believe the feature mat have been listed during setup. When this feature is turned on, your phone cannot be restored or the ability to change/add a different Microsoft id. Preventing someone from stealing the phone and being able to reuse it. You have to make sure you register the phone on the Windows website so you can obtain a recovery code and don't' lose it, before something happens.The only problem with this is.....if your Microsoft account is ever hacked like my son's xbox account was over a month ago, Microsoft gave him a temporary id to use for 30 days and locked up the id that was hacked; which of course is the id registered on the phone. Once they locked up the hacked account, you are not able to turn off the recovery feature so you can put a new Microsoft id on the phone. Then when you call Microsoft lumia, or Windows phone, they tell you how to restore the phone so you can put a new Microsoft id back on the phone. However, once the phone restarts it gets locked on the recovery key request because your recovery key does not work because Microsft reported that I'd hacked. You cannot even access anything saved in the cloud, pictures, phone backups...nothing. The problem......no one at Microsoft even knows how to fix this, they don't even know about their own security feature. I've spent 40+ hours on the phone with numerous departments, filled out a million forms and finally 30 days later, this issue was escalated to much higher departments with no resolve. My son's 3 week old phone is rendered useless and Microsoft cannot unlock the phone, nor will they replace it. I am stuck paying for a phone that was used 3 weeks. Microsoft locked up the phone and all they can do is say...sorry, nothing we can do. Microsoft has the poorest customer support structure and won't take responsibility for their short comings. I used to love Windows phones....I'll never buy another!
sany666 - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
this is one of the best under 10000 smartphone. my full hands on review i've posted on http://sandeepyc.blogspot.com/2015/11/lumia640revi... if your interested in detailed review, sample pics also i've posted in this as i cant upload pics here.AMT03 - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
I would like to ask: Is there any charging time limit for the Lumia 640 / Lumia 640 dual sim variant? Is there any way to prevent overcharging the battery? Also, how can I read / interpret the charging time / charging duration graphic? 0.6 means? 1.2 means? I dont know how to read the graphic made to show the charging time required to normally charge the phone from 0 to 100 %. Does overcharging the battery 1 to 2 hours affect the battery severely? Please reply and thank you.AMT03 - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
I have a Dual Sim Lumia 640, if you could provide me the information based on this model it would be even better. Is there any charging time difference between the single sim and the dual sim variant? The user manual does not show any charging time information. Thank you.