NFC Expert Specifications Microsoft Lumia 640 3G Dual SIM
- Screen: TFT IPS, 5”, 1280×720, 294 ppi, capacitive, multi-touch
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core, 1.2 GHz
- Graphics accelerator: Qualcomm Adreno 305
- Operating system: Windows Phone 8.1
- RAM: 1 GB
- Built-in memory: 8 GB
- Memory card support: microSDXC up to 128 GB
- Communication: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz || UMTS: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
- SIM: microSIM microSIM, Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS)
- Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio
- Navigation: GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
- Cameras: main – 8 MP (flash, autofocus), front – 1 MP
- Sensors: proximity, light, accelerometer, digital compass
- Battery: 2500 mAh, removable
- Dimensions: 141.3×72.2×8.8 mm
- Weight: 145 grams
Appearance
The body of the Microsoft Lumia 640 is entirely made of plastic. In our case, it is blue and glossy, and models in white, orange and black are also on sale. Moreover, if the white and orange smartphones, like the blue one, use a glossy finish, the black version of the device has a matte cover.
There are practically no fingerprints on such a surface. On light cases, like the blue one that came to us for testing, prints, of course, are visible at a certain angle, but they are completely invisible in everyday use. However, other characteristic gloss problems of the Lumia 640 could not be avoided – the gadget slips in the hands, and the plastic itself is a little “rubbed” when used.
Above the display is the front camera, light and proximity sensors, earpiece, as well as the Microsoft logo, which is still unusual for Lumia smartphones. At the very bottom, under the display, there is a small slot for a microphone.
The main camera lens and LED flash are located on the top of the rear panel.
A small round hole, under which the main speaker is hidden, is at the bottom.
The back cover is removable, and it completely covers the sides of the smartphone. This means that if you buy a smartphone in one color, you can later order several replacement covers in different colors and enjoy a variety of colors. Under the panel itself are a removable battery, two micro-SIM SIM card slots and a microSD memory card slot.
The left side of the Lumia 640 does not contain any elements, while the right side is occupied by the power button and the volume rocker.
A 3.5 mm audio jack and micro-USB are placed on the top and bottom ends, respectively.
Ergonomics
Due to its not the smallest weight and high-quality assembly, Microsoft Lumia 640 feels quite a serious device in the hand. Of course, the use of glossy plastic is a rather controversial decision, but someone will surely like it, and for the rest there is a business black version with a matte finish. There are no complaints about ergonomics to the device: the buttons are located in convenient places, and the frames on the sides of the display are not too wide, so the smartphone can be easily operated with one hand.
Screen
Despite the fact that Lumia 640 Dual is a device of the budget segment, the display quality turned out to be on top: a five-inch TFT IPS matrix with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels (HD), made using ClearBlack technology. The latter allows you to display black on the screen, which is not inferior in quality to black on AMOLED displays, while on cheaper IPS matrices it looks more like dark gray.
The screen has excellent contrast, saturation and color reproduction, but if for some reason you are not satisfied with one of the parameters, they can be adjusted manually in a special settings section.
The user is prompted to either select one of the preset color profiles, or select the value of color temperature, hue and saturation.
Another feature of the smartphone display is the Glance screen function. If it is enabled, the clock and notification icons will be displayed on the device display when it is locked. Of course, this consumes battery power, but during testing Glance screen was turned on in the “15 minutes of clock display after blocking” mode, and the battery life was still decent. Another “chip” is the ability to unlock the smartphone with two taps anywhere on the screen off.
Other display characteristics are also excellent: the field of view is almost 180 degrees, the oleophobic coating does not allow the glass to be quickly covered with prints, and the light sensor correctly adjusts the screen backlight level to external conditions. The only negative is that the maximum brightness of the backlight could be more
Interface
As you know, all devices running Windows Phone have approximately the same interface, but Lumia smartphones have always been easily recognizable by a large number of useful pre-installed applications.
Microsoft Lumia 640 is no exception in this regard: out of the box, the smartphone comes with a number of proprietary Lumia programs, mainly related to photography, as well as Here navigation programs and several third-party applications.
Let’s start with an app called Lumia Photo Studio. It is intended for post-processing of images. The program’s arsenal includes many filters, as well as tools such as cropping, adjusting color saturation levels, shadows, highlights, sharpness and color temperature, as well as red-eye removal, color accent (removing all colors from a photo, except for one selected, or except for certain areas).
In a word, there are plenty of functions here, and for amateur photo processing before uploading to social networks, Lumia Photo Studio is the best fit. If you don’t feel like fiddling with the sliders when adjusting image settings, you can trust the automatic enhancement mechanism, which does a good job with most photos.
Another branded program on the Lumia 640 is called Lumia Stories. The application allows you to combine individual photos into albums, and then view them as an animated slide show, as well as see on the map the places where specific pictures were taken.
Two navigation applications developed by Nokia deserve special attention: HERE Maps and HERE Drive. Like any other navigation program, HERE Maps supports the display of a map in the form of a diagram and in the form of “satellite” images, can build routes and show traffic jams. A nice bonus in the application will be the ability to download maps of any regions for free, including Russia, for subsequent offline use.
HERE Drive is a more specific application designed for use in the car (for which all controls in it are made large), which allows you to create your own routes, adding them to the main screen for quick navigation.
The list of pre-installed third-party applications includes Yandex search, Yandex. Music, LitRes reader and MixRadio online radio. Interestingly, a short press on the search button in the navigation bar opens the aforementioned Yandex search with support for voice input, and if you hold your finger on the button, then your own Windows Phone handler, in which you can launch programs and perform other actions with your voice.
The smartphone model that came to our review can work with two SIM-cards at the same time. Like most modern devices, in alternating (DSDS) mode.
Working with two SIM-cards is implemented in a standard way for Windows Phone. Initially, there are two dialer and message tiles on the desktop, each for its own SIM card, but, if desired, they can be combined into one – and select the SIM card manually when making a call or sending an SMS. You can access the Internet from the device via GPRS, EDGE and 3G cellular networks.
The wireless networks supported by the smartphone are Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz band) and Bluetooth 4.0. The operation of the modules does not raise any complaints: data is transmitted at an acceptable speed, there are no random breaks or signal losses.
Microsoft Lumia 640 supports GPS, GLONASS and Beidou navigation systems. Thanks to this, a “cold” start takes only 20 seconds on the device in the open air, and a “hot” one occurs almost instantly.
Device in operation
Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual received a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset. The Qualcomm MSM8926 model installed in the smartphone is based on four ARM Cortex-A7 cores with a clock speed of 1.2 GHz and a Qualcomm Adreno 305 graphics accelerator.
At first glance, this is not a very powerful filling, but Windows Phone and its applications are not very demanding on resources, so the smartphone copes with the vast majority of everyday tasks.
The Nokia Lumia 640 smartphone is equipped with a removable 2500 mAh lithium-ion battery. This is quite enough volume for a device with a five-inch HD display and a Snapdragon 400 processor: Lumia 640 is able to work for two days at an average load (surfing for about an hour a day, making calls, running various programs, listening to music on headphones), and with a more active load it is guaranteed live until the end of the working day.
Under continuous loads, the device showed the expected, quite good results: about 6.3 hours of battery life when playing video at full brightness in flight mode and a little less than 6 hours in “heavy” games at medium brightness.
Camera
In the line of Lumia smartphones, including even budget devices, special attention has always been paid to the capabilities of the built-in camera. At first glance, the main camera of the Microsoft Lumia 640 is not too different from the sensors in other inexpensive devices: 8 MP matrix resolution, f / 2.2 aperture, sensor size – 1/4 ”. It’s hard to say what the secret is, but the quality of the photos exceeded all expectations.
Pictures on the Lumia 640 under any conditions are clear and juicy, with the correct color reproduction and white balance. Autofocus works quickly, the flash really improves the pictures, and does not spoil them, as is often the case. It cannot be said that the camera works wonders: at night and in low light, the photos begin to “make noise”, but even in such conditions the image is not blurred, and then you can show the pictures to your friends without shame. The device also coped with video shooting perfectly well: the videos are smooth and with good detail.
You can use the Lumia Camera app to take pictures on your smartphone. It starts up in less than a second and has a lot more functionality than the standard Windows Phone camera. The program has convenient manual adjustment of parameters such as ISO, exposure, shutter speed, focus and white balance.
And you can change them without opening the menu, without interrupting the shooting process. Another surprise awaits amateur photographers in the Lumia Camera settings – the possibility of automatic exposure bracketing with a maximum difference of six steps. But the more familiar features for a simple user – for example, shooting HDR or panoramas – are unfortunately not available in the application. To take pictures in these modes, you will have to download additional applications from the Store.
Lumia 640 front camera has a resolution of only 0.9MP. Its quality will be quite enough for some, for example, for taking selfies for social networks, but here the lack of detail is very noticeable. To smooth it out, Microsoft offers a separate portrait app. A program called “Lumia Selfie” (for some reason, just like that, through the letter “e”) allows you to immediately crop the resulting image, improve various face parameters and apply a color filter, and then save the processed image.
Outdoor daytime shooting. Daytime shooting outdoors.
Night shooting outdoors.
Shoot indoors under artificial lighting. Shooting indoors under artificial lighting.
Close-up shots indoors without flash. Close-up indoor shot with flash.
Outdoor close-up without flash.
Shoot text without flash.
Shooting with the front camera.
Daytime video example.
Results
at a price of 10,000 rubles, this device received, although not top-end, but high-quality and correctly selected filling, a good camera for the budget segment, the ability to run modern games and support for simultaneous operation with two SIM-cards. Microsoft Lumia 640 3G Dual SIM turned out to be an inexpensive and versatile smartphone with maximum features for its price.
Pros:
- a rich set of pre-installed survey and navigation software;
- good pictures on the built-in camera;
- Dual SIM support.
We thank N-store for providing the device for review.
Lyricist: Vladimir Terekhov