Microsoft Lumia 640 XL is the latest and one of the most popular Microsoft device available in the market right now. Thanks to the size, features and a very attractive price tag. I was trying my hands on this device since last few weeks and I have also posted lots of hands-on videos of Lumia 640 XL on our YouTube channel already.
And now here is the detailed hands-on review of Lumia 640 XL for all readers of Geeky Stuffs. This review of Microsoft Lumia 640 XL is divided into various sections , covering the pros and cons of each aspect of Lumia 640 XL.
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL comes in the signature retail box of the Lumia series. The content inside the retail box you will find are the Lumia 640 XL smartphone, a battery, charger and the user manual. There is no USB cable and headset or earphones provided in the retail box of Lumia 640 XL , so either you will have to buy a new pair of nice headphones or use an old one.
You can watch the Lumia 640 XL unboxing video below.
Lumia 640 XL comes with a beautiful Lumia design along with a perfect phablet size. The whole device body consists of plastic and polycarbonate but it still looks pretty beautiful. On the front side, there is the 5.7 inch screen protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 3, 5 MP front facing camera for video calling and taking selfies, a set of sensors and three navigational keys.
All of physical keys are given on the same side and there is no dedicated camera key in Lumia 640 XL. On the back side, there is 13 MP primary camera. Right above the camera, there is flash and below it is the Zeiss branding. Loudspeaker is given right next to the camera and in the center, you will find the Microsoft branding, 3.5mm audio jack is at top and USB cable slot is at bottom.
The back panel is removable and designed in such a way that you can easily swap it with other back panels giving your device a complete new look. Lumia 640 XL is available in different color backpanels - Matte cyan, Orange, Black, Matte white and Glossy white. The polycarbonate back panel is of good quality and feel nice in hands. Even though the device is really big in size, the overall weighs just 171g and it is very easy to handle the device. The build quality of Lumia 640 XL is also very nice and sturdy. We performed a bend test on our Lumia 640 XL which you can watch below.
The SIM card slot and memory card slots are given inside and you need to open the back panel for that. There are single SIM and dual SIM versions of Lumia 640 XL are available in the market. Depending on the model you are buying, you will have the different number of SIM slots.
Overall the design of Lumia 640 XL is really nice in every aspect except that like all other Lumia smartphones, it also lacks the LED notification lights.
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL comes with Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 processor along with the Adreno 305 GPU and 1 GB RAM. The device is powered by the latest Lumia Denim Update 2 version of Windows Phone 8.1 OS.
Though it sports an older version of Snapdragon processor and also having just 1GB of RAM, the performance of Lumia 640 XL is really impressive, thanks to the less resource hungry Windows Phone 8.1 OS and its latest and more optimized version.
The internal memory on Microsoft Lumia 640 XL is 8 GB out of which user available memory is just around 3.5 GB. So, you will have to use the memory card slot if you are going to install some heavy games or going to record lots of HD videos. Fortunately, the memory card slot supports a memory card of up to 128 GB capacity. Plus, you also get 30 GB of OneDrive cloud storage.
1 GB RAM on Lumia 640 XL performs really well and let you do multitasking easily and also provides the lagless gaming experience while playing heavy games like Asphalt 8 : Airborne, Six Guns etc. You can check the speed test video of Lumia 640 XL with respect to Lumia 930 to get the better idea of its performance.
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL boasts a huge 5.7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen screen having 720 x 1280 pixels resolution, 16M colors support along with ClearBlack Display technology and 259 ppi pixel density. The screen-to-body ratio is approximately 69.1%.
The screen of Lumia 640 XL is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which performs really well. We performed the knife and key scratch tests on the screen of our Lumia 640 XL to test the strength of the Gorilla Glass protection and it performed perfectly. You can watch the Lumia 640 XL knife scratch test and key scratch test in the below video.
The sunlight visibility of Lumia 640 XL is really good and you can easily see every content on the screen in bright sunlight, thanks to the ClearBlack display. Also, the viewing angles are good enough to let you see the screen from any angle.
But while using the apps or webpages, like MSN News apps, in which the black texts are written on the white background, sometimes you will feel that the texts are not clear and sharp. Also, Lumia 730 which is having the AMOLED display costs nearly equal to Lumia 640 XL. So, it would be better if Microsoft could do the same with Lumia 640 XL’s screen too.
Lumia 640 XL sports a nice 13 MP primary camera and 5 MP front facing camera. But though it is having a nice 13 MP rear camera, it is not a PureView device and so lacks the dedicated camera key as well.
Lumia 640 XL comes with the latest Lumia Camera pre-installed on it and you will not find the Microsoft Camera anywhere in the list of apps. But you can still access it from the settings using some tricks. The 13 MP rear camera of Lumia 640 XL Carl Zeiss optics and a sensor of 1/3'' in size to provide you good quality images and 1080p full HD video recording. Though the image quality is still not great considering the fact that it is having a 13 MP camera as Lumia 830 is having better imaging capability with just 10 MP camera, thanks to PureView technology. You can watch the all camera features and functionality of Lumia 640 XL in the below video.
It is also sad that it is not having the 4K video recording capability because of the older and lower performance processor. Also there is no Optical Image Stabilization ( OIS ) and feature to record videos with Dolby Digital sounds like Lumia 930, Lumia 830 etc.
But the 5 MP front facing camera is good and let you record videos in 1080p full HD resolution. The quality of images is also very nice from the front facing camera. The low light imaging capability of both rear camera and front camera is pretty good.
Overall the performance of Lumia 640 XL cameras are good but if you are planning to buy this device for imaging, you better go with other Lumia devices.
Lumia 640 XL comes preinstalled with MixRadio and Xbox Music apps for music lovers. The loudspeaker is loud and clear and provide a nice experience while listening music on it. The sound gets better when you use the earphones but the loudness gets a bit reduced on them.
As we have already said, Lumia 640 XL performs really great when it comes to gaming. Yu can easily play high-end games with heavy graphics without any heating issues, lag or frame drops. The huge 5.7 inch screen enhances the experience while playing games or watching videos on it. Also the 3000 mAh battery let you go in the entertainment zone for hours without any issues.
You can watch our hardcode gaming performance test of Lumia 640 XL to get an idea of its performance.
Lumia 640 XL comes with a big 3000 mAh battery which performs pretty well. The device survives more than a easily on moderate usages. The optimized Windows Phone OS, just 720p HD screen, ClearBlack display and less power hungry processor overall contribute in the performance of the Lumia 640 XL battery and let it easily go for more than a day.
Lumia 640 XL is great mid-range device and comes with very nice overall performance at an attractive price tag. The big screen, nice looks, impressive battery life and nice performance makes Lumia 640 XL a must buy if you can ignore the not so great camera performance.
If you find Lumia 640 XL too big for you or you are looking for better imaging then, you can go with the Lumia 830 or Lumia 930 which are smaller in size, having better camera performance, metal frame design and overall equal or better performance.
And now here is the detailed hands-on review of Lumia 640 XL for all readers of Geeky Stuffs. This review of Microsoft Lumia 640 XL is divided into various sections , covering the pros and cons of each aspect of Lumia 640 XL.
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL : Hands-on Review, Specs and Features
Retail Box and Unboxing
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL comes in the signature retail box of the Lumia series. The content inside the retail box you will find are the Lumia 640 XL smartphone, a battery, charger and the user manual. There is no USB cable and headset or earphones provided in the retail box of Lumia 640 XL , so either you will have to buy a new pair of nice headphones or use an old one.
You can watch the Lumia 640 XL unboxing video below.
Design
Lumia 640 XL comes with a beautiful Lumia design along with a perfect phablet size. The whole device body consists of plastic and polycarbonate but it still looks pretty beautiful. On the front side, there is the 5.7 inch screen protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 3, 5 MP front facing camera for video calling and taking selfies, a set of sensors and three navigational keys.
All of physical keys are given on the same side and there is no dedicated camera key in Lumia 640 XL. On the back side, there is 13 MP primary camera. Right above the camera, there is flash and below it is the Zeiss branding. Loudspeaker is given right next to the camera and in the center, you will find the Microsoft branding, 3.5mm audio jack is at top and USB cable slot is at bottom.
The back panel is removable and designed in such a way that you can easily swap it with other back panels giving your device a complete new look. Lumia 640 XL is available in different color backpanels - Matte cyan, Orange, Black, Matte white and Glossy white. The polycarbonate back panel is of good quality and feel nice in hands. Even though the device is really big in size, the overall weighs just 171g and it is very easy to handle the device. The build quality of Lumia 640 XL is also very nice and sturdy. We performed a bend test on our Lumia 640 XL which you can watch below.
The SIM card slot and memory card slots are given inside and you need to open the back panel for that. There are single SIM and dual SIM versions of Lumia 640 XL are available in the market. Depending on the model you are buying, you will have the different number of SIM slots.
Overall the design of Lumia 640 XL is really nice in every aspect except that like all other Lumia smartphones, it also lacks the LED notification lights.
Hardware Specs and OS
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL comes with Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 processor along with the Adreno 305 GPU and 1 GB RAM. The device is powered by the latest Lumia Denim Update 2 version of Windows Phone 8.1 OS.
Though it sports an older version of Snapdragon processor and also having just 1GB of RAM, the performance of Lumia 640 XL is really impressive, thanks to the less resource hungry Windows Phone 8.1 OS and its latest and more optimized version.
The internal memory on Microsoft Lumia 640 XL is 8 GB out of which user available memory is just around 3.5 GB. So, you will have to use the memory card slot if you are going to install some heavy games or going to record lots of HD videos. Fortunately, the memory card slot supports a memory card of up to 128 GB capacity. Plus, you also get 30 GB of OneDrive cloud storage.
1 GB RAM on Lumia 640 XL performs really well and let you do multitasking easily and also provides the lagless gaming experience while playing heavy games like Asphalt 8 : Airborne, Six Guns etc. You can check the speed test video of Lumia 640 XL with respect to Lumia 930 to get the better idea of its performance.
Screen and Display
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL boasts a huge 5.7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen screen having 720 x 1280 pixels resolution, 16M colors support along with ClearBlack Display technology and 259 ppi pixel density. The screen-to-body ratio is approximately 69.1%.
The screen of Lumia 640 XL is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which performs really well. We performed the knife and key scratch tests on the screen of our Lumia 640 XL to test the strength of the Gorilla Glass protection and it performed perfectly. You can watch the Lumia 640 XL knife scratch test and key scratch test in the below video.
The sunlight visibility of Lumia 640 XL is really good and you can easily see every content on the screen in bright sunlight, thanks to the ClearBlack display. Also, the viewing angles are good enough to let you see the screen from any angle.
But while using the apps or webpages, like MSN News apps, in which the black texts are written on the white background, sometimes you will feel that the texts are not clear and sharp. Also, Lumia 730 which is having the AMOLED display costs nearly equal to Lumia 640 XL. So, it would be better if Microsoft could do the same with Lumia 640 XL’s screen too.
Camera and Imaging
Lumia 640 XL sports a nice 13 MP primary camera and 5 MP front facing camera. But though it is having a nice 13 MP rear camera, it is not a PureView device and so lacks the dedicated camera key as well.
Lumia 640 XL comes with the latest Lumia Camera pre-installed on it and you will not find the Microsoft Camera anywhere in the list of apps. But you can still access it from the settings using some tricks. The 13 MP rear camera of Lumia 640 XL Carl Zeiss optics and a sensor of 1/3'' in size to provide you good quality images and 1080p full HD video recording. Though the image quality is still not great considering the fact that it is having a 13 MP camera as Lumia 830 is having better imaging capability with just 10 MP camera, thanks to PureView technology. You can watch the all camera features and functionality of Lumia 640 XL in the below video.
It is also sad that it is not having the 4K video recording capability because of the older and lower performance processor. Also there is no Optical Image Stabilization ( OIS ) and feature to record videos with Dolby Digital sounds like Lumia 930, Lumia 830 etc.
But the 5 MP front facing camera is good and let you record videos in 1080p full HD resolution. The quality of images is also very nice from the front facing camera. The low light imaging capability of both rear camera and front camera is pretty good.
Overall the performance of Lumia 640 XL cameras are good but if you are planning to buy this device for imaging, you better go with other Lumia devices.
Entertainment and Gaming
Lumia 640 XL comes preinstalled with MixRadio and Xbox Music apps for music lovers. The loudspeaker is loud and clear and provide a nice experience while listening music on it. The sound gets better when you use the earphones but the loudness gets a bit reduced on them.
As we have already said, Lumia 640 XL performs really great when it comes to gaming. Yu can easily play high-end games with heavy graphics without any heating issues, lag or frame drops. The huge 5.7 inch screen enhances the experience while playing games or watching videos on it. Also the 3000 mAh battery let you go in the entertainment zone for hours without any issues.
You can watch our hardcode gaming performance test of Lumia 640 XL to get an idea of its performance.
Battery Performance
Lumia 640 XL comes with a big 3000 mAh battery which performs pretty well. The device survives more than a easily on moderate usages. The optimized Windows Phone OS, just 720p HD screen, ClearBlack display and less power hungry processor overall contribute in the performance of the Lumia 640 XL battery and let it easily go for more than a day.
Conclusion
Lumia 640 XL is great mid-range device and comes with very nice overall performance at an attractive price tag. The big screen, nice looks, impressive battery life and nice performance makes Lumia 640 XL a must buy if you can ignore the not so great camera performance.
If you find Lumia 640 XL too big for you or you are looking for better imaging then, you can go with the Lumia 830 or Lumia 930 which are smaller in size, having better camera performance, metal frame design and overall equal or better performance.