Microsoft is working on two high-end Lumia phones

Windows fanboys have been waiting a while for a flagship handset to come along, but Microsoft just keeps pumping out budget devices. Now some leaked specs suggest that two high-end phones are in the works that may be capable of making a mark in the mobile sector.
Since Microsoft dumped the Nokia brand in favour of the Lumia brand, we’ve hardly seen much to shout about from the phone maker. The same old sub-standard devices have come and gone, much like the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL handsets we saw in March.
But new leaked specs suggest a couple of high-end Lumia phones are coming. Unleash The Phones reports that the ‘Cityman’ and the ‘Talkman’ are the dynamic duo in the pipeline. To add credit to this leak, we heard these codenames last year in a leaked Microsoft roadmap.
The Cityman will reportedly come with a 5.7-inch QHD (1440 x 2560) display, a 64-bit Qualcomm octa-core processor (either the Snapdragon 808 or Snapdragon 810) and 3GB of RAM. There’s also 32GB of storage, a microSD card slot, a 20-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front camera and a 3300 mAh removable battery.
Meanwhile the Talkman isn’t as flashy, packing a smaller 5.2-inch display (with the same QHD resolution) and a slower hexa-core Qualcomm processor, although the rest of the specs will match up with the Cityman.
On paper, these look like two pretty capable phones and something Windows fans would be proud to flaunt around the office. They could very well be the flagship phones that Microsoft promised at MWC 2015.
As for a release date, we know that Microsoft is holding off until Windows 10 has been unleashed – which could be any time from summer onwards.
What do you reckon? Like the sound of these Lumias or not? Let us know in the comments.

Microsoft unveils a budget phablet

After accidentally revealing details of the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL yesterday, Microsoft has officially released details of its new budget smartphones.
Both phones effectively replace last year’s Lumia 630 and Lumia 635, with the Lumia 640 XL becoming Microsoft’s first budget phablet.
The two handsets feature a quad-core Snapdragon processor running at 1.2 GHz – pretty snappy for a budget smartphone. They’ll also come with 1 GB of RAM and screens with a resolution of 720p.
Microsoft has also said that these smartphones will be able to run Windows 10 when is released later this year. It remains to be seen what impact that has upon the snappiness of the two smartphones.

The more similar they are, the more different they become

The major difference between the two smartphones is that the XL comes with a 5.7 inch screen and a 13 megapixel Zeiss-lens camera. That compares to the regular Lumia 640’s 5 inch screen and eight megapixel camera.
Both of the phones come with a one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal Edition.
“Our newest Lumia devices build on our momentum in the affordable smartphones space,” said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for phones at Microsoft.
“With the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL, we continue to make innovation accessible to more people. We have packaged competitive hardware with innovative Windows software and Microsoft services to help you achieve more, wherever and whenever you want.”
Despite a big bump in specs, there doesn’t appear to be a big bump in price. Microsoft has not yet announced what each phone will cost in the UK, however they have said that the Lumia 640 will start at €139 (£101) while the 640 XL will start at €189 (£137).