[rprs78]

I really liked the Lumia 640 and XL phones demoed yesterday. They are excellent mid range phones. In order to kick start the sales in the US, they should be released in all carriers including the MVNO's like Cricket, Straight Talk etc. These phones should be made available for free on a 12 months contract. Also, i think there should be 32/64 GB models available for purchase. What do you guys think?

[ven07]

Not sure that will happen :p WP isn't loved by all carriers lol

[Harrie-S]

I really liked the Lumia 640 and XL phones demoed yesterday. They are excellent mid range phones. In order to kick start the sales in the US, they should be released in all carriers including the MVNO's like Cricket, Straight Talk etc. These phones should be made available for free on a 12 months contract. Also, i think there should be 32/64 GB models available for purchase. What do you guys think?

I think nothing is for free but anyhow why not.
I do not think a 32/64 version will be sold that good because a SD card is much cheaper then the internal memory.

"Edit" Only the sun rises for free.

[HeyCori]

It's on AT&T, T-Mobile ad Metro PCS, so it's a start.

Plus it's on Deutsche Telekom, EE, O2, Orange, Telefnica and Carphone worldwide.

[the_moesiah]

I've got an off-topic question:

I read on another Windows news site that the 640xl will be exclusive to ATT, is there any truth to this?

[pankaj981]

Nope it'll be available world wide :P

And if the rumors are correct then it'll also be sold unlocked from Microsoft stores.

[HeyCori]

Maybe the XL is an AT&T exclusive in the U.S.?

Nothing's been confirmed yet though. The only thing we know for sure is that T-Mobile is getting the 640.

[deadwrong03]

It's on AT&T, T-Mobile ad Metro PCS, so it's a start.

Plus it's on Deutsche Telekom, EE, O2, Orange, Telefnica and Carphone worldwide.

There's been no official word from tmobile yet about them carrying the XL

[RumoredNow]

I really liked the Lumia 640 and XL phones demoed yesterday. They are excellent mid range phones. In order to kick start the sales in the US, they should be released in all carriers including the MVNO's like Cricket, Straight Talk etc. These phones should be made available for free on a 12 months contract. Also, i think there should be 32/64 GB models available for purchase. What do you guys think?

The flaw is this... You can not break into every carrier's supply chain and insert your stock. It's not automatic to ask a carrier of they want to display a device and have them say yes. I don't believe Microsoft should start down the road of begging and bribing carriers to get placement. It would be a never ending handout.

What the world needs - and the US more so than most markets - is a better understanding of how to select Factory Unlocked GSM phones and why that is a huge advantage to a consumer vs carrier offerings.

640 and 640 XL may come Factory Unlocked worldwide. That is the best scenario.

[HeyCori]

There's been no official word from tmobile yet about them carrying the XL

I don't think people should get their hopes up about the XL arriving on T-Mo.

[RumoredNow]

I don't think people should get their hopes up about the XL arriving on T-Mo.

T-MoUS habitually limits their handset offerings for Windows Phone to a very lean selection.

[rprs78]

Carrier unlocked phone's can't have some features such as WiFi Calling.

[RumoredNow]

Carrier unlocked phone's can't have some features such as WiFi Calling.

Yeah, but that's the carrier's fault... Part of their "value" which incentivizes handset purchase through them so they get that markup.

Remember the price difference between Nexus on Google Play and Nexus through T-Mo? T-Mo marked the units up in price and still denied them WiFi Calling App...

[Robinsonmac]

The flaw is this... You can not break into every carrier's supply chain and insert your stock. It's not automatic to ask a carrier of they want to display a device and have them say yes. I don't believe Microsoft should start down the road of begging and bribing carriers to get placement. It would be a never ending handout.

What the world needs - and the US more so than most markets - is a better understanding of how to select Factory Unlocked GSM phones and why that is a huge advantage to a consumer vs carrier offerings.

640 and 640 XL may come Factory Unlocked worldwide. That is the best scenario.

Unfortunately that is the only way it will happen in the US. they are going to have to pay the US carriers a ton of cash to get a phone on all carriers at the same time, plain and simple.

[RumoredNow]

Unfortunately that is the only way it will happen in the US. they are going to have to pay the US carriers a ton of cash to get a phone on all carriers at the same time, plain and simple.

That's why I support Factory Unlocked GSM via direct OEM sale and let the CDMA carriers rot...

[Kaushik Banerjee]

That's why I support Factory Unlocked GSM via direct OEM sale and let the CDMA carriers rot...

Hey I am from India here all phones are carrier unlocked so don't have any idea how things work in other countries such as US, UK etc where carriers control phone updates etc...Would you please explain how things work out there, I mean why do carriers control OS updates instead of MSFT giving updates directly to hardware devices?
2) factory unlocked hardware are available they why do people go after CDMA when they are quite sure they wont be updated frequently and take a lot of time to release updates...i mean in India a lot of carriers are there but there is no problem with network...but I heard many people in from other countries say that carriers test updates and then released them.....so what's there in testing a update why is it required?
I know i may sound stupid but it would be better if i get my douts cleared...thanks in advance..😊

[Robinsonmac]

In the US, each carrier uses different bands of LTE(which is GSM based) for example, Verizon does use CDMA for voice but LTE for data, Sprint does the same but different bands then Verizon, AT&T which uses GSM for voice & LTE data uses different bands of LTE than Verizon & Sprint. T-mobile is also a GSM carrier like AT&T but uses different bands also. All carriers test the hardware which runs on their own network(they don't share networks & the area they cover is 2/3 larger than in India,) once received from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC or any OEM. It's not the OS they are testing it's the firmware which talks to the hardware. They test it to limit the phone failing on their network like what happened to Apple's OS & firmware update when they released IOS 8. More importantly phones are heavily subsidized in the US in exchange for signing a 2 year contract or the carriers financing the phone interest free for 18 - 24 months. So the phones were locked so you would not buy a new flagship phone which retails for $600 - $900 for $100 on contract then pay the ETF (Early Termination Fee) of $350 & move to another carrier. Put it simple, it's so you can't change carriers easily after they subsidize your phone. They also want to you to stay so you can pay for the billions they spend on building their network, which as I said is very large. Now that the US market is pretty much saturated with high end smartphones the market is moving to the mid & low end and they don't have to shell out hardly any money for the phones on their network.

The funny thing is if you ask anyone in the US how much their phone cost they will usually tell you between $50 - $200, which is the subsidized cost. That's the only reason Apple has sold so many phones in the US. If consumers had to pay full price for an Iphone they would not have nearly the market share they have, that is the only reason so many high end smartphones are sold in the US.

[Kaushik Banerjee]

In the US, each carrier uses different bands of LTE(which is GSM based) for example, Verizon does use CDMA for voice but LTE for data, Sprint does the same but different bands then Verizon, AT&T which uses GSM for voice & LTE data uses different bands of LTE than Verizon & Sprint. T-mobile is also a GSM carrier like AT&T but uses different bands also. All carriers test the hardware which runs on their own network(they don't share networks & the area they cover is 2/3 larger than in India,) once received from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC or any OEM. It's not the OS they are testing it's the firmware which talks to the hardware. They test it to limit the phone failing on their network like what happened to Apple's OS & firmware update when they released IOS 8. More importantly phones are heavily subsidized in the US in exchange for signing a 2 year contract or the carriers financing the phone interest free for 18 - 24 months. So the phones were locked so you would not buy a new flagship phone which retails for $600 - $900 for $100 on contract then pay the ETF (Early Termination Fee) of $350 & move to another carrier. Put it simple, it's so you can't change carriers easily after they subsidize your phone. They also want to you to stay so you can pay for the billions they spend on building their network, which as I said is very large. Now that the US market is pretty much saturated with high end smartphones the market is moving to the mid & low end and they don't have to shell out hardly any money for the phones on their network.

The funny thing is if you ask anyone in the US how much their phone cost they will usually tell you between $50 - $200, which is the subsidized cost. That's the only reason Apple has sold so many phones in the US. If consumers had to pay full price for an Iphone they would not have nearly the market share they have, that is the only reason so many high end smartphones are sold in the US.

Wow, thanks for your detailed explanation...now I get it. damm mahn wish i was in US now...😜
anyways thanks a lot...cleared a lot of thoughts with this fact !

[pankaj981]

Wow, thanks for your detailed explanation...now I get it. damm mahn wish i was in US now...😜
anyways thanks a lot...cleared a lot of thoughts with this fact !

Doesn't matter, the same model works elsewhere in the world too. People's perspectives of looking at it are different. Imagine it being as one paying a down payment for the phone and then paying up the remaining amount in monthly EMI for the next 24 months. The system in India is more or less the same, or you can say better. Why? Because for the 24 odd months you would be tied to the manufacturer till you pay off your device rather than being stuck with the carrier for 2 years. For these 2 odd years, the carrier owns the phone hence they control the updates which kinda sucks. There have been many cases where carrier locked phones have been EOL.'d within a year while unlocked factory versions are still receiving updates after almost 2-3 years. That's why I always buy my phones unlocked so my phone is not dependent on carriers to receive updates, though its hard to find phones with the correct LTE/HSPA frequencies for NA

[Kaushik Banerjee]

Doesn't matter, the same model works elsewhere in the world too. People's perspectives of looking at it are different. Imagine it being as one paying a down payment for the phone and then paying up the remaining amount in monthly EMI for the next 24 months. The system in India is more or less the same, or you can say better. Why? Because for the 24 odd months you would be tied to the manufacturer till you pay off your device rather than being stuck with the carrier for 2 years. For these 2 odd years, the carrier owns the phone hence they control the updates which kinda sucks. There have been many cases where carrier locked phones have been EOL.'d within a year while unlocked factory versions are still receiving updates after almost 2-3 years. That's why I always buy my phones unlocked so my phone is not dependent on carriers to receive updates, though its hard to find phones with the correct LTE/HSPA frequencies for NA

Yea iI agree with you on this thing...emi system in India...is more better as I get to choose any carrier of my choice as well as enjoying a flagship device....btw are you from India ? And do which device are you currently using ? I mean in India all devices are unlocked models..which are sold... both online and in retail outlets so what exactly are those factory unlocked models ? Are they different from the ones which we normally buy from retail outlets snd online?

[pankaj981]

Yea iI agree with you on this thing...emi system in India...is more better as I get to choose any carrier of my choice as well as enjoying a flagship device....btw are you from India ? And do which device are you currently using ? I mean in India all devices are unlocked models..which are sold... both online and in retail outlets so what exactly are those factory unlocked models ? Are they different from the ones which we normally buy from retail outlets snd online?

Factory unlocked models are what you get in India. When you buy a phone you can use any compatible carrier SIM in it. Here in the US there are limited legit places one can buy factory unlocked phones from with warranty (example MS, Apple, Google, etc.). There are third party options like Expansys or B&H which provide their own warranty because most of their unlocked phones are imported either from Latin America or Asia due to matching LTE/HSPA frequency. I am from Mumbai and currently live in Ohio so I know how the system works in both places ;-)

[Kaushik Banerjee]

Factory unlocked models are what you get in India. When you buy a phone you can use any compatible carrier SIM in it. Here in the US there are limited legit places one can buy factory unlocked phones from with warranty (example MS, Apple, Google, etc.). There are third party options like Expansys or B&H which provide their own warranty because most of their unlocked phones are imported either from Latin America or Asia due to matching LTE/HSPA frequency. I am from Mumbai and currently live in Ohio so I know how the system works in both places ;-)

Hmm....thanks for clearing that up....hope to visit US sometime in near future....😉

[Robinsonmac]

Factory unlocked models are what you get in India. When you buy a phone you can use any compatible carrier SIM in it. Here in the US there are limited legit places one can buy factory unlocked phones from with warranty (example MS, Apple, Google, etc.). There are third party options like Expansys or B&H which provide their own warranty because most of their unlocked phones are imported either from Latin America or Asia due to matching LTE/HSPA frequency. I am from Mumbai and currently live in Ohio so I know how the system works in both places ;-)

If it were not for T-Mobile disrupting the US carrier system we would still only have locked carrier phones & only 2 year contracts. We Americans need to stop being dumb & stop signing 2 year contracts for $100 Iphones & demand independent financing of high end phones(or just learn to save for purchases) & network inter-operability.

[pankaj981]

If it were not for T-Mobile disrupting the US carrier system we would still only have locked carrier phones & only 2 year contracts. We Americans need to stop being dumb & stop signing 2 year contracts for $100 Iphones & demand independent financing of high end phones(or just learn to save for purchases) & network inter-operability.

I don't think that's going to happen soon. Especially with none of the big carriers backing it plus add all the lobbying. If Microsoft starts selling all Lumia contract free with the correct LTE bands I would buy them in in heartbeat. Imagine buying a 1520.3 or a 930 from the store with warranty and the correct LTE and HSPA bands and not relying on AT&T or Verizon for updates, sighh most of us can only dream