[L640XL] How does this phone compare to the L925?

[SteelSteve]

So I currently have a Lumia 925, its a great phone however the battery life isn't very good requiring me to have to recharge the phone in the middle of the day (not always possible). Recently my wife got the new IPhone 6 + and though I don't want an IPhone I do like the bigger screen so she has given me permission to pick up the 640 XL. Unfortunately I'm one of those people who agonize over purchases and want to know from those who have made similar changes how this phone performs in comparison, I don't really game on my phone and use it more for e-mail, texting, Facebook, web browsing, music, and of course as a phone.

 

[worldspy99]

If you truly use your phone for the items you have described then you will be quite happy with the 640XL. For the money, it is indeed a really solid device!
Here are some reviews other than WindowsCentral:
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL Dual SIM review: Size matters - GSMArena.com
Microsoft Lumia 640 XL review: Budget beauty - Pocket-lint
Review: Microsoft Lumia 640 XL | WIRED

 

[Woodman1914]

Kinda the whole point of the 640XL is that you don't have to agonize (too much) over it, since the price points especially compared to the iPhone 6+ are vastly different (close to $200 versus close to $800). If you don't like it, you could always sell it and not lose too much. For basic tasks you mentioned, the 640XL should be sufficient, although the Wordflow keyboard could be more accurate and IE could be faster, maybe Windows 10 will improve both, hopefully.

WW

 

[raycpl]

I hope the OP do get the 640XL. Would love to see a photo shootout with the iP6+ !!!
(edit:.. iP probably win, but for its price the XL is no pushover)

 

[SteelSteve]

Ordered the Cyan Dual SIM. Don't really need the dual SIM however it is the only one which I know for sure works with T-Mobile bands.
raycpl: I'll take a few snap shots with both phones and post once I have it.
​

 

[Woodman1914]

Ordered the Cyan Dual SIM. Don't really need the dual SIM however it is the only one which I know for sure works with T-Mobile bands.
raycpl: I'll take a few snap shots with both phones and post once I have it.
​

Hope you like it, though I'm pretty sure the photo challenge will weigh in iPhone's favor. The camera on the 640XL as other users have pointed out is disappointing, sharpness drops quickly in mid-to-low light (no optical image stabilization and detail-smearing noise control), and saturation seems low, no vibrancy to colors. That being said, it's always good to keep in mind the price points Also, you probably want to get a reliable and fast sdxc card, like a SanDisk Extreme.

WW

 

[SteelSteve]

Hope you like it, though I'm pretty sure the photo challenge will weigh in iPhone's favor. The camera on the 640XL as other users have pointed out is disappointing, sharpness drops quickly in mid-to-low light (no optical image stabilization and detail-smearing noise control), and saturation seems low, no vibrancy to colors. That being said, it's always good to keep in mind the price points Also, you probably want to get a reliable and fast sdxc card, like a SanDisk Extreme.

WW

I was already looking for Class 10 SD cards, does the 640 XL have a maximum read / write speed? I found some that claim 40mb a second and one that claims up to 80mb.

 

[Woodman1914]

There is claimed speed and maximum speed (probably the same), not as important as average speed and minimum speed, since maximum speed is unsustainable. That being said, I was curious about this myself and searched around. There is an app in the Windows Phone store, not sure how accurate it is, called "SD Card Speed", according to this app, it tests the "real speed of your SD card interface, not the speed of card", which shows write speeds of 29.04 Mb/s (megabits), or 3.63 MB/s (megabytes). If this is accurate, it means the interface does not support UHS, which must support minimum write speeds of 10 MB/s (megabytes).

On a separate note, I recommend a reputable brand and reseller, the first one because of potential warranty usage, and the second one because of the high number of fraudulent cards. Out of the dozen or so SD and micro-sd cards I've bought in my lifetime, about half of them have failed over time, and the generic brands offered no support, whereas brands like SanDisk offered quick turn-around replacements, you do have to wait until they receive the broken sd card.

WW

 

[SteelSteve]

The on I was looking at is Scan disk, and claims 80MB a second:

https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...219290681918%26skuId%3D7801066&token=Ej5BLiu9

 

[RL76]

I just replaced my 925 (t mobile) to the 640XL. It's night and day. Battery life is pretty good. Colors are much more true. Got the SanDisk C10 64gig for $25 in amazon, might still be on sale. There will be lag openning pix on the card...

 

[Woodman1914]

Update: looks like the best deals I can find so far on reputable seller/brands are on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Class...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU3133568

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Memor...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU3133568

64GB micro sdxc, Samsung or SanDisk, $24.

WW

 

[mbranscum]

I have a iPhone 6 and a 640xl. The iPhone is in the drawer.

 

[SteelSteve]

So just to follow up, I received my phone yesterday. Man this is a honking big device. As some of asked I will take a few pictures with the 640 XL, the wife's Iphone 6 +, and just for comparison purposes I'll also snap a few on the 925 and post them here. First impressions, I like this phone. Having owned an 8X I was expecting to see a noticeable difference in brightness and clarity when compared to the AMOLED display on the 925. To my surprise I really don't, the screen is as bright as the 925 and the colors are just as rich. At least initially the phone appears to be quicker than the 925 or it feels that way. I know people have knocked the low res on the display but so far I don't notice any pixelization or blurry text. So far the screen looks good with no brown / yellow spots as some have reported, however I'm holding my breath and will keep an eye on it for the first month. Hopefully all will be well. If I have one real complaint / discouraging thing to say about the phone it's the rear speaker. Ringtone's sound tinny, and there is some noticeable crackling at full volume causing me to have to set it down to about to about 20, but this was also a problem with the 8X so one I've lived with before. I bought an EVOCEL case off Amazon which seems to fit the phone fairly well, though I am partial to INCIPIO cases so when their selection improves I may purchase a new case. Does anyone have a recommendation for screen protectors? I normally use Zagg, however I have never had much luck installing one on a cell phone, tablets seem to be easier for me.

 

[Woodman1914]

The thing with screen protectors, especially with the screen size of the 640 XL, it is impossible to install cleanly (no dust or particle contamination) without dust removal tape, and the only brand that provides them that I know of is Tech Armor. Unfortunately, they don't provide protectors for the 640 XL, I used the ones from the Surface Pro 3 which Tech Armor does make. Also, there are brands that do not double-layer the screen protectors, which does not allow hard bubble-scrapes without scratching the top layer. The cheapest screen protectors that double-layer is SuperShieldz, but they don't provide dust removal tape. I just ordered atFoliX screen protectors to see how it compares to SuperShieldz, I'll update this thread or post after I install it.

WW

PS - in regards to cases, I tried Terrapin and Orzly brands, both from Amazon, and the material quality was lower than what the pictures show, both looked cheap and did not add to the phone's aesthetics. Most other pictures I've seen from Amazon do not look too good imo. Instead, I got the IMAK brand from eBay and like it the best, plastic quality is much better based on looks and scratch-resistance.


UPDATE: Just got and installed the atFoliX screen protectors, what an impressive package. First and most important, it does come with a dust removal tape, excellent. Second, the 3 screen protectors are all double layered. Third, the final or top layer is gridded, I've never seen that before but it effectively keeps the film against the glass as you iron out the film from bubbles and contamination. And finally, the screen protector material itself is noticeably higher quality than SuperShieldz, the finish is more resistant to smudges looks clearer. This is now my favorite brand of screen protectors, very impressive, followed by Tech Armor.

 

[SteelSteve]

So for the purposes of keeping this comparison going in case someone out there is interested, I've used the 640 XL for almost 2 days now. Improvements I have seen over the 925 are:
​ 1.) Tap to wake works well. On the 925 I had to keep tapping and tapping to get the screen to wake, however the 640 XL does it every time
2.) The phone is faster than the 925. Not a blazing difference but you can definitely tell things are just working faster / smoother.
3.) When connecting to my cars U-Connect system, the 925 would not read or allow me to respond to incoming sms text messages. Imagine my surprise as I'm driving down the road and Cortana pops up to tell me I have a new text message, and then reads it to me (I know its the simple things in life).
4.) Of course battery life needs to be addressed. The 925 had to be charged nightly. I'm going on day 2 with the 640 XL and still have 50% battery remaining.
5.) Now something that the 925 did better is definitely the external speaker. As I've stated previously the 640 speaker sound tinny, and there was allot of crackling when I tried playing Plants vs Zombies (an older game, and the only one on my phone). On the flip side with that game however is that I heard additional sounds and voices I didn't hear on the 925 (go figure).

I'll try and get those photos taken tonight and uploaded.

 

[Laurence_Leong]

640XL glance screen also lack of dates and days in weeks

Anyway, I wish my L925 broke , so that I can get one 640XL cyan O.O....

Well, I suppose it not gonna happen anytime soon, L925 still is a solid device (except that battery life part)

 

[Woodman1914]

So for the purposes of keeping this comparison going in case someone out there is interested, I've used the 640 XL for almost 2 days now. Improvements I have seen over the 925 are:
​ 1.) Tap to wake works well. On the 925 I had to keep tapping and tapping to get the screen to wake, however the 640 XL does it every time
2.) The phone is faster than the 925. Not a blazing difference but you can definitely tell things are just working faster / smoother.
3.) When connecting to my cars U-Connect system, the 925 would not read or allow me to respond to incoming sms text messages. Imagine my surprise as I'm driving down the road and Cortana pops up to tell me I have a new text message, and then reads it to me (I know its the simple things in life).
4.) Of course battery life needs to be addressed. The 925 had to be charged nightly. I'm going on day 2 with the 640 XL and still have 50% battery remaining.
5.) Now something that the 925 did better is definitely the external speaker. As I've stated previously the 640 speaker sound tinny, and there was allot of crackling when I tried playing Plants vs Zombies (an older game, and the only one on my phone). On the flip side with that game however is that I heard additional sounds and voices I didn't hear on the 925 (go figure).

I'll try and get those photos taken tonight and uploaded.

Agreed, L925 was ok with WP8.0, but ever since upgrading to 8.1 everything slowed down for me, from app-launch response time to scrolling response to picture loads, 640XL is noticeably more responsive than the 925, including double-tap to wake. Also with L925, I had a bug in the standard Alarm app where the weekday alarm would sometimes not work going from Sunday to Monday, haven't ran into that (yet) on the 640XL. Advantages the L925 has over 640XL is more onboard storage (although not expandable), would appreciate 16-32GB on the 640XL, and L925 has optical image stabilization, it is hard to get clear, crisp shots with the 640XL in anything less than medium lighting.

WW

 

[SteelSteve]

I hope the OP do get the 640XL. Would love to see a photo shootout with the iP6+ !!!
(edit:.. iP probably win, but for its price the XL is no pushover)

Ask and you shall receive:
All photos are with default settings, and keep in mind I'm no photographer
- Indoors
IPhone 6 +


925


640 XL


- In Shade
IPhone 6+


925


640 XL


- In Direct Sunlight
IPhone 6+


925


640 XL

*Had to compress this photo as it was over 4MB in size and I could not attach it to the post.

 

[SteelSteve]

To me the 640 XL seems to produce brighter pictures than the 925, even though most seem to believe the 925 has a better camera. Admittedly the IPhone 6 + wins, but also costs 3 x as much.

 

[raycpl]

I guess the best way is to compare is to view the original picts on a computer screen. Which phone reproduces the most true to life colours??