Thoughts vs 640?

[dorelse]

Hey guys - Switching from Sprint (HTC 8XT) to TMobile this weekend, looked at the Win HD LTE in Blue (Nice!!) and it was next to the Lumia 640 and I preferred the Win HD LTE to the 640 (by quite a bit).

The 640 obviously is upgradeable via the Insider Program (I'm fine not being on it), but is there anything else the would have you chose the 640 over the Win HD LTE? (The 640 TMobile version is $99 at in stock at a local Walmart, Win HD LTE is also in stock at my MS Kiosk.)

Every price point phone is going to have some trade-off's...so would you be pushed to one or the other?

 

[RumoredNow]

Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE vs. BLU Win HD LTE - GSMArena.com

Lumia 640 wins with Gorilla Glass 3, but you can get aftermarket Tempered Glass screen protectors for Win HD LTE so it negates that.

Win HD LTE wins with SD 410 over SD 400 in Lumia 640. No aftermarket solution for that.

Win HD LTE has a 2MP front cam and Lumia 640 only sports 1MP.

Lumia 640 gets NFC and HD LTE does not.

Lumia 640 gets Sensor Core and Glance, while HD LTE does not have this support. HOWEVER, if you foresee a wearable in your future (like the now very attractively priced 1st gen Band) you will have all that function and then some on your wrist.

Many complain about the camera on BLU phones, my experience with 1st gen Win HD and Win HD LTE is that 3rd party camera apps like Camera360 Sight make the BLU shooter very nice.

BLU has promised Win HD LTE will get Windows 10 Mobile when it it becomes official. Their track record in terms of OTA is excellent and a Win HD LTE will upgrade to 8.1 Update 2 as soon as you unbox it.


I've not used a 640, but have used a 635. My analysis is that 640 is a very good value and Lumia Firmware is definitely a value added package. But my hands on tells me that for certain users BLU is just great. It's a matter of mental flexibility to adjust away from Lumia.

 

[dorelse]

Well, I'm coming from the HTC 8XT, so I've never had the sensor core or glance stuff...I do have a Misfit that I sync with my 8XT currently, and yes, a Band 2 (possibly Fitbit) will be coming soon as well.

The OG Band did cause skin irritation, so I'll need to try the Band 2 out.

Personally, I like the Blue Blu...and think that's where I'll go, plus, I don't like the on screen buttons...so the Blu wins there for me.

I did see your samples with the Camera360 app...looks like a winner to me as well. I'll post on it this weekend!

Thanks!

 

[dorelse]

I will lose wi-fi calling using a non-tmobile phone on TMobile though correct? (Not sure if that's a big deal or not honestly..)

 

[RumoredNow]

Correct. No WiFi calling app will be available for BLU.

 

[dorelse]

Correct. No WiFi calling app will be available for BLU.

Is that a big deal? I'm looking at this as a 'bridge' phone until I pick up a 950 or 'surface' phone next spring...so thinking I'll be fine.

 

[RumoredNow]

If T-Mo gives you good signal indoors, then no need for WiFi calling. They have a problem with signal penetration. One of the reasons I switched off T-Mo was the horrible signal in my home.

You might be better on an ATT mvno like Cricket or Straight Talk.

 

[Philip Hamm]

The Camera on the BLU Win HD LTE is poor quality. No app can get around that fact. I've been doing some comparisons taking the same picture with the same app between the HD LTE and my old 635, using a Fuji finepix digital camera as a third reference, and the 635 camera is far superior to the poor unit in the HD LTE. If you intend to take important or lasting pictures with your phone, avoid this poor performer.

Also, GPS performance is sluggish and poor. Sometimes it takes a long time to find satellites. Sometimes the GPS just freezes. I haven't done a "face to face" comparison of this and my 635 on this but I may sometime soon.

It has a sharp and great looking screen, the camera is adequate for snapshots and video, the calling quality is good. App performance and OS performance is good. I do miss the WiFi calling capability of my T-Mobile branded 635, but I'd lose that with an unlocked 640 also if I would have gotten one. Battery lasts a good long time.

When I bought mine, someone at the Microsoft store installed the (good quality) screen protector on it, so I can't comment on the glass quality. I haven't removed the screen protector yet because the lady did such an amazing job installing it. Usually I don't run screen protectors on my phones or tablets; I just go with the glass that it came with.

Looking forward to Win10 on this phone since it is said to be on the way when it is generally released. The 64 bit processor will hopefully mean I can keep this phone for more than a year or so.

 

[dorelse]

Decided to go for the Blu in Blue. $179.00, not too shabby!

 

[RumoredNow]

Looks sweet.

Blue was not an option when I got mine. I wanted Orange, but they just never seemed to materialize so I took Yellow.

I hope you really enjoy it and here's looking forward to an early OTA for 10 official.

:cheers:

 

[dorelse]

Looks sweet.

Blue was not an option when I got mine. I wanted Orange, but they just never seemed to materialize so I took Yellow.

:cheers:

I kind of like the fact that its an MS Store exclusive color! Thanks! Loving the larger screen size!

 

[mirusen]

Congrats on your new BLU. Indeed, it is a very nice phone, slightly thinner than 640. I preferred 640's clear black screen. I might have bought the 640 if I had seen both side by side. Now, I am dealing with a weird charging issue. Hopefully the newer ones don't have that.

 

[mirusen]

The other thing I like in 640 is the replaceable battery. I don't know why BLU didn't make it's battery user replaceable.

 

[dorelse]

Congrats on your new BLU. Indeed, it is a very nice phone, slightly thinner than 640. I preferred 640's clear black screen. I might have bought the 640 if I had seen both side by side. Now, I am dealing with a weird charging issue. Hopefully the newer ones don't have that.

640 is arriving Friday for my wife. I'll see which is better. Coming from the 8XT...which was a 2+ year old device, the keyboard on the 8XT is way more responsive, and I'm seeing quite a bit of slowdown on the Blu vs. the 8XT...I expected this to be snappier (even though its cheaper), due to the newer 410 processor.

I do like the design and larger screen, dual SIM will come in handy as there's no coverage from T-Mobile at the lake house, so I'll have a Straight Talk SIM for those times.

What I am having is really poor wi-fi range...the 8XT will have full bars, while the Blu has 1, maybe 2. I'll see what the 640 looks like on Friday. At the end of the day, these are both short term solutions until the 950 is out, and working well.

 

[dorelse]

The other thing I like in 640 is the replaceable battery. I don't know why BLU didn't make it's battery user replaceable.

I've never once replaced a battery so that hasn't been something I've cared about in a long time.