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Consumers looking for an affordable Windows 10 Lumia phone can turn their attention to Microsoft’s Lumia 550.
The Redmond, Washington-based software giant said that sales of the new Lumia smartphone start Monday in Europe, followed in the coming weeks by other regions around the world. Equipped with 4G LTE support and Windows 10, the 550 is priced for $139.
Microsoft continues to be a blip in a mobile arena dominated by Apple’s iPhones and by smartphones running Google’s Android software. IDC puts its market share at about 2 percent, warning that the figure is unlikely to budge much. Still, Microsoft hopes for a shot in the arm from Windows 10. The operating system offers distinctive new features and a similar look and experience across PCs, tablets and phones, and it could be the company’s last-ditch effort to convince consumers to give its new mobile phones a try.
The 550 is Microsoft’s third Windows 10 Lumia phone, following the debut of the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, both of which are higher-priced but offer beefier specs.
Equipped with a 4.7-inch 1,280×720-pixel display, the Lumia 550 is powered by a 1.1-gigahertz quad-core Qualcomm processor and includes 1 gigabyte of memory and 8GB of internal storage. You can increase the storage to 200GB by adding a microSD card. A 5-megapixel camera graces the rear, while a 2-megpixel camera is in front. The phone also comes with Glance Screen, which displays the date, time, notifications and calendar appointments while in standby mode.
The 550 lacks two Windows 10 features offered by the 950 and 950 XL. Windows Hello biometric recognition isn’t supported, so you won’t be able to use your face or fingerprint to unlock the phone. Windows 10 Continuum is also missing here, so you can’t set up a Microsoft Display Dock with an accompanying monitor, mouse and keyboard to use the phone as a desktop PC replacement.
The Lumia 550 is available in matte black and glossy white.
Microsoft did not respond to CNET’s request for comment.
