Microsoft briefly announced the new Lumia 550 at their live briefing yesterday.
The Lumia 550 is Microsoft appealing to the lower end of the smartphone market, with the price tag of $139 (UK price TBC). The 550 is expected to have low specs but Microsoft went pretty basic with the 550. The processor is only a Snapdragon 210 which is only two places higher than the 200 (the lowest model). 1GB of ram is only included with 8GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 200GB via a microSD card.
Display is also diminutive with 4.7 inches and 315 ppi which is average for a smartphone. Corning Gorilla Glass isn’t available not even past models, despite the Lumia 950’s Gorilla Glass 3.
The camera is nothing to shout about with the main camera being only 5 megapixels with autofocus and LED flash. Secondary camera is 2 megapixels.
The Lumia 550 is a replacement for 640 and 640 XL as Microsoft’s new budget phone. Definitely targeted at developing countries like India, but with Chinese smartphone companies like OnePlus rumoured to also be bringing out a budget phone. The 550 could be forgotten as quick as it was presented at the briefing.
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