Nokia’s sub-£100 Lumia 630 will go on sale from 29th May
Microsoft’s first Windows Phone 8.1 phone will be available very soon, and for under a ton
Microsoft Devices has announced that the Nokia Lumia 630, a Windows Phone priced at just £90, will go on sale in the UK from 29th May.
The Lumia 630 will be the first handset to launch with Windows Phone 8.1, and Microsoft claims it offers the look and features of a high-end smartphone – just not the price tag.
The phone sports a 4.5in 854 x 480 ClearBlack screen, a matte polycarbonate body and swappable shells. Its processor is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 clocked at 1.2GHz, back up by 512MB of RAM, while the rear-facing camera has a 5MP sensor. The 8GB of storage is expandable by a further 128GB.
It also features Nokia’s new SensorCore technology, which allows activity tracking with ultra-low power consumption – a little like the iPhone 5s’ co-motion processor.
Sadly, Microsoft has confirmed that a beta version of Cortana, its voice-controlled virtual assistant, isn’t rolling out in the UK until later this year. That’s because Microsoft is working on supporting British dialects and providing localised info including transport, restaurant reviews and cultural things to do. For now, Lumia 630 can switch to American English in the settings and download the free developer preview of Windows Phone 8.1. Just be warned, this voids your warranty.
The Lumia 630 will be available in a range of colours from a range of retailers, including Carphone Warehouse, EE, O2, Tesco and Amazon. We’ll let you know if it lives up to Microsoft’s billing when we get our hands on one for a full, in-depth review.
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