Is Lumia 550 a worthy successor to Lumia 540?

A few months ago along with Microsoft’s new flagship phones, Lumia 950 & Lumia 950 XL, the company also revealed the most affordable, Lumia 550 powered by Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft Lumia 550 is already available for purchase in major countries. Lumia 550 is supposed to be the successor to Lumia 540 with same price and nearly similar hardware specs. However, recently the company announced that they will reduce the amount of devices they release in a year with not major specs changes.

Some months ago, on April 2015, Microsoft announced Lumia 540 and it became available for purchase from May, 2015. The budget friendly phone packs nice numbers of features compared to previous variations of Lumia 5xx devices. Talking about Lumia 540, it has a 8.6mm thickness powered by Windows Phone 8.1 (upgradeable to Windows 10 when becomes available). The device has 8GB storage, so you don’t need to worry about installing apps, as Windows Phone 8.1 also allows you to install apps in external memory, i.e MicroSD card.

Lumia 540 is already available for purchase in various markets for $149 USD. It is Available in glossy layered cyan, orange, white and matte black. The device comes with 5-inch HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, 294 PPI, and it is really good for gaming and video watching. The Lumia 540, includes 2200 mAh removable battery with 24 days of standby.

Microsoft Lumia 540 specifications and features

On the other hand, Microsoft’s newly announced Lumia 550 lacks many features when compared to the Lumia 540 at the same price. The company reduced the display size of the Lumia 550 to 4.7-inch and increases the ppi to 315, however the resolution of the display remains same at 1280 x 720. The company is using LCD (Display technology) rather than an OLED display for better gaming and video watching. Microsoft Lumia 550 comes with Windows 10 Mobile pre-installed with lots of improvements over Windows Phone 8.1.

The device also has a 8GB of internal storage and the memory card support up to 200GB. Lumia 550 is a bit bulky with thickness of 9.9 mm and it also lacks variety of colours compared to Lumia 540. Both of the devices features almost same display abilities like Orientation sensor, Sunlight readability enhancements, Wide viewing angle and Automatic brightness control. The company even downgraded battery capacity of the device to 2100 mAh, but claiming the battery last till 28 days on standby mode, this maybe because of the software. The device is slowly making its way to various countries with a price tag of $ 139 with only two colours option, i.e. black or white.

Microsoft Lumia 550 Specifications & Features:

• Size & weight
  • Height: 136.1 mm
  • Width: 67.8 mm
  • Thickness: 9.9 mm
  • Weight: 141.9 g
• Memory
  • Mass memory¹: 8 GB
  • RAM: 1 GB
  • Maximum memory card size³: 200 GB
  • Expandable memory card type: MicroSD
  • User data storage: In device, OneDrive cloud storage, App and data storage on memory card
• Display
  • Display size: 4.7 ”
  • Display resolution: HD720 (1280 x 720)
  • Display colours: TrueColor (24-bit/16M)
  • Display technology: LCD
  • Pixel density: 315 ppi
  • Display features: Orientation sensor, Sunlight readability enhancements, Lumia Color profile, Wide viewing angle, Automatic brightness control
  • Touch screen technology: Capacitive multipoint-touch
• Battery⁴
  • Replaceable battery: Yes
  • Battery capacity: 2100 mAh
  • Battery voltage: 3.7 V
  • Maximum standby time: 28 days
  • Maximum talk time (2G): 16 h
  • Maximum talk time (3G): 14 h
  • Maximum talk time (4G): 17 h
  • Maximum music playback time: 60 h
  • Maximum Wi-Fi network browsing time: 10 h
  • Maximum video playback time: 7.1 h
• Design
  • Design details: Exchangeable back cover
  • Other user interface features⁵: Glance screen, Tactile feedback, Vibrating alerts, Voice commands
• Keys and Input Methods
  • User Input: Touch
  • Operating keys: Volume keys, Power/Lock key
• Sensors
  • Sensors: Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor
• Processor
  • CPU name: Qualcomm Snapdragon 210
  • Number of cores: Quad core
  • Clock rate: 1100 MHz
• Main camera
  • Main camera: 5.0 MP
  • Main camera focus type: Auto focus
  • Camera digital zoom: 2 x
  • Sensor size: 1/4 inch
  • Main camera f-number/aperture: f/2.4
  • Camera focal length: 28 mm
  • Flash type: LED flash
  • Camera features: Auto and manual exposure, Auto and manual white balance, Automatic photo upload to web services, Full resolution photo and video upload, Full screen viewfinder, Geotagging, Touch focus
  • Camera minimum focus range: 10 cm
• Front-facing camera
  • Front camera: 2 MP
  • Front camera f-number/aperture: f/2.8
  • Front camera features: Still image capture, Video call, Video recording
  • Front camera video resolution: 480p (VGA, 640 x 480)
• Video recording
  • Main camera video resolution: 720p (HD, 1280 x 720)
  • Camera video frame rate: 30 fps
  • Camera video zoom: 2 x
  • Video recording features: Video zoom, Continuous autofocus, Video light
  • Video recording formats: MP4/H.264

Conclusion:

Both of the devices have an almost similar price, but Lumia 550 is a downgrade from Lumia 540, as it lacks many features and hardware quality, especially when you talk about cameras. Microsoft is providing Black and White color, with matte and glossy back covers respectively. By launching the Lumia 550, Microsoft made a big mistake as in developing countries like India, many of us prefer to buy affordable phones with better hardware specs rather than high pricing of any device.

However, Lumia 550 has its own advantages over Lumia 540, as it supports Glance, which is very useful feature to see time and date without even unlocking the screen. The device also supports living Images and Motion Data. So it is a tough choice between these two devices.

On other hand, recently Microsoft also announced Lumia 640 with better specs compared to the Lumia 550, excluding front camera. Lumia 640 supports Glance screen, advanced camera features, 1080p video capture, SensorCore. If you are looking forward to purchase the Lumia 550, first have a look on specs of both of these devices.