EE has announced that it’s to be selling the Lumia 640 and 640 XL with WiFi Calling coming on for the ride.
Both of the latest Lumia phones will run Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box but have been promised an upgrade to Windows 10 later on.
Out of the box both of the phones will come with the latest Lumia Camera update, so you’ll be able to make use of cool features like Auto HDR and Dynamic Flash with those 8 and 13-megapixel snappers. Prices for the Lumia 640 and 640 XL on EE have yet to be announced and we don’t have a release date for these either.
Microsoft has said separately that the Lumia 640 will cost around €139 (£100) for the 3G version and €159 (£115) for the 4G LTE model SIM-free.
The bigger Lumia 640 XL phones will cost €189 (£140) and €219 (£160) for the 3G and 4G versions on their own, which gives us some indication of how much these will go for on EE pay as you go.
While we’re waiting to hear back from EE (and other networks) on prices, we’re also waiting to hear about how exactly the WiFi Calling service will work.
EE’s director of network services Tom Bennett told us last year that WiFi Calling would be a built-in process. When you’re connected to a WiFi network, your phone will route calls, texts and picture messages over that instead, if there’s a signal drought in your area.
Bennett said: “It’s the same as using your phone. You just go into the dialler and make a call. There’s no app, [you] just use the phone’s in-built functionality.”
WiFi Calling is also set to be baked into the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, although EE hasn’t announced if the service will be live by the time these phones hit the shelves.
Update: O2 has confirmed that it’ll be selling the Lumia 640 on pay as you go, but hasn’t released any other details as of yet.
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