Microsoft Lumia 640 U.S. ads star Cortana

The Microsoft Lumia 640 launched in the U.S. today and is now available from Cricket for $129.99. That price is for the whole kit and kaboodle. The phone is expected to soon be available at AT&T and T-Mobile. With the handset now available in the states, Microsoft has produced a series of four 15 second ads for the device that not only feature the Lumia 640, but also star Windows Phone personal assistant Cortana.

One ad shows how Cortana can give you a timely reminder so that you don't look foolish in front of investors looking to fund your start-up company. Another spot shows what could happen without Cortana giving a reminder to a forgetful husband. The virtual voice activated personal assistant can also make sure that there is cake for your kid's birthday party so that she doesn't have to blow out candles on an oven-cooked ham. Cortana says that she will nudge you about picking up a birthday cake when you go past any bakery. The last ad features a late arriving weatherman showing the effects of rushing in to work late, something that would not have happened had Cortana given him an update about the traffic on the roads he takes to the studio.

The Microsoft Lumia 640 features a 5-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 720 x 1280. That works out to a pixel density of 294ppi. The Snapdragon 400 SoC is inside featuring a quad-core 1.2GHz CPU and the Adreno 305 GPU handling graphics. 1GB of RAM is inside with 8GB of native storage. Those requiring additional memory can turn to the 128GB capacity microSD slot. An 8MP camera is on back (with an aperture of f/2.2) and a .9MP camera is on front. A 2500mAh battery keeps the lights on.

Besides the Lumia 640, AT&T plans on offering the Microsoft Lumia XL. The latter features a larger 5.7-inch screen; but thanks to the same HD resolution, the pixel density is lowered to 259ppi. The same Snapdragon 400 chipset is on board. Besides the screen, among the major differences is the 13MP rear camera with an aperture of f/2.0. This should allow you to capture quality pictures even under low-light conditions. There will also be a 5MP snapper adorning the front of the phone. With the larger screen comes a larger 3000mAh battery.

Check out all four ads by clicking on our video slideshow below!


source: Microsoft (1), (2), (3), (">4) via WindowsCentral