Pros |
Cons |
+ Great value |
- Average battery |
+ Windows 10 |
- Plain design |
+ 4G |
- Lower spec processor |
"The Microsoft Lumia 550 is an incredibly good value handset. It lacks some features and specs but as a basic smartphone it's a winner".
The Lumia range in part consists of high end phones like the Microsoft Lumia 950, but usually tends to be more successful at the lower end, with Windows providing surprisingly solid performance on basic hardware.
It’s at this end that the Microsoft Lumia 550 slots in, but with 4G and Windows 10 Mobile on board it’s well set up to help you make the most of the mobile world. But with a price of under £100 there must be some cut corners, right?
The Microsoft Lumia 550 has a 4.7-inch 720 x 1280 screen, which is fairly large and high-resolution for a budget phone, giving it a pixel density of 315 pixels per inch. That’s nowhere near flagship territory, but it does make it pretty crisp and clear.
Visuals aren’t the richest we’ve ever seen, so if you want colours that pop out of the screen you’ll want to look elsewhere- perhaps to one of the Super AMOLED phones favoured by Samsung, but it’s pretty impressive overall for a budget handset and with Gorilla Glass 3 it’s also got basic protection from scrapes and scratches.
There’s not much to say about the design of the Microsoft Lumia 550. It has a plastic shell like most Lumia’s and it’s only available in black or white, so fans of colour may be disappointed.
It’s very plain and sports big bezels above and below the screen, marking it out as a low end handset. It’s also not slim at 9.9mm thick or light at 141.9g, but it’s solidly built and the cover can be removed, allowing you to also remove the battery, which is still of value to some.
There’s a 1.1GHz quad-core Snapdragon 210 processor and 1GB of RAM at the heart of the Microsoft Lumia 550.
That’s not a powerful spec, but Windows Phone has never needed much power so you can expect fairly slick performance from it. Having said that if you’re planning on playing demanding games or really pushing the hardware in other ways you might be better off spending a little more on something with more grunt.
You don’t usually get much camera for so little money and the Lumia 550 is no exception, but it doesn’t put in an awful showing.
There’s a 5MP snapper on the back with an LED flash, while round the front there’s a 2MP camera, which is more than adequate for selfies.
The main camera is capable of reasonable shots as long as the light is good, but it suffers in poor lighting. For video you get footage in 720p at 30fps. That’s not special, but it will do in a pinch.
The main feature of the Microsoft Lumia 550 is Windows 10 Mobile. It is one of the first handsets to run it out of the box and it brings powerful features like the best version of Cortana yet, a new web browser, Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneDrive and a more customisable look than Windows Phone of old.
Aside from that it’s worth highlighting the presence of 4G on such a cheap handset. This ensures you’ll be able to take advantage of the fastest data speeds your network has to offer.
The Microsoft Lumia 550 has a 2,100 mAh battery. That’s not massive but it should be plenty for a phone of this size and power. The phone is quoted for up to 14 hours of talk time, 60 hours of music or 672 hours of standby, which in practice equates to slightly above average battery life. Like so many other handsets it will last a day of moderate use, but if you use it heavily, particularly for videos or gaming, it will need a mid-afternoon boost.
The handset comes in just one size and it’s not big at 8GB, but it also has a microSD card slot with support for cards of up to 200GB, so you’ll have plenty of space to play with.
Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G and Bluetooth 4.1, so all it’s really missing is NFC, which can’t be expected at this price.
The Microsoft Lumia 550 is packed full of features. The star of the show, other than the price, is surely Windows 10 Mobile itself, which gives users a whole lot of power, with a suite of apps, customisation options and improvements.
Couple that with a great screen (for the price), a reasonable camera, expandable storage, 4G and a sturdy build and the Microsoft Lumia 550 starts to look like a real bargain.
It’s not the most powerful phone around and it lacks advanced features like NFC and fingerprint scanners, but given that this phone retails for just £99.99 (and is already less than that in many stores) you’ll be hard pressed to do much better for the money. Plus, if you want Windows 10 Mobile this is one of the most affordable and best entry points.
Style and Handling: 3/5
User Friendliness: 4.5/5
Feature Set: 4/5
Performance: 3/5
Battery: 3.5/5
Overall Score: 4/5
