Microsoft has released a statement as to why the newly released Lumia 650 is devoid of support for Continuum.
Earlier this week, Microsoft officially announced a new entry-level smartphone called Lumia 650. The smartphone is advertised as a low cost business handset. It comes preloaded with Microsoft Office 365 apps.
However, the smartphone does not support Continuum, a feature that allows users to connect the handset to a larger screen to view its contents. The larger display can function as a full-fledged PC along with a mouse and a keyboard.
The Lumia 950 and 950 XL flagship smartphones from 2015 are the first smartphones from the Redmond giant to come with support for Continuum. Microsoft has released a statement on why the entry-level Lumia 650 is devoid of Continuum feature, Slash Gear reported.
The main reason why Continuum feature is unavailable for Lumia 650 is that it comes with low-end specs. In order for Continuum to work, a Microsoft Lumia smartphone needs to be powered by one of the three Snapdragon SoCs, namely, Snapdragon 617, Snapdragon 808 or Snapdragon 810. Also, the chipset should be accompanied by 2 GB of RAM.
The modest Lumia 650 has the low-powered Snapdragon 212 chipset that is coupled with 1 GB of RAM. The next question Lumia fans may come to think is that why didn't Microsoft include higher specs on the Lumia 650.
The reason behind it is that the Redmond-based tech giant manufactures smartphones in different price categories. The Lumia 650 is expected to offer business related features at a low price. Apart from Office 365 apps, the smartphone also provides OneDrive storage and support for Cortana voice assistant, Phone Arena reported.
Microsoft is rumored to be working on Lumia 850, a midrange smartphone that is expected to replace Lumia 830 from 2014. The smartphone that is codenamed as Honjo is expected to feature Snapdragon 617 chipset which indicates that the handset will carry support for Continuum.
The other specs of the Lumia 850 include metallic design, full HD screen of 5.7-inch that offers a pixel density of 367 ppi and 2 GB of RAM. It is also expected to either feature a front-facing flash or an infrared scanner. Lastly, it will be sporting a slim profile of 6.92 mm. It is expected to release either in March or April this year.