Microsoft has yet another new mid-ranger, and at first glance, that's not bad.

Almost exactly a year after the Lumia 640 was first announced, what you'd consider its direct successor has made its not-so-grand appearance. Announced with little more than a quiet press release the Lumia 650 was revealed and put on sale within a few days of each other. And both before Mobile World Congress, the annual event in Barcelona, Spain, and the setting for a double 640 launch 12 months ago with Stephen Elop taking the stage. A lot has happened since then.

Windows 10 Mobile is officially a thing, and while it's still not officially been announced for existing devices as I write this, the Lumia 650 is now the fourth new phone to go on sale running Microsoft's latest attack on the smartphone space. Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more What we have here is a fresh retail unit picked up from the Carphone Warehouse in the UK for £139.99 plus a £20 top up on O2 pay-as-you-go. Before boarding the plane to Barcelona, I've had just enough time to crack open the box and take a quick first look, so read on for some first impressions. The specs

Category Specification Operating System Windows 10 Mobile Display 5-inches

HD (1280x720) AMOLED, ClearBlack Rear Camera 8MP

f/2.2 aperture

720p Video Recording Front Camera 5MP

Still image capture

Video call

Video recording Processors Qualcomm Snapdragon 212

Quad-core

1.3GHz

Memory & Storage RAM: 1GB

Internal storage: 16GB (expandable up to 200GB) Network GSM Bands: 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz

LTE Bands: Band 1, Band 3, Band 7, Band 8, Band 20

Wi-Fi: IEE 802.11 b/g/n

Sensors Accelerometer

Ambient light sensor

Proximity sensor Location A-GLONASS

A-GPS

Cellular

Wi-Fi network positioning Dimensions 6.9 x 142 x 70.9 mm Ports Micro-USB Battery 2000 mAh Other NFC

Bluetooth 4.1

The hardware

I'm going to get this out of the way right now: This is how Microsoft should have designed the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. Despite its budget nature, the Lumia 650 has a look and feel to it that defies its price tag. All it took was a hint of metal. The back is still plastic and removable, but that svelte metal frame makes such a difference. This is the nicest feeling out of box Lumia since Microsoft started putting its own name on them. I have the black version here which means a black front and a matte rear panel. The only breaks on the back are a slight hump for the camera and an embossed Microsoft logo. Traditionally I steer clear of the black versions of cheaper Lumia phones because they look horribly cheap. Not in this case. The black-gunmetal-black approach looks fantastic. This phone is almost unnaturally light as well. The battery in the back may 'only' be 2000mAh, but it's crazy light. Almost like there's nothing at all inside. Round the front is a 720p AMOLED display at 5-inches, and it looks great. Zero issues with quality so far, colors look beautiful; blacks are black, and text is sharp enough. It's not the highest pixel density you'll find on a 5-inch phone, but if anyone tells you that this display looks anything other than good, they're probably lying. Microsoft doesn't seem to struggle to put a good display on a phone, and it continues it seems with the Lumia 650. The software