Lumia 640 and 640XL to go on sale from $299

Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will be among the first to range Microsoft’s 4G Lumia range in Australia when they go on sale from early May.

Launching locally is the Lumia 640 at $299 and the Lumia 640 XL at $399. Both smartphones will succeed the popular Lumia 635 from Nokia.

The Lumia 640 has a large 5-inch, HD display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1-megapixel front facing camera and a 2500 milliamp-hour battery.

The XL variant is larger at 5.7-inches, has a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front camera and a bigger 3000 milliamp-hour battery.

Computing innards for both smartphones include a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. More memory can be added with support for microSD cards up to 128GB in size.

Differentiating Microsoft's Lumia smartphones from most prepaid offerings is a compatibility with 4G networks. Motorola’s popular Moto G, for instance, offers dual-SIM functionality over 3G networks.

Microsoft is bundling both smartphones with a suite of its services, including a one year subscription to Office 365 and a terabyte of OneDrive storage.

The Windows 8.1 smartphones will be upgradable to Windows 10.

Optus and Telstra will be stocking the Lumia 640, while Vodafone will range the larger 640XL. Retailer Harvey Norman will be selling both of the smartphones.

Good Gear Guide has already gone hands on with the Lumia 640 at the Mobile World Congress.