The Lumia 650 from Microsoft is now Official

The Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile heartbeat continues.

Today Microsoft has made it official and revealed the details about the release of the Lumia 650 a new mid-range handset targeted at business users.

Over on the Windows Devices blog, Samuli Hänninen who joined Microsoft as part of the Nokia acquisition, discusses the 650's place in Microsoft's device portfolio.

"We’re extremely proud of the Lumia 650 and believe it will quickly be seen as the device that provides the perfect balance between work and personal needs."

The new handset is available starting today in certain European markets, I have looked but can not locate a list though, and has a suggested retail price of $199 before the extra taxes and fees.

On the outside this is a great looking phone with what appears to be a premium feel with the polished anodized aluminum frame, just 6.9mm  (.27 inches) thick and weighing just 122 grams (4.3 ounces).

It also has the following features:

You can see all of the spec details on the Lumia 650 spec page.

It is strange that the Lumia 650, a device being marketed towards business users, does not support either Continuum or Windows Hello which are two productivity and security related features on the Lumia 950 and 950 XL.

It is also placed, product name wise, between the Lumia 640 and the Lumia 950/950 XL handsets but actually has mixed specs compared to the 640 itself so it may not be an an ideal upgrade for those devices.  Most users will read 650 and believe it is a good upgrade to the 640 devices just using a common sense approach but the 640 has a Snapdragon 400 processor and a 2500 mAh battery compared to the 650.

To its benefit the 650 does have a better front facing camera, a slightly faster clock speed (1.3 GHz vs 1.2GHz) and 16GB of onboard storage compared to the 640's 8GB.

The other interesting aspect of this phones release is it will only be available in Europe initially however, this makes sense as it is a region that Lumia phones enjoy a larger chunk of market share compared to the US. A phone with these specs and price point may be an attractive upgrade for low end Lumia handset owners over there.

No word on when and/or if this device will arrive in the US.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.