Lumia 850 Renders Appear, Mid Range Phone Still MIA

Early last October, Microsoft unveiled what would be its Windows 10 Mobile flagship, not a Surface Phone, but the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. Then just last week, it announced the Lumia 550, what would become the first entry level for the shiny new Windows 10 OS. With both ends of the device spectrum set, all that's missing is a mid tier offering. Supposedly, that spot will be filed in by the Lumia 850, whose latest renders just appeared over the weekend. Sadly, the smartphone itself has yet to make an appearance.

Although a mid-range device, the Lumia 850 was expected to be big, both in size and in looks. It's still going to be plastic, mind you, but it would still look decent, especially from a distance. Perhaps except for that hump in the middle for the camera.

As for the size, it is rumored to sport a 5.7-inch display with a 1080p resolution. That takes it squarely into the phablet category and into the Lumia 950 XL's territory. However, it will be driven by a Snapdragon 617 supposedly, the chip maker's mid to high range processor. Shouldn't be too shabby for a middle ground.

Not much is known about the rest of the specs, but the renders to hint at an iris scanner on the top right corner of the front face. If that is accurate, then the Lumia 850 would be the first non-flagship smartphone to support Windows Hello facial recognition security system.

This latest batch renders displayed a "December 12" date on lockscreen, whch sadly gave false hope of an announcement on that said date. At this point, there is no new conjecture when the Lumia 850 will actually debut.

VIA: Nokiapoweruser