Microsoft Lumia 650 release date in US, Canada: Shipment to commence in April

Microsoft is all set to bring the Lumia 650 dual SIM to the United States and Canada, almost a month after its announcement. The smartphone is now up for pre-orders in these countries and the shipment will start early next month.

The Lumia 650 dual SIM is priced at $199 (unlocked) in the U.S. and Canada. It is currently up for pre-orders on Microsoft's online store and the shipment is set to begin April 1. The move comes just a couple of days after the company said, while responding to a Twitter user's query, that it would make an announcement on the availability of the device in the U.S. very soon. 

Microsoft unveiled the Lumia 650 Feb. 15 and released it in select European markets three days later. It didn't reveal the availability of the device in the U.S. at the time of its announcement, but speculations were rife that Cricket Wireless would bring it to the country.

The Lumia 650 sports a 5-inch HD AMOLED display with 1,280x720 pixels (297 ppi pixel density), measures 142.0x70.9x6.9 mm in dimension and weighs 122 g. It has an aluminium-based metal frame, run on Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 10 Mobile, and is available in matte black and matte white colours.

Under the hood, the device has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 processor clocking at 1.3GHz, an Adreno 304 GPU, an 8MP camera with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture and 28 mm lens, and a 5MP wide-angle front-snapper with f/2.2 aperture. It also comes packed with a 16GB internal memory, expandable up to 200GB via microSD card, a 1GB RAM and a 2,000mAh battery.

In terms of connectivity, the Lumia 650 supports 4G-LTE, micro-USB v2.0, Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n/), NFC, 3.5 mm audio jack, A-GLONASS/A-GPS and FM radio.