Microsoft's canceled Lumia 750 'Guilin' Windows Phone gets showcased on video

As we all know by now, Microsoft decided at some point in 2015 that they were going to retrench their Mobile efforts, which meant a few of the planned phones they were expecting to release in 2015 and 2016 were canceled. The Lumia 550, 650 and 950 were released, but the Lumia 750 and 850 were killed before making it to market.

Today, a new video by Nokibar, known for showcasing unreleased Lumia products, have now had a chance to go hands on with the Lumia 750, also known as the Lumia "Guilin" Windows 10 Mobile device. According to Nokibar, the Lumia 750 was actually spec'd more like a Lumia 555:

1GB RAM
8GB Internal Storage
5.0" 1280x720 IPS Display
Snapdragon 210/212 Processor
2020 mAh Battery
5MP Main Shooter
5MP Front Shooter

So by no means was the Lumia "Guilin" going to be shaking up the mobile industry. Both the Lumia 750 and Lumia 850 handsets were killed internally, along with any plans to release new Lumia devices down the line. The Lumia 650 is the last Lumia that Microsoft plans to make, meaning if Microsoft plan to release a new phone in the future, it'll be under another brand.

Regardless, it's sad to see these echos of what could have been for Lumia throughout 2016, and we're pretty sure Windows Phone fans would have loved to see a Lumia 750 and 850 hit the market at some point. Regardless, what are your thoughts on the Lumia 750 specs? Let us know.

Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows 10 on PCs, tablets, phones, and more. Also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch on Twitter: @zacbowden.

120 Comments

Pretty bad specs, REALLY pretty bad specs
The depends on the selling price. If it's cheap and chearful and sold to casual phone users who mostly want to make calls and watch cat videos on Youtube, then the specs are only a problem if the price is too high.
100$ could be an OK price for a phone like this. No more than that.
The 700 series was a mid ranged phone. No way those specs justified the would have been price. The specs are comparable to my Lumia 550, which is an entry level phone.
The Lumia 650 has much better specs...
I'm thinking it's the Lumia 555 or 551 because it has the same specs as the 550 but with on-or-two little improvements.
This really is a 500 series model given the IPS screen and small battery and rear camera. But it looks Nokia had bought a disturbingly high stock of SD210/212 chipsets
The problem is the branding, actually. The 700 series is a mid-range classification. This is 500-series hardware. The price of the 700 series generally belongs in the $300 range, probably. This is a $100-150 set of specs. It's more like a 550, it's not even that far above the 540, is it? That launched with a SD200, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage, and an 8 MP camera that paired with te 5 MP one up front. Arguably, this is WORSE than a 540 even, since that had a large (2200 mAh) battery and the same deisplay specs (5" 720p IPS LCD).
Just another example of how out of touch with reality Microsoft really is. Those who still have money invested in this company: get out while you still can!
Nadella should of kept the Lumia brand as the lower cost line and made Surface Phone high end. To kill the brand after buying it was nuts. Wish balmer had stayed.
The specs suck. Looks like a downgrade from 730
Yeah 730 was quite a good phone.
Is !
Same like how the 650 was to the 640.
This 750 would be a downgrade from the 650. That's rough.
The 650 is pretty good though. Wouldn't call it a down grade, just a slight improvement
This was never going to be the Lumia 750. Surely that is obvious. I'm not sure why Windows central are referring to it as the 750 just because the word Guilin was once loosely assumed to be the 750. Clearly this was never the 750. The same happened last year with the supposed Lumia 850 leaks that in the end turned out to be the cancelled Lumia 650XL.
Yeah. I was planning to buy the rumored "750" two years ago, but I'm happy I decided to get a 640 instead.
It's almost the same specs as the Lumia 540. Same RAM, storage, display, FFC, and smaller battery and rear camera, in exchange for a small SoC bomp.
Hahah after taking so much of time now they are coming up with this!!
This was from 2015/2016. RTA.
Sure, but iut's also a spec line on-par with the Lumia 540 that released in 2015, but with a name that would suggest it's a mid-range device. Those are entry-level specs, the kind of stuff you see in $150 smartphones.
Reading comprehension is not your strong suite is it?
"suite" Pot, be nice to kettle.
Reading comprehension and bad spelling are two different things. Just saying.. But yeah... you got me. Lol.
Just as well it was cancelled. Pointless device. As already stated, poor specs.
Agreed, I'm glad they cancelled it also.
Now, what about that new hardware for 2017 MS?
They don't have a mobile hardware division anymore...... And after dropping all those windows phone devices only 11 devices will gonna get creators update......That's all......Windows mobile is dead officially now.
Nope... Wrong again. First: 13 devices, not 11 and that is more than Android devices getting the android 7 update... Just shut up with those "official" statements as long as there are none.
Isn't Panos Panay in charge of all hardware including mobile devices, I.e. his team is the mobile hardware division now instead of the old Nokia team? Also I don't think 11 devices getting a new update signals the death of anything (not to say it isn't dead already, that argument will live on for a few years yet I'm sure). I've never understood the upset behind old devices not being updated, for me at least by the time they finally release an update I'm ready for a new device anyway.
Hahaha rub it in to these f...
Look at them crying and cursing 😂😂😂
They should have gone with the 6XX series.
Sould have gone with 550, since it's almost the same thing as the 540. It's even got a downgraded pixel count from the 540, while have the same RAM, display, storage, and front camera rating. It's a downgrade in rear camera and battery, while basically just being the annual incremental improvement on the SoC. Relative to its time, it was basically a 540 refresh with a few more compromises.
Wow they really dodged a bullet with those specs.
Even for its time they're abysmal.
Great article for a friday tho
Those are under 2012's Lumia 820 specs. Sheesh.
That's not the problem. It's that they're almost the same thing you find in the 540, yet it was promoted for the 700 line? It was a 550, but branded a 750. It's as dumb as their move to brand the 830 as an "affordable flaghsip" as it carried a 600-series SoC.
Makes me love my 650 even more
Good riddance, honestly. Looks just as uninspiring as the 950/XL, with downgraded specs. Barf. Lumia 730/735 shines in comparison.
Except that the 950/xl is actually a good phone. The back cover was a let down but beautified with the mozo accessory. Truly was/is a good phone.
The standard back cover on the 950 and 950XL may not seem aesthetically pleasing to everyone but they're damn durable. I'd been using the 950 with neither a case nor screen protector and the phone still looks fine. I wasn't being careful with it, neither. Heck... i even stomped the crap out of my 950XL (topic for a different thread) and I was bearly able to inflict major damage to the phone. I also stopped using the case and screen protector on my 625 (long scratch on screen, tho).
So, i feel I've wasted my money to buy covers and screen protectors for those phones. However, the novelty of owning two brand new phones (BOGO) is a strong, emotional experience. Oh well.
I actually like polycarbonate backs as well. I would've gone sans case if the 950 had that rubberized feel like the L810. But right now it's too slippery.
The 810 was awesome - deflowered only by its carrier...
The 810 was my first smart phone in 2012...and not even a year or 6 months in it was EOL'D. That was probably the least buggy windows phone I ever owned. Very smooth experience with that phone.
The 950 XL had been nothing but a disappointment for me. I have never owned a non-Microsoft smartphone, but the 950 XL and the state of Windows 10 Mobile have quickly proven to me that the platform is dead. I loved my 1520 and Windows Phone 8-8.1. I remember when people actually wanted Windows phones and when I could brag about the stability and innovative features of the platform. Windows 10 Mobile has removed most of the unique innovations of Windows Phone 8.1 and stability has gone way below Android and iOS. My 950 XL is NOT on the Insider program and yet it crashes about 5 times per day. Ans guess when it chooses to crash, right when I turn the display on. It is extremely frustrating when I go to the movie theater and pull out my phone for the online tickets and then have to wait a minute for my phone to restart.
You should get it repaired or at least looked at. I restart my phone (950xl) like once per week at most and I get many hours of daily use. You could have an intermittent hardware failure.
Yeah this is a common problem. I had the same thing; replace the battery.
Truly is an overpriced, also-ran phone. The specs are minimal flagship offerings for the time (they chose two SD chips that were about to be replaced and were some of the least-popular on the market, thanks to issues with heat). The back cover and chassis are pretty poor, leading to creaking issues. The display is incredibly smudge-prone. The Mozo cases were limited in their offerings and absurdly expensive, while not even offering protection to make them worthwhile (I still have to get a case to put over the $50 cover to protect it). The OS was a mess at launch. It was a relatively inferior product to its predecessors, the 920 and 930. Both were in similar power ranges for their time, but priced much better ($450 for my 920, $600 for my 950). They were the bare minimum Microsoft needed for the "flagship" label after the appallingly bad 830 launch.
Nothing like my Lumia 735. I broke my original battery cover though, unable to find a good one with NFC and Qi
https://stellatech.com/articles.php?cid=10845 11euros on this site. I buy all my spares from Stellatech
Well, they would now be unsupported anyhow. So just as well.
Nope. X50 series is supported by the update.
Too too weak!
My Lumia 730 is better than this **** piece with Microsoft brand. Just the 4.7 inch display fits perfectly in my hands and the processor is enough capable for my daily needs. And also....the design of my Lumia 730.....I love it.
While you definitely use the branding Microshaft in a negative connotation in your comment, do remember - everything up to 650 is a Nokia designed device. Honestly - if this is what was in the pipeline - good riddance. Not sure if the layoffs affected the design team, but the 550-750-950XL look absolutely terrible. 650 was modified slightly at Microsoft's request, and un-cancelled as a result. Overall, if this is what Nokia was churning out...Good riddance, Nokia?
Actually,No. The upcoming Nokia devices would be like the Nokia "McLaren". After the acquisition,the Surface team under Panos had design input,the x50 series is all Microsoft.
My 735 is amazing but the king of best design remains my 4 yr old 720 !
I'm more of a 5 inch guy, 4.7 feels too small for me. And that's why I love my 650 and 535 along many other things 😀
SO MSFT weren't going to release a mid tier device with Continuum???... Did MSFT ever think Continuum could be a point of difference when it was only supported on so few phones??? (And continuum really hasn't had any of the exciting updates that were talked about).
I REALLY REALLY don't understand what MSFT was thinking!!! So sad, they had something going and could have made it into something great! :-(
They were thinking to retrench to the cloud.
And fly away.
That frontal flash is quite interesting. Sad I can't say the same about the device that holds it
I think maybe Microsoft will come up with very limited high end devices "WindowsPhone" not the plastic ones like my 950xl I love it tho.. ..
Really! What is the point of articles like this?!
Is this your first day on the internet?
why bother they shouldn't release a phone again just use the samsungs like they are now. windows mobile is dead. microsoft failed time to give up 100% i was a fan no more.
This was from 2015. This is referenced in the opening paragraph.
either good or bad specs its sad to see these devices cancelled
Guys, remember few days back, the groove music app which has got blur finish ! Anyone got that update ? Im waiting for it !
It's a bad update. Drops your volume in groove by about 40%. Avoid the update if you can
It seems like Joe is a fan of China. Guilin is a city in China.
I don't know why you present it as such. But this is in no way a 750. And just because somebody else puts it in their title you should not just copy it. This is clearly the successor for the 535. So it's the 555, the marketing writes itself:
5 - inch display
5 - mp rear camera with flash
5 - mp front camera with flash Saying this is a canceled 750 is just dumb. Sorry for my language. But it has lower specifications then the 650 and there is no spec which can outshine the 730/5. Please correct this article. The 750 would have had a snapdragon 410+ processor without Continuum possibilities. And the 850 would be comparable to the Idol 4s.
I agree, this was clearly never meant to be the Lumia 750. It looks like a hybrid of a Lumia 550 and Lumia 640.
That is too little. I bet that if 850 had performance and specs close to 1520 (2gb/32Gb/10megapiks) with full HD in 950 dimensions and replaceable battery, it would would have been a hit if it was priced moderate.
Too bad we're not discussing a Lumia 1050 right now. MS Fail!
They canceled it cause specs are bad and not compatible with creators update 😅😅 ..
Very bad specs... Seems a downgrade...
Glad that they didn't release the phone
Please support us on feedback hub about leaving out phones. Here's the link
https://aka.ms/ew4n38
Jesus Christ. What's with the music and his pinky fingernail. Hahaha.
Although it is nice to lament retrospectively and what might have been, it's a pretty poor reflection the current status of Windows mobile. Here we have an article on a phone that's a couple of years old, meanwhile Android and Apple are experiencing the best of technology HW and SW with plenty to look forward to.
650 Lumia spec better than 750. It can't be.
Developing markets are being bombarded with Snapdragon 6XX & 4XX series phones for good value/price ratio, but MS loves to take a step back. Legacy support. Heh.
In the app list the letters A,B,C...were blue?!! What's that?
It's an older build of W10M, before they changed the UI of the app list from WP8.1 to match the W10 aesthetics.
Wow, and they probably would have charged in the upper midrange tier
Satya destroy microsoft mobile division! For me windows is dead i am using android and ubuntu! Goodbye stupid microsoft!
My mom or grandma would have loved this phone 😍
needs more juice. Processor, internal memory, camera(back and front) and screen resolution.
But other than that...
Worst design and even worse specs
You don't have news about W10 mobile and you publish cancelled phones...
Ha ha, also Surface Phone!
You sure this is the 750?
I'm surprised that they would even consider less than a 12MP camera and less than 2GB of RAM. At this point, it's difficult to imagine why exactly Microsoft spent the money they did to purchase Nokia. The smartphone world is far less now than what it was because of that decision.
This service looks just like the Lumia 640, 735, and all the other Lumias except the 800, 900, & 925, so they were supposed to cancel it! Honestly, I don't know why people were so upset when Microsoft cut those Nokia employees other than their camera technology and simply not wanting them to be out of work because if you guy think there design of the phones outside of the 925 was stunning then you have bad design taste.
In the video they mention 555 and on the image there is 555. Where does that 750 rumor comes from?
Microsoft did right thing if they release it as lumia 750 then it had been a disaster
Bad specs, not even midrange for 2015, glad they cancelled this phone, a chinese phone like ZTE Blade V6 with metal finish would have beaten this Lumia phone for less money
Forget 750. Lumia 730 is not getting the Creators Update. The worst thing about corporate world is that a small group of individuals decide what consumers should use. That is where Linux excels. Hopefully in coming times, 3D printing and AI will provide common man the power to close what to use and how to use it.
If the 750 was my only choice I would get it, just as the 635 was my only choice at one point of time with only 512MB of ram on the T-Mobile Network. The Alcatel Idol 4S of today looks like a beast compared to the 750 and runs like one.
Meh. Their entire x50 lineup is bad as they fired all people from Nokia.
Groover, you have never tried the Microsoft Lumia 650. It's really the diamond in the ruff. Feels so good in the hand, looks sharp, Windows 10 Mobile runs buttery smooth, has just what you need to get the job done. After the last update the L650 has gotten faster and snappy. They got it right with this model. If Microsoft could come out with this same phone but with the 617, 2 GB of RAM and a 12 megapixel camera for $200 they would be killing it. Good luck 🍀
You are right sir but what about app ecosystem. Every lumia has solid build quality and better performance. Only concern is app ecosystem.
Apps are what you make of them. I have more apps than I need. We won't count the phone and photos apps because for sure Microsoft has enough. Weather, check! I'm in Russia and Yandex weather app is tops. Yandex maps give me , traffic info and can even show me what bus is where and I can see them moving along their route. I can just sit in my home and wait for the bus to get close then go out and meet it as it pulls up to my stop. Yandex metro app, check, Yandex wallet, check, bank apps, check, train tickets, check, local train times, check, buying long distance train tickets, check, Yandex taxi, check. Buying anything online, check. Government services, check, NFC on bus, metro, trains, shops, check. I have, Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber, Telegram. We have VK (a Russian Facebook type thing) which syncs with my L650 and with each contact has "What's up" which will show me what they have posted and when, their phone number,birthday,website. I can just press on it and it takes me right to their page. YouTube I just go to the mobile site and I go to any other mobile version of anything else I don't have an app for. I don't need Snapchat. I never used it and didn't know about it until someone here mentioned it. I used Instagram but not Facebook. My wife uses Facebook but she goes to the mobile site and never used the app. She said she doesn't need it.
I actually watched a YouTube video today of the 640 vs the 650 and he pretty much said what you were saying. But he also compared the prices at $200 vs $40 (AT&T).
I'm comparing this to the 640 and it's pretty close. The camera choice is different (5/5 vs 8/2) and CPU (210 vs 400). I love the 640 and it only cost $30 from Cricket.
640 is a solid device as fas as W10M is concerned
I doubt if its Lumia 750. Looked more like an upgrade of Lumia 550.
That phone was dead anyway what's the point of that low end processor the 850 and 750 Lumia phone should've had 600 series processors in them at that point.
Looks like they did us a favor.
What a step back that is.
Retrenchment...what a great business plan that was.
Lucklily cancelled 1GB ram and 8GB storage are nothing!..
Is this phone coming?????
You didnt go to school, right?
Microsoft where are your replaacements for the LUmia smart phones you no longer sell. Microsoft you should know by now that there wont be much confidence in people to buy ANY Windows smart phones if you wont even make two new Windows 10 mobile smart phones. It's nice to look at Old devices but this device with these specs was a dud to me becuase I think a smart phone needs a faster CPU & at least 16 gigs of main storage memory and 2 gigs of ram and an 8 mega pixel back auto focus image stablized camera and a USB C porrt to take on Windows 10 Mobile OS to get people to even considering buying one
Nothing new here , relatively low specs phone . The 650 has 16 gigs of storage , the 750 has only 8 what's the point ? Existing 550 , 650 , and 950 cover the whole range . No need for more models if lower specs then the 950 which is quite low cost nowadays at less then $300 sim free . Just keep on improving Win 10 mobile as is done now
1GB RAM and 8GB storage? In 2016? And the Galaxy S3 had that screen resolution in 2013. This would be pathetic had this phone been released
Nothing good to say, so I'm just gonna add this: #FireNadella
its a 640.
Guess the new mobile brand would be surface instead of lumia hopefully

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