Nokia Lumia 625 full review

Budget price, unimpressive specs, lots of colour
The Nokia Lumia 625 is a phone that is designed
to really hit two key things users are looking for:
cheap 4G and a larger screen.
It ticks both of those boxes, coming as it does
with a price tag of around £200 ($320, around
AUS$340) and offering a 4.7-inch display into
the bargain. However, given it's now competing
with up to 12 other Lumia choices, it doesn't
really stand out as well as it should.
The Lumia 625 isn't a bad phone though; it's
one that comes with a playful ethos thanks to
the return of interchangeable covers and the
same glut of Nokia fun on board.
This means Mix Radio to get free music on the
go, Nokia's Here mapping service to get you from
A to B without munching on reams of data
(important with 4G) and the new Smart Camera
for more interesting pictures to plop on
Facebook.
However there are some compromises here: the
City Lens, which is meant to unlock any new
territory with augmented reality, has disappeared,
as has NFC . The Smart Camera is only capable
of taking seven pictures, rather than the 10
offered by the Lumia 925 , and each of these on
the newer phone will only be 1MP resolution.
In our tests these didn't look too bad - the speed
of shooting wasn't amazing, but within tolerance
for a phone of this price. However, blow these up
and we suspect you're going to be quite
disappointed with the quality levels.
The lack of NFC won't worry too many people,
but it does take away one of the cooler elements
of the phone, as it means you can no longer tap
to pair with Nokia's range of wireless
headphones and speaker docks. It also makes
the addition of a Wallet app Wireless charging
isn't included either, but given the added cost
this brings, we can see why it's out.
What is more confusing, in both a good and bad
way, is the spec list. Firstly, the phone is a little
heavier than you might expect from something
covered in plastic (admittedly rubberised
polycarbonate), as it tips the scales at 159g. It's
also only got 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal
storage - with less available thanks to the OS.
But don't worry about that, as you can now put
a 64GB microSD card in there too in order to add
in movies and music and photos without having
to constantly connect up to your computer (or
save it on the 7GB of SkyDrive storage on offer).
In the hand, the Nokia Lumia 625 doesn't feel
really impressive, nor does it feel cheap. It just
feels, well, uninspiring. It's rounded in a nice
way, it's a little thick but squarely hits the marks
you'd expect for a phone that is half the cost
(and then some) of the Samsung Galaxy S4 .
Windows Phone 8 is nicely packaged with the
larger screen, and even the WVGA resolution (800
x 640) doesn't irk as much as it should.
It's also got a dedicated camera button and the
removable shell for changing the colour of your
phone to suit an outfit - and no matter what
happens we can't help but love that, whether you
see it as some beautiful nostalgia or just
something that means you're not carrying around
an identikit black oblong in your pocket.
But there's nothing really impressive to say
about the Lumia 625. It has got a larger screen,
but while it doesn't look horrendous, colours
aren't as vivid, web browsing is pixelated when
zoomed out and although we couldn't test any,
video is unlikely to look stellar.
We honestly don't think users are wanting
cheaper 4G phones just yet - in the UK 4G is still
a luxury, and many users want something that
will actually work and delight rather than just
offer a faster connection.
We still don't have any idea on a global release
for this phone beyond 'Q3' although we do know
it will be landing in the UK during September.
Early verdict
We walked away from playing with the Nokia
Lumia 625 feeling distinctly underwhelmed. In a
vacuum, this would be an interesting device, with
a larger screen and low price point for Windows
Phone.
But the 625 is a handset with around 11
Windows Phone brethren, and that makes it hard
to work out where this fits. The Lumia 620 is not
long into this world and already it's being
upgraded, and it's with a phone that doesn't feel
anything like an evolution. Depending on the
shop, a user could be left thoroughly confused
about which phone is right for them.
Is a larger screen the most important thing to
some people? Is 4G so entrenched that users are
desperate to get it cheaper? Is a low end phone
in a sea of others going to make any waves? The
answer to all of these questions feels like a
resounding no, which means we can only wonder
if the Lumia 625 will survive without any other
USPs.
However, fingers crossed this heralds a move
from Nokia to start to bring larger-screened
phones to the world - something like that 4.7-
inch screen at a higher resolution would be a
much more attractive choice.
Lower carrier subsidy could push the 625 into a
decent proposition for some and it may benefit
from a major marketing push when the big UK 4G
rollout comes later this year, but without that we
can see the phone sinking without a trace.