FollowNokia has finally given in to the big screen trend currently in vogue in the smartphone segment with the Lumia 625. With a 4.7 inch display, it is the biggest Lumia device so far, which puts it in the same league as the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One while being priced half as much. The latter bit though is justified by a rather modest internal make up which comprises of a dual core Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, a 512 MB RAM along with 8 GB of internal storage. Adding a micro SD card is also possible, which extends the memory to up to 64 GB. That’s not all for also included in the package is 7 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage completely free. Powering the device is a battery rated at 2000 mAh, which Nokia claims is good enough for 15.2 hours of talk time on 3G.
Like other Lumia devices, the 625 too is made of plastic though the build quality is excellent. The device does have that built-to-last feel to it. It offers interchangeable covers available in attractive shades of green, yellow, white, black, red as well as orange. It does take a lot of effort to rip off the covers though. These apart, the 625 is extremely comfortable to hold and operate, aided by a light weight of just 158g as well as a curved back similar to that of the Lumia 720.
However, the 800 x 480 Gorilla Glass 2 display brought to life by 201 pixels every square inch isn’t anything to write home about but can be considered quite adequate for most purposes.
Running the entire show is Windows Phone 8 operating system codenamed Amber, the same that does duty on the Lumia 1020. What this implies is that the 625 shares some of the apps with the Lumia 1020 such as the Smart Camera app. Onboard is a 5 megapixel primary camera along with LED flash that can fire bursts of 7 images at a time. The smartphone also features the Nokia Here Maps app but does not include other qualities such as NFC or wireless charging to keeps costs low.
Exact prices hasn’t be revealed yet though buyers surely won’t have to dig deep to buy the biggest Lumia device. It will be launched in various world markets around Q3, 2013.
Having slim covers in multiple colors is a brilliant idea. They protect the phone without adding to its bulk and allow the user to change the color of the case when the change the color of their theme. I hope other Windows phone makers follow suit. I would love to be able to change out a cyan cover and theme for a burgundy one.