NOKIA Lumia 625 Pro Reviews

So, does Nokia need another budget Lumia? Well, yes. We get what the company was trying to achieve with the Lumia 625: 4G on a shoestring. In that respect, mission accomplished. We can't help but feel, though, that Nokia hasn't quite nailed the niche that it set out to, leaving space for a similar budget offering that's LTE-capable, and better executed. We're not sure whether any of the big US carriers will add the 625 to their roster yet. In the UK, however, where Vodafone and O2 have just joined EE in the LTE club, the handset can be had for £179 (close to $280) on pay-as-you-go, or free from £21 (almost $33) per month on contract. (It's available on all three 4G networks). For that kind of money, the 625 is a pretty attractive proposition, but it could be better. Would it have killed Nokia to put an extra 512MB of RAM in there, especially since it went to the trouble of upgrading the CPU from previous budget efforts? Furthermore, the handset could've done with a smaller display, even if it would've made it slightly thicker. Keep the same resolution and preserve the battery life; just improve the ppi and make it Glance Screen-compatible. Alas, it's too late now. It's not a terrible device by any means, but, despite the 4G radio, it didn't charm us like the 620 did. Maybe the Lumia 725 will.

There's plenty to like about the Lumia 625; another budget Nokia without the budget compromises that make Landfill Android™ cheapies such a rotten experience. But until the networks step up and offer 4G on a budget, it's going to be in that curious spot. When low-cost LTE SIM-only deals are eventually introduced, Nokia's older Lumias offer more features and better value. For example, the 820 has relatively poor battery life but does include wireless charging, a zippier platform, and better camera, and can be picked up for close to £200. Even the Xmas 2012 Lumia flagship, the 920 with a fantastic camera and 32MB of built-in memory, is below £300 and falling fast. Perhaps there's a niche for the 625 for regular 3G punters, given its comfort factor and amazing battery life? But right now, the consumer proposition is this: if you want 4G, you have to pay a premium, and if you're paying a premium, you want a bit of diamond on your ring.

In the Lumia lineup, the 625 is the intersection of the 820 and the compact 620. It's kind of hard to speak of influences actually, considering the Lumia 625 has the biggest screen in the family, beating even the reigning flagship. Anyway, by going for the screen estate, you'd need to sacrifice the NFC support of the Lumia 620, the AMOLED screen and the 8MP Carl Zeiss-certified camera of the 820. And to be honest, the Lumia 720 is probably the best-looking option in the Finnish midrange. At the end of the day though, we're talking a phone portfolio that will soon be Microsoft's to worry about. Screen size is what makes the Lumia 625 stand out without drawing all the attention to itself. It's just a regular squad member filing in a blank spot. But it could well be your kind of phone if you want all the screen real estate you can afford.

The Nokia Lumia 625 is a big, bright and colourful Windows Phone 8 handset. If you're looking for a 4G capable smartphone on a budget then this is a great buy. It has good build and performance but has limited internal storage and a mediocre camera.

Nokia Lumia 625 review £239 It's big, it's quick and it has a good camera, but we're put off slightly by the screen's low pixel density

The Nokia Lumia 625 convinces in the test as an overall reliable smartphone at a small cost and studded with many advantages in its favor. We like the high-grade processing of the case, the all in all smooth and quick operation under Windows 8 Phone as well as a speed for applications and games that leaves nothing to be desired. Many other positive equipment features catch our eye as well. For example, the Lumia 625 allows to establish internet connections via LTE with a speed of up to 100 MBit/s. The decent 5 megapixels main camera takes adequate pictures and can on top of that record videos in Full HD. Plus points are also awarded for the consistently good battery runtimes. Of course there are also some drawbacks: The available memory space is with almost 5 GB not particularly generous. The purchase of a microSD card is especially mandatory when the smartphone is meant to be used as multimedia center, meaning storing lots of songs, pictures and videos on it. We would have appreciated an interchangeable battery just as much as a slightly higher display brightness. It is more than adequate indoors but due to the highly reflective surface it can cause some issues outdoors. Ultimately it is not the fault of the Lumia 625 that the supply of apps in the Windows Store is quite negligible in comparison to Google Play - however it should not go unmentioned, especially since the store is the only option to obtain applications for the smartphone.

The Nokia Lumia 625 comes with a fairly large 4.7” display and 4G LTE on a budget, but there are a few things that hold it down. We like the smooth performance and the fun colors, but the low-res display seems out of place on today’s market. Moreover, the average camera and limiting 512MB of RAM are all considerable downsides. The real question however is can the Windows Phone powered Lumia 625 survive in today'sfiercely competitive market? Truth comes in comparison, and among its few Windows Phone peers, the Lumia 625 has little competition – there just isn't another similarly affordable device to offer such a large display. So if you want to experiment with a different platform, and value a large display, the Nokia Lumia 625 is not a bad way to start and one that won’t cost you a lot of money. Looking over to other platforms, though, the Android based Sony Xperia SP looks like a much better deal at around the same price – it has a 720p 4.6” display, better camera, double the RAM and 4G LTE connectivity as well. And if 4G is not high on your list of priorities, devices like the Samsung Galaxy Core or the Sony Xperia L could deliver similar performance with a 480p display at a fraction of the price.

Nokia went big with the Lumia 625, making it the largest Lumia device to date (as of late August 2013). The record-setting device sports a premium build and wide mixture of high-end and budget features. On the premium end, the 625 has a large screen, long promised battery life, and support for LTE in some areas. The phone shows its budget side with poor screen resolution and an unimpressive camera. All those features combine to create a well-built phone that's overall unremarkable and dull, despite its bright colors. When you consider all of the Lumia 625's specs, and its reasonable 220-euro price, the device is a great value for its smooth design and solid performance. Get the Lumia 625 if you want a big phone, can get LTE in your area, and care more about screen size than resolution.

The Nokia Lumia 625 adds another carriage to the runaway Lumia train - there's barely been pause for breath between Nokia's latest Windows 8 smartphones of late. So what does the middle-spec Lumia add to the lineup? Well, the 625 is something of a contextual oddball. It breaks new ground in the Lumia series as it pushes the screen size up and out a larger to 4.7-inches - ok, we know it's only 0.2-inches larger than its nearest Lumia brothers - yet it's surrendered resolution and quality for the sake of landing at the right budget. It's an affordable phone, after all.

A huge, long-lasting smartphone at an exceptionally keen price – only the limited screen resolution disappoints