NOKIA Lumia 925 Pro Reviews

Nokia decided to give the Lumia 925 a metal-band design which gives the device a nice touch in its aesthetics, and it offers a slight difference when compared to other released Lumia devices. The Lumia 925 feels like a slightly lower version than the Lumia 920 and Lumia 928 as it has the same 1.5GHz dual-core processor, but it keeps its internal storage low with only 16GB of space and only 1GB of RAM. With that said, we still enjoyed our time with the Lumia 925 as it felt quick and responsive for the most part, its screen offered some really impressive visuals and some of the included software, such as Nokia Smart Cam and HERE Maps, can easily compete with similar included software available on iOS and Android devices. The Windows Phone 8 platform is still not as widely adopted as iOS and Android, but things are slowly getting better, so keep that in mind if you’re seriously considering the Lumia 925.

Nokia has fixed several of the biggest complaints leveled at the Lumia 920. In fact, the Lumia 925 feels like a Windows Phone pitched at people who think they're going to buy an Android phone next. The colors and design are more understated; the hardware is thinner and lighter, and arguably just as impressive as the HTC One or the iPhone. Our complaints about the Windows Phone ecosystem still stand, and we don't see that changing much in the next six months. Despite that, Nokia has improved on the software to ensure that while the Lumia 925 stands out from the rest of the series at launch, all of its smartphones will benefit from notable improvements like the Glance screen and the Smart Camera app. It's good news for Lumia phone owners, but makes the 925 a trickier sell over the 920, which is now £150 cheaper off-contract in the UK. Not to mention, the extra storage and built-in contactless charging you're losing when you choose the 925 instead. Additionally, there's yet another shadow hanging over the 925: EOS. Nokia has unabashedly used its imaging pedigree as a major selling point, and we've constantly pointed towards the lossless zoom-capable 808 PureView camera sensor as what we want to see on its Windows Phones. The rumors suggest we're swiftly approaching its arrival and we'd recommend readers wait and see exactly what Nokia's got planned before putting down money for the Lumia 925.

The Lumia packs great photography and video capture into a top notch all-rounder. The usual caveats apply: if you want complete breadth of app coverage, and this is paramount, buy an iPhone 5. If you want the best imaging, Samsung’s Galaxy Zoom offers a pocket camera with an Android phone bolted on the top, but it’s a cumbersome affair. Or you may wish to wait for Nokia’s own gazillion-pixel Lumia, which we expect to be announced in three weeks. This brings the incredible 41Mp PureView 808 camera to Windows, and in a much slimmer package, if "leaks" are to be believed. If you’ve simply wanted an excellent Nokia but been deterred by the bulk and weight of the predecessors and the child-friendly plastics, it’s delivered.

Our final rating is going to be an 8.3 out of 10. The hardware, the metallic design, the screen, the camera, the sound quality, the video stabilization, and Nokia’s custom apps are all extremely impressive. The only negatives for me are really the lack of user-replaceable battery and excessive thinness. Everything else on this phone is top notch. That is to say until the Nokia Lumia 1020 became available on AT&T. The Lumia 1020, of course, blows away the camera quality on the Lumia 925 and every other smartphone out there, but still… if you really like T-Mobile’s prices and you really like Windows Phone 8 along with a gorgeous design and OIS camera, the Lumia 925 is a great choice.

The Nokia Lumia 925 is no doubt the best Windows Phone available to T-Mobile customers. The unique design gives it a high-end look and feel that stands apart from Nokia's polycarbonate devices. Toss in compatibility with T-Mobile's LTE network, and you have features not available on other T-Mo WP8 devices. Microsoft's software is just as powerful on the 925 as any other Windows Phone, but Nokia's added elements help give the 925 an edge. Apps such as HERE Maps and Nokia Music offer incredible functionality. The 925's screen looks good, the battery life is excellent, and performance on T-Mobile's HSPA+ and LTE networks was quite good. I wish call quality were a bit better. The camera and its software is one area that Nokia takes pride in. While the software is easy to use and flexible to match the skills of the owner, the camera's results weren't quite as good as I'd like them to be. At the end of the day, the Lumia 925 offers a great Windows Phone experience and T-Mobile's network gives it a respectable speed bump.

Ultimately, if premium feel on the Windows Phone platform is what you're after, and you don't like a jutting camera sensor dominating the back of your device, then the Nokia Lumia 925 is your best bet. It addresses two of the biggest issues people had with the former flagship, bulk and weight, and the AMOLED display's ability to turn off pixels lends itself really well to the predominantly black Windows Phone interface. Pricing is its biggest Achilles' heel, though, as it's hard to justify paying over €150 more for a Lumia 920 with a redesigned body, especially with competitor alternatives hovering at half the price! More than likely, the release of the Lumia 1020 will take most of the wind out of the 925's sales (sic), so to speak, which may force it into a more accessible midrange market.

The Nokia Lumia 925 is a tricked-out Windows Phone with a nice camera, but it's decidedly midrange next to a range of powerful Android phones on AT&T.

Like the Lumia 928, the 925’s greatest strength is Nokia. It’s the only smartphone maker that cares at all about Windows Phone, offering a wide line of new devices. The Lumia 925 is supremely comfortable to hold and its aluminum finish is beautiful. Nokia’s apps are highly useful. They focus on camera and maps features, both of which are lacking in Windows Phone. The only downside of the 925 is Windows Phone Itself. There are a few quirks to Microsoft’s OS.

The Nokia Lumia 925 manages to win us over, despite a number of minor flaws. Thanks to its magnificent low-light camera, the Lumia 925 is an ideal companion for night owls. However, with its felicitous design language, its great voice quality and the superb display, it is likely to find traction in the business market as well. Just considering its specs, the Lumia 925 is no high-end device, but Microsoft's operating system renders smoothly on the smartphone. The biggest disadvantage has to do with the smallish, non-expandable storage capacity. More video output options would have been nice, as would have been an MHL-capable USB port (especially since the Finnish corporation is part of the consortium which has developed MHL - so this might possibly be due to limitations of Windows Phone 8). Those who already own one of the latest Windows phones won't find many reasons to upgrade. The performance isn't better, and even the camera isn't that far ahead of what the Lumia 920 offers. Thus, the device is more clearly aimed at Android or iOS customers. Nokia has taken the criticism about its predecessor to heart, presenting the public with the smartphone which we had already hoped for during the launch of Windows Phone 8.

The Nokia Lumia 925 may have a camera system that's peppered with brilliance, but it falls into many of the same pitfalls that its smartphone competitors suffer. The Nokia optical image stabilisation system offers both pros and the cons: it opens up the provision for extended exposure times when shooting hand-held, but this can also be the root cause for blur should there be any subject movement. Certain photographic rules simply can't be ignored. For some reason the Lumia 925 sometimes thinks otherwise: it needs a more advanced auto system; not every shot needs to be exposed for shadows, which, ultimately, is what the system does with low-light shots compared to its nearest competitors; and the obsessive use of lower ISO settings even when not appropriate can be a frustration - shots on the 4.5-inch screen may appear to look great, only to reveal softness or subject blur when viewed at full size.

All the improvements that Nokia has made with the Lumia 925 still make it a good recommendation for those wanting a change from Android or iOS, and a no-brainer versus the rest of the high-end Windows Phone competition including Nokia’s own Lumia 920. But if you’re after a device with the absolute latest in technology in a polished, well-rounded package, it may be wiser to explore elsewhere.

The Nokia Lumia 925 is a good-looking and well-built Windows Phone, but can't push itself to the top of the smartphone ranks.

Physically, Nokia's Lumia 925 is a sleek, good-looking, tailored device that proves Nokia is adept at making phones with understated elegance, not just statement pieces. Indeed, Nokia has had a long history with design, and its chops show. The fact that the 925 also backs up its hardware with Nokia's software apps and services goes a long way toward making this the top Windows Phone...this week. With theLumia 1020 and its 41-megapixel camera looming (an AT&T exclusive in the U.S.), the 925 will look weaker in comparison, especially with only 16GB of storage for photos and videos. There's also the question of Windows Phone as a platform. It's weaker in terms of capability than Android and iOS, it doesn't have quite the same amount of top-tier apps (though Microsoft has advanced on this tremendously), and it isn't as graphical to behold. Not everyone wants or needs the full-throttle smartphone powerhouse experience where everything is customizable, and Windows Phone has a few more tucked-away features than some folks realize. I'd say, T-Mobile customers on the lookout for a Windows Phone device in particular or a straightforward smartphone in general should absolutely make the Lumia 925 their top choice. Those seeking a blow-you-away camera experience on Nokia's most advanced phone yet, hold out for the Lumia 1020.

The Nokia Lumia 925 is a stylish update to the Nokia Lumia 920, and improves on the 920 with a slimmer and more stylish metal body, as well as improved image quality. Optical image stabilisation and f/2.0 Carl Zeiss lens gives impressive low light performance as well as stabilised video recording. Colour reproduction is very good, and the camera is capable of taking a decent macro photo. The biggest competition to this phone would be the Samsung Galaxy S4 with a 13 megapixel sensor and Android, or the recently announced Nokia Lumia 1020, with a whopping 41 megapixel sensor and Xenon flash. Smaller, thinner and lighter than the previous version, with a stylish aluminium framed body, the Nokia Lumia 925 is a much more appealling camera than its predecessor, the rather large 920. A number of the negatives we found could be resolved with a software update, and the release of Nokia Camera Pro will give users of the Nokia Lumia 925 much more manual control over settings, when it is rolled out for other Nokia phones in the not too distant future. Overall, we enjoyed using the Nokia Lumia 925, and are reluctant to send it back.

The best high-end Windows Phone 8 handset, but we're not convinced by the camera

With the Lumia 925, Nokia has created a charming device. It's a good-looking, thin and light smartphone that even features an aluminim frame to give it a premium taste. But thankfully, there's more than great design that the Nokia Lumia 925 can offer you. The handset features a sizable display of above-average quality, as well as a wonderful camera that will not only take great photos, but will also let you play with some fun features courtesy of the Nokia Smart Cam app. Speaking of which, if it wasn't for Nokia's exclusive deals and bonus software content, Windows Phone 8 would still feel like a good foundation for a real operating system. However, with great features such as Here Maps/Drive+, Nokia Music, Nokia Smart Cam and Creative Studio, the Lumia 925 manages to feel like a complete package. Sure, it's still not as feature-rich as some other platforms, but if we consider the needs of the majority of consumers out there, it's safe to say that the Nokia Lumia 925 has you covered.

Nokia's strengths shine through the Nokia Lumia 925. The new focus on design brings Nokia into the flagship fight, with a handset that's slim, strong and great to hold. It's competitive on the spec sheet and lands with more software enhancements than any other Windows Phone 8 device, at the time of launch that is. But as we said at the beginning of this review, the Lumia 925 sits in a strange position. It's incrementally better than the Lumia 920, a better performer, but one that's lost the convinence of wireless charging. If you're happy with the Lumia 920, then we're not sure you'll be bothered with rushing out to upgrade to the 925, especially once all the software updates roll out this summer. There are some ecosystem drawbacks, naturally, with the selection of apps being a step behind Android and iPhone, but there are more high profile apps launching every week. And then we have the next Nokia waiting in the wings. We'll have all the details on 11 July, but we suspect that this will be a bigger device, once again, to accomodate the enhanced camera. If photography is absolutely key, then you'll want to wait to see what Nokia has to offer next. But if you're after the best Windows Phone 8 handset around right now, then pick the Nokia Lumia 925. It's a great handset to live with and there's a lot to love about it.

A well-designed Windows Phone 8 handset, but not enough of an improvement over the 920, and battery life is poor

Nokia has mostly nailed the design with the Lumia 925, but Windows Phone is holding it back. Microsoft's mobile platform hasn't progressed a lot since its introduction in November, with basic features like a rotation lock and reliable notifications still missing. Nokia is trying to fill the gaps with software and services, but ultimately it's a very similar Windows Phone experience to any other device from Samsung or HTC. My main complaint about Windows Phone is this slow rate of progress. The Lumia 925 is the best Windows Phone you can buy right now, but compared to an iPhone 5 or Galaxy S4 it's still lagging behind on the software front. I came to a similar conclusion with my Lumia 720 review just two months ago, Microsoft's mobile platform is still the big drawback to Nokia's Lumia devices.

At the end of the day, if you decide to go for the Lumia 925, you are buying the best Windows Phone on the market at the moment, at least until either Samsung or HTC step up their game (and honestly, neither seems to plan on doing so), or Nokia makes it obsolete with the EOS announcement on July 11 (also, there’s the question of when the EOS will become available). The exceptional in-hand feel, the beautiful design, great screen and camera, coupled with a fluid user experience, make the Lumia 925 a joy to use. And, mark our words: it will attract attention when placed on the usually Android and iPhone-filled table. It will also not disappoint!

It’s clear from the off: the Nokia Lumia 925 is the best model in Nokia’s range, and the best Windows Phone 8 device today. The design may have lost some of the colorful whimsy of its Lumia 920 cousin, but it has gained even better build quality, premium hand-feel, and handsome looks. The display is superb, performance the best we’ve seen with Microsoft’s platform, and the bundle of apps and services Nokia throws in continues to make for excellent value.The camera is the primary draw, though, and it’s ironically both the most satisfying and the most frustrating part of the Lumia 925 experience. Low-light performance remains a stand-out feature, and though we wouldn’t say the sixth lens element adds enough to coax 920 users to upgrade, Nokia’s proven photography talents mean Lumia must be on the shortlist if mobile photography is your goal. Smart Camera shows potential but still feels somewhat half-baked; luckily, outstanding normal images salve any lasting annoyances by the more novelty side of things. Windows Phone is slowly bedding in, and while it still lacks apps – and the level of developer commitment that iOS and Android can claim – the situation is improving. In a similar way, Nokia has found its feet in crafting solid, appealing devices. The Lumia 925 marks a turning point, then, and while it may not be perfect, it’s the most compelling phone in Nokia’s range, and a more than capable handset in its own right.