Nokia Lumia 625 Hands-On Review

Nokia has got some really good low end devices in its Lumia lineup. These devices have impressive hardware and provide a good smartphone experience. This Lumia device is a large screen device to compete with the android counterparts offering large displays. Before the Lumia 625 was launched, the Lumia 920 had largest display of any Nokia devices at 4.5 inches. 4.5 inches is a good size for a mobile display but android device manufacturers have made it look like small and have taken the display sizes up to a level where it is hard to call them phone.

The people at Nokia have used a 4.7 inch display on the Lumia 625. The display size has gone up but they haven’t pushed rest of the hardware much to keep the costs down. They have added 4G connectivity and have been boasting about it. We don’t think it is of much use though. We take a closer look at this large screen Nokia device.

Design

Nokia Lumia 625, as the name suggests, is a scaled up version of the Lumia 620. It retains the family design and has resemblance to other Lumia devices. Just like other Lumias, it has a black front face with a shell that wraps around back and sides. The colour of device is due to this shell only so you can simply go out and buy another one if you are bored of the colour.

The polycarbonate material used to make the panel gives it a good feel. They use something called the ‘dual shot’ finish to impart colour to these panels. The first layer of polycarbonate acts as the base layer for another translucent layer. The device has a matte finish which is nice and the rounded design makes it comfortable to hold. The device is slim measuring just 9.2 mm. It weighs around 159 Gms and when I picked the device for the first time, it felt heavier than what I expected it to be.

The buttons and ports have their usual position. The front face has got three capacitive keys right below the display. On the right spine sits the volume control, power key and camera key. These keys are in the same colour as the shell unlike the black keys on 520 or 620. The top of this device has the 3.5 mm audio jack and at the bottom sits the micro USB port. The buttons are part of the shell and would be removed with it. The keys are responsive but the feedback isn’t good. The shell fits very well on the device and there are no creaks at all. You can replace the battery yourself as the battery compartment is sealed.

Display

Ironically Nokia is betting big on the display of this device and it is the most disappointing component of this device. The display measures 4.7 inches diagonally. The size is good but the resolution is just 480 x 800. This gives you a pixel density of just 199 pixels per inch which is way too low. While you are holding this device in hand, you expect the large display to impress but as soon as you press the power key, you are disappointed by a faded, pixelated and dull display. Just a little effort and you can actually count the number of pixels a tile is made of.

Not only the resolution but the contrast and colour replication is bad too. Viewing angles are disappointing and the display is reflective. The brightness is low though you can still use it outdoors. The brightness seems to be uneven. The problem here is that Nokia is betting big on the large display and talking about it in all the commercials while it is such a disappointment. We know that they have cut corners but on a device that is being marketed on the name of 4G for better browsing and its media capabilities. Browsing is really a painful experience on this display as you have to zoom in every time you open a website with small font as it is hardly readable. Videos play smooth but the poor display disappoints here as well.

Software/ Interface

Nokia Lumia 625 runs Windows Phone 8 with the Amber update. It is essentially the GDR2 update which adds a couple more features to the WP8. Nokia has tweaked the software a bit and they have added some apps of their own. This version of WP8 has got FM Radio which was missing on the previous version. Nokia has rolled out this update on the Lumia 520 as well. There are some changes to the camera app as well. Also it has got the data sense app to keep track of the data usage and there is the flip to silent feature. You can also block calls and SMS on this version of WP8. It also supports various Google services like the Calendar, Gmail and Contacts. Push email works effortlessly on this device.

The interface is the usual WP8 tiled interface and while it is good to use, it doesn’t offer much flexibility. There are hardly any customization options like the ones you find on android. The apps that Nokia has added on this device are good. Especially the drive app offers excellent offline navigation. Back when I used a Nokia 5800, I used to love the Ovi maps and then the transition to android was hard at first because Google maps weren’t good enough.

There are other interesting apps as well like the Photo Beamer which lets you beam photos over Wi-Fi and create an instant slideshow. Other apps like Bigflix, BookMyShow, and Cosmopolitan etc. also come preinstalled though you can choose to remove them if you want. The You Movies app is available with a free service for three months. You can download full movies for viewing offline.

Hardware/ Performance

The Nokia Lumia 625 offered with a Qualcomm MSM8930 Snapdragon chipset. The processor is dual core Krait with a maximum clock speed of 1.2 GHz. It has got 512 MB of RAM and an Adreno 305 GPU. The processor in Lumia 520, 620 and 720 run at a maximum clock speed of 1 GHz. The hardware runs the Windows Phone OS effortlessly.

You get the usual connectivity options you see on low end devices though they have added 4G here. It won’t make much difference for now as 4G isn’t available in many regions. They have skipped on NFC but that shouldn’t make much difference to most people. The hardware is good and won’t give you anything to complain about. It supports micro SD cards and the internal storage is 8 GB.

The camera of this device is not very impressive. It is a 5 megapixel camera with a LED flash. The photos captured are a bit underexposed though the colour replication and sharpness is good. Low light photography is a strict no and the flash isn’t of much help. It can record high definition videos at 30 fps.

Verdict

While this has been claimed to be a media house by Nokia, we think that this device is trying desperately to find its target audience. A low end device with 4G doesn’t make much sense as the 4G browsing experience is ruined by the device display. Plus it has pushed up the cost a bit which puts it against the better android rivals. It is hard to recommend this device considering that this device isn’t very impressive and there are very limited apps for Windows Phone 8.

Nokia Lumia 625 Review Pictures:

The post Nokia Lumia 625 Hands-On Review appeared first on KnowYourGadget.

Source: http://knowyourgadget.com/nokia-lumia-625-hands-review/