Nokia released on Monday a teaser, promising something big and orange that’s coming and to be revealed the next day. That orange thing turns out to be the Nokia Lumia 625, the Finnish company’s largest Windows Phone-powered handset yet that also supports 4G LTE.
While it is the biggest Nokia phone at the moment, the 625 does not fare well—performance-wise—against the similarly sized Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One. It only comes with a dual core processor, a measly amount of system memory, and a rather small storage for your favorite music and apps. The continuing dearth of popular software in the Windows Phone 8 Store is also discouraging. But, hey, it’s marketed as an affordable Lumia phablet, not a premium device.
Nokia Lumia 625 Specs
- 4.7-inch IPS LCD (480×800), ~199ppi
- 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
- Adreno 305 GPU
- 512MB RAM
- 8GB internal storage
- microSD support up to 64GB
- 5-megapixel main camera with LED flash
- VGA front camera
- LTE, 3G, HSDPA
- Bluetooth 4.0<
- GPS, A-GPS
- Dimension: 133.3 x 72.3 x 9.2 mm
- Weight: 159g
- Li-Ion 2000mAh battery
Drawbacks put aside, there are benefits to be had in the Lumia 625. For one, the phone comes with design and build quality that are reminiscent of Nokia’s high-end smartphones. The construction is made of plastic, but does not feel cheap and fragile. The main camera, while only carrying 5 megapixels, still produces pictures of good quality that are further enhanced with the built-in apps, features, and imaging technologies. It can also shoot 1080p videos at 30fps.
UPDATE: Nokia Lumia 625 Review
It’s also hard not to notice the fact that this big phone comes with LTE for the fastest mobile internet access and yet carries the cheapest price—at only €220 (or around Php12,500 in today’s currency exchange), excluding tax and subsidy adjustments—among all 4G handsets. There’s also the 2000mAh battery, which Nokia claims can power the Lumia 625 for as long as 15 hours. Not bad at all.
Besides the orange citrus fruit color, the Lumia 625 also has green, yellow, red, black, and white variants. These colored rear cases are swappable, allowing users to switch to another flavor when they get tired of their initial choice. The device is expected to arrive in retail stores come third quarter this year, with China, Middle East, India, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia-Pacific the first markets to receive it.