Nokia Lumia 925: Little too Less Little too Late

Nokia Lumia 925

Ketan Kundargi discovers that the upgraded Nokia Lumia 925 feels like a tweaked device rather than a new phone.

Everyone seemed to be complaining that the flagship Nokia Lumia, the 920, did not look and feel like a high end smartphone with the price it commanded. So Nokia took the 920, packaged it as new and improved body and launched the Lumia 925 a year later. But is there more to this cellphone?

So… What’s New?
The Lumia 925 takes all that is good from the Lumia 920 and improves on its shortcomings. Both phones sport the same optical image stabilisation, back illuminated sensors and the proprietary PureView technology, though photo quality and image processing is slightly improved with the 925. The 1/3-inch sensor of the 925, while almost similar and of same resolution, is still a little larger than the 1/3.2-inch sensor in the 920. The 925 also has access to the Nokia Pro Cam app that offers you more control over the camera and has the interesting ‘Zoom Later’ feature.

Nokia has replaced the Pure Motion LCD on the Lumia 920 with PureMotion+ AMOLED display with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution which makes viewing and shooting pictures an amazing experience. The phone also comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, making it more sturdy.

Making Sense of the Lumia 925
Nokia Lumia 925 is all that the first flagship Windows Phone device, the Lumia 920, should have been. However, it is nice to see that Nokia continues to innovate and and offer solutions to issues raised by the customers in a bid to make the Nokia Lumia phones a success. It comes with a price tag of Rs. 34,999 which is interestingly less than what the Lumia 920 cost when launched.

Some would argue that Nokia’s recently unveiled Lumia 1020 will be the latest flagship phone and the Lumia 925 will be killed. However, the fact is that anybody who does not need an expensive phone just for its camera, will still opt for the 925. This phone seems to be Nokia’s competition to the very appealing second-generation iPhones, Samsungs, Sonys and HTCs.

The Lumia 925 has six lens-elements versus the five in the Lumia 920 which helps capture sharper daylight images. Photograph/Ketan Kundargi

At A Glance
Specifications
8MP Autofocus camera, Carl Zeiss optics, Optical IS, dual-LED flash, Windows Phone 8, 4.5-inch AMOLED screen, 1.5GHz Dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage, Rs. 34,999.

What We Like
Good camera performance and features, AMOLED display.

What We Dislike
Limited 16GB storage, no hardware upgrade from Lumia 920.

Why Buy It?
If you are a fan of Windows OS and want great performance in a not-tooexpensive smartphone, the Lumia 925 makes for a good buy.

Final Ratings
Camera Features
Floating lens technology, six lens-elements, Nokia Pro Cam.
13/15

Image Quality
Slightly improved over 920, still second to Nokia 808PureView.
33/35

Video Quality
Superb tonality, sharp footage, well stabilised.
19/20

Handling
Instant camera button, slippery design, poor battery life.
9/15

Speed and Responsiveness
Speedy and good performance but not best in class.
12/15

OVERALL: 86%