Review: Nokia Lumia 625
Nokia has a very impressive line up of Windows 8 phones. But what makes the Lumia 625 provided by Telus different is that it’s at a very good price point with a decent feature set as part of the package. I’ll get to the price later. But let me start with the features. It has a 4.7-inch screen, much larger than I usually expect from a relatively affordable phone like this. It’s easy to see except in bright light where it’s very difficult to see. It’s not as sharp as some of Nokia’s higher end models, but I doubt that you’ll complain. It’s easy to hold and feels solid. The case feels rubbery which is a good thing as it makes sure that if your hands are sweaty, it won’t slip out of your hand. Fingerprints on the case don’t show up, but they do show up on the screen and they are noticeable. Keep a micro fibre cloth handy.
It comes with 8GB of internal storage. But under the cover you’ll find a microSD memory card slot for easy and cheap storage expansion. But if you think that because you can remove the back you can replace the battery, you can’t. Windows Phone 8 felt pretty decent on this phone as it was driven by a 1.2GHz CPU and 512MB RAM which is not exactly the fastest of the phones I’ve tested recently. When it comes to LTE speed, it’s decent but it will not blow you away. I averaged 9.4 Mbps downstream and 6.7 Mbps upstream. So if Nokia saved some bucks in terms of the performance of the phone, you can’t tell. I should also note that the phone comes with Bluetooth and WiFi as well.
In terms of software, it comes with the very good suite of Nokia apps. Such as:
- HERE Drive + is a navigation app that offers voice based turn by turn navigation. It works well enough, but the voice prompts will sometimes give you specific street names, or simply tell you to turn left or turn right. That can force you to look at the phone rather than focus on driving. One advantage that this app has over Apple Maps is that the maps are resident on the phone and you can have as few or as many maps as you want on the phone.
- HERE Transit helps you to navigate from place to place using public transit. It fetches public transit schedules to give you an idea of how long your journey will take. I have no idea if this accounts for delays on the subway and the like, but it is simple to use.
- HERE MAPS is another navigation app which takes into account walking and even shows you passenger rail options.
As usual with Windows 8 Phones, proper YouTube support which includes the ability to upload videos from the phone is missing. That’s still a point that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
When it comes to the camera, it’s a 5 MP shooter which doesn’t do a half bad job of taking pictures despite being at the low end of the food chain by modern smartphone standards. Here’s a example from my usual picture taking ground of Pearson Airport:
It’s not bad. But it’s limited by the fact that it’s only 5MP. When it comes to the video, this is where the camera doesn’t perform as well:
Keep in mind that as I usually have to with Windows 8 Phones, I had to upload a 1080P video to Microsoft SkyDrive which hammers the video quality downwards. But even on the phone, the video wasn’t that good looking. I spent some time trying to take a better quality video and I couldn’t. If you want a top shelf camera in your Windows 8 Phone, you need to take a look at the Lumia 1020 instead. But you’ll pay way more for it.
When it comes to battery life, it will last you the day if you’re a heavy user. Barely. If you’re a light user you’ll get much longer battery life. I’m not so I got the former when I tried it.
Now to the key point. Price. On a two year term it’s $0. Or you can pick it up for $300 outright. That’s a price point that’s hard to beat. My verdict? The Nokia Lumia 625 is a phone that is a quality phone that will appeal to someone who needs a basic phone and doesn’t want the fastest phone with the best camera. If that’s you, and you’re fond of the Windows 8 Phone operating system, this is your phone.
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