Nokia Lumia 625 Australian Review: Cheap And Cheerful

When is a low-end phone not a low-end phone? Who said that because it’s cheap it’s a bad deal? Meet the Nokia Lumia 625: the perfect bang for buck on Windows Phone 8.

What Is It?

The Nokia Lumia 625 is the Windows Phone for those who want big features at a small price.

It’s packing a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro backed by just 512MB of RAM, 8GB of storage plus a microSD card, a rear 5MP snapper with Nokia’s Smart Camera, a VGA front-facing chat cam, plus your usual Bluetooth 4.0 LE, Wi-Fi, GPS and even LTE (but no NFC). A 2000 mAh battery should keep it ticking along nicely considering the relatively low-end specs.

All that goodness will cost you just $399: much less than other Lumia models or even Android leaders which will easily cost you double that figure.

What’s Good?

Despite the paltry specs, this phone is fast and fluid to use like all Lumias. It’s one great thing we notice about Nokia Lumia handsets over Android competitors: the Finnish manufacturer has tight control over the implementation of the OS and the hardware, so no power is squandered by a sloppy deployment.

The Lumia 625 also sips power for this same reason. We got around two days with heavy use, and perhaps you’ll get more if you taper your usage.

You’re still rocking the stylish looks of the Lumia family, plus you’ve got the ability to switch up your case so you can enjoy multiple different fluros. Fun!

The cheaper price tag doesn’t mean that Nokia has skimped on the specs here. It packs a 4G antenna and is rated with a Blue Tick on Telstra, so your rural coverage is going to be just as strong as your coverage in the centre of Sydney or Melbourne.

Nokia’s awesome Lumia Smart Camera app has descended from the 1020-heavens to grace the Lumia 625 with its presence, meaning that the camera on the new go-getter is no slouch. Other fun apps are bundled in too, like Lumia exclusives and HERE maps. It’s the software we loved on the Lumia 925 crammed into a more affordable figure.

This phone really is a big device at a small price. Based on the specs and all the cute extras it’s packing, you’d really expect to pay more.

What’s Bad?

Everything this phone lacks comes down to the price bracket Nokia is trying to cram it into.

It doesn’t have Optical Image Stabilisation gear in the camera to make your low-light shots look good, nor does it feature NFC for pairing your Nokia accessories.

If you’re a size junkie you’re also going to be disappointed with this device, as it measures up at just 4.7-inches.

For the price you pay, however, you’re not about to start complaining too loudly.

The Best Part

Go back over the specs sheet and you’ll find that these phones normally have much higher price tags for what the Lumia 625 is packing. Price is king when you want to tempt new users into a different operating system.

Should You Buy It?

If you’ve ever wanted to take the plunge on Windows Phone 8, now is the time to do it. Between the Nokia Lumia 625 and it’s more expensive brother, the 925, Windows Phone 8 has never been more compelling. There are more apps than ever, it’s going from strength to strength and the devices are only getting better and more affordable.

Now is the time.

Jamie Condliffe also contributed to this piece


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.