Nokia Lumia 625 Unboxing and Initial Review

Nokia Lumia 625!

The Nokia Lumia 625 is one of the most affordable LTE-capable smartphones in the market today. Given the pervasiveness and availability of LTE already, it’s important for would-be smartphone buyers to make sure that they get maximum bang for their buck by having access to the fastest mobile internet network. Aside from LTE, it also offers a refreshing and different user experience with Windows Phone 8. To those coming from Android and iOS, the Windows Phone ecosystem and software has improved dramatically over the last few months and we believe that it’s a strong third contender worthy of your attention. Maybe you’ll appreciate it more after we’re done with our review of the Lumia 625 and to kick things off we’d like to share with you guys our unboxing and initial hands-on impressions!

Nokia Lumia 625 Spec Sheet

1.2GHz Dual-core Qualcomm MSM8930 Snapdragon CPU
Adreno 305 GPU
512MB RAM
8GB Internal Storage, Expandable up to 64GB via MicroSD
4.7-inch IPS LCD Capacitive Touchscreen, 480 x 800 pixels (199 ppi)
Gorilla Glass 2
5.0-megapixels primary camera with autofocus and LED flash
VGA secondary camera
LTE (Globe), 3G, HSPA+, WiFi Hotspot, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS/aGPS
Windows Phone 8 (updatable to Amber)
2,000mAh Battery

Now before you complain and whine about the specs, please note that different operating systems have different requirements. A dual-core processor on a Windows Phone device is actually enough to deliver a smooth and fluid user experience. Perhaps our only concern in the spec sheet is that the LTE compatibility is just limited to Globe. It would have been awesome if the Lumia 625 was compatible with Smart’s LTE network. Anyway, let’s move on to the unboxing!

Packaging and Initial Impressions

Same 'ol trusty blue box. — Same ‘ol trusty blue box.

As expected Nokia used their usual hard carton blue box. We have the product shot up front (featuring different colors). We pulled the inner compartment out and we found the Nokia Lumia 625 in red staring back at us. We picked it up, got a feel for it, and started playing around with it.

Consistent with Design
It’s pretty cool that Nokia was able to clearly establish and own their design philosophy with the Lumia series. They’ve been very consistent with the style and quality of their products across the different models. Here at Unbox we’ve actually had the pleasure of reviewing almost every single Lumia device that came out and we can say without a doubt that Nokia hasn’t strayed from the path they initially set out on when they revealed the first batch of Lumia devices. Proof? When the iPhone 5C came out a lot of people said it looked like a Nokia, hehe.

At 4.7-inches, the Nokia Lumia 625 is slightly bigger than the Nokia Lumia 920 in terms of screen size. However it actually feels much lighter, thinner, and easier to handle with one hand. The back comfortably rested in our palm and it didn’t bite into our flesh. The smooth matte finish was also great for grip.

Smooth Windows Phone 8 Experience
Microsoft has done a superb job in optimizing their software for mid-range hardware. Despite just running on a dual-core processor, the Nokia Lumia 625 gave us a fluid and near-flawless Windows Phone 8 experience. This is a testament to the efficiency of the platform and the hardware.

In the last few months Microsoft and Nokia have done a spectacular job as well of beefing up the Windows Phone store. Aside from the new games of EA Sports and Game Loft, we now have Instagram, Waze, and Vine. Nokia has also released multiple camera apps including Nokia Refocus (which is so awesome because it lets you edit focus of your pics after the shot). We also know for a fact that Nokia Philippines is very aggressive in signing up more developers to their platform.

In short the future for Nokia and Windows Phone is bright and we won’t hesitate to recommend their products (if they’re good, hehe).

Full Review Coming Soon

We’ll be giving the Nokia Lumia 625 the full review treatment in the next few days. We’re interested in seeing how the 5MP shooter performs and if the network is really just limited to Globe. Hopefully we can have the full review by next week.