Nokia has been especially successful with their entry-level range of Windows Phones, especially the Lumia 520, which on the back of its clay-inexpensive price, quickly propelled itself to exist the all-time-selling Windows Telephone. A successor was always on the cards, just what Nokia has provided – the Lumia 525 – is a trivial unusual.

Nokia Lumia 525 - $160 (unlocked)

  • iv.0", 800 x 480 LCD display (233 ppi)
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 SoC
  • one.0 GHz dual-core CPU, Adreno 305 GPU, 1GB RAM
  • 8 internal storage, microSD card slot
  • 5 MP camera, 1/4" sensor, f/2.4 lens, 720p video
  • ane,430 mAh, 5.3 Wh battery
  • HSPA+, Wi-Fi b/thou/n, Bluetooth 4.0
  • Windows Phone 8 Update 3
  • 124 grams, 11.2mm thick

In nearly every fashion, the Lumia 525 is the same as the Lumia 520: same Snapdragon S4 SoC, same five megapixel rear camera, same 4.0-inch WVGA display, same storage options and the same design. Nokia has bumped up the RAM from 512 MB to 1 GB, allowing you to run more apps in the background, besides as the latest games. The software included is also the latest and greatest, for what information technology's worth.

However, since the Lumia 520 launched at the start of 2013 the entry-level smartphone market has changed; new hardware has been unveiled specifically for budget devices, and older parts have become cheaper. The competition is also ferocious, specifically Motorola's aggressively-priced Moto G comes to mind.

How does the Lumia 525 fit into the equation in 2014?

The Nokia Lumia 525 used in this review was provided by Expansys. Check them out for unlocked, off-contract devices at great prices, with fast shipping around the earth.

Design

If yous were to put all of Nokia's smartphones in a line-up, it'd be very difficult to pick apart the Lumia 520 and Lumia 525. In fact, it would be impossible, because the design of both phones is identical correct down to the size and weight.

The front of the 525 is very rectangular, which suits the design language of Windows Phone 8 well. Brandish coverage of roughly 59% is mediocre, as tin be appreciated by the large bezels around the four inch panel, but the display is positioned in the perfect position to make the telephone piece of cake to use. Below the display you lot'll find the standard Windows Phone capacitive hardware buttons, and to a higher place is the in-call speaker and a few cleverly hidden sensors. You'll note here at that place's no front-facing camera.

While the front profile is rectangular, the edges of the Lumia 525 curve abroad significantly, making the handset fit well in the hand. The device is 11.2mm thick at its thickest signal. There's no mistaking that the 525 is a stubby phone, yet at 124 grams it still retains a portable feel. Some of the thickness can be attributed to the removable dorsum cover, which is made of thick, tough plastic in keeping with Nokia's tradition of making 'unbreakable' devices.

The rear plastic encompass on the white model is glossy, which I'm non particularly addicted of. Luckily, the Lumia 525 also comes in black, scarlet and xanthous, which judging by the Lumia 520 volition characteristic nicer matte plastic. The brandish is protected with glass; unfortunately not tough Gorilla Glass, but it should resist habiliment and tear.

The right-hand side of the Lumia 525 has all the hardware buttons in the usual Lumia configuration. At the summit is the volume rocker, followed past the power button and the ever-useful two-stage camera push. The 525 isn't the largest smartphone going around, and during my usage I found the power button to be a lilliputian bit low down for my liking, simply information technology's however easier to admission than if information technology were along the top edge.

You'll also detect the microUSB port centered along the bottom edge, the iii.5mm audio jack offset forth the meridian edge, the 5-megapixel camera in the superlative-middle of the back panel, and a speaker grille towards the lesser. The speaker is quite weak and sometimes lacks the power necessary to be audible in loud environments, not to mention it's terrible for music playback of any kind.

Taking off the Lumia 525's back cover can be a claiming, simply it does uncover the micro-SIM slot, microSD carte slot, and – to the joy of many people – a removable, replaceable bombardment. The selection to include a removable battery does add flexibility to the 525, however with the merchandise-off that the battery itself will be smaller. AnandTech covers this well in one of their articles if you're interested in further reading well-nigh the issue, and my thoughts are largely the aforementioned.

The budget-minded blueprint of the Lumia 525 is fairly nice, and does the job without much fuss. Nokia has kept the 525 portable, usable and comfy to agree, which is great even for a handset design that is at present on its second generation.

Display

The Nokia Lumia 525 packs the exact same brandish every bit the Lumia 520, meaning that we're getting year-old upkeep-centric technology in what's being marketed as a new device: a 4.0-inch IPS TFT LCD console with a resolution of 800 10 480. Other affordable devices are at present packing 720p displays, which makes the 525 seem a little substandard.

The display's low resolution (233 pixels per inch) is noticeable from the moment you turn the device on. That's not to say the panel itself is bad – text is more than than readable – but it's no challenge to spot individual pixels. The edges of text and graphics are noticeably jagged, and information technology lacks the clarity you lot'd get from a college resolution.

Nokia's IPS LCD offers adept color quality and images can await vibrant in the right conditions, despite noticeable backlight bleed that reduces the panel's contrast ratio. In the settings you tin alter the brandish'south colour profile, with sliders to adjust both temperature and saturation, although I tend to find the default settings to be the best.

1 of the key aspects that makes the Lumia 525's brandish module different from a high-stop smartphone is that the touchscreen digitizer and LCD panel are 2 split up components. This is bang-up for repairability, but increases the layers between the LCD crystals and the outside air, reducing viewing angles and outdoor visibility, making the display feel similar it is set back somewhat from the glass.

That said, viewing angles are withal quite good thanks to the display'due south use of IPS technology. Outside readability is okay past default, with the brandish unit of measurement reflecting a fair chip of low-cal, but this can be improved through enabling the screen readability enhancements in the settings. With this characteristic enabled, the contrast is additional when the phone detects a bright environment, which makes information technology easier to see the display at the expense of accurate picture reproduction.

The Lumia 525's brandish is very bright at the maximum brightness setting, which helps in strongly lit situations, and the everyman brightness is depression enough not to hurt eyes in pitch black rooms. The automatic brightness setting worked well in adjusting the display brightness according to light level changes, though I found it to exist slightly too dim when indoors.

Nokia hasn't skimped on touchscreen-related features. Like all loftier-finish Lumia devices, the Lumia 525 comes with a high sensitivity touchscreen mode (enabled by default), which allows you to use the display with gloves on. This setting will drain the battery faster when it'south on, equally more power must be sent to the digitizer, only it can exist very handy on those cold wintertime mornings that demand the use of gloves.

There's also a setting that allows you to wake the handset by double-tapping on the touchscreen, which I establish to work reasonably well. Unfortunately a feature which sees the time always displayed on the screen hasn't made the cut to the Lumia 525, only this is likely for power consumption reasons.