Nokia's second announcement for May is arguably a more notable progression from the Lumia 920 than the US-only Lumia 928. This is the Lumia 925. It's another flagship, but this one's setting its sights on the rest of the world. The first thing to note is the change in build materials and profile. While the rest of the Lumia range have stuck to plastics -- typically glossy polycarbonate -- the Lumia 925 is Nokia's first Windows Phone to be packed into an aluminum frame. One of the benefits of this change in design? The handset's weight has plummeted. While the phone has the same dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 1GB RAM and 8.7-megapixel OIS camera of the 920, the Lumia 925 is almost 50 grams (1.8 ounces) lighter than last year's Lumia 920.
Despite a thinner 8.8mm profile, there's an identical 2,000mAh battery. Alas, instead of built-in wireless charging, you'll have to purchase an accessory cover to enable the function on the 925. Said covers will come in red, yellow, black and white, offering a splash of color to the three understated monochrome shades (white, grey and black) of the hardware. The 925 model also sports an 4.5-inch AMOLED screen, so while it matches the resolution of the existing 920 (1,280 x 768), those on-screen blacks -- a regular occurrence with the Windows Phone OS -- should be notably deeper than the LCD competition. It's also coated in Gorilla Glass 2, with ClearBlack tech and a high-brightness mode to improve outdoor visibility and the same super-sensitive touchscreen that means you'll be able to steer the phone with your gloves on. There's more to say about camera improvements -- jump past some Nokia-approved sample shots below to hear more.
Nokia continues to develop its photo tech, but the Lumia 925 concentrates on software -- it's lacking the xenon flash upgrade we saw on the Lumia 928. Here, it's all about the Smart Cam: a new app that can be assigned to the physical camera button and one that builds on the company's Scalado acquisition. The camera app takes 10 images in a burst, and then offers the user several options for using them. There's Best Shot (picking out an algorithm-based winner), Action Shot (which combines several images of a moving subject to create a stop-motion single shot) and Motion Focus (which adds a simple motion blur to everything that's notmoving).
The Lumia 925 hasn't shirked on the imaging hardware, although it may be the same 8.7-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor seen on the rest of the 920 series. There are, however, some incremental improvements. Nokia's added a sixth glass element to the five-lens Carl Zeiss array we've used before and we've been told this will improve the sharpness of images -- something that the phone's built-in optical image stabilization also assists with. The Lumia 925 will launch in parts of Europe and China this June, priced at 469 euros (roughly $609), but we're promised an eventual appearance in the US. We'll have a hands-on for you as soon as Nokia's London event wraps up.
By: Engadget
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