Fancy Windows Phone but prefer the look and feel of metal-clad devices like the Apple iPhone 5 and the HTC One? Good news, because Nokia has announced a Lumia that blends its polycarbonate style with some light-weight aluminium.
Announced in London overnight, the next Nokia to sport the “Lumia” brand we’ve seen over the past couple of years will be the flagship Lumia 925, an update to the 920 we saw released late last year.
The new model keeps some of what made the Lumia 920 excellent to begin with, but replaces the casing, updates the screen, and makes everything a whole lot lighter, which was one of our concerns with the 920.
Inside, Nokia is sticking with the same innards, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz, Adreno 225 graphics chip, 1GB RAM, 4G LTE support, 2000mAh battery, and an 8 megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilisation.
A set amount of storage is offered here, with 16GB internal provided, and from what we’re hearing, there won’t be any microSD to boost it with, sadly.
The 4.5 inch screen size is still there, but this time Nokia has replaced the IPS LCD with something a little better suited for today’s standards and gone with a Super AMOLED display.
Protection is supplied by Corning’s second-generation Gorilla Glass, and the screen has been enhanced for glove and nail usage, which should mean less useless swipes with protected fingers in the colder seasons.
Outside, there’s a new case made from aluminium and backed with some thick and durable polycarbonate, the latter of which will be available in black, white, or grey.
With a change to the frame material, Nokia has been able to improve antenna performance by building it into the aluminium, and also – and rather importantly, especially if you’ve ever felt a Lumia 920 – the weight has dropped considerably, down from 185 grams to around 139, which is serious reduction.
Wireless charging support is still there, as is Windows Phone 8, but unfortunately there is no pricing or availability outside the expected timeframe of “June” in Australia. We’ll let you know more when we hear it.
