Nokia Lumia 925 brings PureView photography to a slim Windows phone
When Nokia unveiled the Lumia 925 in May 2013, it signalled a deliberate shift away from the brightly coloured polycarbonate unibodies that had defined the earlier Lumia range. The handset swapped the all-plastic shell for a slim aluminium frame while keeping a curved polycarbonate back, and it carried Nokia's celebrated PureView branding for the first time on a Windows Phone. Australians who had watched the brand's slow retreat from the local top tier were given a device that finally felt as premium as its marketing claimed, even if it arrived in a market where Android and Apple's iPhone still dominated the wish lists of shoppers in Sydney and Melbourne.
The phone launched locally on Windows Phone 8, paired with a 4.5-inch AMOLED panel, a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 1 GB of RAM. It also introduced wireless charging through an optional snap-on cover, a feature that was still relatively rare on flagship handsets in 2013. For buyers comparing it with the plastic-bodied Lumia 920 or the cheaper Lumia 620, the 925 represented a meaningful step forward in build quality without abandoning the software experience people already knew.
It helped that Nokia priced the device sensibly for the Australian market. Sold through Telstra and Optus at launch, the Lumia 925 reached store shelves in time for the southern hemisphere mid-winter, when many Australians shop for new gadgets ahead of the holiday season. JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and Allphones all stocked it, and the phone quickly found fans among commuters and travellers who valued its offline maps and sturdy chassis.
A metal frame wrapped around polycarbonate
The most immediate change on the Lumia 925 was the frame. Nokia replaced the rounded, single-piece polycarbonate body of its predecessor with a slender aluminium band that ran around the sides, holding the 4.5-inch display and the camera module together. The back remained a gently curved sheet of polycarbonate, which kept the wireless signal path clear while giving the device a soft, almost warm feel in the hand. At 8.5 mm thick and 139 grams, the handset slipped easily into a jeans pocket and felt lighter than the 920, even though it carried similar internals.
That metal chassis made the phone noticeably more rigid than previous Lumias. Twisting it produced no flex, and the volume rocker, power key and dedicated camera button all sat inside precisely milled cut-outs in the aluminium. Australian reviewers at the time praised the understated look, noting that the darker finishes suited the local preference for muted, business-friendly aesthetics rather than the loud yellow and red shells that earlier Lumias had become known for.
Buyers in Brisbane and Adelaide also noticed small practical touches. The SIM tray accepted a micro-SIM without the need for a tool, which made switching between personal and work accounts easier for tradies and small-business owners. The 3.5 mm headphone jack sat on the top edge, a placement that suited commuters who kept their phones in jacket pockets during train rides through Sydney's underground network.
PureView imaging with Carl Zeiss optics
Nokia's PureView name had previously been reserved for the camera-focused 808 PureView, but on the Lumia 925 it appeared as a 1/3-inch, 8.7-megapixel sensor paired with a six-element Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. The lens featured a bright f/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilisation, which was unusual for a flagship phone in 2013. The setup also included a short-pulse, high-power LED flash that Nokia claimed was brighter than a standard xenon unit while drawing less power.
In real-world shooting, the combination produced some of the best low-light photographs available on any smartphone at the time. Night scenes around Melbourne's laneways, indoor gatherings in Perth pubs and evening harbour views in Sydney all retained colour and detail that competing Android flagships often blurred into noise. The optical stabilisation also helped with handheld video, reducing the jittery look that plagued earlier Windows Phones. Nokia's Smart Camera app, released shortly after launch, added features like Best Shot, Action Shot and Motion Focus, giving Australian users a creative toolkit that did not require third-party software.
The 1.2-megapixel front camera was more modest, but it handled video calls on Telstra's LTE network without stuttering, and the rear camera's 1080p video recording at 30 frames per second held up well against the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One of the same era.
The 4.5-inch AMOLED display
Nokia chose a 4.5-inch ClearBlack AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels, giving the Lumia 925 a pixel density of around 332 ppi. The display used a PenTile matrix, but the high pixel count kept text and icons looking crisp at normal viewing distances. Blacks were genuinely black, which made the dark theme of Windows Phone 8 look particularly striking, and colours popped without looking cartoonish.
Outdoor visibility was a genuine highlight. The screen's brightness, combined with Nokia's high-brightness mode and the polarised ClearBlack filter, made the phone readable on bright afternoons at Sydney's Bondi Beach or during midday shopping trips along Melbourne's Bourke Street. The AMOLED panel also supported Nokia's Glance Screen, which displayed the time and notifications in dim red pixels when the handset was asleep, a small but useful feature for users who kept the device face-up on a desk.
For media consumption, the screen worked well with streaming services, and the built-in speaker, though mono, was loud enough for podcasts in a quiet kitchen. Australians who watched a lot of video on their morning commutes appreciated the screen's deep contrast, which made Netflix and YouTube content look richer than on the LCD panels used by many competing handsets.
Windows Phone 8 software and day-to-day use
The Lumia 925 shipped with Windows Phone 8, including the Lumia Amber firmware update that Nokia distributed soon after launch. The operating system used the Live Tiles interface, which displayed real-time updates from friends, news outlets and work accounts directly on the home screen. Australian users who relied on Outlook for work found Exchange integration smoother than on most Android phones of the period, and the People Hub pulled social updates from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn into a single feed.
Nokia added value through exclusive apps such as Here Maps, Here Drive and Here Transit, which provided offline navigation across Australia without consuming mobile data. For drivers in regional New South Wales or along the long stretches of the Stuart Highway, offline maps were a meaningful advantage over Google Maps, which still required a constant connection on many Android devices. The MixRadio app offered free music streaming in some markets, and Nokia's Creative Studio gave photographers an in-depth set of editing tools that complemented the PureView camera.
The app gap that plagued Windows Phone was still real, though. Many Australian banking apps, for example, arrived on the platform months or years after their iOS and Android versions, and some popular social networks remained second-class citizens. With 1 GB of RAM and a dual-core Snapdragon S4, the Lumia 925 handled the operating system fluidly, but power users who wanted the absolute widest app library still found more options elsewhere.
Networks, bands and charging in Australia
The Lumia 925 supported 4G LTE on the 1800 MHz, 2600 MHz and 800 MHz bands, which aligned with the spectrum used by Telstra and Optus at the time. Vodafone Australia's 4G rollout was still in its early stages, but the phone fell back to DC-HSPA+ on the 900 MHz and 2100 MHz bands, keeping 3G coverage solid in suburban and regional areas. Australians planning to travel into the outback often paired the handset with Telstra's Blue Tick-certified coverage, though the phone itself did not carry that certification.
Charging was handled through a micro-USB port on the bottom edge, and Nokia offered an optional wireless charging cover that worked with any Qi-compatible pad. Cafés and airport lounges in Sydney and Melbourne had begun installing Qi pads in 2013, and the accessory turned the Lumia 925 into one of the more convenient phones for office workers who wanted to top up during the day. Nokia's endurance claims of around 18 hours of talk time on 2G translated to a full day of mixed use in practice, helped by the AMOLED screen's efficiency with dark themes.
The handset also supported NFC, which worked with Telstra's Tap and Pay pilot in parts of Sydney and with Bluetooth pairing for accessories such as the Nokia DT-601 wireless speaker. Voice call quality on the Telstra 4G network was clear, and the dual-mic noise reduction helped in noisy environments like train platforms and busy shopping centres.
Pricing in Australia and the competition
At launch in mid-2013, the Lumia 925 sold through Telstra and Optus for around AUD 699 outright, with carrier subsidies pushing the on-plan price down to roughly AUD 50 to AUD 60 per month. That positioned it below the 64 GB iPhone 5 but above mid-range Android handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. Australian retailers such as JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and Allphones stocked the device, and unlocked imports were available through local online sellers for buyers who wanted to use smaller MVNOs.
How did it compare with its peers in the same period? The table below summarises the key specifications against two popular dual-SIM alternatives that Australian buyers often considered at similar price points.
| Feature | Nokia Lumia 925 | HTC Desire 700 | Lenovo A820 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 4.5-inch AMOLED, 1280 x 768 | 5.0-inch Super LCD2, qHD 960 x 540 | 5.0-inch IPS, qHD 960 x 540 |
| Processor | Dual-core Snapdragon S4, 1.5 GHz | Quad-core 1.2 GHz | Quad-core 1.2 GHz |
| RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Storage | 16 GB, non-expandable | 8 GB, microSD up to 64 GB | 4 GB, microSD up to 32 GB |
| Rear camera | 8.7 MP PureView, f/2.0, OIS | 8 MP, f/2.0 | 8 MP, f/2.0 |
| Front camera | 1.2 MP, 720p video | 2.1 MP | 0.3 MP |
| Battery | 2,000 mAh, removable | 2,100 mAh, removable | 2,000 mAh, removable |
| Operating system | Windows Phone 8 | Android 4.1 Jelly Bean | Android 4.1 Jelly Bean |
| Dual-SIM | No | Yes | Yes |
| Network | 4G LTE on 1800/2600/800 MHz | 3G HSPA+ | 3G HSPA+ |
| Launch price (AUD) | ~699 outright | ~489 outright | ~349 outright |
For shoppers who needed dual-SIM support, devices like the HTC Desire 700 dual-SIM handset and the Lenovo A820 budget phone offered more flexibility for separating work and personal numbers, but they could not match the Lumia 925's camera or its premium metal-and-polycarbonate build.
Step back into the Lumia era
The Lumia 925 remains a fascinating snapshot of a moment when Nokia bet heavily on differentiation through imaging, materials and exclusive software rather than chasing the highest specification sheet. Australian buyers who picked one up at the time often kept it for years, drawn to its low-light photos, offline maps and sturdy frame, even as the wider Windows Phone ecosystem slowly faded. If you enjoy revisiting these transitional devices, browse our complete launch archive for reviews, comparisons and buying guides from the same era.