I have been very happy with my Nokia Lumia 1020 and the 4.5 inch 1280x768 resolution display. Nokia recently released their largest display in a Windows Phone device, 4.7 inches, on theNokia Lumia 625. However, the affordable cost means most of the internals were cut down to support the large display strategy.

Hardware

The Nokia Lumia 625's primary focus is the large display. It comes in at 4.7 inches with a resolution of 800x480 pixels (201 ppi), which is the resolution of the first generation of Windows Phone devices. It is an IPS LCD with super sensitive touch technology. Windows Phone displays have always looked great, even at this resolution. I've been spoiled lately by higher res displays and we expect that even higher resolution displays are around the corner for Nokia and Windows Phone. While the large display doesn't have very high resolution, it is still well designed with glass that curves down all the edges to give it a great look and feel.

I was sent an orange Lumia 625 to check out and note that you can also buy them in black, white, yellow, and green. The color is only on the back shell piece that also wraps around all the edges. Starting from the bottom front you can pop off the back and see that you can exchange the one that comes with the device with another color if you want to change out the look of your device. The plastic shell feels quite durable and gives the device a rather rugged appeal.

When you pull off the back you will see that there is an interesting SIM card and microSD card slot arrangement where they are stacked on top of each other on the right side. The battery is not removable, but I see a few screws on the back and imagine you may be able to take it apart to replace the battery down the road.

Nokia has a focus on imaging, but the camera is pretty basic on the Lumia 625. It comes with a 5 megapixel camera without Carl Zeiss optics or anything too fancy. The front facing camera is also a measly VGA quality camera. Photos from the rear camera don't look bad though and are perfectly acceptable for social networks and digital sharing.

All the traditional Windows Phone buttons are on the right side, the headphone jack is on the top, and the microUSB port is on the bottom. There is nothing on the left side. The small flash is found just to the left of the camera lens centered on the upper back.

Like original Windows Phone devices, the Lumia 625 is responsive and I did not notice any lag or performance issues. With just 512 MB of RAM though, I wouldn't count on being able to play lots of high end games. You are limited by the integrated storage of only 8GB, but you can store media on a microSD card.

Software

The Nokia Lumia 625 ships with Windows Phone 8 and the latest Nokia Amber update. This includes software such as Nokia Smart Camera, HERE Maps suite, Nokia Music, FM radio, Nokia Video Trimmer, and Nokia Video Upload to YouTube.

The device is currently not available in the US, but is being sold as an international unlocked device. With the evaluation AT&T SIM card in the device, AT&T featured apps appear in the Windows Phone Store so you can install them if you desire. There are no AT&T apps installed by default though.

I have covered Windows Phone quite a bit over the past three years and there is nothing particularly new or unique in the Nokia Lumia 625.

Pros and Cons

To summarize my experiences and the specifications of the Lumia 625, here are my pros and cons.

Pros

·         Affordable price

·         MicroSD memory card expansion slot

·         Latest Windows Phone 8 software

·         Excellent Nokia apps and services

·         Durable and colorful shell

Cons

·         Low resolution display

·         Limited RAM

·         Low internal storage memory

·         No wireless charging

Pricing and availability

The Nokia Lumia 625 is not being sold in the US by any carrier. However, you can find it from importers, including for just $342.50 at Negri Electronics. It is not yet available in other countries, but is coming soon.

The competition

Most Windows Phones are 4.3 or 4.5 inches in size and the Lumia 625 is the largest display device so far. There are plenty of large screen Android devices, but few that are as affordable as the Lumia 625. If you need a large display for viewing content then the Lumia 625 is a good low-priced option.

Specifications

As you can see in the raw specifications, there were several trade-offs made to lower the price of the Nokia Lumia 625.

·         Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core 1.2 GHz processor

·         512 MB RAM

·         8GB internal storage and microSD card slot

·         4.7 inch 800x480 pixels resolution IPS LCD

·         5 megapixel camera and VGA front facing camera

·         802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 + LE

·         2,000 mAh removable battery

·         Dimensions of 133.2 x 72.2 x 9.2 mm and 159 grams

Conclusion

The Nokia Lumia 625 isn't going to blow you away and isn't going to compete for the best Windows Phone title. However, it is designed to be a low cost Windows Phone with a large display and it succeeds in that regard. I am giving it a rating based in large part on the low price that goes along with the device. If we look at the Lumia 625 across the entire Windows Phone spectrum, not considering price, then I would give it a 5 out of 10.

Source:http://www.zdnet.com

Microsoft has gone ahead and made it official by slipping a $7.2 billion ring on Nokia's finger to acquire the Finnish company's phone business. The deal, which had been rumored for some time, puts that last big piece into place for Microsoft to have end-to-end control over the Windows Phone ecosystem. In essence, Microsoft has become Apple.

Except it isn't Apple. Certainly, the Nokia deal is basically an admission that Apple's approach in mobile — that is owning and operating the hardware, software and services around its devices — are best one. But Microsoft and Windows Phone are different animals from Apple and iOS. Besides ecosystem and market share, the companies have wildly different cultures.

True, Microsoft is undergoing a top-to-bottom organizational shift to adapt its culture, and having 32,000 Nokia employees (including 18,300 who are "directly involved" in manufacturing) will inject a little Finnish sauce into Redmond. But you don't just become Apple by adopting its strategy. And if Microsoft needs reminding of that, it should look no further than its own Surface tablets, which have failed to become the viable iPad competitor they were meant to be.

Apple, Google and Microsoft

In other ways, the deal makes Microsoft more like Google, since both companies acquired a hardware partner (in Google's case, Motorola) to give them some device clout and beef up their patent and IP portfolios (Microsoft's was actually already pretty big). At the same time, they have to keep existing partners happy. HTC, Samsung and Huawei can't be as excited about Windows Phone today as they were yesterday.

But when Google acquired Motorola, it was a struggling player in the crowded field of Android handset manufacturers. By contrast, Nokia is by far the biggest maker of Window Phones — again making Microsoft more like Apple in bringing that manufacturing in-house.

There is another pesky problem that some others have already pointed out: We already have an Apple. Smartphone users who are willing to pay a premium to buy a device with a tight ecosystem (not a healthy app catalog) have, for the most part, already done so. How can Microsoft hope to make future gains with less of the market to work with?

Rising From Asha

The answer lies in a key part of the deal, which is Nokia's feature phone business. As part of the acquisition, Microsoft gets Nokia's Asha-based handsets and the right to market them under the Nokia brand. Microsoft says it wants to use Asha phones as an "on ramp" to Windows Phones.

The Asha phones could play an important role in overseas markets, particularly places like India, Brazil, China and Russia, which a Nielsen study recently found were areas ripe for smartphone growth. While it's hard for any smartphone maker to stand out over others in these areas, there are two brands that have some pre-existing clout in those markets: BlackBerry and Nokia.

BlackBerry obviously has its own problems, and the generational shift from the old BlackBerry OS to BlackBerry 10 hasn't been much of an on ramp for those phones, at least not yet. Looking at some recent numbers, however, Windows Phone is having better luck, and if Microsoft could come up with some key services that cut across the Asha/Windows Phone divide, it could push the platform even further.

That's a big if, though, and looking at Microsoft's previous attempt at creating robust feature phones, the ill-fated Kin line, doesn't give much hope. But that product failed because it targeted the wrong market (kids) at the wrong time (the iPhone was ascendant). Played right, Asha could help solidify Microsoft's mobile game.

The Last Mobile War

Buying Nokia's device business isn't a genius move. In fact, it's incredibly obvious — but at least it puts Microsoft on par with the other major mobile platforms. That's a good thing for Windows Phone, but the question is: Is it forward-looking enough?

By emulating Apple's ecosystem strategy, I can't help but think Microsoft just put into place a great strategy for winning the last war. The smartphone market certainly still has lots of opportunity, but it's much closer to a finished work than a blank canvas. Microsoft's now ready to put its mark on mobile with Nokia's phone business, but what about wearables, data-based services and in-car integration? The biggest innovations yet to come in mobile have nothing to do with phones.

It's an interesting coincidence that Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia phones comes about a day before Samsung will debut one of the most anticipated gadgets of the year: the Galaxy Gearsmartwatch, which connects with your phone to open up entirely new experiences with apps. Which story do you think will better define the mobile in the years to come?

Source: http://mashable.com

Google and Microsoft Spar Again Over YouTube Windows App

 Redmond, Wash., and Mountain View, Calif., are at it again, leaving Windows Phone users inconvenienced. 

Just two days after a new YouTube app for the Windows Phone debuted, Google has blocked the app — again. Google, which owns YouTube, confirmed to Mashable in a statement that it has disabled the app over grievances with a terms of service violation:
 

We’re committed to providing users and creators with a great and consistent YouTube experience across devices, and we’ve been working with Microsoft to build a fully featured YouTube for Windows Phone app, based on HTML5. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully-featured YouTube experience, and has instead re-released a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service. It has been disabled. We value our broad developer community and therefore ask everyone to adhere to the same guidelines.

A Microsoft spokesperson also told Mashable the app has been blocked but did not elaborate: “Google is blocking our updated YouTube app for Windows Phone. We are working with them to resolve the issue.”

This is not the first time this has happened. Earlier this year, Google and Microsoft bickered over Microsoft failing to include advertising on the YouTube app for Windows Phones. Google then demanded that Microsoft take YouTube off the Windows Phone OS because of its lack of ads. The tech giants eventually made amends in May, and Microsoft released its latest app Tuesday.

Thursday's new inconvenience appeared to baffle and irritate some Windows Phone users: customer reviews on the app's page in the Windows Phone store clearly showed customer frustrations. "Pathetic," said user Matthew. "Not working after last update," user Sara said. "Waited ages for this app and it doesn't work ... Thanks Microsoft. It just says 'something went wrong ... We don't know what,'" said user Stanley.

Source: http://mashable.com

Behind Microsoft Deal, the Specter of a Nokia Android Phone

SEATTLE — Before Microsoft reached a deal to buy Nokia’s phone business, there was a possibility that Nokia could have switched its smartphones to Google’s Android operating system sometime after late 2014.

And now, it is clear that a Nokia Android phone was more than a possibility. It was real.

A team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets well before Microsoft and Nokia began negotiating Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone and services business, according to two people briefed on the effort who declined to be identified because the project was confidential. 

Microsoft executives were aware of the existence of the project, these people said.

Another person said the idea of Nokia using Android wasn’t a part of Microsoft’s discussions with the company about an acquisition, even though that was widely recognized as a possibility.

On one level, Nokia’s Android effort is not shocking. Companies often have “plan Bs” in the works in case they need to change course on strategy or want to help negotiate better terms with partners. Getting Android to run on Nokia’s hardware was not a Herculean engineering effort, according to the people familiar with the project.

Still, a functioning Nokia Android phone could have served as a powerful prop in Nokia’s dealings with Microsoft, a tangible reminder that Nokia could move away from Microsoft’s Windows Phone software and use the Android operating system, which powers more than three out of every four smartphones sold globally.

Susan Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Nokia, declined to comment, as did Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman.

Nokia reached a deal with Microsoft in 2011 to use Windows Phone on its smartphones, but Nokia had an option to exit that partnership at the end of 2014. Unraveling that deal would have been painful for both parties. It would have been devastating to Microsoft’s mobile phone efforts since Nokia accounts for more than 80 percent of the Windows Phone handsets sold. For Nokia, changing such an important ingredient in its products would have been a costly setback too.

Nokia has faced criticism that it made the wrong decision in choosing Windows Phone over Android several years ago. Nokia’s share of the smartphone market fell to 3 percent during the first half of 2013, from 32.8 percent in 2010.

There is no telling for sure whether Nokia would have been better off with Android over that time. It is possible the design of the operating system and greater abundance of Android apps might have put Nokia in a better spot.

The current status of Nokia’s Android project is unclear. Presumably, after Microsoft completes its acquisition of Nokia’s phone business early next year, there won’t be much future for it.

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com

Living With Lumia Google+ Hangout: Can an iPhone User Switch?

Want to find out what switching from the iPhone to Windows Phone 8 is really like? Join our Google+ Hangout at 3:00 p.m. EST today and ask away!

When I started the Living With Lumiachallenge earlier this week, I wanted to answer a fundamental question, "Can an iPhone user switch to Windows Phone 8?" I'm only three days into the experiment and the truth is, I don't know. There are aspects of Windows Phone 8 that I really like and there are other aspects that are driving me up the wall.

The most interesting part of this process for me, as a reporter, is the feedback from the community. There are lots of smartphone users on other platforms (not just iOS) that are interested in trying Windows Phone 8. The hold-up: knowing if their apps will work and if they can fit the system around their lives.

That's part of why we wanted to have a Google+ hangout so that we can have a discussion about the pros and cons of switching, I can get suggestions on the best apps to try and so I can answer your questions about the Lumia 920 and Windows Phone 8.

Source: http://mashable.com

Hopstop iOS App Gets Refresh After Apple Purchase

It's still unclear what Apple has in store for its recently acquired HopStop public transportation navigation service, but it looks like the iOS app isn't going away — at least for now.
An update for the iOS version of HopStop rolled out this weekend, bringing support for cities in the U.K., Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Israel, as well as a new user interface and other helpful changes. Android users unfortunately did not get the same update, while the Windows Phone version was killed off shortly after the Apple purchase.
Hopstop for iOS version 2.6 now lets you report real-time delays, crowds, incidents, service changes, station closures, broken elevators, as well as suggestions and complaints. You can also save your home and work addresses from the Settings menu for easy access when you need directions.
For additional convenience, the app now lets you view your saved trips directly from the search screen, so you can more quickly access directions you call upon often. Plus, there's an updated user interface and new font, presumably to bring the app more in line with Apple's aesthetic.
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Apple purchased HopStop last week following an acquisition of the crowdsourced location data company Locationary. The move to purchase both companies is likely intended to boost Apple's struggling Maps product, which does not currently include public transportation information like bus, subway, and train schedules.
Following the acquisition, Apple quickly pulled the Windows Phone version of HopStop, causing some to worry about the future of other platforms. At this point, HopStop is still available for Android devices through the Google Play store. The updated iOS app is available in the App Store.
Launched in 2004, HopStop offers door-to-door transit, walking, biking, and taxi directions for more than 300 cities worldwide through its website and free mobile apps.
Source: http://www.pcmag.com