REVIEW: Nokia Lumia 925 smartphone

I will unashamedly admit to being something of an Apple addict. I hold my hands up and confess to being totally in love with my iPhone, iPad and iPod - none of which are the latest models and I don't have a MacBook yet ('Help me, I'm poor!'*), but I'm a big Apple fan nonetheless. I know, what a first world problem.

The thing is, when it comes to smartphones, everyone says a lot of the other brands really are as good as iPhones these days, and you're really just paying extra for the name. But I guess you're buying into Apple as a whole. They have the cool factor, and don't try and convince me otherwise.

Next to my iPhone 4S for comparison

So, when the people from Nokia got in touch and asked if I wanted to review one of their swanky smartphones (not to keep, mind), I figured: Why on earth not? YOLO and all. I like a shiny new gadget as much as the next gal.

Very impressively, the Nokia Lumia 925 popped into my letterbox the very next day. (OK, it didn't pop there actually, it was too big, but let's not be too pedantic now, shall we?)

Right then, let's get down to the nitty-gritty - just what did I think of the phone?

Pretty!

Well, in a lot of ways it's very similar to an iPhone, and can do pretty much everything the same - calendar, maps, emails... The Nokia has it all. Upon starting up the phone, there was a clear, easy-to-follow mini tutorial, which I liked, and whilst it was simple enough to work out how to do most things, I don't think the Nokia is quite as user-friendly or intuitive as an iPhone. It was a little tricky to find everything at first, but I suppose once you get used to a new phone it's then just what you know and all is fine and dandy.

The Nokia Lumia 925 is a Windows Phone 8 (you know, those adverts with Holly Willoughby?), and I personally think the graphics are really cool. In fact, the general screen quality is really great. And I like the way the phone moves from page to page. At first, I wasn't a fan of the colour scheme or the dark interface, but then I worked out how to customise the theme (went for pink, obvs), and was then a much happier bunny.

In my opinion, the phone generally looks really sleek, even if it is a little on the large side, and thus didn't fit in all my pockets, slightly annoyingly. Men's trousers tend to have huge pockets. Women's skinnies? Not so much.

I like the teeny little vibrations the phone makes as you tap it (and I imagine you could turn them off if you weren't a fan), but I did find myself quite often accidentally pressing the home button as I brushed over it.

It's a little big... And I have big hands!

One of the best things about the Nokia has got to be the camera - it's really fantastic! Sure, iPhone cameras are good, but the Nokia is better. Yes, really. The pictures come out great even in low light too, which is really useful. There's this fab feature where you can press the camera button once, it automatically takes a series of pictures, then you go back afterwards and choose the best one - very handy for when you want to capture an action shot. (Less crucial for my cake pics but still.)

You can download tons of different apps from the store, but in order to do any of this, you need to create a Microsoft account, which somewhat confused me. I suppose it's just the same as having an iTunes account though.

But that's just it - when you've already got your iTunes account and everything is synced, Apple make it so very easy to have multiple Apple products. Ooh, they are sneaky like that!

On the whole though, the Nokia Lumia 925 is slick, quick, and in my opinion, a really good phone. It looks good and it works well (or so I've concluded from my short trial anyway.) Would I swap it for my iPhone? Honestly? No.

However, I would definitely recommend it for someone who wants a really good smartphone and isn't overly fussed about it being an iPhone. If I wasn't such a snob, I would go for one myself. And I mean, if I didn't already have an iPhone, I'd be thrilled with the Nokia Lumia 925.

THE PHONES ARE ALL GOOD, OKAY? Good. Glad we've got that sorted.

Find out more about the Nokia Lumia 925 on the Nokia website, here.


*Name the film! Answers on a postcard in the comments please.