Nokia has updated its very popular Lumia 520 smartphone, the low-cost – available for as little as $100 on Pay As You Go – Windows Phone device which has helped drive sales of Microsoft’s platform in the U.S. and elsewhere. The new model is called the Lumia 525, and it’s a modest rather than a ground-breaking revision.
On the surface, it’s hard to tell the pair apart, as the dimensions are identical at 9.9mm thick and 124 grams in weight, all wrapped up in a curvy, colorful plastic body shell. As the phone looks the same, it’s no surprise to find the screen hasn’t changed either, meaning it still measures 4-inches and has a 480 x 800 pixel resolution.
You actually need to look very hard to find the differences between the Lumia 520 and Lumia 525. They both share the same processor, a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, but the Lumia 525 has 1GB of RAM instead of a mere 512MB. This will certainly help it cope with the more modern apps found inside the Windows Phone Store, but probably won’t make a huge difference in everyday use.
Nokia has added its Nokia Black software to the Lumia 525, which brings a few new features to the phone. These include the revised version of Glance, where notifications and other information appear on the sleep screen, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, and updated camera software. Nokia’s Smart Cam, Cinemagraph, and Glam Me photo tools also come as standard.
Otherwise, we can’t spot any other alterations. The camera still has 5-megapixels and doesn’t come with a flash, there’s 8GB of storage and a MicroSD card slot, plus Bluetooth 4.0, and 3G HSPA connectivity.
The Lumia 525 is sure to go on sale in most places eventually, replacing the Lumia 520, but for now the phone will debut in Singapore on December 14, with other regions to be confirmed.
