Hardware

More stealth bomber than tank

If the Nokia Lumia 920 was a tank, the 925 could be likened to a stealth bomber. Gone is the bulky polycarbonate shell of the 920. The Lumia 925 swaps this thick plastic for an aluminum frame with a thin polycarbonate back. The result is a sleek package that's just 8.5mm thick instead of the 10.7mm wedge of the 920. In pure numbers that sounds like very little, but in reality it makes the Lumia 925 a lot more usable in one hand and for day-to-day use. I've always disliked large screens on my smartphones, but a thin frame, like Samsung's Galaxy S4, makes them a lot more usable to me.

Nokia has coupled the aluminum design with a 4.5-inch AMOLED display, PureView camera, and the usual assortment of buttons and jacks. The aluminum frame feels soft and smooth to touch, and it complements the glass and polycarbonate well. With the exception of the display, the entire device is curved in every way possible. The screen feels like it's bleeding into the edges of the curved aluminum and the buttons at the side of the device don't wobble or interfere with that. Nokia has also improved the lighting of its capacitive Windows Phone buttons, meaning they’re a lot more white when illuminated — they had a slightly yellow tint on the Lumia 920.

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At the rear of the Lumia 925, Nokia has opted to make the camera the centerpiece with a hump that raises it above the rest of the matte polycarbonate backing. There's a typical LED flash and the loudspeaker has been placed close to the bottom of the rear, just beneath three connector ports for the optional wireless charging shells. Unfortunately, the speaker placement isn’t ideal for playing music. I found the Lumia 920 was noticeably louder and directed the sound to my ears rather than my hands, thanks to the fact that its speaker is placed at the bottom of the device. Nokia has chosen to keep the Lumia 925's bottom completely free of any ports or buttons, with the repositioning of the USB port to the top of the device along with the SIM slot and headphone jack.

The Lumia 925 has a beautiful, but not flawless, design

I have two minor gripes with this design, and one originates from the polycarbonate rear. It feels very thin and it also doesn't look or feel like it's fully in place. On my review unit the top of the polycarbonate flexes a little, and if you look closely at the edges you can see a gap between it and the aluminum chassis. Nokia tells me this is normal, that it provides access for technicians as there are no visible screws on the device. It spoils the clean lines and overall design of the device, but it's something that you won't notice initially. It's like finding that first scratch on your brand new car — it's irritating, but you'll get over it.

The second minor issue is the lack of color here. The move to metal is a first for Nokia on its Lumia range, which typically uses colorful unibody polycarbonate shells for its flagship Windows Phones. You can add color with optional wireless charging shells, and the metallic look is welcome, but I do miss the color choices available on other Lumias. The Lumia 925 comes entirely in black, or with a silver frame and a gray or white back. I wouldn't call this design striking, but it's subtle enough to demonstrate the industrial design that Nokia is known for. With the Lumia 925, it finally feels like Nokia has improved the Lumia design in a package that will appeal to a wider range of consumers. Although it doesn’t necessarily feel like a pure aluminum phone, thanks to the polycarbonate rear, the design and solid build make this every inch a flagship device on the outside.