The Nokia Lumia 525 is upgraded version of Lumia 520. It is an exact replica of 520 with minor changes i.e. 1GB RAM and Bluetooth 4.0 with DLNA support. The older version the Nokia Lumia 520 comes with 512MB RAM and Bluetooth 3.0.
Lumia 525 Box pack
Inside the box you will find the handset, user guide, travel charger, data cable, 1430 mAh battery and quality earphone. The handset is available in 4 different colors.
Design, Display and OS
As mentioned 525 is the 520 with minor internal changes. Look wise there is no difference between these two models. The handset weight with battery is 121 grams and dimensions are 63.90×119.63×10.97 mm.
The power, volume rockers and camera buttons are placed on the right. There is a 3.5mm audio jack on the top side and micro USB port at the bottom.
The LCD display screen is 4 inches supporting resolution of 800×480 pixels. The viewing angles are okay. Touch is extremely smooth and responsive; you can even set the touch sensitivity to work with gloves. There are light, accelerometer and proximity sensors.
The Lumia 525 runs on Windows Phone 8 OS.
Memory and Storage
Unlike the Lumia 520 that comes with 512MB RAM, the Lumia 525 comes with 1GB RAM. There is 8GB internal storage of which 4.37GB is available on the first boot. This single SIM handset also houses a micro SD slot (64GB card supported).
Performance
The Lumia 525 houses the same hardware that their predecessor does. It is QUALCOMM snapdragon MSM8227 dual core chipset @ 1GHz with Adreno 305 GPU.
Benchmark scores
Antutu for Windows = 7639.
Multi Touch = 5 point.
Camera plus entertainment
The rear camera is 5MP that gives very good still images and the 720p video recording is also pretty good. Street light (low light) images are very good. Do check the sample images / videos at the end. The handset can play full HD videos – 1080p.
Others
This handset supports single SIM, you need a micro SIM. 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth worked well. GPS with A-GPS/GLONASS no doubt does an excellent job we have seen this on the Lumia 520 too. Speaker sound / in call sound is very loud and clear.
Gaming
On the box pack you will find the Asphalt 8 game image, well that’s exactly what I tried. I downloaded the game and it got installed on the internal storage. There was no option to set the graphics details. Game play was smooth but graphic details are low.
Battery
The battery backup looks good. The removable battery is of 1430 mAh capacity with up to 10 hours talk time. I played the Asphalt 8 game for about 15 minutes the handset did get heated up a bit and the battery level dropped by 8%.
Verdict
Lumia 525 is a better version of Lumia 520. If your usage is not much, i.e. if it is restricted to phone calls, surfing, social networks etc. then the Lumia 520 is good enough. The 520 is currently priced at under Rs. 8100. Price difference is approx Rs. 2000.
Nokia Lumia 525 is priced at Rs. 10,300 and is definitely a better option to go for than its predecessor.
Image Gallery
Sample Images
Nokia Lumia 525 review video, including Gaming review Asphalt 8.
720p video shot using the Lumia 525 handset
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