[?] Recommend a WP with 4G LTE.

Do-more

My first smart phone was an LG Optimus 7 windows and I very much liked the operating system apart from a few small niggles.

Before Christmas I decided to buy the much lauded Motorola Moto G as a replacement for the Optimus 7 with the wider selection of Android apps being what pushed me towards the Moto G.

But the Moto G has been a big disappointment for me, I have quickly realised that app availability isn't everything and having a phone that functions well for phone calls, texts and emails is far more important to me.

I thought that Android had become a mature consumer product but it seems you still have to be a geek to get the best out of it and spend months researching how to solve all the various problems with it.

Anyway enough of the rant, I have decided that I will try to sell the Moto G and buy a new Windows phone.

I am in Sweden and have 4G LTE available and currently use it for internet access in my office with a Mifi.

So it seems sensible to combine the two in my next phone.

Presumably as a result of the next generation of Nokia phones being announced the price of the Lumia 625 seems to have fallen quite a bit and is around £143 + delivery from Amazon and it seems like t would do the job for me.

Anyone with one who can recommend it? Or is there another WP that would be better for me with a budget of an absolute max. of £200?

Is there anything coming down the line that I would be better off waiting for? The 630 seems to be out as it seems to be 3G only?

Czarcasm

OP I'm typing this on my Lumia 625 right now, and tbh I cant recommend it enough for the money. I had a rather lengthy review written out, but the switching tabs still catches me unless I remember to leave the keyboard open, the page refreshes and the text is lost!

Suffice to say if you're not an apps enthusiast (I'm not bothered about apps either! When I pay a hefty wedge for a phone, I don't expect to have to pay more for stuff that should've been included, but that's for another thread. Basically you took the words about android out of my mouth!)

If you like a big screen that's easy to read, but figure the 1020 is power overkill, then the 625 is the perfect balance of battery life, screen size and clarity (gorilla glass btw, which is absent on the 820!), and processing power (the 512MB RAM will restrict you from playing games like FIFA on the phone, but streaming live tv and controlling my sky box using the slingbox app over 4G presented no lagging issues or buffering, an absolute joy to watch on a bigger screen than the 925).

In short, great phone, aimed at the mid-range market, but perfect for the person that's not too concerned about taking 42MP selfies or carrying a hand-held games console that you're squinting at the screen to play. Speech recognition too is surprisingly accurate with handy integration with OneNote and some spiffy synchronization features like integration with Microsoft's new OneDrive.

Storage shouldn't be an issue anyway with about 4GB left over on the 8GB internal memory, another 10GB on OneDrive, and STILL you can throw a 64GB microSD card into the phone if you're stuck!

Maps and navigation is a breeze, no internal compass, no turn by turn voice nav while walking, but driving includes voice nav, super fast and accurate lock on, and with apps like HERE transit (grabs public transport schedules to plan your journey) and My Commute (your most common routes with real time traffic info), you're not going to get lost any time soon, and you'll be able to plan your day more efficiently.

The calendar app is a bit lacking in features, it'll sync your schedule from Outlook, and pull in your Google calendars too, but it won't blow you away. Perhaps with the upcoming 8.1 update and Cortano (Think Siri for WP), they may jazz things up a bit.

Ok, that went on a bit, but the adaptive keyboard that adapts to your writing style was giving fairly accurate word prompts all along which meant once I got used to it (I only have the phone since last Thursday!), I'm able to type much faster than any mobile keyboard I've ever used! The extra screen real estate for my fat fingers also helps in that regard too though!

Anyway, well worth it in terms of value for money and functionality.

long_b

Try an 820 - going fairly cheap now. Nest bang for buck I reckon, same RAM and CPU as the 920 and lovely in the hand.

I've a Note 3 as well but can't put this 820 down for some reason!!

Czarcasm

long_b wrote: »

Try an 820 - going fairly cheap now. Nest bang for buck I reckon, same RAM and CPU as the 920 and lovely in the hand.

I've a Note 3 as well but can't put this 820 down for some reason!!

I was initially set on the 820 too long_b when it was €250 and the 920 was hovering around the €350 mark, I couldn't justify the extra €100, but I found that until you physically get them in your hand and take them for a test run (I'm lucky with my job that I get to play with hardware I could never justify the cost to myself of, including the various iPhones - style over substance, and strangely not all that ergonomic as they're made out to be!), but the absence of gorilla glass means the 820 would be a scratch magnet! I even went into CeX to price an 820 second hand that they claimed was Grade A for €200, but the on-screen scratches were clearly visible, and when I pointed this out the assistant hummed and hawed about "Oh that shouldn't have been classed as Grade A, etc". I didn't care, I wasn't paying a cent for it.

The note 3 though IS a beauty, but Android for me is a tinkerer's toy. I had hoped with KitKat that the OS had finally matured, but even with Cyanogenmod loaded on it, I just felt it was too much functionality that I'd probably never use.

The thing to keep in mind too is that a bigger screen, ,more RAM, more powerful processor means compromising on battery life, and since I got the Lumia 625 on Thursday, I've gotten nearly two full days use out of it before I'd to charge it again, and that's with fairly heavy use and the screen brightness on medium (on automatic, the screen brightness adjusting automatically was quite distracting when browsing the internet, mostly white pages that would look darker most of the time on automatic).

One major oversight on Microsoft's part was the "Kids Corner", where my child (or anyone for that matter!), still has access to my photo gallery on MY profile. They can't delete photos, nor do they have access to my online storage, but they can still view photos on the phone simply by changing electing to change the wallpaper in Kids Corner.

bidiots

The 920 can be got at a very good price on tesco.co.uk among others, great phone, would highly recommend

Do-more

Thanks for the replies so far.

I was aware that the 920 was on Tesco Direct for £169 but it is out of stock at the moment.

In any case I'm in Sweden so it's a bit awkward buying from Tesco UK particularly when it comes to warranty returns so for that reason Amazon is a lot handier for me.

One of the things that does impress me with the Moto G is the screen, I believe that it has the latest version of Gorilla glass (3?), it really is outstanding, not one tiny mark on the screen so far and I always have the phone stuffed in my pocket with other stuff. The Optimus 7 had Gorilla glass 1 but after 18 months it has picked up quite a lot of scratches so the lack of Gorilla glass on the 820 would really put me off.

I'm not bothered about gaming so I don't think that the 512MB of Ram in the 625 will be an issue, it might be the right compromise as I have seen some comments from people saying that they were disappointed with the 920's battery life.

Having said that when using a phone for internet sharing in the office I normally stick it on charge at the same time to keep the battery juiced up and I have also seen some blog posts with instructions on how to optimise the 920's battery life.

It seems like the 625 is the leading candidate so far, we bought an Ativ S for the FIL a while back when they were cheap on Amazon.de and he is happy with it but the lack of 4G would rule it out + they are a lot more expensive now.

Any other suggestions?

I'm not in a big rush so might wait and see if the price of the 625 drops further it's at £166 now direct from Amazon or £143 from marketplace sellers.

unkel

I sold my 1 year old 820 (in perfect condition, but locked to Meteor) on adverts a couple of months ago for €110. I bought a good condition unlocked 920 (with a few small scratches) for €150

Gives you an idea of the second hand prices...

Czarcasm

unkel wrote: »

I sold my 1 year old 820 (in perfect condition, but locked to Meteor) on adverts a couple of months ago for €110. I bought a good condition unlocked 920 (with a few small scratches) for €150.

Gives you an idea of the second hand prices...

It certainly does, especially when the guy in CeX was looking for €200 for a SIM free 820 with scratching on the screen.

I'm sure there's a Swedish equivalent of Adverts too, otherwise shipping costs would have to be taken into account and I think the OP mentioned their budget was max €200.

unkel

Czarcasm wrote: »

It certainly does, especially when the guy in CeX was looking for €200 for a SIM free 820 with scratching on the screen.

Their like will sell you a turd and claim it is gold. When they buy gold from you they tell you it's a turd

beauf

Windows Phone is missing some features that other OS have. The 625 has a very reflective screen, (its lacking clear balck) not fantastic outdoors, and shows up every finger print. Its lower res than the G. The 625 is due to be replaced by the 630/635

http://www.winbeta.org/news/45-inch-lumia-630-and-lumia-635-pricing-revealed-runs-windows-phone-81.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/nokia-lumia-635-1239373/review

WP is fast though I like that about it.

Do-more

beauf wrote: »

Windows Phone is missing some features that other OS have. The 625 has a very reflective screen, (its lacking clear balck) not fantastic outdoors, and shows up every finger print. Its lower res than the G. The 625 is due to be replaced by the 630/635

http://www.winbeta.org/news/45-inch-lumia-630-and-lumia-635-pricing-revealed-runs-windows-phone-81.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/nokia-lumia-635-1239373/review

WP is fast though I like that about it.

Thanks I had looked at info on the 630 and had missed the fact that it will also be available as the 635 with 4G.

I'm not worried about the lower screen res of the Nokia and the fact that the 635 will have Gorilla glass 3 is something worth waiting for given my good experience with it on the Moto G.

One thing I don't like about the 635 though is the fact that they have dropped the dedicated camera button, that was one of the features I really liked about my previous WP.

Ah decisions, decisions...

jimmynokia

beauf wrote: »

Windows Phone is missing some features that other OS have. The 625 has a very reflective screen, (its lacking clear balck) not fantastic outdoors, and shows up every finger print. Its lower res than the G. The 625 is due to be replaced by the 630/635

http://www.winbeta.org/news/45-inch-lumia-630-and-lumia-635-pricing-revealed-runs-windows-phone-81.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/nokia-lumia-635-1239373/review

WP is fast though I like that about it.

The 630 is not a 4G device where the 635 is, some networks will be skipping the 630 due to this fact, currently im using a 630 and the Nokia X and find the 630 a huge improvement over the 520/620 and it is fairly fast.
One concern i have is the prices when the 630/635 hit the Irish market which is soon enough i am very impressed so far.

Do-more

The 630 is due in the UK within the next weeks and the 635 is supposed to follow in July.

There are reports that Vodafone in Italy (where phones aren't subsidised) have the 630 priced at €149. The 635 is expected to be about €30 more.

I was tempted to get a 625 on Amazon for £145 [€177) until I realised that the 635 should be a very similar price so will hold off until July at least.

[Edit] The 630 is available to pre-order in Germany in a bundle with headphones for €159 expected dispatch date is 29th. May. No sign of the 635 on that site but they do have the 930 for pre-order at €599

beauf

What did you get in the end

Do-more

beauf wrote: »

What did you get in the end

I haven't bought anything yet, waiting for the 635 to be released, primarily because of the Gorilla Glass 3 screen. That's the one thing that has really impressed me with the Moto G, the phone is now 7 months old, kept in my pocket the whole time with no flip cover and there isn't one small mark on the screen so whatever I buy I would like it to have GG 3.

Have been tempted by the price of the 625 but having waited this long I will hold on for the 635. The Moto G isn't giving me any particular grief at the moment so I am not rushed.

Tinie

The 625 is now €99 in carphone warehouse on meteor, but the meteor models are all unlocked.

Comes with the €25 store voucher and 3 months xbox live gold also.

Very good deal.

Czarcasm

Tinie wrote: »

The 625 is now €99 in carphone warehouse on meteor, but the meteor models are all unlocked.

Comes with the €25 store voucher and 3 months xbox live gold also.

Very good deal.

I was fairly sickened when I heard about this a week later after I'd bought this 625 for €199 on Three. I had gone into CPW to inquire about the 520 for €50 for my wife and one for my son, and the girl behind the counter told me they were out of stock, but the 625 would be on special offer soon.

I have to say - fantastic phone even for €200, let alone €100. That's practically giving it away! The specs are much better than the 520 and with the front camera and 4G, Skype video call quality is crystal clear! It also has the 8GB internal memory which is lacking on the 520, and numerous other features and a large screen (no squinting!) which make it very good value for a mid-range phone.

beauf

The 520 also has 8gb.

The 625 extras over the 520 are bigger screen but same quality. Bigger battery. Front facing camera. Rear flash. 4G. Tiny bit faster cpu.