With so many different smartphones on the market today, it is tough to decide which phone is best. Many people become accustomed to a certain type of phone, whether it’s Apple, Samsung, or Nokia and the version that they are currently using. Updates in technology happen so frequently nowadays, but a lot of people are creatures of habit. They like to stick with the current version that they are using as upgrades sometime completely change the landscape and function of their current smartphone.
The Nokia Lumia 925 has long been the flagship phone for Nokia, but the company has recently developed and released upgraded Nokia Lumia 930. The question now remains; what are the main differences between these two phones and do the dedicated users of the Nokia Lumia 925 need to upgrade to the Nokia Lumia 930?
First, we’ll look at the phones themselves. The Nokia Lumia 925, which was launched last year has a 4.5 inch screen with a 768 x 1280, 332 pixels per inch display. Its quality is reasonable but not nearly the best and arguably fell short of expectation on what was supposed to be considered their flag ship phone.
The Nokia Lumia 930 is half an inch bigger than its predecessor and has an upgraded display. It has an upgraded 1080 x 1920 display and although the screen is bigger, it still manages a higher pixel density at 441 pixels per inch. Both phones do use Nokia’s ClearBlack technology which helps enhance the contrast of the screen.
As for the physical design of the phones, both are very similar and Nokia hasn’t changed much in their design. Both phones feature an aluminum frame and a polycarbonate back. The Nokia Lumia 925 settled for just providing phones in colors such as black, white or grey, the Nokia Lumia 930 gives options available in black, white, green and orange. The Nokia Lumia 930 is just a bit thicker and heavy than its predecessor. The 930 also has a bigger battery which allows for more talk time.
In terms of operating systems, the Nokia Lumia 925 runs Windows Phone 8 while the Nokia Lumia 930 currently runs Windows Phone 8.1. Windows 8.1 includes features like Cortana voice search and Action Centre. While the Nokia Lumia 930 clearly has the more updated OS, it is only a matter of time before the Nokia Lumia 925 provides an OS update to 8.1.
When the Nokia Lumia 925 was first released, it was when Windows wasn’t necessarily trying to compete with the Android markets, so the actually CPU and RAM are lacking at the time of release and now appears incredibly dated. The Nokia Lumia 925 has a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and just 1GB of RAM.
The Nokia Lumia 930 provides an upgrade that is leaps and bounds ahead of the 925. With a 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor it rivals nearly any smartphone on the market today. It also has double the amount of RAM as the 925.
The Camera has been the staple and main selling point for the Nokia Lumia. Its photo technology is unparalleled and allows the user to create almost studio quality photos on the go. The Nokia Lumia 925 however is a bit dated in their technology. With an 8.7 MP sensor, it is falling behind in regards to clarity and quality; however it does supply the user with a lot of different modes and editing options to enhance the photographs.
The Nokia Lumia 930 has completely re-written the book on quality. With a 20 MP sensor along with optical image stabilization, it gives the user a much sharper, crisper image. The 930 also has a new feature called “Living Images” which can turn photos in MP4 files. In terms of video recording the Nokia Lumia 930 also has 4 built in microphones which allows for recording in surround sound.
Often times, upgrades are not necessarily “better” and offer little in terms of function in a phone. The Nokia Lumina 930 is simply light years above its predecessor in this case. There are times where devices become obsolete simply because technology has changed since its release, which happens to be the case here between the Nokia Lumia 925 and Nokia Lumia 930. This is one of the classic cases where “bigger” and newer is definitely better.