Lumia 625 launched as Nokia’s biggest Windows Phone yet

Nokia has introduced the Lumia 625, a budget Windows Phone 8 handset with a 4.7in display – making it the largest Lumia handset to date.

Introduced this morning at a press event in London, the Lumia 625 sits above the current Lumia 620 as Nokia’s cheapest 4G-ready handset. Powered by a previous generation Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor running at 1.2GHz and paired with 512MB of RAM, it’s by no means a powerhouse, but the LTE antenna inside is compatible with EE’s 4G network.

Unsurprisingly for a budget handset, the 4.7in display doesn’t use a particularly high resolution panel. The 800×480 screen does at least use IPS technology, which should help create better viewing angles than other budget handsets with TFT screens.

With 8GB of internal storage and a MicroSD card slot for adding extra capacity, a 5-megapixel rear camera (which unfortunately doesn’t have the PureView branding found in the Lumia 925 or Lumia 1020), a secondary front-facing VGA camera and a 2,000mAh battery, the Lumia 625 is a decidedly mid-range device.

Its saving grace looks to be price – the Lumia 625 is expected to cost £220 SIM-free when it goes on sale in September, in a choice of colours including black, white, orange, green, and yellow. These rear covers can be swapped if you want a change of colour.

EE, Vodafone and O2 have already commited to stocking the handset, along with Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse. We’ll be bringing you a detailed hands-on later today.