Nokia Lumia 525 budget smartphone launched

The Lumia 525 is now official and offers a Windows Phone 8 product to those on a budget. At the moment there are only plans to release the Nokia Lumia 525 in Africa, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Although the 525 is set to replace the 520 the specs are almost identical to the first iteration. The only major change inside the device is the amount of RAM, which has been doubled from 512MB to 1GB.

Externally the Lumia 525 is identical to the 520 offering the popular feature of interchangeable rear covers again which allow you to personalise the look of your smartphone.

The handset has a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. It sports a 5-megapixel rear facing camera and a 4-inch IPS LCD touchscreen display. There’s also 8GB of internal storage and the option to add more with the microSD slot.

Although extra RAM has given a good piece of kit an upgrade, the lack of a front facing camera could be a real turn off to some consumers. There’s currently no word on price, release date or whether a European release is on the cards.

Check out our review of the Nokia Lumia 520.We described the Nokia 520 as: “A very well rounded package for the price which goes well beyond other devices in this bracket. Ideal if you're looking for something simple, straightforward and affordable.”