New Nokia phone to feature 'smart camera'

Nokia has launched its latest high-end smartphone with a new metal design and its most advanced camera yet.

The Lumia 925 features a lighter and thinner body than its predecessors and an enhanced screen which can be read in bright sunlight.

The Finnish firm unveiled the device at a much-hyped London launch event where it described the handset as its best smartphone ever.

The 925 will sell for around €469 before tax and and will be available as early as next month.

Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia's smart devices, stressed the company's push to "keep innovating" as she revealed the latest developments in the Lumia series.

"We're advancing experiences on the Nokia Lumia portfolio, whether that means great new benefits for an existing Lumia owner or bringing new showcase devices like the Nokia Lumia 925," she said.

Among the 925's central features are its "smart camera" which is designed to capture 10 images at once to create the "perfect" high quality image.

The function is to be extended to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones.

Introducing the "beautifully refined, beautifully crafted" Lumia 925, Ms Harlow said: "The most innovative smartphone in the world did just get better."

The latest Lumia phone was revealed as Nokia battles to arrest a steady decline in demand for its devices and reclaim ground lost to rivals Apple and Samsung.

But while the mobile phone giant placed much weight on the 925's camera function, it failed to match the 13 megapixels featured on Samsung's Galaxy S4 and experts suggested the Lumia series was still some way behind the iPhone.

Paul Thompson, managing director of mobile advertising company BlisMedia, described the device as a "great-looking phone" but said Nokia's developments amounted to little more than a "repacking exercise".

"If you set this against the design qualities of Apple's iPhone and even the HTC One, it is slightly underwhelming and will not set it apart from its rivals, it doesn't even raise the bar any higher," he said.

"I would expect Nokia to continue to struggle to make an impact in the smartphone markets in the US and UK, especially as it has bet big on the windows operating system which has failed to get much traction with consumers despite the millions spent on marketing it."

He added: "The focus on engineering a great camera, sound and video experience in the latest Lumia plays to Nokia's historical strengths but the eight megapixel camera is less that the 13 megapixels available on the Samsung Galaxy S4.

"Is this a radical experience or even a fresh experience, not really. More a repacking exercise."

The handset was unveiled after Nokia released a teasing video on YouTube which showed partial views of the phone and was accompanied by the slogan: "more than your eyes can see".

Its launch came after the company's chief executive Stephen Elop said Nokia was working on new products and "taking tactical actions" as it tried to compete with the likes of Apple.

Alongside its enhanced camera, the Lumia 925 features a navigational function and Nokia Music - a service which allows unlimited streaming of music playlists.

The 925 introduces metal for the first time to the Lumia range. The phone has a polycarbonate back which comes in white, grey and black.

A wireless charging cover can be clipped onto the device. This will be sold separately and will come in white, black, yellow, and red, Nokia said.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at comparison site uSwitch.com, described the 925 as the handset that "true Nokia fans have been waiting for", which would address "all of the critical concerns" levelled at previous models in the same series.

"The marriage of technical expertise in mobile imaging with a gorgeous piece of hardware shows that the Finnish manufacturer still has fire in its belly," he said.

"However, the battle is no longer in just having the flashiest phone. The megapixel wars are over, and consumers are looking for apps and software that make life easier.

"Windows Phone is slowly gaining traction - largely via the Lumia range and positive word of mouth - but is still a small fraction of the smartphone market.

"Nokia would genuinely benefit from also broadening its unique services ... to give those on the fence a real reason to switch."