A week after it announced its latest results Nokia has launched its largest Lumia smartphone to date.

Nokia Lumia 625

With the Lumia 625, Nokia is aiming to take advantage of the expected increased uptake in 4G services in the secocnd half of 2013, claiming its latest Windows Phone device will let customers access the faster 4G speeds on a budget.

Conor Pierce, VP of Nokia in the UK and Ireland, said this morning at the launch that the phone will cost £200 before taxes and charges when the phone arrives in the UK in early September.

4G, which promises up to ten times the download speeds of 3G services, is currently only on offer from EE - but both Vodafone and O2 are currently working on rolling out their 4G networks which are expected to launch in the next few months.

Highly competitive

Pierce said that he expects 4G to become much more mainstream in the final quarter of 2013, and he expects to see the Lumia 625 offered at a highly competitive sub-£200 price point in the pre-pay market.

Bringing 4G tech to lower price points will certainly help make the Lumia 625 stand out from the crowd, but as we have seen with previous Lumia devices, the presence of Microsoft's Windows Phone and its lack of apps remains a problem for many consumers.

Nokia Lumia 625

Last week Nokia reported record Lumia smartphone sales, shipping 7.4 million devices in the three months to the end of June. However this is still a long way off the volume of sales reported by market leaders Apple and Samsung, and analyst Ian Fogg from IHS Screen Digest last week laid the blame squarely at Microsoft's feet:

Lack of innovation

"[The software] has changed fairly little since Windows Phone 7 launched back in August 2010, and the difference between Windows Phone and Android, or Windows Phone and the iPhone in [terms of] software has widened in that period, not narrowed. One of Nokia's biggest challenges is that Microsoft is not innovating quickly enough."

In terms of hardware, the Lumia 625 will feature a 4.7in LCD screen with the less-than-stellar resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It will be powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm along with a large 2,000mAh battery.

The phone will come with the interchangeable covers which make the Lumia range stand out, with the Lumia 625 available in orange, yellow, green, white and black. Some of the features of the flagship devices such as Nokia's Smart Camera and its Here mapping services will also be available.

Eight Lumias

With the launch of the flagship Lumia 1020 and the budget Lumia 625, Nokia now has eight Lumia smartphones available in the UK.

The Lumia 625 will sit above the smaller Lumia 520 and Lumia 620 but below the mid-range Lumia 720 and Lumia 820.

Giving customers accessibility to 4G at a low sub-£200 price will definitely make the Lumia 625 an attractive proposition, but it remains to be seen if Windows Phone will evolve to bring some value to the eco-system.