LAS VEGAS–The Windows Phone gang’s all here. Nokia brought its full U.S. lineup to the CTIA Wireless trade show here in Las Vegas, including the brand-new Lumia 925 for T-Mobile. I put it next to Verizon’s 928 and AT&T’s 920 and saw what was different.

The 920-series Lumias are Nokia’s flagships, each with an 8.7-megapixel “PureView” camera with optical image stabilization and killer low-light performance. But because Nokia doesn’t have huge clout with the U.S. carriers, it had to give each of them something special. I think T-Mobile got a solid deal here.

The new 925 has an aluminum frame and a polycarbonate back. It comes in black and white; I liked the white version a lot better, because it doesn’t show fingerprints. It’s noticeably smaller and lighter than either the 920 or the 928, and fits more easily in smaller hands. Held next to an HTC 8X – my favorite physical Windows Phone design by far – the 925 is slightly shorter and slightly wider.

The 1,280-by-720 OLED screen is hypersaturated and punchy, like OLED screens often are. The unit I played with had some prototype finish problems – there was a gap between the polycarbonate and the metal on the back – but Nokia insisted that would be fixed in the final models.

There’s a lot of subtle detail in the design here. I especially like how although there’s a back-ported speaker, it sits on tiny bumps so it isn’t flush with the table. The camera module also bows gently out of the back a little, because the optically stabilized camera was just a little too thick for this body design. It’s not a real lump of a camera, though.

The phone will have four optional boldly colored, unusual-looking cases in black, white, red and yellow. The polycarbonate cases clip around the corners of the phone, exposing the aluminum sides while protecting the back and corners from bumps. They also flatten out the camera area.

The Lumia 925 is coming to T-Mobile later this summer, probably in July; the carrier hasn’t announced a price yet.

Not Just Great-Looking, They’re Upgradeable
When the Lumia 925 hits shelves in July, it’ll probably have a three-month window before the next iPhone and the next version of Windows Phone hit.

Jonathan Cronin, Nokia’s director of product portfolio and marketing, said the 925 will be upgradeable to the next version of Windows Phone, and pointed out some unique features coming to the Nokia phones. The 925 is rolling out with Smart Camera, an advanced camera app that includes many features similar to the flagship camera modes in Samsung’s Galaxy S 4, like “drama shot” and “eraser mode,” for instance. That app will also come to the 928 and 920 down the road, Cronin said.

The T-Mobile USA model has the carrier’s excellent Wi-Fi calling feature, with a nifty live tile to show you what mode you’re in.

Nokia’s in a tough place; Windows Phone is growing, but it’s still struggling at about 3 percent of the smartphone market. And while Nokia now has a broad lineup of Windows Phones at every price point, its designs are a little scattered because the carriers demand exclusive looks.

At least they’re all called Lumias, though, and they have a common design language, a common focus on imaging, and the protection of a powerful friend in Microsoft. The Lumia 925 looks like a great phone; it might even be my next phone. But as HTC’s struggles show, just having a great phone, nowadays, isn’t enough.