After years of BlackBerry, and Android, Just bought a Nokia 521

BBerryPowerUser

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As my user name suggests, I am quite simply a BlackBerry Power User. I have had one for about 8 years now and love it for "Business". There is not much I do not know about operating one.
For personal use, it is OK, but would not recommend web surfing or trying to load many apps, since not many are available, especially on legacy Berries.
I don't think that BlackBerry is going to go totally away anytime soon, but eventually, the legacy Berries with their proprietary network will be gone forever.

One should note that I also have an Android 2.3 as a backup to my Berry. This I tend to use for personal use. I recently put an app on it that emulates Windows 8. Liked the live tile feel. I'm also a fan of the app "Flipboard", that has a live tile User Interface. This pushed me toward considering a Windows 8 phone.

Today, after much research, I purchased a Nokia Lumina 521. Steal of a deal on QVC. I'm not really a QVC fan and have never purchased from them before, but I looked around, and for 99 bucks with accessories, you can't beat their price.

I had a Motorola Q Windows based phone years ago, and this was my 2nd smartphone (Palm was the first). I liked it very much. I am betting I will love the elegant UI of the new Windows phone. I am hoping it will truly replace my BlackBerry as a workhorse communication device. Android could never do this, IMO. BlackBerry is elegant with regard to how it handles email and texts. I'd love just having ONE phone that satisfies all of my needs.
I'm certain that over time, I'll like the phone very much. Can't wait to try it. It will be here Friday. By Saturday, I'll have it put through the paces.

Looking forward to it.
 

raccoon210

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Yeah 99$ is hard to pass up! Hopefully the 521 will fulfill your needs and you can get rid of the others! Let us know what you think of it once you get it!
 

RumoredNow

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I just recently got a 521 out of curiosity about the OS and as use for in-car navigation. (I had dabbled with a non-touch Symbian in the form of a Nokia E5-00 and really appreciated Nokia's maps and nav.) The 521 surprised me - for a "value" smartphone it does very well and handles nicely.

Welcome to WinPho. I hope you find the convergence of devices you long for and that the 521 is a pleasant surprise for you. :)
 

_X_

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About two weeks after I purchased the phone for my daughter at $125 I saw the add where QVC was selling the phone for $80 grrrr.

She likes and hates the phone it has many limitations. What she likes most about it is the build and design. She likes the way metro looks but doesn't like how to navigate. She really has mentioned the camera is really bad.

Me personally I agree with her. But I will add the phone keyboard frustrates me and so does the lag. It's not a scrolling lag but more of waiting for the next screen to load.

I also don't care much for the Windows multitasking.

I will say this the UI is Uniform clean For $80-$120 it's a good phone.
 

metalchick719

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I don't have a 521 (920 owner here), but my best friend has one. I have to disagree about the camera in spite of it not having flash. It's really quite good, which is surprising considering it's a budget Lumia.
 

BBerryPowerUser

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Good feedback guys. Thanks.

If I like the 521, and I suspect I will, I would certainly upgrade at some point to a more powerful Windows Phone. The most important thing for me now is to play with the UI and see if I truly can use it every day pounding out emails and texts and my company Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

A little more from my use experience, I actually tried an iPhone 4s for about six months hoping this was the Holy Grail for me. No-go. I typically like Apple very much, but for every day use, the iPhone (TO ME) was more of a toy than a serious business tool. Granted, it was cool, but cool (again, TO ME) is not what I am looking for. Yet my Berry, as awesome as it is for raw communication prowess, lacks so much from a user-friendly perspective with regard to everyday use. So when I loaded a WP8 app on my Droid and loved it, I thought it might be good to try a real Windows Phone. Two more days and the phone will be here. I'm pretty excited! :)
 

BBerryPowerUser

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Here's a link to specs and a review you might enjoy while your'e waiting on the 521 to arrive.
Slickdeals.net - View Single Post - Nokia Lumia 521 4" Prepaid Windows 8 Smartphone for T-Mobile + Accessories $90

Thanks for the link!

I have tried EVERY available WP type "launcher" from the app store. Some are terrible. Some not so bad. The one I find that is best is the "Launcher8 Free". For a few bucks you can upgrade to the paid version, but as far as I can see, the paid version only gains you Themes, and I don't need them.
Don't expect this to be just like WP 8, but for free and for Android, I think it's awesome.


BTW: What is the name of the Android app that emulates live WP8 live tiles?
.
 

HoosierDaddy

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About two weeks after I purchased the phone for my daughter at $125 I saw the add where QVC was selling the phone for $80 grrrr.
There will always be a better deal down the road. I just picked up a T-Mobile 521 (no contract) for $59.99 at Fry's (B&M) for a gift. They were supposed to be $79.99 (with a $40 instant discount code). But they (accidentally?) dropped the pre-discount price from $119.99 to $99.99 the day before the $40 discount ended. I still think the $119 I paid for mine at Wallyworld when they first came out was a good deal. Unless you pay more than suggested retail there are only good deals and damn good deals for 521s. No bad ones.
 

BBerryPowerUser

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That is a screamin' deal! The QVC deal I got was phone, rubber case, car charger for 99 bucks. That's not bad. I needed another car charger anyway. The ones I order from Amazon just don't last. Hopefully this one will.

Unfortunately, QVC did not get my phone here this weekend. Perhaps Monday. The day I get it, I'm poppin' in my SIM and starting the use test. I'll let you guys know what I think, but the smart money would be betting I'll truly like the UI. It is my hope the phone will be my everyday work and play device.
 

christenmartin

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I just bought a 520 for my mother. I have a 920 and I am very impressed with the 520s build quality and the screen. I think it is easily the best bang for you low end buck. I thought the camera was pretty good for a 520. It is not up to my 920 but I didn't expect it to be. My sister bought a 150$ android and it surpasses it in every way.
 

BBerryPowerUser

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Thanks.
I'm glad you mentioned Android camera.

My backup-play phone is an Android LG Optimus Elite running 2.3. I'm on the grandfathered $25 Virgin Mobile plan, unlimited Android 3g and 300 minutes, so for a weekend phone, it's terrific.

I was surprised when I bought the Android that it had a 5MP camera WITH flash and NFC for Android Wallet. I have not used Wallet yet, so that's not a big deal to me, and I see the 521 does not have it anyway. Lack of flash is a bit of a loss as I use the "Flashlight" app on my Andorid and BlackBerry quite a bit, but some apps use the screen to illuminate, so that's do-able for me.

I'll be anxious to see how the camera stacks up against my Android, as they are both 5 MegaPixel.

Most important for me is the User Interface and if I can use it daily for business, and on weekends for fun. :)
 

WeAreNotAlone

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On the shipping timeframe:
Are you seeing shipment moving?

"If" QVC is like HSN. (and others) most likely if the shipping is "FREE" it's shipped UPS SUREPOST which means:

Shipments are picked up in mass, UPS scans them in (taking their sweet time) Think "Bulk" shipping vs something you've paid big bucks /going rate to ship. (which makes sense)
On a shipment from HSN for example shipment was marked "shipped" by them, USP didn't scan it in till 4 or 5 days later.

Once UPS has it, it should track as normal.... it is delivered via USPS (Post Office). Contractually Post off has (2) days to deliver it. So add a couple of days, depending on where you are.

NOTE : HSN said 3-7 days shipping time, that is NOT from the time you place the order, it's from when they marked it "shipped". In my case HSN processing shipping was about 1.5 days till they marked it shipped.


PS: The Camera is decent in outdoor shots, Night /low light shots not so great but I haven't played with any settings.

Wish they'd put a LED on it.... What does a LED cost?
(With the above said I haven't transferred any pics to the big screen, reference point is using the 4 inch screen on the device to view)

As a aside- I wish the phone had more "ADVANCED" options (For everything)

.
 

BBerryPowerUser

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Thanks for the info.
Good to know!

Shipping shows in transit, but no tracking yet. May be Tuesday or Wednesday until it arrives.

I have a feeling that I will miss my BlackBerry LED. That little red flashing light is really addictive for message/email/whatever waiting status. I did not realize that ANY Windows phone had LED availability. I know some Androids do.

I hear you on the "Advanced" options. I've not got my hands on the phone yet, obviously, but I am a guy whom tweaks his phones and programs and apps. I may also feel I need more advanced features.

I'll keep you guys posted. If I'm lucky, I'll have the phone Monday... but probably not. :)
 

RumoredNow

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I enjoyed my 521 so much that I struck up a deal with someone in the marketplace here and got a like mint 925. I just got done setting it up last night. I'll definitely enjoy the upgrade, I can tell already. Glance, Double Tap to Wake, build quality and feel, larger screen, more power in the CPU/RAM departments. ProCam seems to kick all kinds of tail. :grin:

The 521 is definitely a gateway phone. :winktongue:
 
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christenmartin

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The low light shots with the 520 is not great. Reminds me of my smart phones of the past. I'm comparing it to my 920 though. The 920 low light is really amazing.
 

Bobert_123

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I don't want to be "that guy", but if you enjoy BB, and want a more consumer friendly phone, why not upgrade to a BB10 phone. I realize the price was a major factor in your decision, but in the future you should be able to get a Z10 for under 300.

That is of course, you don't like BB10, then I would say WP8 is a great choice over your old 9780.
 
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BBerryPowerUser

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This has been a great thread for me. Thanks again, guys.

I was reading a lot of articles about a smartphone being a "Phone" and communication device FIRST, and an App machine (mini computer) SECOND. Many manufacturers forget this, and build the phone around fluff, rather than raw communication power. So if your goal is to have a strong phone, and one that has apps and fluff on the side, I think WP8 (although I have not set mine up yet) may be the ticket. I hope so anyway.

Also, I don't need a gazillion apps. On my legacy Berry, I've got about 20, and I use about 3 weekly. My Banking App, Hootsuite (to do Facebook, Twitter AND LinkedIn) and Poynt.
I sometimes use MapMyRun, and a few others, but mostly the top three I listed are my apps. Legacy Berry banking apps lack the ability to deposit checks via camera picture. That's really why I got the Android. My bank is not in my state sometimes. I've got three homes and I travel, and in my current state, no branches, so I have to do everything mobile. I'm actually surprised my Legacy Berry still has my bank's app active. Even Chase closed down Legacy Berry apps last year.
This being said, I admire Legacy Berries for the phone and communication prowess they possess and were built around.

I stopped into a T-Mo store and played with a BB 10 for a long while and did not care for it as much as I did the WP8 phone I played with. As I said earlier, I'm a big fan of the app Flipboard. You can't get it on BlackBerry, only Android, iPhone and next month.... YES.... ON WP8! I was so happy when I saw this.

I thought about a BB9900 which would be an upgrade for me, but I'd rather have a phone that is fit for my needs and tastes, AND, is not Legacied by the manufacturer. I am really excited I think I have found one!

Thanks again for the comments. Much appreciated. Great group. Good forum.
 

12Danny123

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Capture.PNGCapture 45.PNG

Flipboard looks very nice on Windows 8/phone's live tiles I agree with you. So excited for flipboard to come to Windows 8 and Windows phone :D also welcome to Wp8 :).

EDIT: Also How's your 521 going?
 
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