First thoughts on the 520

mase123987

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Let me start off by saying that I have had a 710 and 900. I currently use the 920. I bought the 520 mostly out of curiosity.

Outside feel and look: It def. comes off as a Lumia product. While all Lumia's have a different style, they all have their similarities, and the 520 is no different. The removable case is def. cheap plastic. Reminds me of a lot of cheap Android phones. I'm not really disappointed or worried considering the price. The buttons for camera/power/volume have nice feedback. Only time will tell if they last.

Screen: Frankly I think the screen is pretty darn good considering. No it doesn't compare at all to nicer phones like the 920, but the contrast is decent, along with the colors. 4in should def. be the minimum for phones. Screen is also very responsive.

Speaker: Shallow and zero bass (pretty much). Though it is surprising loud. I played a song and a game and it was plenty loud enough.

Camera: It works. Is there much more to say? It is a solid entry level camera but nothing more. I haven't taken tons of pictures yet but it is pretty easy to tell.

Vibrator: Actually prefer it to the 920. It isn't anything special but as most 920 and 900 owners know, Nokia tried to go overboard with those phones which cause rattling when vibrating. This isn't an issue with the 520.

OS: Smooth as butter! I don't think my Nexus 7 tablet runs this smooth. I can't enough emphasis how important this one point is. On a phone that is $130, this should not be the case. If you could get someone to demo this at a store for anyone looking for a cheap or first smartphone, you could get people hooked quick! I am not really going to go into the OS anymore given all of you already know the ins and outs.

Games: So I have downloaded only one game, the New (Old) Angry Birds. It loaded quickly and played like a dream. Seriously, I have seen Angry Birds cause slight jitters on a lot of different devices but none on the 520. I'll have to try more games out but I thought this would be a good start.

Internet Surfing: I don't know about most of you, but I prefer to have IE set to show the desktop version of websites. This is one place where resolution does affect things (guess this could be in screen category). Without zooming in, text doesn't look great. It is still legible but the 920 spoiled me I guess. Websites seem to load quickly. Again, speed of the phone is quite nice.

Memory: I had 4.69ish gb left before installing any apps. I will be be removing some of the t-mobile apps for space. BTW, the microSD slot is under the back cover.

If you have any questions, please ask! I will be willing to test stuff if you need!

EDIT: Just downloaded Sonic CD and it runs like a dream!
 
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rudranil

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Great review. I am really hoping that this phone would help in mass adoption of wp8. Looks like the phone has everything that is required for this. Walmart is a good place to sell this. Just need some good marketing now.
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devize

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I had a play with one yesterday and honestly no other phone can beat it in the price range. I was very impressed by it. I ran it side by side with my 920 and it came out faster on many occasions, it is that fast and smooth. That's something unheard of with androids. I can't see any reason at all why someone would put up with a laggy Android device over a phone like the 520. Put one of these on display next to other budget devices along with a bit more advertising and WP could be huge in this market.

The only problem is that Nokia have so many other phones that are cheap, the hardest choice is choosing between the 520/620/720/820, not Android vs WP, as there really is no contest.
 

lin0x

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Getting mine in 2or 3 days. tested it yesterday and was really impressed. It is already the most sold WP8 device in India and will gain lots of users for windows phone.
 

Ross Myers

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I got mine for $175 AU, for that price you just can't fault it. Even if some bits might feel cheaper than it's big brothers just keep telling yourself how much you paid!
 

mark nt

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Just bout a 520 as a temporary phone until my replacement 720 come in...i broke the screen on that so I bout a new one but had to order it, have to say the 720 is the best phone I've owned..ok back to the 520 I was surprised how good this little beauty is it may not have the bells and whistles of it big brother the 720 but what it does do is what Nokia are so good at making great phone no matter the cost..
 

ThaKrazyOne

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I just picked up the 520 from the Microsoft store here in Century City. This is my first jump into WP in general. The price point got me to get the phone so I can try it. I am coming from iOS since my iPhone 4 died so for now this will be my daily phone for a few months. I am surprised on how well the phone itself runs. I am getting used to the interface so I can't give a good report on it. The only gripe I have so far is having to setup seperate mailboxes for e-mail accounts unless there is a way to put them all in one inbox. The only thin I do miss is the front camera and lack of app support, but I see app support is getting bigger by the day. For now, I don't see anything bad.
 

jaimeastin

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I just picked up the 520 from the Microsoft store here in Century City. This is my first jump into WP in general. The price point got me to get the phone so I can try it. I am coming from iOS since my iPhone 4 died so for now this will be my daily phone for a few months. I am surprised on how well the phone itself runs. I am getting used to the interface so I can't give a good report on it. The only gripe I have so far is having to setup seperate mailboxes for e-mail accounts unless there is a way to put them all in one inbox. The only thin I do miss is the front camera and lack of app support, but I see app support is getting bigger by the day. For now, I don't see anything bad.

Open and email account the three dots in the lower right corner of the screen. Tap "link inboxes".

This allows you to have one or many grouped inboxes.
 

cckgz4

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Even though this runs slightly slower than the 822, man...............the battery life is WAY better. I don't know HOW but it is. The same thing I did on a day to day basis that I did with my 822 (casual web browsing, listening to music, texts, phone calls, etc) I can do with my 520 and not worry about my battery ending before I get home. I love that, and I love it so much that I can overlook the lower memory and the lack of flash & ffc (I need my selfies LOL)
 

Rod Sprague

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Great straight to the point review. I bought the Lumia 520 as a second phone to use overseas with a local SIM but never thought I would like it so much being a long term Mac user with an iPhone 4. When the salesman at the store I bought it from asked what sort of phone did I already have he said as an iPhone user I was bound to be "disappointed" in the Lumia. I however agree with you, if someone demo'd this phone in store I think it would stand up very well against much more expensive android alternatives and probably sell very well especially to the younger market.
 

Rod Sprague

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Same wiith me, I simply cant believe it. It kills my iPhone for staying power and unlike the iPhone I can always get a replacement battery without having to send it back to the factory.
 

Ahmed Hassan7

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I own one and to sum up I love it had an android then swapped to WP and then I started hating google the 520 is smooth and fast IE is actually very good basically the 520 is the whole package at a mind blowing price



Sent from my Lumia 520 using Tapatalk
 

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