Pleasantly surprised, too. It was a forced buy for me (old phone broke) - not really a phone enthusiast, but I'm hooked. I knew I liked the Windows Phones if I really had to get a new one. Didn't expect to get one so cheaply - a plus for someone who thinks phones are for making phone calls. :winktongue:
Got it for ?99 unlocked and picked up a pre-pay SIM that came with a years free data allowance (1GB/month). Its the baby of the Nokia Windows Phones, but despite that it feels of a much higher build quality than the other Lumias. Like a proper Nokia, really. I got the white one and it feels/ looks like a small iPhone (shhhh, don't tell Apple).
It's lower spec'ed than other Window Phones, but certainly doesn't feel slow or hindered in any way. The main difference that I can gather is that it doesn't allow apps to run tasks in the background when they're not explicitly running. That probably keeps everything running smoothly on the lower specs. Of course it has large differences compared to Windows Phone 8 devices, but I understand there is a Windows 7.8 update coming that will bring some of the interface improvements to the older OS. The screen is beautiful, touch is responsive and does what you asked of it, call quality is brilliant (scarily so for someone coming from 2008 tech), battery is good (I used it intensively and literally non-stop for 16 hours before having to charge, if I leave it alone it seems to get up to 3 days).
The camera isn't mind-blowing, but you can manually set ISO (up to 800) and white balance (from a few pre-settings). If you're a good photographer and lighting is good, this is all you'll need to get the best out of the camera. The best can look stunning when all you want to do is share it online. Stick with your dedicated camera for everything else.
It comes with free GPS.
It comes with Nokia Music, which is like a custom radio station. You plug in three artists, it makes a playlist of a half dozen or so songs based around your choices and similar stuff and you can listen to it ad-free. You can make as many playlists as you want, but you can only skip a song 6 times in an hour and can't see what songs are coming next. However, you can download any playlist to your phone for unlimited playback (allbeit, with the same rules). Basically, it's free music if you don't mind listening through a few playlists to find ones you like.
It's actually a really good phone - I'm shocked at how much tech has moved on. I payed the same for my 2008 cheap-tech phone back in the day and all it did was play MP3s and have a radio (which I needed to plug in an adapter to use anyway).
The only problem is I've turned into one of those 'oh, there is an app I have for that' fiends that I so deride!
Well done Nokia and Microsoft.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram