Hi!
I want to buy a cheap smartphone. I had a look at what is on offer at my local shop today. I'm currently an Android user and I will continue to use an Android phone for my work SIM, so my first idea was to buy another Android handset. However, for <200 euros most of the phones look pretty bad. I'm tempted by the Nokia Lumia 520, which has decent specs for the price and seems quite well made. I played with it in the shop. I haven't used WP8 before and I have a few questions - can anyone here help?
1. Text reflow in IE. Does this really not work? Is there a setting somewhere to switch it on? (*)
2. IE speed. In the shop, IE was much slower loading pages than comparable Android phones that I tried. Is this normal? Or just e.g. a dodgy wifi connection in the shop?
3. Notification/status bar. How do I see signal strength, battery charge, etc?
4. Syncing contacts with Google. Can WP8 continuously sync contacts with Google - i.e. if I enter a new contact in WP8, will it automatically appear in Google contacts, and vice versa? (*)
5. Nokia maps. I understand that with the Lumia 520 you only get offline maps free for one country. How much do additional countries cost? Is it possible to use Google maps and Google navigation in WP8?
6. Can I use other cloud services (especially Google Drive and Dropbox) with WP8? (*)
7. Apps. Is there a way to browse the WP8 app store from a web browser? I would like to confirm the availability of some key apps such as Spotify before I buy the phone. I also want to see the user reviews, as I have heard some quite bad stories about WP apps. (*)
8. Colour - can I get the Lumia 520 in a sensible colour, i.e. black? (*)
9. Software updates - am I likely to get an update to WP 8.1? How about 8.2, etc?
10. I use Linux on my home PC. Will I have any problems connecting a WP8 phone to my Linux desktop to copy pictures, music, documents, etc? (*)
11. Does the Lumia 520 have any other serious limitations that I should be aware of, compared to the more expensive WP8 phones?
Items marked (*) are potential showstoppers for me. In general, it's important that the phone can work well with my PC, my other Android phone, and (to a lesser extent) my iPad.
Many thanks for your help!
I want to buy a cheap smartphone. I had a look at what is on offer at my local shop today. I'm currently an Android user and I will continue to use an Android phone for my work SIM, so my first idea was to buy another Android handset. However, for <200 euros most of the phones look pretty bad. I'm tempted by the Nokia Lumia 520, which has decent specs for the price and seems quite well made. I played with it in the shop. I haven't used WP8 before and I have a few questions - can anyone here help?
1. Text reflow in IE. Does this really not work? Is there a setting somewhere to switch it on? (*)
2. IE speed. In the shop, IE was much slower loading pages than comparable Android phones that I tried. Is this normal? Or just e.g. a dodgy wifi connection in the shop?
3. Notification/status bar. How do I see signal strength, battery charge, etc?
4. Syncing contacts with Google. Can WP8 continuously sync contacts with Google - i.e. if I enter a new contact in WP8, will it automatically appear in Google contacts, and vice versa? (*)
5. Nokia maps. I understand that with the Lumia 520 you only get offline maps free for one country. How much do additional countries cost? Is it possible to use Google maps and Google navigation in WP8?
6. Can I use other cloud services (especially Google Drive and Dropbox) with WP8? (*)
7. Apps. Is there a way to browse the WP8 app store from a web browser? I would like to confirm the availability of some key apps such as Spotify before I buy the phone. I also want to see the user reviews, as I have heard some quite bad stories about WP apps. (*)
8. Colour - can I get the Lumia 520 in a sensible colour, i.e. black? (*)
9. Software updates - am I likely to get an update to WP 8.1? How about 8.2, etc?
10. I use Linux on my home PC. Will I have any problems connecting a WP8 phone to my Linux desktop to copy pictures, music, documents, etc? (*)
11. Does the Lumia 520 have any other serious limitations that I should be aware of, compared to the more expensive WP8 phones?
Items marked (*) are potential showstoppers for me. In general, it's important that the phone can work well with my PC, my other Android phone, and (to a lesser extent) my iPad.
Many thanks for your help!