First thoughts on the 520

[jfloyd256]

only had my Nokia lumia a few weeks and really like it compared to my previous phone the Sony Xperia tipo

 

[shabbir0]

I've had my 520 for almost 4 months now, and it's really been fantastic. I switched over from an iPhone 5 for a few reasons - been an iOS user since the original iPhone, have tried Android concurrently while having an iPhone and was intrigued with the Windows Phone OS. I thought the 520 is a cheap entry device to experiment with, mainly for trying out the OS, but I was really surprised at how good a smartphone it is for the price. The OS runs extremely smoothly, something that just wouldn't happen on a cheaper Android device or a slightly older and cheaper iPhone. App support is pretty good on Windows Phone, you can get all major apps such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, etc. It's a fairly sturdy phone and I like the clean design.

The down side for me would be the camera without flash, no front facing camera, and the camera shutter button seems to get stuck now and then as it's part of the back case.

 

[Stacey Leigh Diedericks]

Switched from blackberry to Nokia Lumia 520 I'm loving it.. It might be the cheapest but works

Sent from my RM-914_im_south_africa_242 using Tapatalk

 

[Stacey Leigh Diedericks]

Works awesome don't even miss my BBM.. Great apps so no complains

Sent from my RM-914_im_south_africa_242 using Tapatalk

 

[Seranova]

I have had mine for over four months now and I really do enjoy my 520. I still plan to upgrade to a higher end Lumia later on, yet this model is more than enough for what I use it for.

For the price I got it for, it does so much more than one expects. I already have recommended it to a few so far, especially those on feature phones. I love the long battery life and how smoothly WP 8 runs on it. Can't wait for WP 8.1!

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 520 using Tapatalk!

 

[TCKemp]

This is my first Windows phone - and my first Nokia since the 3410. It arrived today so not had much chance to use it yet.
However, first impressions are good. For a low-price phone, it seems fairly responsive, the graphics seem reasonable and my usual dislike of Microsoft products has not applied here yet :wink:
Not ready to give up my Samsung S3 yet, but it seems a pretty fair backup.
Anyone know when the 8.1 update will be available for this phone in the UK please?
I installed a large update, but it still doesn't show as 8.1. The Nokia Update app is hard to understand - I haven't been able to scroll all the way down to the UK entries yet.

 

[aybarrap1]

This is my first Windows phone - and my first Nokia since the 3410.

However, first impressions are good. For a low-price phone, it seems fairly responsive, the graphics seem reasonable and my usual dislike of Microsoft products has not applied here yet :wink:

Not ready to give up my Samsung S3 yet, but it seems a pretty fair backup.

Anyone know when the 8.1 update will be available for this phone in the UK please?

I installed a large update, but it still doesn't show as 8.1.

I agree that my first impression is not bad at all. Windows Phone 8 has proven to be better than the 6.x versions. My only gripes have been the lack of a notification center and swype style keyboard. However the upcoming 8.1 update should resolve these. And just so you are aware...the 8.1 update is not out yet. You probably received the black update.
The single largest issue is a lack of support from developers. However the app store is improving...albeit slowly.

 

[ANAS AFFANDI BIN ABDOL MALIK]

Hey there, I am a newbie here at this forum. Just wanted to share my experience with Windows Phone in general and my lumia 520 in specific. My first experience with WP was 2 years ago when I bought lumia 610, and I was highly disappointed with WP7. It was one of the worst mobile phone experience that I've felt over the years of using various cell phones and smartphones. Two month later, I sold the damn thing and bought Galaxy SII and I thought to myself that I will never come back to WP again (This statement will come back and bite me later on). My hatred on the damn thing was so great that I ended up prowling various forums in order to simply bashed WP and Lumia.

Around September last year, I stumbled upon Lumia phone lineup running WP8. You must bear in mind at that time, I was very bias and hateful when it comes to WP. But the shop assistant was being very persistence, so I thought why not? And Lumia peaked my interest. Of course I dont ended up buying it as I was still skeptical about WP. So I went home and do my research about the phone. And surprise surprise. My previous grievance was solved with the WP8.

At that time, I already thinking about getting a new phone and even though I have the budget to get the 820, I settled with Lumia 520 thinking that if this phone perform greatly, than I could still upgrade to another model later on, and if not, the money that I spent to get this phone doesnt end up being "too wasteful".

Fast forward to seven (7) months later, and I could honestly say that I cant imagine my life without my Lumia 520. The OS was snappy, smooth and pleasant to the eyes. The lack of notification doesnt bother me because of the live tiles. I could done my works on the office suite, which is very convenience for my line of work. The lack of apps does bother me quite a bit early on, but I always find a way around that and now I hardly notice the lack of apps anymore.

All in all, coming back to WP taught me a valuable lesson on humility :winktongue:. And WP maybe far away to be called a perfect smartphone, but it doesnt matter because what matter is WP is perfect for me. And as a consumer that is all I ask. Now I cant wait for the 8.1 update.

 

[DarkJoker33]

I'm going to revitalize this thread a little.
I'm an everyday BlackBerry user. Current phone is a Q10.
In the past I've had these phones. Iphone 3gs,HTC Hero,HTC Evo, HTC Touch Pro running windows 6.1,Blackberry Bold 9930 , BlackBerry Q10.
So I've been across the spectrum of OS's for the most part.

2-3 days ago Amazon had a deal on the Nokia lumia 520 for $39.99 US.
Admittedly I've been curious to Windows new OS for a little while now. And I figured this was a chance to give it a whirl.
The first 15-20 min I wanted to pull my hair out trying to figure it out.
After about an hour of playing with it I came to enjoy it. Not enough so that I'm ever going to swear off my BlackBerry though.

Overall, after a small learning curve for the OS, It is kinda simple to use. The phone itself feels good in the hand as well.Even though it's not a "durable" feeling I'm used to.
The screen sensitivity is a little to much to my taste,even after changing the setting to normal.
I'm still tweaking and customizing here and there.
The keyboard get's a "meh" rating from me and somewhat reminds me of early droid keyboards.
Overall I haven't played with it a ton since it's not actually activated yet.
Tomorrow I'm going to tinker with it some more and go from there.

But for $40.00 I couldn't pass up on it and I'm not disappointed in the purchase at all.

 

[s2mikey]

I've only had my 520 for about 24 hours but so far so good. I'm coming from a tracfone and have been generally UNinterested in smart phones. We are using a few of these to replace our home phone and tracfones. Very pleased with the phones operation and overall quality feel thus far. I've handled and played with other people's high end android and apple phones and I'm sorry but this 520 feels just as good in hand as any of those, IMO.

I also like the windows mobile OS even though I don't care for it on a desktop or laptop. Works smooth and seems to be much less bloated than lower end android phones. Hope this works out for us. Very excited to have decent phones out there like this for this of us that refuse to play the $300 dollar a month game with overly obnoxious phones. Props to Nokia and Microsoft!

 

[Dom2462]

I own a Lumia 520 and I seriously wouldn't recommend it. Within the first 6 months the phone crashed twice, and I had to go and get it to the repair center both times. The power button got stuck, so i had to get it to the center again, within a few months the volume up button followed suite. The charger stopped working sometime during its second crash so I had to use one from an old Alcatel. Then about a week ago, it crashed again. The repair center was a bit far away, and I got fed up with the phone so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Did a soft reset, the phone buzzed thrice, nothing else happened. Charged it for a couple of hours nothing happened. Got it checked up (not in the official repair center, the warranty expired anyways) the guy hooked up a voltage-something machine to the phone and told me that the phone had a problem with electricity and that something went funky with the internals (i forgot his exact words). He told me to send it to Nokia again. I am seriously annoyed with this as the warranty expired a few days before the phone crashed. The phone is sturdy I'll admit, it took a fall from the second floor and remained mostly unscathed, the edge got warped a bit, but it isn't noticeable. But still, the phone barely lasted for a year, don't buy it.

 

[Caramelrocks]

I own a Lumia 520 and I seriously wouldn't recommend it. Within the first 6 months the phone crashed twice, and I had to go and get it to the repair center both times. The power button got stuck, so i had to get it to the center again, within a few months the volume up button followed suite. The charger stopped working sometime during its second crash so I had to use one from an old Alcatel. Then about a week ago, it crashed again. The repair center was a bit far away, and I got fed up with the phone so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Did a soft reset, the phone buzzed thrice, nothing else happened. Charged it for a couple of hours nothing happened. Got it checked up (not in the official repair center, the warranty expired anyways) the guy hooked up a voltage-something machine to the phone and told me that the phone had a problem with electricity and that something went funky with the internals (i forgot his exact words). He told me to send it to Nokia again. I am seriously annoyed with this as the warranty expired a few days before the phone crashed. The phone is sturdy I'll admit, it took a fall from the second floor and remained mostly unscathed, the edge got warped a bit, but it isn't noticeable. But still, the phone barely lasted for a year, don't buy it.

That sounds like a lot of bad luck. I've had my Lumia 520 for a year now and haven't had any problems with it.

Did the phone take a fall from the second floor before or after it crashed twice?

 

[vdfl]

I have been using Lumia 520 since 1 and a half year and fortunately its running perfectly fine.
This phone was the best budget smartphone in the world.
Even though it doesn't have front camera and flash, I am still enjoying it using since 1 years and more.
I thought that as it was a low budget smartphone then its does not have strong gorilla glass like screen but trust me it has been fell by me more then 14-15 times and not a single crack on my screen.
I am lucky enough to be using windows from windows 8 to black to denim and may be in future WINDOWS 10.
Even though it does not have apps features like android does but I like windows application user interface much more than android and ios .
It has rich ui than android and ios as I think so.
Everyone has different opinions and I do so.

 

[sdreamer]

Just got one as a backup phone and I am pleasantly surprised by the build. For 30$ this is a steal for a smartphone. Also, I'm pretty amazed by the camera on this. It isn't anything close to a 920, but the amount of light that it captures is pretty darn good considering there's not a flash on this. For those looking for a quick replacement phone but need the WP experience, I think the 520 could fill that gap.

 

[Karan542]

I am using Lumia 520 and I like this phone.
Screen size (inches) 4.00
Processor 1GHz dual-core
RAM 512MB
Internal storage 8GB
Expandable storage Yes
Expandable storage type microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB) 64
Rear camera 5-megapixel
Operating System Windows Phone 8
Really! its's amazing phone. I have 64GB storage in my lumia 520.