Just picked up the 521

[_X_]

So our family is not really tied the any platform. We tend to love all gadgets and have at least one device of each platform at home.
I had two kids at home that where getting new phones both coming from Android. Both were seriously considering the Lumia 521. My son decided to go with the Nexus 4, especially after the price drop that's a steal. My daughter went for the Lumia 521.

So yesterday I spent some time on the phone to set it up. Actually all my kids played with the phone to get a feel for the phone.
_____ My take only using it for 2hrs____

Was pleasantly surprised it was very smooth as many folks her say windows scrolling was. There was a lot of lagging however when between apps.

I couldn't figure how to switch between apps, I had to hit the start button and renavigate. The back button work as a workaround but only if you didn't drill down on screens.

Hit a couple web sites, they rendered okay, never been an IE fan I've always disliked that browser.

I really like the tiles vertical stylish. But not good as the only notification method. If windows incorporate tiles and notifications it would be an awesome solution. For me personally tiles don't work. For me I really liked how Windows 6.5 allows a user to put calendar and todo tasks on the home page. Up until recently I couldn't do this but Android in its vast customization has finally allowed me this feature.

I'll give an update when I get more time on the phone.

 

[Corepc]

You can pin the Calender App to start screen and you can setup Appointment, Reminder and To-Do within the Calendar app itself, they will get displayed on Calendar if you use a the Wide Tile. There are also many free apps that you can use for Reminder and To-Do list has well.

Read this How to for WP8

 

[crash1989]

Hi,

Glad that know you consider all devices on their merits. Windows Phone is a unique beautiful and elegant OS in my opinion. You see that even on the most basic hardware it can run without much lag (you have to expect lag while loading up high processor intensive apps like Games and stuff)

My take on your observations:

You long press the back button and you will be greeted with a multi tasking page where you can switch between apps with ease. One long press and a tap is all that is required. Please note windows phone doesn't have true multitasking like Android, it suspends apps in the background and does a fast resume when reactivated. This saves battery and makes sense for mobile devices.

IE as you said is fast and fluid browser, from my experience it is a bit slow on 520 (or 521) than a 720 or 920. A few websites do cause a few issues due to them having bad code and not supporting IE.

Notifications and a notification center are coming in the next GDR3 update as reported by many sites. We might see the new devices this month in the Nokia event so when GDR3 comes be ready for that.

You can pin the calendar on the home page and for more features you could use one of the many calendar apps available in the market place like these calendar | Windows Phone Central
There are a lot of tasks and todo apps in the store which have beautiful live tiles.

Hope this helps.

 

[_X_]

Thanks all, I'll look into pinning apps.

 

[MsBuzzman]

I have had this phone for several months. What I find most amazing is the battery life that is days for me. I am a lite user. I can go for 3-4 days on a charge with some to spare. With android it's usually 1-2 days. I always get a spare battery for whatever phone I am using at the time. I have never needed it for this 521

 

[_X_]

Question to 521 owners. The Wi-Fi password keeps on getting lost. I am constantly having to put the password to get back on our home wifi. Is this common? Is there a way to prevent that from happening?

 

[jaceot]

That is not common. I am sure you've deleted the network and tried to re-add it. Maybe a system reset. I've never had to reinput a password for wifi.