need honest feedback on Nokia 520

[Oubeid]

Skype with no front facing cam!! Bad choice buddy!! A guess the 620 is a better choice!! A little small but a better screen, flash an front facing camera..

 

[DiLioPi]

I just recently switched from my Samsung Galaxy S4 to Lumia 520. Doesn't feel sluggish at all. In fact, my S4 crashed a lot more than my Lumia. Most apps runs as good as the phones with more than 512MB RAM. If you are concern about the storage, the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 promises app install to SD card.

 

[Nikhil Meher]

520 is good with 512mb RAM but 525 is even better. i have used both 520, 525 and both are awesome.

 

[anon(7900571)]

your dad will enjoy the ease layout of windows phone 8 (soon ) , one can easily remove the bloat ware and get some more space , SD card is also available , so he can easily transfer all his fav music , pictures or download from xbox music store / nokia store . he would love to use here drive in his car (just set it to fastest route available ), Skype is OK but lacks a front facing camera , so he can enjoy audio calls or have video mode by rear camera
my mom found android lil complicated , lots of icons , widgets made her confused , so I made her switch to best windows phone available ,luma 520;
she found the tile interface easy to use and charming , very fluid(these are her words) and my 3 year old nephew can also use this phone(launch kid's corner and play games ).apps open in a snap , check out the Lumia 520 review here :- Lumia 520 Review - The most affordable Nokia Windows Phone | Windows Phone Central

 

[PepsimanLeh]

I've seen people using 520, I think its a great budget phone. You can't miss this kind of promotion! It offers everything you need in WP.
However, as a 620 user, I would say its better than 520. If there isn't much price difference, why don't consider 620?

 

[onlysublime]

Currently at frys, there is a sale for Nokia 520 for $40 + tax.

I am considering to buy this phone for my dad who is currently use a Samsung Galaxy S (the first Galaxy S1).

This phone has a 512 MB, which is the exact same RAM as the 520. This S1 phone is awfully ******** SLOW as a turtle. It takes literally 5-10 sec to open an app. I am looking to replace his phone anytime because it's so slow. The first option is to give him my iPhone 4S once iPhone 6 is out, but that would be at least 6 months away...

My dad does not use phone for games, etc, so he uses smartphone as a feature phone, but he probably needs Skype, Whatsapp, which I see is already available.

Does this phone have bloatwares like Android? If so, can I remove / uninstall it?

In this case, how does 520 perform with its 512 MB RAM? If it's worth $40?

Obviously 4S also has 512 MB RAM but iOS platform is so efficient that 512 MB RAM with iOS 7 does not make the 4S feels slow at all. To my naked eyes, 4S has ~ the same experience as the 5 and 5S in term of responsiveness.

The important thing is that easiness to use and not slow as sometime he loses patience over the Galaxy S.

The 520 is pretty darn fast, especially for the price. I have the 521 which is pretty much the same. It depends on the app but they load pretty fast. Much faster than the 5-10 seconds you're quoting. The slowest app is the Here Drive which is the free offline GPS turn-by-turn navigation. This alone makes the 521 worth it as it can get you from place to place without having to download maps constantly and without having any kind of network connection. My 521 is completely off the grid. It's pure a wifi device for my purposes. But yes, you will tapping your fingers waiting for this GPS software to load.

If you're constantly switching between apps in terms of multitasking, the 520 may frustrate you but there's no phone this fast in this price range. If you can get a recent model iPhone for $40, more power to you.

In terms of RAM, there hasn't been a major problem. You will occasionally get dumped back to the start screen but can reload the software. I've had that happen quite a few times and I believe it's because of the RAM because on the 1+GB phones, I don't see the problem.

Now, one thing to note is that until Windows Phone 8.1 comes out, storage will be a severe problem. It means you won't be able to install many apps. Right now, the storage card can only be used for superficial things like pictures, videos, maps, and music. You can't store any apps on it. You can't store the cache on it. The WP8 OS takes a big chunk of the main storage. All the apps go on main storage. Whenever the apps do something, they add space to the Temporary Files which is like a cache. But you can't really control the cache. Some programs make the temporary files huge. I've had it grow to over 1GB. the only way to realistically shrink it is to stop using the app or uninstalling the app, neither of which is a good option.

This will be fixed with WP8.1 where you can install apps to the storage card. Right now, I'm barely using my 64 GB microSD card. It's not like you'll be taking a ton of videos or pictures with this phone because the camera is borderline terrible.

Also, I wish the 520/521 had the compass. While it has GPS hardware, there is no compass which means the phone can't tell what direction it's facing. Which means a lot of software can't be used (i.e., the compass software, the augmented reality software, etc.).

There are software preinstalled on the phone (depending on the carrier) but they can all easily be uninstalled. Not like the Galaxy phones where they reskin the phone with some CPU intensive UI. A major issue with the latest Galaxy phones.

It's definitely worth $40. heck, it's worth $100 (off-contract, that is). I can't think of any android phone (new) for $100 off-contract that beats what you get with the 520/521. Full GPS turn-by-turn, a fast responding OS, Microsoft Office, etc. I've own Android up to and including Jelly Bean and you needed serious hardware to get it to run well.

 

[Ranjith Kumar5]

Lumia 520 = Awesom!!

Sent from my Tapatalk

 

[EpicIncognitO]

I will just say buy it. I bought my brother one and its smooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooth !

 

[jefbeard911]

Buy it. Dont do any more research or comparing. Trust me. Just buy it. otherwise youll spend the next 2 weeks reading and comparing phones.. 720vs 520, 520 vx 525, 620 vs 520...ect ect.

Buy it. Happy days.