I've had my Nokia 521 for over a month now and I want to thank Windows Phone Central for being such an extensive and timely source of information. I picked up this phone when Target had it for $59.99, as reported here in mid December, and linked to on some other sites/forums. I'm amazed that this phone is priced so low. Maybe Microsoft is subsidizing it in the USA market to gain market share?
I've used many mid-level Android devices in the past, and Windows Phone 8 just blows them away in performance for the $. The best features of the 521 are long battery life, sound quality/HD voice on T-Mobile USA, bright usable screen indoors and out, fast/fluid OS, good camera, and decent apps. I also like the form factor of the 521 with my Bodyglove case. It's perfect in the hand and sliding into the pocket. I have the white/grey case and got it on clearance from T-Mobile online back in December.
I mostly use stock, but I've also downloaded a number of good third part apps. including Words Bypost, Hey DJ, CoPilot, etc. HeyDJ gets a special mention because of its ability to integrate well with the Windows Phone 8 Voice Commands, even better than Nokia MixRadio that came on the phone. For example, Hey DJ recognizes all of the AAC+ format songs I have loaded onto my 32 GB micro SD card. This works well with my new Kenwood KDC-BT555U stereo in my car as I can say "play: name of album, song, artist" over Bluetooth. Granted, I still have to enunciate each word slowly, but still very useful. Speaking of voice commands, it's nice to be able to receive incoming calls and texts over the car stereo speakers and then to be able to respond back over the stereo remote mic. Good job Microsoft and Kenwood for the Windows Phone 8 integration, at least with Bluetooth. WP8 just needs USB mass storage mode, like on many older Nokia devices.
Hopefully Microsoft/Nokia will add some of the most needed functions to WP8 in the next 6 months to bring it closer to Android and other Linux based device (N900,N9) functionality. But even if nothing changes with the 521, I'll still be happy with the performance of this $60 device.
I've used many mid-level Android devices in the past, and Windows Phone 8 just blows them away in performance for the $. The best features of the 521 are long battery life, sound quality/HD voice on T-Mobile USA, bright usable screen indoors and out, fast/fluid OS, good camera, and decent apps. I also like the form factor of the 521 with my Bodyglove case. It's perfect in the hand and sliding into the pocket. I have the white/grey case and got it on clearance from T-Mobile online back in December.
I mostly use stock, but I've also downloaded a number of good third part apps. including Words Bypost, Hey DJ, CoPilot, etc. HeyDJ gets a special mention because of its ability to integrate well with the Windows Phone 8 Voice Commands, even better than Nokia MixRadio that came on the phone. For example, Hey DJ recognizes all of the AAC+ format songs I have loaded onto my 32 GB micro SD card. This works well with my new Kenwood KDC-BT555U stereo in my car as I can say "play: name of album, song, artist" over Bluetooth. Granted, I still have to enunciate each word slowly, but still very useful. Speaking of voice commands, it's nice to be able to receive incoming calls and texts over the car stereo speakers and then to be able to respond back over the stereo remote mic. Good job Microsoft and Kenwood for the Windows Phone 8 integration, at least with Bluetooth. WP8 just needs USB mass storage mode, like on many older Nokia devices.
Hopefully Microsoft/Nokia will add some of the most needed functions to WP8 in the next 6 months to bring it closer to Android and other Linux based device (N900,N9) functionality. But even if nothing changes with the 521, I'll still be happy with the performance of this $60 device.
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