Forget the 1020, its all about 520(1).

[IrRevd]

Today was my sons sports day and I found myself taking a range of disappointing pictures on my L520, oh how I wished I had a 1020.

But the moment passed and now my trusted budget device is back in my hearts.

Personally I believe its this device (and others in this price bracket) that will make or break WP8.

Heres why:

WP8 is to most lay people a joke, it has a huge negative stigma which means people will normally choose any other os over it.

WP8 hardware (on paper) just isn't up to scratch. Take out the camera and with the exception of the 520 it has worse specs than the android equivalent at the respective price point. The spec sheet of the 1020 is a joke compared to GS4, iPhone

The marketplace/app situation is very poor.

So why 520?

Not enough people are buying high end WP for the reasons above BUT Nokia done something amazing with the 520... They made a phone so cheap that it didn't matter about the stigma or the poor app selection, in addition it beats virtually every android phone in its price bracket on performance and spec.

The result is the 520 is now the most popular WP in the wild (according to the ad duplex people). 520 owners like me can now fall in love with WP and see for themself that specs in the WP vs Android debate are misleading. We begin to aspire to a better WP and many of us upgrade at somepoint to owning a 8/9xx series model.

The increase in 520 users means WP market share increases making it more viable for developers to make WP apps removing the highest barrier to people making the switch.

 

[IrRevd]

By all means make the high end/high margin handsets but the main aim for Nokia must be to expand user base rapidly and I think they are finally doing it. Honestly expect the 1020 to be a commercial failure but wont be the end of Nokia while budget devices keep flying off the shelves.

 

[pavvento]

I agree about the importance of the 520. I think the true value of the 1020 will be gaining the experience of the high end so it can be done more cheaply and spread throughout the product line in the future.

 

[realwarder]

WP8 hardware (on paper) just isn't up to scratch. Take out the camera and with the exception of the 520 it has worse specs than the android equivalent at the respective price point. The spec sheet of the 1020 is a joke compared to GS4, iPhone

I agree with most things you say, except this item.

1020 spec wise is ahead of an iPhone in almost every area.

More RAM, higher MP camera, faster processor, higher dpi screen, bigger screen, and that's without listing all the add on features of a Nokia.. OIS, high sensitivity touch etc.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Most IT critics have already stated that the 1020 is not impressive enough to swoon the market. Also that it will be mostly a niche market who takes it up especially at it's price point. So I guess we wait for the 'next big thing'.

 

[Ashish Saraf1]

i have a Lumia 520 and people are always looking at it and asking stuffs !!

i converted 5 of my friends from android to wp8 and they are happy !!

 

[Arjun KR]

I think its time to chuck off the line "less no. of apps" from WP disadvantages list....app store is now grown it has almost all apps which a common person uses

 

[berklon]

The marketplace/app situation is very poor.

I really don't get it when I hear this. Sure it's not as large as iOS or Android, but WP8 has a pretty large selection of apps. I'm new to Windows Phone, and I was VERY impressed with what I could find - there are a lot of quality apps and a good deal of them are free. There's comes a point when it becomes over-saturated anyway.

But I agree about the 520. It has tremendous bang for the buck and may switch a lot of people over to WP8 - and will lead to them eventually buying the higher end phones.

 

[Divjot Singh]

Dude. I bet those android phones with better specs than 521 at same price point will still lag and perform worse on day to day tasks. The thing is , WPs do not really need high specs, even Lumia 1020 went for 2gb only coz of the camera , otherwise there is still no need for that. I would say if a Lumia 920 performs as fast as a GS4 on daily tasks, then the specs GS4 is carrying are just inefficiently used and are actually wasted! Gosh who needs an octa core processor when you still will primarily use it for news reading/social networkings/browsing/musics/videos and subtle gaming, that too not something like Crysis or COD!
Please just leave the spec wars alone , even an iPod with merely 256mb ram feels snappier than a Android of triple its price!

And the apps , well now WP Store is receiving big apps every month I would say , with even more games and apps coming as quickly as possible.

 

[Sanjay Chandra]

Today was my sons sports day and I found myself taking a range of disappointing pictures on my L520, oh how I wished I had a 1020..

I don't want to be an ***** but..........
Honestly , 520's camera can take nice pictures and with decent detail (not high details but decent for most the times)

Can I know how you got disappointed with those pics ? What's wrong with them ?

My friend has a Galaxy Duos (I think its a very budget phone not costing more than $110 , 2 years back) and he takes great pics with that 3.2 MP camera and he uses them as wallpapers to his laptop , not just that but they look great for a 1080p 42 inch screen as well , at good distance.

Unless you are talking about moving things and low light or stabilization problems , 1020 isn't really necessary for everyone imho.

 

[IrRevd]

I think its time to chuck off the line "less no. of apps" from WP disadvantages list....app store is now grown it has almost all apps which a common person uses

Not ready to chuck it off the list yet but certainly getting that way..

 

[IrRevd]

I don't want to be an ***** but..........
Honestly , 520's camera can take nice pictures and with decent detail (not high details but decent for most the times)

Can I know how you got disappointed with those pics ? What's wrong with them ?

My friend has a Galaxy Duos (I think its a very budget phone not costing more than $110 , 2 years back) and he takes great pics with that 3.2 MP camera and he uses them as wallpapers to his laptop , not just that but they look great for a 1080p 42 inch screen as well , at good distance.

Unless you are talking about moving things and low light or stabilization problems , 1020 isn't really necessary for everyone imho.

520 camera is ok for a lot of pictures but this was a sports day so taking motion pictures also from a bit of a distance.

Please don't get me wrong this is not a slag off Nokia or 520 post. It is one of the best phones I've ever owned in MANY respects!

 

[hopmedic]

Yes, the low end is an important price point, but still, don't discount the high end completely. If you look at the AdDuplex Blog on June's stats, you'll see that in the US, for example, the 920 and 822 take up the lion's share of the market, with both of those phones being the high end of what was available on their respective carriers (the 928 only being released a couple weeks before this blog post was written), along with the 8x, a mid to high end device, depending on who you're talking to. And if you look at the 928 vs the 521, both being released not long ago, the 521 first, IIRC, you see that they're pretty close, and the 928 is selling well (I haven't been watching the 521). Something to keep in mind, these stats are not a complete representative of the entire WP ecosystem, though, because there are only about 3,000 apps using AdDuplex (four of them are mine :wink, and these stats are derived from that ad network's usage.

The low end phones are very important, as they are going to be the most likely stepping stone for someone coming from a feature phone to a smartphone, as well.

As for the lack of apps.... Seriously? 165,000 apps later and we're still having this discussion? There are a couple of high profile apps missing, but there's nothing that I can't do with my phone that I need to do with it.

As for specs, I disagree with those who say that "256-core is important, as is 32 Terabytes of storage, blah blah blah." Yes, those of us who are technical see those specs, and some non-technical people who like to think they are will see them and be led astray by them, but I really believe that the vast majority of consumers don't have a clue what's in their computers, much less their phones, and they're going on what their friends have. If their friend loves the GSIII, that's what they're likely to get. But anyone who compares the two, side-by-side, won't care what the specs say. It's so cliche now, but Windows Phone is fast and fluid, and stays that way, while Android gets bogged down.

Yes, we need to see certain things, in order to keep perception from clouding the vision. Some want that 1080p screen (I couldn't care less about it), some want 32 cores (I'm happy with the two I have), and some want 3 TB of storage (Yeah, a few more GB would be great). But I don't believe most people even know the difference.

 

[theefman]

Take out the camera and with the exception of the 520 it has worse specs than the android equivalent at the respective price point. The spec sheet of the 1020 is a joke compared to GS4, iPhone

And is the resulting user experience on a Windows Phone also a joke? Ignoring the actual number of apps do quad cores, 1080p screens make the experience on phones like the S4 appreciably better than on the 920 and other WP's? In a blind test, would anyone be able to tell the difference when browsing on a Lumia 1020 vs an iphone or S4? If the WP provides a visibly poorer experience then your point is valid but if not, it just proves the specs are worthless when it comes to actually using the device to perform typical smartphone functions. Only the uninformed will just look at the paper specs and make a judgement based solely on that.

 

[winphoneaddict]

I agree. I don't care if its dual core or quad core, or if it has 512mg, 1gig, or 2 gigs of ram. As long as I have a smooth operating experience. As pretty much a non gamer, the memory issue is not that important. Windows Phone is really the only OS that runs as efficiently as it does, on such a broad spectrum of hardware. With very small differences in performance. People just get too caught up in the "numbers", which for our platform are not of incredible importance.

 

[IrRevd]

I think people are missing the point I am making. The point is the spec sheet looks on paper poir compared to android. In reality people don't need the higher spec to get a better experience but until people spend time with a WP they wont realise this.

Thus why the 520 is so critical to WP's long term success.

E.g. I have had the 520 a month and now looking to sell and buy a 820 or 8X. Some people need to stop being so defensive over constructive criticism or anything that doesn't say everything WP is great!

 

[juan6996]

I completely agree with this, I was thinking about it yesterday. The 1020 is an awesome treat for us WP fans, and that 41mp camera may very well convert a couple million ios/android users. However, the quality and value that I'm experiencing with the Lumia 521 that I bough for a friend is without equal. For just $130, you can walk out of WalMart with a more than decent smartphone, on a 4G network that offers the best value around! For just $30/month, my friend gets unlimited text, data (first 5GB are 4G), and 100mins of voice, with free and unlimited WiFi calling. If this phone is advertised at that price and that plan, WP could reach 10% market share by the end of the year!

 

[LMZR]

I pulled off a really good shot with the 520.

https://kmhskw.blu.livefilestore.co...JY0zzT_l8T-H6OVT-UPTq/WP_20130704_019+$1$.jpg

I think the 1020 will be just as good.

 

[Fade_z]

I completely agree with this, I was thinking about it yesterday. The 1020 is an awesome treat for us WP fans, and that 41mp camera may very well convert a couple million ios/android users. However, the quality and value that I'm experiencing with the Lumia 521 that I bough for a friend is without equal. For just $130, you can walk out of WalMart with a more than decent smartphone, on a 4G network that offers the best value around! For just $30/month, my friend gets unlimited text, data (first 5GB are 4G), and 100mins of voice, with free and unlimited WiFi calling. If this phone is advertised at that price and that plan, WP could reach 10% market share by the end of the year!

Indeed, but it's logical every company advertises his flagship the most.
But the "lower" lumia's do need some more attention to gain market share and get the ms/nokia update dice rolling

 

[psudotechzealot]

All hail the nokia lumia 520!