NOKIA Lumia 520 Pro Reviews

Nokia's Lumia 521 is a solid Windows Phone smartphone for just under $100, but it's missing key features like LTE and a camera flash, which are found on competing Android devices.

The pay-as-you-go Nokia Lumia 520 is a solid introductory smartphone on AT&T's Go Phone prepaid service, provided photography isn't a priority.

Our final rating is going to be an 7 out of 10. While there are a lot of limitations and areas that are lacking with the Lumia 521, the big draw for it is its pricing. Given the crazy low price, there is a huge amount of value included with this phone and it’s still fast, stable, and easy to use. In some ways, it’s actually better than some high end phones; 1. the user replaceable battery is inexpensive and widely available. 2. you can add 64 Gigs of storage for media, 3. the ergonomic shape is very comfortable to hold, and 4. it’s very inexpensive. For $99, grabbing this device is a no-brainer. Even if you already have a much better and expensive smartphone, maybe you’re curious about how Windows Phone 8 works or maybe you want an extra device for plugging into the stereo and playing MP3s off the MicroSD card, streaming Pandora, or playing unlimited offline free playlists from Nokia Music. Or maybe you don’t care about awesome camera capabilities, processor speeds, pixel densities, millions of apps, etc., and just want an inexpensive and worry free smartphone that will handle phone calls, emails, schedules, music, notes, and social networking without much frustration. The Nokia Lumia 521 is a great buy for any of those options.

The Nokia Lumia 520, much like its big brother the Nokia Lumia 620, is a jack of all trades and a master of none - although manages to make a good fist of nearly all it tries, for the price. It looks good, it's got a decent screen both in terms of size and resolution, it rarely stutters or slows down, it's great for calls and messaging, reasonable for media and okay for photos. To achieve a lower price point than the Lumia 620 it has had to strip away a few things - there's no NFC, compass, camera flash or front facing camera here. But on the other hand it's also got a bigger screen, a larger battery, a sleeker, slimmer, lighter build and the same processor and RAM as the Nokia Lumia 620, so in many ways it's actually better. Combine that with a lower price tag and we reckon that this just might be the best entry level Windows Phone 8 handset that you can buy and certainly the best value. Budding photographers might find the lack of a flash prohibitive and if you're a power user you might want to consider the Huawei Ascend W1 for its superior battery life, but for everyone else the Nokia Lumia 520 comes heartily recommended.

The Nokia Lumia 521 isn’t the nicest Windows Phone 8 device on the market – and it’s certainly not the hottest Nokia machine out today – but it’s not meant to be. Working to be the cost-cutting entry level to the Windows Phone 8 universe with the good ship Nokia – that’s the aim. That’s what this machine will do, too – expect quite a few upgrades to higher-powered Lumia devices once the 521 is paid for in full by users on T-Mobile.

Ignoring the huge price gap between the two devices for a moment, it would be an easy win for the Nokia Lumia 720 - it’s got sleeker looks, longer-lasting battery and a brilliant display. In reality, though, price matters and that’s why we ended up very impressed with the cheaper device, the Lumia 520. Yes, it has a dim display that makes it very hard to use outdoors, and yes it lacks some features like NFC, but it compensates for that with extremely capable hardware, smooth performance throughout and a very decent camera. Finally, putting the pair in the general context of smartphones, we ought to give credit to Nokia for managing to pull two well-balanced devices for the masses. Objectively, the Lumia 720 is better, but in reality Nokia innovates more with the Lumia 520, a well rounded device at a surprisingly low price, and finally a capable fighter against an onslaught of cheap Androids.

The Nokia Lumia 520 and the Lumia 620 are devices that are very similar yet differ in key areas. While both are affordable the Lumia 620 is nearly 50% more expensive and it comes as no surprise that it has the far superior display. That’s a hugely important advantage and the display on the Lumia just lacks brightness and vivacity. Yet the 520 brings a lot of little pleasant surprises. It captures decent image stills comparable with the 620, and actually beats it in terms of sound recording and call quality. If you have the extra money, you should go with the 620 for its better screen, but the 520 is a very close runner-up and both are great value for the money.

The Nokia Lumia 521 is the kind of budget phone that really feels like one. It has some nice aspects – speedy performance, decent design, good call quality – but they’re overshadowed by the mediocre display and slow mobile data speeds. Plus, Windows Phone has it’s own overall problems including too few really great apps. For those customers who really want to stick with T-Mobile, this is your only Windows Phone choice. And at $30 down it’s not a truly terrible one. Though if you want a better balance between value and price while still sticking to a budget, the Lumia and HTC Windows Phone choices on AT&T and Verizon Wireless are more appealing and cost less (as in free on contract) or not that much more at the outset.

The Nokia Lumia 521 is one of the best values available from T-Mobile USA at the moment. The 521 has a pleasing design and solid build quality. The hardware functions very well and surpasses most other Android smartphones I've seen in the same device class. Calls sounded good, network speeds were decent, and battery life was average. The 5-megapixel camera takes usable photos, and the video camera produces results of which you won't be ashamed to share. Toss in the solid selection of Nokia services, such as HERE, and Microsoft's apps, such as SkyDrive, and you're getting a lot for your money. The Lumia 521 costs $149.99 up front, but that's the price to own it outright. (You can get it for less up front with a payment plan.) It's worth every penny.

The Lumia 520 isn't without faults but at this price point they're easy to live with. When talking entry-level smartphones, it's all about cutting the right corners and ticking the right boxes and the latest Nokia smartphone comes across as a superbly balanced phone. If you're after a package that covers the basics and then some, delivers on budget but looks classy and is a smartphone, with an app store and all, very few seem to fit the description better than the Nokia Lumia 520.

The Lumia 520 seamlessly fits itself into the lower end of Nokia's portfolio and supplies a great result in all tests. This is however always considering the retail price. It naturally cannot compete with the performance and equipment of a Lumia 920 or HTC One. The 0.2-inch smaller Lumia 620 currently is a bit more expensive but the buyer gets a brighter screen with a higher contrast. This however does not mean that the Lumia 520 is bad. The screen is its biggest distinctive feature because there are barely any noticeable differences in build or other hardware components. The hardware in both devices is ideal for everyday use and is also made for multimedia applications. Nokia also beefed up the battery runtime a bit and installed a stronger battery in the Lumia 520. Our yellow test device is currently available for just under 190 Euros (~$249) in online stores. The low-budget device will certainly serve those well who want to try out the Windows Phone 8 segment for the first time.

For all its eccentricity and immaturity - and there are certainly areas which could see some improvement - Windows Phone people-centric design makes a great introduction for new users to smartphones. In many markets such users have had a choice of Landfill Android or a second-hand, years old flagship. This improves their options no end. For many tech-savvy Reg readers the Lumia 520 has too many compromises, but I’ll bet you know somebody, a friend or a relative, who would welcome a basic-but-functional smartphone too.

Though it lacks 4G LTE support, the $150 Nokia Lumia 521 still gives you quite a bit for your money. Pricing is absolutely this phone's primary value proposition, but the essentials all seem to work, the hardware is sturdy, and the camera is better than average. This is a good buy for someone seeking a wallet-friendly smartphone off-contract.

The Nokia Lumia 520 is a great little smartphone. It delivers what Nokia is known for, with good design and build quality, despite the affordable price point. A few hardware shortcuts have been made, knocking out the flash, front camera and NFC, for example, which the slightly more expensive Lumia 620 offers. But at this price there's little to criticise. It's a competent smartphone, delivering the Windows Phone 8 experience aptly, so if you're in the market for a smartphone that won't cost the earth, it's well worthy of consideration. If you have a few pounds more, however, then it's worth looking at the Lumia 620 too.

The Nokia Lumia 521 for T-Mobile is a good smartphone for a great price, as long as you don't mind Windows Phone's lack of apps.

It says a lot about the strength of Nokia's Lumia smartphones that they are often their own worst enemy. The Lumia 520 offers a full-fledged, fluid and friendly smartphone experience, but it sits in the shadow of the 620, just like the 920 makes life harder for the 720 and 820. It's sibling rivalry of the worst kind, because for once, it actually results in us loving one more than the other -- and, in this case, we're still so attached to the 620's design and extra features that we just can't recommend the 520 to a mainstream budget audience. What's more, considering that the 620 has already been offered on deals in the UK for as low at £130 ($200), we'd suggest snapping up a similar bargain as soon as one comes around, rather than plumping for the moderate savings offered by the 520. If the Lumia 620 were ruled out for some reason -- perhaps due to a strict budget or local availability -- we'd probably look more kindly on the 520. After all, it still contains all the essentials of the modern Lumia offering, with lots of personality and a welcoming OS. But even in this scenario, we'd come up against the battery life issue -- which is a spec that rival budget Windows Phones do much better on, not to mention Ashas and probably other future barebones options that will cost half of the 520's price. Advanced smartphone users may be used to seeing red battery symbols late in the day, but for this type of phone, which is bound to be picked up by people who are making the leap from a feature phone, it's not quite good enough.

If you're looking for a cheap smartphone, you may have just found it. The Nokia Lumia 520 doesn't tick all the boxes on our features wishlist, but it capably handles those that are most important. Windows Phone 8 is a beautiful operating system, but it still lacks apps. If you can get past this and don't mind sacrificing some performance and connectivity, the Lumia 520 is a strong budget buy.

Things are getting tight in Nokia’s Windows Phone line-up, with increasingly small differentiators between different models for different price points. Although that makes for potential confusion in the consumer marketplace, Nokia tells us it pays dividends for Lumia’s enterprise adoption: one of the goals of the 520, for instance, was to make a device for those on the factory floor that runs the same OS as management staff use on their Lumia 820 and 920 phones, but cheap and resilient enough to survive the inevitable drops and scrapes of working life. Does that mean the Lumia 520 isn’t intended for the rest of us? Some of the compromises – the absence of a front-facing camera, notably, and the mediocre hand-feel – do leave us leaning toward the Lumia 620. It may be slightly more expensive, but it looks and feels better, is more flexible, and while the screen is slightly smaller, it offers the same resolution along with the quality improvements of Clear Black. If low-cost is your guiding star, though, the Lumia 520 is impressive for the price, and the value-add of Nokia’s software and services isn’t to be sniffed at either.

A good phone for the price, but we'd save up for the posher Lumia 620

A superb handset that cements Nokia’s position as the king of the entry-level smartphone

If you don't mind the sketchy call quality, Nokia has hit the nail on the head with its most affordable Windows Phone handset to date. It runs the newest version of Microsoft's mobile OS, has a zippy processor, expandable storage, and produces decent pictures and video. Add a few exclusives like the touchscreen that can be operated with gloves, and the free HERE offline navigation suite, and the Lumia 520's about $200 price tag without any contract suddenly becomes very, very appealing. As a direct competition we can point out the lighter HTC 8S, which also runs WP8 and has roughly the same specs, save for less internal memory, but compensates it with the addition of an LED flash. It, however, costs a hundred bucks more SIM-free, and doesn't offer free global offline navigation.