Customer Reviews

Nokia Lumia 520, 8Gb, Sim Free Windows Smartphone - White

I originally borrowed this phone for a weekend while my xperia z was in for repair, having owned a HTC windows 7 phone in the past I wasn't ex-static about using another windows phone but using the Nokia 520 for a weekend I couldn't be more wrong and realize now that all my wows about Microsoft and their win mobiles was solely down to what phone it's on, I'm a big fan of microsoft, their window 7 and 8 PC's are awesome.

This Nokia is the best phone I've used in a very long time, it also shows up my xperia z in many ways especially in speed and how well it flows through each screen which is annoying when you consider the power difference between the 2 sets, also this phone is very loud...again the nokia kills my Z in that department with a better speaker, the screen is brighter and very responsive, the camera is brilliant for which it records in 720p with no background hiss and minimal picture grain even in low light which again is more than I can say for my Z, you know the more I keep using the 520 the more annoyed i'm getting about paying all that money per month for my Z, I've had many android phones over the years but i have to say what I don't miss while using the windows phone is lagging screens when you flip from page to page, choppy chrome internet browser, apps that take ages to boot...even angry birds was slightly snathchy on my Z when zooming out where as I don't get any of that with the Luma 520, the more i keep using windows the more I'm getting into it on first look it looks simple and not a lot going on but once you get into it it's like a spiders web little routes off to many things and settings, one great feature is the voice command, I like the fact that if you hold down the windows button you can ask the phone to ring or text a contact, also speak document and speak search which is very handy while on the road and very handy for partially sighted folks, also Nokia Drive is probably the best satnav I've used in many of years it's also free, GPS Copilot is also available in the app store which again is the best and runs super smooth on this phone.

All in all I'm so impressed with this phone that I've sold my Xperia Z and completely come away from andriod and bought the 520 it will certainly keep me going until my contract ends in a year for which I will get a high grade windows phone. The more I use windows phone the more reluctant I am to pick up another android phone.

Excellent value for money. Nice touch screen - very clear and good sensitivity. A good choice if you don't need all the latest features

Getting bored of android and being one iPhone hater I decided to give WP8 a try.
The price was highy attractive and I was not expecting much .
However it was a pleasant surprise.
I got used quickly with the OS since I have Windows8 on my laptop and it is quite similar to that.
OS pros: smooth transition, quick response,best facebook integration imaginable
OS cons: lacks apps but the important ones and big names are there .. skype works (but be aware-no front camera).
You can drag and drop files to phone or just insert micro SD card and it will play all music straight away.
It is not the slimmest phone I have seen but who cares, it is perfectly comfortable in my pocket and in hand as well.The black version sticks better than the white one to your hand having some rubber coating.
Battery life - I charge it every 2 days , I am am medium user , some music on the way to work , some wifi at home, some skype , a couple of calls. I don't have any data plan activated on it.
If you are a heavy user you should consider switching location services off as they might eat a lot of battery.
Do not install battery savers,etc from the marketplace,Nokia Care does the job perfecly.
Screen is really good despite the low screen size and resolution , good , fast response of commands even with screen cover on and gloves on. It is readable in direct sunlight even with dark background windows setting.
Audio quality is getting really close to my iPod with my Beats Solo HD headphones ( you should replace the included headphones with some quality ones) it sounds loud trough the headphone output and loud enough trough the rear speaker.No equalizer!
What I loved the most at it was the Nokia lens apps like Cinemagraph(you can create some nice animated stills) , free worldwide Nokia maps and Nokia Drive (limited to 1 country only) , office preinstalled.
The camera is not that great but it compensates with modes,effects and customisation trough Nokia lens,you can get some nice stills if you have natural lighting.
All in all I believe it is a great smartphone with unbelieveble price tag.
I have ordered a couple till now (5 to be precise) they all perform well for my gilfriend and friends(3white,2black), we are waiting now for the coloured cases to become available and confusion will be over.
If I reccomended it to my friends I would reccomend it to you as well , you will not be sorry about this purchase.

This is a brilliant budget phone from Nokia and Windows - Came within 2 days or placing the order and I am still finding out features it has!

I would recommend this to anyone who's looking for a nice new phone but not wanting to break the bank.

One thing - as it is meant to be a new phone, when I opened the box the phone already had fingerprints all over the screen where it has been picked up, thought that was a bit cheeky but it was brand new :)

I bought this phone yesterday from caphone warehouse for �109 - what a bargain! I've not used Windows Phone before, and am coming from several years of Android use. I was keen for teh Nokia 720 which is even more svelte than the 520, and with a bigger battery - but I didn't want to spend �300 on a phone in case I did not get on with the operating system, Windows Phone 8. Well, I needn't have worried! The phone feels quite premium for the most part, certainly looks like it would cost more than �109. Also, it does really fit nicely in your hand, is very light... and I thought it might be too thick, but it slips easily into the pocket and is pretty slim.

Call quality, signal quality and wifi are all excellent, as you'd expect from Nokia. The rest of the OS is definitely different to Android and Apple, so it takes a little getting used to, but it's very slick...everything works, and the touchscreen keyboard is surprisingly easy to use ... I have slightly large hands and i can type pretty easily on it. There's also some nice touches...such as the "end call" button is in the middle of the screen, not at the bottom.... if you think about it, if you end the call with one hand, you would use your thumb - and it's easier to click the middle of the screen than the bottom.... it's a small thing but it shows they have thought about ergonomics. There are some things missing that I would like, such as battery indicator on every screen (it's only on the homescreen), also the titles in the menu system take up a lot of space, but it looks cool, and doesn't really take anything away from usability apart from some screen real estate. Talking of the style of the OS and the way it looks.. it seems to cascade down into 3rd party apps too.... so for example Whatsapp does not look as feature rich as it does on Android... and ebay too is perfectly functional, but different to teh Android version. It's not annoying, just different. Which is good in my view.... reward the innovators!!

Battery life seems okay so far, but not amazing. It was fully charged this morning when I woke at 7:30am - it's now 10:30 and it is at 68%. I've used the Satnav for a 45 minute drive, played a game and been to a few websites. I'll post an update when I have a better idea of battery life.

Overall, I'm really pleased. I want to use my phone as a phone, with decent signal and call quality but with extra features like internet and games. The extra apps like Nokia Drive and Nokia Music are pretty cool... and definitely add value. The surprise feature for me is actually the keyboard... it's as good or better than any other i've used on a touchscreen... and having had a proper qwerty keyboard on my last phone, i'm pleased this one is easy to use.

5/5 from me. The phone is not perfect, but it's pretty close. I may score it a 4.5 if teh battery turns out to be puny!

Update: I have switched the battery save mode on (always on), which means the phone is not automatically receiving emails or facebook updates...but as soon as I open facebook or my email, it will refresh and load new messages / notifications. This has made a big difference. The phone lasted from 7am - 11pm yesterday, but I charged it before I went to sleep and it still has 80% of battery life remaining 12 hours later. For me this is pretty good. If you switch battery saver off, you'll get about a day from one charge I would say. Perhaps 2 days with it switched on.

I bought this phone as a gift for a teenager.

I was initially planning to buy another cheap Android phone, like the Huawei G300, but cheap Android phones cannot run the latest OS (Jelly Bean) and also usually are quite slow, when playing games for instance.

Therefore, looking at the hardware spec for the cheap Nokia Lumia, I was quite impressed by the dual core CPU, RAM and screen size on offer.

Once received, I tested the phone and can confirm that it is indeed very responsive: the user interface does not slow down, switching between apps is quick, and the games are running fine.

In addition to that, the Nokia apps are quite good, including the free music streaming. Also, Nokia provides a two-year warranty for all phones bought in Europe.

The build quality is very good, as well as the screen, large and bright. The touch screen can also be used when wearing gloves (unusual with smartphones). The rear is a replaceable shell, and other colours should be soon available.

The phone has 8GB of memory, which is good for storing many apps. Through the SD card slot, it's possible to extend the memory to another 64GB, and it's easy to configure the phone to store all pictures, music and videos on the SD card by default. Copying music, pictures or videos to the phone main memory or SD card is very simple, and just drag-and-drop from a computer. No need to use specific software or to convert the file formats.

Overall, I think this is an excellent phone, running the very latest Windows Phone operating system, and would compete very well with Android phones in the same price range, or even an iPhone 4 or 4S.

Had this phone 6 months now and still loving it. I don't have a problem with Windows OS on this, in fact I love it as so easy to use. Decent camera and video. screen very responsive. What more can you ask for the money!

Excellent phone. It does everything and didn't take too long to work out how to use it. Price was good and so was the service. I like the Windows functions and will use most of the capabilities I hope. Apps are great and internet access and wifi easy to set up and use.

and she said it brill, and it can do everything she wants it to do.
Short and sweet I'm afraid, but if she likes it, I like it.

I am really pleased with the phone. I've had it for a week or two, it hasn't lagged once.
I ordered the white back one and it looks a little plasticky and it's quite slippery but I like the color.
It's easy to find apps and games you want in the app store, there are lots for free. They download fairly quickly.
You can arrange the front page apps as you like which is handy.
The battery life barely goes down if you listen to music but goes down a lot if you're playing a 3D game like temple run.
The internet works well.
You can get quite a few good apps for the camera. At the beginning I couldn't work out a few things with camera but now I know that you have to save the photo once you take it. On "creative studio" you can put special effects on the photo.
It's simply an excellent phone!