Nokia Lumia 520 (2013)

Nokia Lumia 520 is a hit (and sometimes a miss) – I picked up this Nokia (Windows 8) 520 at Big W in Kingston TAS. Look; for $28 (that's not a misprint) this is a very good reliable phone. The upsides? 1. cheap 2. very intuitive menu and settings system 3. User-friendly 4. Oh-so-simple to use 5. VERY easy to link to car via blue tooth 6. Battery life is EXCELLENT (Nokia's renowned for… Read more

it's wonderful battery life and longevity of batteries)

The downsides?

1. Very few apps available.

2. It "Blue Screens" (often) when using on the car charger

3. it refuses to "back up to cloud"

4. It's only 1/2 intelligent in my opinion.

5.It'll charge via USB connection but sometimes re-boots itself for no apparent reason... (groans).

6. Poor quality camera

It's not that good for web-browsing. Many banking apps simply won't work and, I've never managed to

get ANY QR Code - Reader to work on it.

All up... it's a reliable phone (except when used on a car charger) that will do basic web browsing, SMS MMS and (poor) quality photos and (of course) allow you to make phone calls too!

If you want snazzy apps and high quality photos go for a Samsung or an iPhone.

If you want a LONG battery life phone without all the bells and whistles.. then this could be the phone for you.

Fantastic – I purchased this phone 4 years ago for $29 from Woolworths. I use it daily, I plug it into the charger every night, it has travelled to several overseas countries with me. The battery has never let me down, the sound is clear, and it takes pretty decent photos. I only use it to make phone calls, texts, and to send the occasional photo. If you… Read more

want a simple, cheap phone which obviously lasts for years, then in my experience you simply can not buy a better phone.

Does eveything an expensive phone does – Easy to use, great price. The camera is pretty good as well. I use it with prepaid and traveled and shared my data with other devices. Never any trouble . Holds loads of music and works well and eassy weith bluetooth. I convincedd my husband to get one and he is a tech dummy but he loves it too.  Show details

Very basic smartphone for a no-frills experience – This is a reasonable basic smartphone, long superseded by superior devices. It does email well - that is one of its strengths. The Store has a good range of free ringtones. The battery lasts for about two days depending on usage. Given it is a basic device incapable of much more than voice, text, email and the occasional internet surf, the user is… Read more

unlikely to be draining the battery very quickly.

Internet browsing is limited. It struggles to cope with most websites, unlike other devices like an iPhone. But you can still look up things like shop opening hours etc. Maps are a problem.

The app store, known by Microsoft as "Store", is very limited. Most banks and government organisations don't have apps for this operating system. That is a major drawback if you're looking to install lots of apps.

Pretty good for a budget phone – This really is a great phone. It does all the stuff most other phones do such as email, banking, Facebook (obviously) and Googling. It's easy to set up, even my mum (70) could follow the instructions/prompts. It is a 'Blue Tic' phone so it works out in the sticks, unlike a lot of the mega expensive phones. You can pick them up on sale usually… Read more

for around $29 too from Coles or Wollies. Storage space is not as large as many phones but you can buy a bigger memory card so problem solved. Photo quality isn't as good as the old Lumia 520 but I can live with that. The camera has the 'selfie' function for those who like taking photos of themselves. I give it 5*'s because it's cheap and surprisingly tough. I dropped my last one countless times and it never smashed until my luck ran out. Anyway, I'll probably never bother with an Apple etc, I'm too clumsy and money conscious.

easey to use nokia 520 – I purchased my nokia lumia 520 after reading reviews and was sure that it would do all that I required. The phone is easy to use, has good storage, a camera that takes clear , quality photos and to me an important item is good , clear sound which is important when working in and around noisy machinery. The phone is a good size. Not too bulky to be… Read more

carried in a shirt pocket and is reasonably tough though care must be taken when taking the battery out or replacing it as it can be easily cracked.overall I am very hppy with my choice and now that the 520 has been discontinued I hope that whichever phone has replaced it , is actually better. I have previously purchased a newer model of a certain item , only to find that the replacement was not as good, not as easy to use and didnt even have as much storage,

Great phone for those on a budget – I bought this phone as an upgrade from my Nokia 6700 Classic. It was perfect and did everything I needed to do. The only let down was that there's no selfie camera and no flash. Apart from that, great phone! In the smartphone world, we move forward so I gave this to my sister when I upgraded once again. She loves the Lumia 520 and would definitely buy it again.

Solid entry phone for Windows – The Lumia 520 is an entry phone for Windows. It has all features like store, Office 365 connection etc. The screen is decent size. The resolution could be better but that is in line with the camera and video shooting. Nokia again proves to be a solid contender when it comes to mobile phones and this one for its price and features is decent. It… Read more

lacks a few things like 2nd camera and flash which you can get with one of the upper models for a few more dollars.

Great for the price point – For the price it is a great, reliable smartphone. Pros: Great for browsing, email, calendar and navigation. SD card lets you use it as your mp3 player. Value even if you just use it for in car nav. Cons: Don't expect to get much out of the camera. Don't expect to be able to play the latest version of farm simulator.

Piece of rubbish! – My phone is quickly dying. On/off button dead, apps won't load or work, screen goes black. Hubby's one,the speaker faulty, and it keeps hanging up. Work's one takes consistant photos when it is sitting turned off on bench. These are all fairly new phones. Complete rubbish!

Excellent phone for the price – Pros: +microSD +replaceable battery +touch screen responsive +UI is quick to navigate for basic tasks (browsing, messaging calling) +Small and compact Cons -camera and screen quality not great, but expected at the price

Very limited apps availabe for windows phone – This is the phone all of they guys are given at work. I've had mine less than 12 months and the lock/unlock button on the left just stopped working. Another guy also had the same problem. Because they are so cheap it's better just to get a new one. Being a Windows phone which there aren't many in existence on a global scale means that app… Read more

developers don't create apps for them. Almost every app I have wanter has only been developed for iphone and android. One app I have is an app for listening to audio books and a feature of this app is narration speed control, but not on windows phone because the windows phone does not support it. It would seem very low spec without many features. I agree with previous comments about not having a flash.

Great Phone - For The Price – I brought this phone after being fed up with my old Motorola Atrix. I chose this phone as it was Windows and it would communicate with my Windows 8 laptop. It is the best phone I have ever owned, even though the specs are low there is barely any lag, only some when I have a lot of applications open which doesn't bother me. I recently updated it to… Read more

Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8.1 which vastly improves the usability of the phone. The battery is suprisingly good for the small battery it comes with, I manage to get a solid 2 days using it quite heavily. That life can be stretched to 1 week if mobile data is turned off which is great on hiking trips where a data connection is not needed. The only issue with Windows Phone is the app store as there is no where near as many applications on it as there is with android and apple, but that doesn't bother me as I don't play games or use many apps apart from Facebook, Netbank ect. I would recommend this phone to anyone who wants a good phone for a small price who doesn't need a large selection of apps.

NEVER NEVER NEVER BUY NOKIA – I bought one of these phones last year. It was dicky right from the start with the network or internet disappearing at a whim. Eventually the solder fell off the SIM card connection and I sent it back for repair. DISHONEST NOKIA WON'T REPAIR IT. They claim the phone was damaged. Aside from the fact it wasn't damaged when I sent it back, THE… Read more

PROBLEM WASN'T SOMETHING THAT COULD BE CAUSED BY PHYSICAL DAMAGE.

The retailer has agreed to honour the warranty, but NOKIA won't return the phone unless they can defraud me another $35-. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER BUY NOKIA.

Great entry level phone! – I bought mine after being thoroughly fed up with an old Huawei sonic. I buy my phones outright, and didn't have much to spend. It was great out of the box, Google contacts synced and away it went. It has pretty low spec hardware, but don't be put off. There is no hint of lag as you scroll, swipe and zoom around the screen. The camera is… Read more

great for an entry level phone too, but it doesn't have a flash.

Lastly, the windows 8.1 upgrade is great! A new notification centre is included, as is a better way of managing your phones connectivity. Plus you can get a lag free, and quite accurate Swype style keyboard... Best feature ever.

Worst phone ever – My son wanted this phone cause he wanted to sync it with his Win 8 laptop easier. He regretted that decision. Sent in for repairs 3 times, we would get it back & then 6 hours later be back at the Telstra store getting it sent off for repairs. The volume button refused to work & it would constantly be put into silent mode or turn it down on a phone… Read more

call. Only way to turn it back up was to install an app to manage volume.

Then the fact there is no Facebook app. Well not one that you dont have to pay for & then pay to use. What kind of stuffed up phone does that?

He was so glad to get my LG L7 dual in the end & now the Nokia sits in it's box, still covered in all it's original stuff & ready to be sold or given away.

Telstra locked, masterunlockcode didnt have a code to unlock it (normally $2.99) and so Telstra charged me $100 to unlock it (my son is NOT with Telstra so his SIM would not work) and so in the end a $149 phone (it came down in price to $99 a week later) cost me $249. More than my own LG L70. Nothing Everything

Nokia Lumia 520 – Let me start by saying I have bought two of these phones and have had the same issue with both. I bought the first one from JB Hifi and the phone will work fine for a period of time then will come up with a note on the screen "cannot connect to network." I have spent 16 hours on the phone trying to sort out the problem with Telstra and the only… Read more

thing they managed to come up with was to swap the sim card which i did. The following day I was in a rush and i accidentally dropped the phone. The phone landed on the bottom corner and screen stopped all together. I liked the phone in general so I purchased another one from JB Hifi. I was so shocked when i got home to find you cannot access my contacts via usb connection (its funny as this was available as long as i can remember. I was amazed after 4hours that the same note coming up on the screen " unable to connect to network." I changed the sim card as Telstra instructed and this did nothing but loose all my contacts for a second time. At this point I asked the store to refund my money. Which they replied we need to send it away for repair. I argued the point this is the second phone I've had that does exactly the same thing and i had bought the items 8 months apart so they sou d have been from different batches.This did not work and I am not happy about getting it repaired. I decided not to waste any more time on chasing this up simple fix seems to be turn off your phone and turn it back on again.

So all in all a good phone if i didn't get the unable to connect to network. And you have to back your contacts up in the cloud. Not a fan of the cloud. Why shouldn't you be able to connect to computer via usb and save your contacts on your computer.

I wouldn't buy this phone again. Although a friend has a Nokia Lumia 9XX not sure of exact model and he has had no issues. May use this phone a a Frisbee and buy a 9XX.

Spend the extra and buy the models with the extra options.

Don't buy this phone!!!!! windows love it cannot connect to network, and no computer access to contacts

You will not find a better smart phone for this sort of money! – What a great little phone. I bought the Nokia Lumia 520 after my regular phone died 2 weeks into a 3 month spell away from home and I just needed something cheap before I could get home to arrange a warranty claim. I was going to buy a cheap android device but at the advice of the salesman I went with the 520 and I'm glad I did. Coming from an… Read more

Android device the Windows Phone 8 operating system (WP8) was really easy to use and the device worked really well with it. All actions and commands were performed quickly and seamlessly and I never experienced any lagging issues or freezes, which honestly for an entry level phone I would almost expect. Call quality was excellent and as far as it performing it's duty as a phone I could not fault it. The camera is by no means the greatest out there but it still takes a nice shot however with no flash it doesn't deal too well in low light conditions.

Perhaps the thing that surprised (and impressed) me most about this phone though was just how durable it was. With no protective case it withstood a large deal of mistreatment (mostly unintentional) and just kept going. The best example being when after a few too many drinks one night while I was proclaiming just how tough it was, a friend actually grabbed it and threw it hard into a solid concrete floor. Now the case and battery did come apart and as it lay in 3 pieces across the room I felt quite sure I had just witnessed my phones death. However I put it back together again, turned it on and despite a couple new scratches it was as though nothing happened. The only reason I felt I couldn't give it a 5 star rating is because of the lack of a flash on the camera but besides that this phone is fantastic, and although I moved back to a premium android device I will be keeping this little beauty in my top drawer, just in case I need a back up I can rely on. Durable, Cheap, Battery life, Nice design, Reliable, Easy to use No flash

Worst Phone I have had – This is one of the worst phones I think I have ever had the misfortune to own. Is NOT user friendly, battery doesnt last. Pressing the right side lock button does NOT end a call, and the screen is way too touchy. I had this phone less than a month before it went haywire, disconnecting calls and re ringing them. 4 days after the 30 day settle… Read more

period, it has to go in for repair.. Well done Nokia, NEVER again Large Screen, good size phone Battery doesnt keep charge well, screen VERY faulty, Phone hangs up a call, then rings it again. You have to make very sure you end the call ( if the phone will let you ) as the lock button on the side doesnt d/c it when you use it. Very costly if you dont hang it up with the end call tap.

great phone – This phone is great, has a fast processor with a 5mp camera which gives the best hd quality photos that anyone would not want to look away from. Music automatically detected on a windows 8 computer and syncs straight to the phone. The bad things about this phone is that the screen is very blury in the sunlight as the brightness is not good… Read more

when on full, the fact that this phone cannot be updated to windows 8.1, and the touchscreen often malfunctions. great fast processor, great 5mp camera which gives hd quality photos, music automatically syncs from windows 8 computer Screen is very blury in the sunlight as the brightness is not good when on full, cannot be updated to Windows 8.1 and the touchscreen often malfunctions

Nokia Lumia 520 – A good phone for a cheap price BUT... this is a windows based phone that cannot connect to a Windows RT tablet. The latest phone can't talk to the new OS. The file system has been locked down and it is not the easiest system to find/play and delete music, the podcast folders only work in USA, A good phone that has been crippled - but is a… Read more

cheap entry level if you do not use winrt. clear, large screen good location apps included ability to acces files crippled. Not compatible with Windows RT