A Nokia Lumia 521, Windows Phone 8.1, the ultimate budget smartphone?

By AnotherITguy
in Windows Phone/Mobile

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AnotherITguy

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So, I took my mom's Nokia 521, and seeing as she is liking the idea of personal assistants such as siri, after seeing several videos of Cortana and what it can do, I figured, why not get her WINDOWS PHONE 8.1 even though it may not have Cortana, she'll preview the polished os that is WINDOWS PHONE 8.1 and perhaps upgrade to one of the higher end Lumias. So sure enough, I open the phone up as a developer device, drop in the new os and to my surprise, an app shows up uninvited, !CORTANA! on the bottom of the rung Lumia.

 

Much to my surprise, despite the device only having 512MB of onboard memory, a few further surprises.

 

1. GPS Location (Asking Where am I? ) I will admit that sadly, it smokes my IPHONE 5C's time and time again.

 

2. There is Zero, and I mean zero lag, stuttering or any hint that Cortana is struggling to run on this barebones device.

 

3. Searches come up very quickly and are spot on.

 

More follow ups to come as I spend more time with this Reborn device.

 

 

Conclusions..

 

One Lumia 521, + Windows Phone 8.1 = One awesome Android Killer. Not to mention whooping my iPhone on location awareness.

Veteran

rfirth

Posted
Posted

Yep, same with the 620 I have. It's an awesome budget smartphone, but I think your 521 is probably even more affordable.

 

It's budget, but performs way better than you'd expect from a budget phone.

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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I have the Lumia 520 and like it but you are forgetting the main issue which is still the lack of apps.

i can see that changing here with 8.1

 

feature wise WP has pretty much caught up even surpassed in some areas android and ios. with every update WP becomes more appealing in how it works. if they actually try with the advertizing when 8.1 officially starts rolling out it is very possible for it to start gaining major traction

Grand Master

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Posted
Posted

I picked up my Lumia 520 for about fifty dollars at WalMart, brand new, was sold as a go phone. I took my original fat SIM card, trimmed it down with a pair of scissors, slapped in the dev app, haven't missed my old iPhone or Android since. I do miss a few of the apps, mostly wifi analyzer for Android to help eliminate dead spots, but I have an old Android that was ran over by a mower on a tractor that helps me with that. (how this old sgs works, I have no idea, it was given to me by my little brother), but it helps me when I'm trying to find out how many interfering channels are taking up which spectrum, especially since inssider went to pay. I love my Windows phone, and would never go back, even if it is a cheap device. I especially love it, because before my laptop got stolen, and due to the fact that when I plugged it in via USB, it showed me where my phones last location was, the photos, and it even let me watch the vids I recorded, all without having to transfer them from my phone to the laptop. These are amazing phones, especially the cameras. But I digress, I'm glad you are pleased with it. I love seeing posts like these. (y)

  • 4 weeks later...
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AnotherITguy

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I mean, it's a pretty barebones device with only 512MB of Ram, but, it does what it is asked of it without breaking a sweat. Actually, as a secondary, I would not mind a LUMIA 1020, considering its awesome camera.

Grand Master

FiB3R

Posted
Posted

Pfft! 625 for ?90 inc. ?10 calling credit, ?20 Xbox voucher and 5 mobile games. So I view that as ?60 (I probably wouldn't buy the mobile games) for a brand new, very capable smart phone :woot:

 

Still waiting for the 8.1 update, but I'm seriously thinking of getting the 930, as the 625 was just a temp replacement.

Grand Master

Draconian Guppy

Posted
Posted

Yeah I think windows phones 8.1 is as streamlined as it can get  IMO in  "lag" order i'd go:

 

1. Any  windows phones 8.1

2. iPhone 5 and above  on iOS 7+

3. Every android released to date with OEM bloatware(Touchwiz, LG whatev and sony natural uX ?)

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