Performance and Battery Life
The Lumia 520 handled Windows Phone 8 quite
well, with its top-notch cellular components offering decent HSPA+ speeds
(often up to 21Mbps download), on par with the other smartphones we tested on
the Vodafone network in London. In some places, it received an extra signal bar
over fancier phones, so reception is definitely on the strong side.
In terms of computing performance, the
Lumia 520 behaves identically to the 720 and 620 in every respect, except one -
it's lack of stamina, especially for a low-performance device.
The
520's removable battery
Despite the fact that the 520's removable
battery has a higher capacity than the 620's (1,430 vs. 1,350mAh), the 520’s is
worse. This is certainly due to less-efficient components - with the most
likely culprit is definitely the cheap display. In any case, the 520 only
lasted two-thirds as long as the 620 in the WPBench rundown test, and it has
struggled to survive 12 hours of moderate to heavy use. Keeping high brightness
make everything worse, whether reflective screen will usually do what you want
to do. If we use the phone primarily for making calls all morning, then do
something more taxing in the afternoon - such as 30 minutes of playing around
with Cinemagraph - the phone would die by 10pm.
Although some high-spec Windows Phones have
similar run-down ratings, they are not as bad as this in terms of battery life
in real life - and it's easier to be forgiving when you have premium features
out of faster CPUs. It's in comparison to the other budget offerings that the Lumia
520 really suffers.
Lumia 920
·
WPBench: 227
·
Battery life: 2:36
·
SunSpider (ms, lower numbers are better): 914
·
AnTuTu (*GFX test off): 10,957*
Lumia
920
Lumia 820
·
WPBench: 224
·
Battery life: 2:07
·
SunSpider (ms, lower numbers are better): 909
·
AnTuTu (*GFX test off): 11,506
Lumia
820
Lumia 720
·
WPBench: 179
·
Battery life: 4:36
·
SunSpider (ms, lower numbers are better): 1440
·
AnTuTu (*GFX test off): 7,348
Lumia
720
Lumia 620
·
WPBench: 180
·
Battery life: 3:41
·
SunSpider (ms, lower numbers are better): 1,443
·
AnTuTu (*GFX test off): 7,479
Lumia
620
Lumia 520
·
WPBench: 178
·
Battery life: 2:41
·
SunSpider (ms, lower numbers are better): 1,400
·
AnTuTu (*GFX test off): 7,350
Lumia
520
HTC 8S
·
WPBench: 180
·
Battery life: 3:30
·
SunSpider (ms, lower numbers are better): 1,415
·
AnTuTu (*GFX test off): 7,333
HTC
8S
Software
At this point, we really have to
distinguish between the two types of buyers who might be interested in this
phone. If we come up with the 520 as a smartphone beginner, or as someone who
used a budget Android phone in a short time, then this Nokia phone is
everything we need. It provides access to the Windows Store, which, these days,
has enough first-party apps (or good third-party ones) to cover most common
needs and situations that may occur. There is OneNote, Evernote, Twitter,
Facebook, Flickr, Spotify, Kindle, WhatsApp, Skype - which is useful for video
chat if both parties see each other - and so on.
We
also have access to Nokia's services and the Lumia's exclusive services
We also have access to Nokia's services and
the Lumia's exclusive services. Mostly these applications have counterparts in
different ecosystems, but on the whole, they have real value. This is
especially true with Nokia's so-called Here apps for location services and
navigation. Cityscape is still fairly new, but Maps and Drive is the real
heavyweight opponents. In fact, Drive is almost good enough to become a
substitute for the TomTom app on other platforms, which is priced at $50 -
unless you rely on traffic updates and re-routing or speed camera alerts, which
Drive doesn't yet offer in the UK (even though Here Maps does show traffic
congestion).
Now, consider the Lumia 520 software from a
different vision - a vision of an experienced smartphone coming from other
platforms, such as Android. From this vision, we have to give the same old
boring warning we always do with Windows Phone handsets: don’t expect to
participate in everything, or have all the apps that you used to know.
This UK-based author uses Google+ for
social stuff, Amazon Cloud Player for music, Kobo and Google Books for reading,
Zinio for magazines, Springpad for notes and iPlayer for TV. None of those apps
are yet available on Windows Phone in the UK - although some are coming - and
this constitutes a major barrier for me to use Windows Phone as the main
equipment in 2013. The general situation is improving, but do not expect things
to move as fast as you want.
Remember that the Lumia has only 512MB RAM,
so few applications and games available in the Windows Store can reject you. No
big deal, but it is the exclusive feeling - which certainly would not have a
problem with an Android device with similar specs, same price as Huawei G510.
In contrast, the Huawei's Android skin just doesn't have any of the welcoming
feel or flair of Microsoft and Nokia's combined efforts, so that's the choice
you make.
Conclusion
It says much about the strength of Nokia's
Lumia smartphones that it is often their worst enemy. The Lumia 520 offers full
smartphone experience, smooth and friendly, but it lies in the shadow of the
620, like the 920 makes life harder for the 720 and 820. It’s a 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 still like the 620's design and extra
features that we just can't recommend the 520 to a mainstream budget audience.
Moreover, considering the 620 has been provided under the contract for $200, we
would suggest grabbing this bargain as soon as it appears rather than spending
money for the moderate savings offered by the 520.
If the Lumia 620 is removed for some reason
- maybe because of the tight budget or available for local - we will definitely
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 will have problems about battery life - 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. The advanced smartphone users can see the familiar red pin icon at the
end of the day, but with this model, which will be bought by people who are
making moves from one basic phone, it is not good enough.
Info
·
Price: $172.5 - unlocked version
Pros
·
Inexpensive
·
Useful Nokia apps
·
Components and structures are mostly good
Cons
·
Short battery life for a budget phone
·
Bad screen
·
Feeling superfluous beside Lumia 620
Verdict
·
This phone can’t compete with the Lumia 620, and
we don’t think the modest savings are deserved.
|
Specifications
·
Dimensions 119.9x64x9.9mm (4.72x2.52x0.39inch)
·
Weight: 124g (4.37 ounce)
·
Screen size: 4 inches
·
Screen resolution: 800x480 (235ppi)
·
Screen type: IPS LCD, Sensitive Touch
·
Battery: 1430mAh Li-Polymer (removable)
·
Internal storage: 8GB
·
External storage: microSD (up to 64GB)
·
rear-facing camera: 5MP, f/2.4, no flash
·
front-facing camera: none
·
Recording video: 720p
·
NFC: none
·
Radio: GSM (850/900/1800/1900); WCDMA
(900/2100), DL speed up to 21.1Mbps HSPA+
·
Bluetooth: V3.0 with A2DP
·
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
·
CPU: dual core 1GHz
·
GPU: Adreno 305
·
RAM: 512MB
·
WiFi: dual band, 802.11b/g/n
·
wireless charger: none
·
Operating system: Windows Phone 8
|
