Nokia Lumia 520 £7.50p/m on Talkmobile (Poss £145 for two years inc £35 cashback) @ CPW

weebigal

BTW don't believe nokia when they say the super sensitive screen can be … BTW don't believe nokia when they say the super sensitive screen can be used with fingernails and gloves. This is why we took my mum instore to try one out as she struggles to work touchscreens. May work with gloves but not fingernails except when salesman used back of his finger so there was enough impulse to operate the capacitive screen. Long nails do not work this screenRead lessRead more

Having used a Lumia 920, the super sensitive screen definitely does work with gloves. I am assuming the technology is working on the electrical fields emitted from the finger - so that probably explains why long nails do not work (too far away from the screen).
No other phone on the market offers a similar feature from what I have found - so if your mum doesn't get on with this phone, then she either needs to revert to a conventional phone...or shorten her nails
Given her usage, this is just about a better deal than Ovivo. Could she not use Whatsapp to reduce her text messaging usage?

I bought this phone outright on the Carphone Warehouse deal but sadly I will be taking it back today.

I switched to this from my Samsung Galaxy S (yes the very first one) as from all the reviews a Windows phone would be perfect for me (I use about 5 apps - all of which are available on WP8) I don't play games on my phone or anything like that, I use it to text, phone, listen to music and browse the net on occasion.

First thing I always do is assign a personal ring tone and alert tone....except you can't assign a new alert tone on a windows phone.
Ok not the end of the world, next I always listen to music whilst going to sleep and use an app to shut down the media player after an hour (already checked before buying the phone that a wp app existed for that) great all worked fine...except you need to turn the volume down to level 1/2 to not be deafened whilst in bed, however volume needs to be at least 15 to hear the ringtone!?!
Yep no seperate media and call volume That was pretty much the deal breaker for me as that means I will never hear the phone ring at night if there is an emergency and I would have to remember to turn the volume up and down every time I use it for music (which is a lot)

The WP8 OS seems really good and efficient but also very bland and I realised after a few days that I felt using my phone had become a chore and not fun, now normally with a new peice of kit I will spend every waking minute playing with it, with this phone I would rather get up and go to a pc to use the net.
Even texting looks dull on this, I do love the tiles but they became boring after a very short time, I used to pick up my android phone all the time to look things up and flick through apps, with this even as a new toy I couldn't find anything exciting about it.

As for the phone itself it's ok, feels bulky compared to the Galaxy S and I found myself nearly dropping it several times, this could be due to just not being used to it of course and I would think you would get used to it eventually.
I also found it hard to get used to all three buttons being on the same side - on/off, camera and volume
Probably the biggest annoyance about the layout was the search button being one of the main three buttons at the bottom, press it and it opens Bing...I can count the number of times I would want to open bing on no hands.

All in all it's not a bad phone, just nothing special about it, I know it's supposed to be a basic phone but I believe the problems I had with WP8 will be the same on any windows phone.
Oh and although I actually like the blue colour it looks dirty after 10 seconds in a pocket.

I appreciate all of the above is down to personal preference and opinion so for some these won't be issues at all, especially if you don't use it for music but for me it has put me off Windows Phones which is a shame as I really wanted to like it.

zerospin

Another possibility. Buy the phone outright from Carphone Warehouse...and … Another possibility. Buy the phone outright from Carphone Warehouse...and then buy an Ovivo sim for £15 - giving 150 mins, 250 texts & 250mb of data every month - with nothing further to pay. Total cost - £125...Personally, I think the Lumia 620 is worth the extra money. Clearback display, worldwide sat nav (Drive+ instead of Drive), a forward facing camera - and a few other things besides (gyroscope/NFC)Read lessRead more

I am with ovivo but there are not enough texts on freedom for my mum so this was ideal for her. Also the ovivo offer is 150mins, 200 texts (not 250) and 400mb (not 250)
(edited)

telboy69

another two bob deal.these phones are useless and the operating system is … another two bob deal.these phones are useless and the operating system is one big balls up.wouldnt pay 1 pound 50 a month(not joking sent phone back after 20 hours and gone back to android)Read lessRead more

The operating system on these is far superior to Android - more stable, more secure, faster, easier to use, and more powerful - especially with Social Networking and messaging / contact / calendar integration, and with better maps / nav.

The only notable downside is the smaller app store, although pretty much everything mass market is now available apart from Instagram - and that's coming.

telboy69

another two bob deal.these phones are useless and the operating system is … another two bob deal.these phones are useless and the operating system is one big balls up.wouldnt pay 1 pound 50 a month(not joking sent phone back after 20 hours and gone back to android)Read lessRead more

LOL, tell me another joke please.

A little birdie tells me you've probably never even owned one, and are making false, misguided assumptions...

...or you've previously owned a WP7 device and are using that experience to judge this phone unfairly.
(edited)

LOL, I'm assuming telboy69 is our resident court jester muckspreader with a different username! Just ignore him.

If someone wanted to continually spread FUD about WP8 and Lumia phones, you'd think they'd at least brush up on their grammar to give their rantings a little more credibility.

Good phone, great price. Easily the best available if you're on this low a budget.

Really good, honest review Satan_Claws.

@Satan_Claws

Yep, the unified ringer volume has to be one of the most dumbest oversights in WP7/8. It's obvious that you need separate volumes for ringer/music/notifications and every other phone has been capable of this for years. You also need to be able to set profiles where maybe you hear a tone for a text and the ringer might still be silent.

Hopefully, this will be sorted out before long. Why does this remind me of Apple...?

Nokia had brilliant profiles in Symbian, you could even change the profile automatically depending on your location, or WiFi connection. Perhaps Nokia will bring an 'exclusive' app like the old 'Situations' to sort it all out.

Another possibility. Buy the phone outright from Carphone Warehouse...and then buy an Ovivo sim for £15 - giving 150 mins, 250 texts & 250mb of data every month - with nothing further to pay.
Total cost - £125...

Personally, I think the Lumia 620 is worth the extra money. Clearback display, worldwide sat nav (Drive+ instead of Drive), a forward facing camera - and a few other things besides (gyroscope/NFC)
(edited)

bought this yday for 8.50, furious!

swafe

bought this yday for 8.50, furious!

I took my mother instore to look at this on the £8.50 deal and salesman mentioned this one. It was not available online yesterday though. And the cashback meant that £8.50 was a better deal. Was glad I didn't order for her when I saw it this morning. If you bought this online for the cashback you would be able to cancel under the 7day cooling off period so I'm sure they'd change you over to the £7.50 tarriff if you asked nicely and explained that it would save you having to return the phone which they would then have to refurbish ect. Worth a try anyway.

BTW don't believe nokia when they say the super sensitive screen can be used with fingernails and gloves. This is why we took my mum instore to try one out as she struggles to work touchscreens. May work with gloves but not fingernails except when salesman used back of his finger so there was enough impulse to operate the capacitive screen. Long nails do not work this screen

just noticed the 8.50 one is 500mb, to be fair i doubt id use 250mb so i might see if i can wrangle an extra 24 squids off

looks a good deal to me

nice find

weebigal

BTW don't believe nokia when they say the super sensitive screen can be … BTW don't believe nokia when they say the super sensitive screen can be used with fingernails and gloves. This is why we took my mum instore to try one out as she struggles to work touchscreens. May work with gloves but not fingernails except when salesman used back of his finger so there was enough impulse to operate the capacitive screen. Long nails do not work this screenRead lessRead more

I disagree. I have this fantastic phone and it works with my fingernails (although I do need to cut them).
(edited)

another two bob deal.these phones are useless and the operating system is one big balls up.wouldnt pay 1 pound 50 a month(not joking sent phone back after 20 hours and gone back to android)

I got one of these for my birthday. Telboy must have bought some fake phone, I've found it to be a superb phone. Battery life at least twice as long as my xperia play, screen much clearer, with better contrast and colours, and the OS is the best part of it.
I had always been a fan of android - my rikomagic iiis TV stick runs 4.1, but win phone is just superb and easily on a par, if not better.

Struggling to think what is useless about this phone... Skype Video calling?!?

jaydeeuk1

Struggling to think what is useless about this phone... Skype Video … Struggling to think what is useless about this phone... Skype Video calling?!?Read lessRead more

As it has no front facing camera, yes that would be useless on this. The 620 isn't too much though if you wanted that.

Great deal if you can put up with poor handset.

Beware...Talk Mobile is worse for network connection

apan

Beware...Talk Mobile is worse for network connection

It runs on vodaphone so will be fine in most places.

I can only say that talkmobile are next to useless, their customer services are dreadful. Yes it runs on Vodafone, but their network is ailing in places and they don't care either. This is from personal experience, don't use them!!! The phone however looks great, talkmobile no!

and while they're at it, give IE a proper back page function (the phone's back button often takes you away from IE), and forward page too. Also something similar to the home and end function, so you don't have to scroll up and down for ages. I still haven't worked out how to transfer my bookmarks from IE on PC to IE on phone.

It's annoying that the live tiles only update ever 30 mins or so. So the battery tile status is up to 30 mins old. .

Also silly that you cannot charge the phone while it's shutdown.

other things too...







(edited)

Satan_Claws

I bought this phone outright on the Carphone Warehouse deal but sadly I … I bought this phone outright on the Carphone Warehouse deal but sadly I will be taking it back today.I switched to this from my Samsung Galaxy S (yes the very first one) as from all the reviews a Windows phone would be perfect for me (I use about 5 apps - all of which are available on WP8) I don't play games on my phone or anything like that, I use it to text, phone, listen to music and browse the net on occasion.First thing I always do is assign a personal ring tone and alert tone....except you can't assign a new alert tone on a windows phone.Ok not the end of the world, next I always listen to music whilst going to sleep and use an app to shut down the media player after an hour (already checked before buying the phone that a wp app existed for that) great all worked fine...except you need to turn the volume down to level 1/2 to not be deafened whilst in bed, however volume needs to be at least 15 to hear the ringtone!?!Yep no seperate media and call volume That was pretty much the deal breaker for me as that means I will never hear the phone ring at night if there is an emergency and I would have to remember to turn the volume up and down every time I use it for music (which is a lot)The WP8 OS seems really good and efficient but also very bland and I realised after a few days that I felt using my phone had become a chore and not fun, now normally with a new peice of kit I will spend every waking minute playing with it, with this phone I would rather get up and go to a pc to use the net.Even texting looks dull on this, I do love the tiles but they became boring after a very short time, I used to pick up my android phone all the time to look things up and flick through apps, with this even as a new toy I couldn't find anything exciting about it.As for the phone itself it's ok, feels bulky compared to the Galaxy S and I found myself nearly dropping it several times, this could be due to just not being used to it of course and I would think you would get used to it eventually.I also found it hard to get used to all three buttons being on the same side - on/off, camera and volumeProbably the biggest annoyance about the layout was the search button being one of the main three buttons at the bottom, press it and it opens Bing...I can count the number of times I would want to open bing on no hands.All in all it's not a bad phone, just nothing special about it, I know it's supposed to be a basic phone but I believe the problems I had with WP8 will be the same on any windows phone.Oh and although I actually like the blue colour it looks dirty after 10 seconds in a pocket.I appreciate all of the above is down to personal preference and opinion so for some these won't be issues at all, especially if you don't use it for music but for me it has put me off Windows Phones which is a shame as I really wanted to like it.Read lessRead more

Blimey, that's far too level headed for these forums
Fiddlers will definitely not like Windows Phone. Its a real Marmite issue. For sport, we've been asking new people we encounter what phone they have and why. People love their Androids to fiddle and replace stuff. Give this personality type a Windows Phone and they will want to smash it into tiny glittery pieces

And you are right, the ringer and music volumes is suuuch a no brainer. Steve Jobs would have thrown the phone at his engineering department for a stunt like that

But there is also a lot to love about WP. The 30 minute live tile means you don't look at your battery level. I never do.
You get used to it. Like I have automatic headlights in my car. I NEVER "turn my lights on" - it just works. And that's what I love about WP, it just works.

Shame you never got on with it. (You prolly would have got used to the button layout with more adjustment time)

As for the deal, I agree with Zerospin. The 620 Lumia is the sweet spot. I've got a 920, but we've got some 620s at work, they are gorgeous. I only retain the 920 cos of the camera, of I would ditch it for the 620
I'm actually hoping Apple do something new/neat for September, so I can get the new iOS 7 or new device.
Android is a total yawner, and the BB10 I had whilst nice for a Blackberry - didn't surpass the premier experience of Windows Phone

david1274

and while they're at it, give IE a proper back page function (the phone's … and while they're at it, give IE a proper back page function (the phone's back button often takes you away from IE), and forward page too. Also something similar to the home and end function, so you don't have to scroll up and down for ages. I still haven't worked out how to transfer my bookmarks from IE on PC to IE on phone.It's annoying that the live tiles only update ever 30 mins or so. So the battery tile status is up to 30 mins old. .Also silly that you cannot charge the phone while it's shutdown.other things too...Read lessRead more

Back is back though
I didn't realise you cant charge in shutdown. That is odd.
But, in reality most people charge with their phone on (or on, in silent by their bed)

The things that really hurt it, are things like lack of profiles (or just a "do not disturb" mode would be great)
The Calendar views are awful. The music app is not great.

But all phones have got their pros and cons and rough edges. For me WP still works best for me. Outlook. Com, Exchange email, OneNote, Xbox, the People hub, the rock solid stability, consistent battery life (no occasionally drain to zero like I've had on Android and iPhone)). Speed. Bluetooth integration with the car, and it reading my texts out to me, and allowing me to reply via voice.

Curious to see what the next software rev brings. A lot of the niggles mentioned above will be gone, separate volumes is coming, swipe right notification centre. And underlying changes that make going from Win 8 to WinPhone 8 easier which is smart by MS.
I like it anyway, despite its foibles.

Yeah I agree, it's got a lot going for it. I can put up with the foibles for the time being, as the phone works very smoothly overall- much prefer it the complexity of android myself.

The worst aspect of the ringer and music volume issue for me is that every time you restart the phone, the volume defaults to setting 18 (out of 30) due to health and safety to protect your hearing. This means that the call alert setting is at 18 too- not necessarily loud enough in a noisy environment. Trying to remember to turn it up after every restart is a PITA, so the sooner they update that the better.8)

(edited)

Bought the Nokia 620 the other day SIM free from phones 4 u £179 with £6.50 quidco. Then phoned virgin and they gave (as an existing media customer) the Premier package with 2500 mins, unlimited text and unlimited data for £10/month. This was the day there VIP SIM free package launched.

I can certainly see that in time I probably would have gotten used to the layout and buttons, I would have spent more time with it to see how I got on but only had 14 days to return it.

One of the main reasons I wanted to switch from Android to WP was all the reviews said "it just works" which sounded nice after my Galaxy S started playing up (not letting me answer calls, not keeping me signed in on apps, making alert tone noise at random moments but not telling me what for!!) now this could be down to it being an old phone as it never used to have those problems but I did want to give WP a chance and for me it just wasn't right.

However I won't be going on every thread about a WP and knocking it, it certainly wasn't an awful experience, just didn't suit me personally.

Returned the phone last night, even got he £10 top up refunded as the staff couldn't figure out how to seperate the transactions, plus weirdly she never even opened the box to see if the phone and all were inside!!! And I spent time cleaning it all nice

I'm paying £7/m for a rolling sim-only from Virgin (150 mins, unlimited text, 500MB)
This deal means an extra 50p per month, I lose 75 mins (I only use about 40) and I lose my freedom to change provider for 2 years but I thought it was worth it for a new phone and £35
Ordered!

Cheers OP

Got mine today and I'm not overwhelmed...
The camera button doesn't work, the build quality isn't great, the app selection is a little sparse and I think it keeps dropping wifi.
CPW don't have any in stock for me to switch so I'm thinking of returning it.
Has anyone else got one? What are your thoughts?

[quote=BubaMan]Got mine today and I'm not overwhelmed...

i bought mine payg from cpw and i use it as a work phone with an ovivo sim

i must say that it is a great little phone and an easy entry into windows.I agree the camera button is a bit "finicky"but touch the screen and it takes the pic anyway!, apps are less than google play but overall a nice little phone for the money and once you work your way through the menus,it will become easier to use! decent battery life and excellent call quality too!

maybe you just got an "iffy" one!

I have a Samsung omnia 7 WP, you can assign ringtones individually. Love the phone quality, windows fast and slick os, only downside is the poor number of quality apps. Contract up and I don't know what phone to get next. S4 feel like a broken phone ready to happen. Would buy as a spair but the 520 but feels like a toy of poor quality.
(edited)

89quidyoucantgowrong

@Satan_ClawsYep, the unified ringer volume has to be one of the most … @Satan_ClawsYep, the unified ringer volume has to be one of the most dumbest oversights in WP7/8. It's obvious that you need separate volumes for ringer/music/notifications and every other phone has been capable of this for years. You also need to be able to set profiles where maybe you hear a tone for a text and the ringer might still be silent.Hopefully, this will be sorted out before long. Why does this remind me of Apple...?Nokia had brilliant profiles in Symbian, you could even change the profile automatically depending on your location, or WiFi connection. Perhaps Nokia will bring an 'exclusive' app like the old 'Situations' to sort it all out.Read lessRead more

Hi, do you happen to know if this is going to get fixed at all yet? I'm thinking of taking the plunge (smartphone of any kind virgin!) and it does seem a bad oversight! Thanks x