The series of phones developed by Nokia has been defeated day after day in recent years. Microsoft Windows Phone platform did not become popular, all investments from "Redmond", alas, burned out. The picture is sad, but, oddly enough, in the post-Soviet space there were many zealous Nokia fans who remain loyal to the finals, as well as those for whom the presence of Windows on all used gadgets has become a key factor in choosing a device. Thanks to them, the budget segment of Nokia phones has survived, one of the representatives of the "genre" and we will consider in this article. So, let's start a review of the smartphone "Lumiya 520": characteristics, main features and reviews of the owners.
Equipment
In addition to the phone, the box contains:
- Charger for connecting to the mains.
- Rechargeable battery.
- Cable for charging from the mains and connecting to a computer for data synchronization.
- Branded stereo headset.
- Guide for setting up and working with the phone.
Housing, controls
Dimensions: 119 x 64 x 10 mm.
Weight: 124 grams.
The entire line of smartphones developed under the auspices of the updated Nokia is produced in similar cases. One feels a single design vision, attentive attitude to the exterior of gadgets. The classic "sandwich" consisting of a black front panel and colored polycarbonate is also used in this model. The body of the smartphone is collapsible, under the cover there is a battery, a slot for a memory card and a SIM card.
On the front panel of the phone, you can find only the display, touch control keys (buttons: back, menu and search) and the earpiece, neatly inscribed in the very upper part of the case, at the junction with the lid. On the back of the smartphone there is a cut of the main speaker, the manufacturer's logo and a camera. On the right side of the smartphone there are controls traditional for Lumiya (camera shutter, power button and volume rocker). The left half is empty. At the bottom there is a micro-USB input for charging and connecting to a computer. On the top is a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Thanks to its compact size, the phone will easily fit in any hand, and the matte plastic will not allow it to slip out on the go. Ergonomics at the highest level. The phone comes in five colors: red, white, black, blue and yellow. There are almost no traces and minor damages on the back cover, therefore a cover for Lumiya 520 is unlikely to become a necessity, in this regard the design is quite practical.
Display
It is worth mentioning right away that we are talking about a budget smartphone, so you should not expect any revelations regarding the screen. The Lumiya 520 phone is equipped with a compact display with a diagonal of only 4 inches and a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels. Even at small sizes, attentive (picky) usersundoubtedly stand-alone pixels and overall picture grain. With daily use, this drawback does not cause discomfort. Many will also be disappointed by the absence of the exclusive ClearBlack technology, which is used in other, more expensive gadgets of the company. It is pointless to hope for high-quality color rendering when exposed to sunlight, the screen "fades". On the other hand, the screen has an IPS matrix, which means that potential owners of the gadget will be able to enjoy the widest possible viewing angles. Residents of cold regions will appreciate the ultra-sensitive display, which is able to recognize touch even when wearing gloves.
Processor, memory, performance
"Lumiya 520" is far from a flagship gadget, and first of all it is aimed at people whose requests are below average, so there is no need to talk about serious "hardware" equipment, which, in general, is not a problem, given the level of system optimization but game lovers will be affected. The smartphone, like most Windows Phone devices, uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip. The clock frequency of this beast reaches 1000 megahertz in each of the cores. Even with this chip, the phone works very quickly, smoothly, the system always remains responsive. The main performance limitation is the small amount of RAM, it has reached only 512 megabytes, which automatically makes a number of complex programs inaccessible for this kid.
Among other things, the device has a place for 8 gigabytes of main memory, of which only 5 are available to the user. Fortunately, the situation can be corrected with the help of an additional physical array (microSD memory cards are supported).
Camera
One of Nokia's main trump cards has always been its special photography capabilities, head and shoulders above the competition. In budget solutions, alas, everything is according to the standard. The monitored gadget has a single 5-megapixel lens, without a flash. The shots come out quite mediocre even in good lighting, not to mention those taken indoors. In principle, the camera performs more of a utilitarian function.
To brighten up the life of the owners of the Lumiya 520 smartphone, Nokia decided to keep all the camera's software chips in stock, including all sorts of filters, processing tools and exclusive functions like creating "come to life" photos.
There is no front camera at all, so selfie lovers will have to either put up with it, or develop the skill of shooting "selfies" with the main camera.
Autonomy
To date, the operating time from a single charge of any smartphone is no more than a day (with regular use), the same truth is true for the Lumiya 520 smartphone. The characteristics of the device and so it comes out not the most rosy, but here also the autonomy fails. This is due to the battery with a capacity of only 1430 milliamps. According to the manufacturer, the smartphone is capable of:
- Live more than 10 hours of talk time in 3G networks.
- Play music in the background for about 60 hours.
- Play video in HD resolution for about 6 hours.
Of course, some of these indicators are only skillfully conducted, gentle tests that are very different from real life. Even a pinpoint adjustment of the system will not help to significantly increase the operating time, therefore, you will have to put up with the fact that the phone will ask for a power outlet before the end of the working day.
Communications
The smartphone, unfortunately, is not able to boast of the presence of modern wireless interfaces and contactless data exchange technology.
Of the wired ones, the phone only has a micro-USB port. The list of wireless interfaces includes: Wi-Fi, which supports the 802.11 frequency and Bluetooth of the third generation. The vaunted NFC could not be found. The phone has a GPS module. The extensive list of supported cellular networks is also an important feature of the Lumiya 520.
Characteristics of the software platform
Many users, upon the release of Lumiya smartphones, have identified a lot of common features connecting them with the iPhone, including a unique operating system that follows similar principles and ideas.
Lumiya 520 does not require complicated preliminary configuration, all that is needed for work is to create an account, after which you can immediately start working with the phone.
First of all, the user is greeted by an ascetic lock screen, on which notifications are displayed, as well as information about the date and time. It is immediately followed by a minimalistic, innovative interface developed in the bowels of Microsoft called "Living Tiles." Actually, the entire interface is built on blocks with information, which are also shortcuts for applications. Its main idea is that a person, without opening programs, can get the maximum of the necessary information.
The system is fast enough, not annoying with minor bugs and visual artifacts. Rarely there are more serious problems associated with bugs in third-party software, which tightly "hang" the gadget. In such situations, there is nothing left but to reboot the "Lumiya", this is done by holding down all three control keys (physical, located on the right side of the phone).
The most important problem of the system is the lack of third-party "software", because the manufacturer has not managed to force developers to release applications for the new platform.
"Lumiya 520": reviews
At first glance, Nokia's device is significantly inferior in many criteria and does not look very attractive compared to its closest competitors. Nevertheless, it has found a whole army of fans who are scouring the market for the presence of something affordable and as practical as possible on it. The practicality of the phone is distinguished by the bulk of users, saying that the smartphone is easy to connect to a computer, that there is a possibility of hot swapping of the SIM-card, as well as access to the battery. Repair of "Lumiya" also costs a pittance, which will delight those who buy a phone for a schoolchild. Many people point to the high performance and battery life compared to budget Android phones. All these and many other factors noted by ordinary users create a completely new image of the Lumiya 520 smartphone, the characteristics of which are rarely replete with positive statements from professionals. The image of a strong state employee in the best traditions of Nokia. The only question remains: how much does "Lumiya 520" cost? The recommended price for a device in Russia varies within 8,000 rubles.
Information about the brand, model and alternative names of a specific device, if any.
Design
Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Used materials, offered colors, certificates.
| Width Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 64 mm (millimeters) 6.4 cm (centimeters) 0.21 ft (feet) 2.52 in (inches) |
| Height Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 119.9 mm (millimeters) 11.99 cm (centimeters) 0.39 ft (feet) 4.72 in (inches) |
| Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units of measurement. | 9.9 mm (millimeters) 0.99 cm (centimeters) 0.03 ft (feet) 0.39 in (inches) |
| The weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement. | 124 g (grams) 0.27 lbs (pounds) 4.37 oz (ounces) |
| Volume The approximate volume of the device, calculated based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with a rectangular parallelepiped shape. | 75.97 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 4.61 in³ (cubic inches) |
| Colors Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale. | Yellow Red Blue-green White |
SIM card
The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.
Mobile networks
A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.
Mobile technologies and data rates
Communication between devices in mobile networks is carried out using technologies that provide different data transfer rates.
Operating system
An operating system is the system software that controls and coordinates the operation of the hardware components on a device.
SoC (System on a Chip)
A system on a chip (SoC) integrates all the major hardware components of a mobile device into a single chip.
| SoC (System on a Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software required for their operation. | Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8227 |
| Technological process Information about the technological process by which the chip is manufactured. The value in nanometers is half the distance between the elements in the processor. | 28 nm (nanometers) |
| Processor (CPU) The main function of the processor (CPU) of a mobile device is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications. | Krait |
| Processor size The width (bits) of the processor is determined by the size (in bits) of registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors offer better performance than 32-bit processors, which in turn are more efficient than 16-bit processors. | 32 bit |
| Instruction set architecture Instructions are commands with which the software sets / controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute. | ARMv7 |
| Level 0 cache (L0) Some processors have L0 (level 0) cache memory, which can be accessed faster than L1, L2, L3, etc. The advantage of having such memory is not only higher performance, but also lower power consumption. | 4KB + 4KB (kilobytes) |
| Level 1 cache (L1) The cache memory is used by the processor to reduce the time it takes to access more frequently used data and instructions. L1 (Level 1) cache is small and is much faster than both system memory and other levels of cache. If the processor does not find the requested data in L1, it continues to look for it in the L2 cache. On some processors, this search is performed simultaneously in L1 and L2. | 16 KB + 16 KB (kilobytes) |
| L2 cache L2 (level 2) cache is slower than L1, but instead has a larger capacity to cache more data. It, like L1, is much faster than system memory (RAM). If the processor does not find the requested data in L2, it continues to look for them in L3 cache memory (if available) or in RAM memory. | 1024 KB (kilobytes) 1 MB (megabytes) |
| Number of processor cores The processor core executes program instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to execute in parallel. | 2 |
| CPU clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 1000 MHz (megahertz) |
| Graphics processing unit (GPU) A graphics processing unit (GPU) handles computation for a variety of 2D / 3D graphics applications. In mobile devices, it is most commonly used by games, consumer interfaces, video applications, and more. | Qualcomm Adreno 305 |
| Number of GPU cores Like a processor, a GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle the graphical computation of various applications. | 1 |
| The amount of random access memory (RAM) Random access memory (RAM) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. The data that is saved in the RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted. | 512 MB (megabytes) |
| Memory type (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device. | LPDDR2 |
Built-in memory
Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) fixed memory.
Memory cards
Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage space for data.
Screen
The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.
| Type / technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the image quality of information directly depends. | IPS |
| Diagonal On mobile devices, screen size is expressed in terms of the length of its diagonal, measured in inches. | 4 in (inches) 101.6 mm (millimeters) 10.16 cm (centimeters) |
| Width Approximate screen width | 2.06 in (inches) 52.27 mm (millimeters) 5.23 cm (centimeters) |
| Height Approximate screen height | 3.43 in (inches) 87.12 mm (millimeters) 8.71 cm (centimeters) |
| Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of the long side of the screen to its short side | 1.667:1 5:3 |
| Resolution Screen resolution indicates the number of pixels horizontally and vertically on the screen. Higher resolution means sharper image detail. | 480 x 800 pixels |
| Pixel density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be shown on the screen in clearer detail. | 233 ppi (pixels per inch) 91 ppcm (pixels per centimeter) |
| Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors the screen can display. | 24 bit 16777216 flowers |
| Screen footprint The approximate percentage of the display area on the front of the device. | 59.54% (percent) |
| Other characteristics Information about other functions and features of the screen. | Capacitive Multitouch Scratch resistant |
| 2D hardened glass screen Nokia ClearBlack display |
Sensors
Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical metrics into signals that can be recognized by the mobile device.
Main camera
The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on the back of the body and is used for photo and video shooting.
| Sensor size Information about the dimensions of the photosensor used in the device. Typically, cameras with a larger sensor and lower pixel density offer higher image quality despite lower resolution. | 3.6 x 2.7 mm (millimeters) 0.18 in (inches) |
| Pixel size The smaller pixel size of the photocell allows the use of more pixels per unit area, thus increasing the resolution. On the other hand, a smaller pixel size can have a negative impact on image quality at high ISO sensitivity levels. | 1.389 μm (micrometers) 0.001389 mm (millimeters) |
| Crop factor The crop factor is the ratio between the size of a full-frame sensor (36 x 24 mm, equivalent to a frame of standard 35 mm film) and the size of the device's photo sensor. The number shown is the ratio of the diagonals of a full-frame sensor (43.3 mm) to that of a particular device's photo sensor. | 9.61 |
| Diaphragm Aperture (f-number) is the size of the aperture opening that controls the amount of light reaching the photosensor. A lower f-number means a larger aperture opening. | f / 2.4 |
| Focal length Focal length is the distance in millimeters from the photosensor to the optical center of the lens. Equivalent focal lengths are also indicated, providing the same field of view with a full frame camera. | 2.91 mm (millimeters) 27.98 mm (millimeters) * (35 mm / full frame) |
| Image Resolution One of the main characteristics of cameras on mobile devices is their resolution, which shows the number of pixels horizontally and vertically in an image. | 2592 x 1936 pixels 5.02 MP (megapixels) |
| Video Resolution Information about the maximum supported resolution for video recording by the device. | 1280 x 720 pixels 0.92 MP (megapixels) |
| Video - frame rate / frames per second. Information about the maximum number of frames per second (fps) supported by the device when shooting video at maximum resolution. Some of the main standard video capture and playback speeds are 24p, 25p, 30p, 60p. | 30 frames / sec (frames per second) |
| Characteristics Information about other software and hardware features associated with the main camera that improve its functionality. | Autofocus Tracking autofocus Digital zoom Geographic tags Panoramic shooting Touch focus Adjusting the white balance ISO setting |
Audio
Information about the type of speakers and audio technology supported by the device.
Radio
The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.
Locating
Information about the navigation and positioning technologies supported by the device.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is a technology that enables wireless communication for transferring data over short distances between various devices.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless transfer of data between different types of devices over short distances.
| Version There are several versions of Bluetooth, each of which improves communication speed, coverage, and makes it easier to find and connect devices. Information about the Bluetooth version of the device. | 4.0 |
| Characteristics Bluetooth uses different profiles and protocols to enable faster communication, energy savings, better device discovery, and more. Some of these profiles and protocols that the device supports are shown here. | A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) AVRCP (Audio / Visual Remote Control Profile) GAVDP (Generic Audio / Video Distribution Profile) HFP (Hands-Free Profile) LE (Low Energy) OPP (Object Push Profile) PBAP / PAB (Phone Book Access Profile) SPP (Serial Port Protocol) SDAP (Service Discovery Application Profile) |
USB
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.
Headphone jack
This is an audio connector, which is also called an audio connector. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Connecting devices
Information about other important connection technologies supported by the device.
Browser
A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.
| Browser Information about some of the main features and standards supported by the device browser. | Html HTML5 CSS 3 XML xHTML |
Audio file formats / codecs
Mobile devices support different audio file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode / decode digital audio data.
Video file formats / codecs
Mobile devices support different video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode / decode digital video data.
Battery
Mobile device batteries differ in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge required for their function.
| Capacity Battery capacity indicates the maximum charge it can store, measured in milliampere-hours. | 1430 mAh (milliampere-hours) |
| A type The type of battery is determined by its structure and, more precisely, by the chemicals used. There are different types of batteries, with lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries most commonly used in mobile devices. | Li-Ion (Lithium-ion) |
| Talk time 2G Talk time in 2G is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 2G network. | 14 hours 40 minutes 14.7 h (hours) 880.2 minutes (minutes) 0.6 days |
| Talk time 3G Talk time in 3G is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 3G network. | 9 hours 40 minutes 9.7 h (hours) 580.2 minutes (minutes) 0.4 days |
| 3G standby time Standby time in 3G is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 3G network. | 390 h (hours) 23400 min (minutes) 16.3 days |
| Characteristics Information about some additional characteristics of the device's battery. | Removable |
| Battery model: BL-5J |
The fate of the former leaders of the smartphone market - Nokia and Microsoft - remains the subject of numerous online battles and speculations. Despite various prophecies about the imminent death and hopelessness of their modern mobile products (we are, of course, talking about Lumia smartphones and Windows Phone OS), both one and the second company continue to develop and demonstrate new developments. Of course, there is an opinion that Microsoft with its resources is able to keep even deeply unprofitable technologies and products afloat for a long time, but as a counterargument it is worth noting that even the resources of such a huge corporation are not limitless, and it can admit its mistakes, as it was with devices Zune and Kin. Along the way, Windows Phone supports, above all, Microsoft's desire to create its own ecosystem in the likeness of Apple, with a "triad" of smartphone-tablet-laptop (desktop), which, in addition to the obvious benefits from the sale of applications, music and other content, will attract and retain user boundaries. This example was again set by Apple when iPhone buyers then bought iPads and eventually migrated from PCs to Mac OS X devices.
Nokia's benefit from using Windows Phone exclusively in its top-of-the-line devices is less clear. Almost immediately after the news of the conclusion of a strategic partnership with Microsoft, the company began to receive statements of shortsightedness and requests or even demands to release Android devices as well. It is difficult to say what exactly made Nokia refuse to join the community of Android smartphones manufacturers: perhaps, close ties between Nokia and Microsoft management, perhaps some special terms of the license agreement and access to OS development, perhaps the desire to "not be like everyone else." , or perhaps all at once. How much this strategy turned out to be correct only time can answer, but now the position of the Finnish company is very unstable: if in the market of conventional mobile phones in 2012 Nokia took the second place in the number of devices sold, then in the increasingly popular and profitable segment of smartphones the company continues lose ground after the termination of the release of devices with Symbian. If you look at the Gartner report, Windows Phone's share of the mobile OS market is growing, but too slowly to have a positive impact on the fate of such a “mono-system” manufacturer, which of its own free will became Nokia.
Another mistake Nokia, according to many fans of this company, was the focus on the release of premium devices and smartphones in the middle price segment. For a long time, almost two years, if you wanted to buy a Lumia device and get acquainted with the new Microsoft / Nokia platform, you had to part with a significant amount of money by purchasing a powerful device with excellent hardware, but limited in terms of software. It is clear that there were not many people willing to experiment for a decent amount of money. Finally realizing that the Nokia Asha platform in the budget segment is not a replacement for Lumia smartphones, the Finnish company announced several mid-budget devices at once. One of them was the Nokia Lumia 520 smartphone, whose price - 135 euros at the time of the announcement - simultaneously made it the cheapest smartphone in the entire Lumia line and spurred public attention. Finally, a worthy competitor to numerous budget Android devices and a worthy candidate for an easy acquaintance with Windows Phone 8 should have appeared on the market.
In reality, when the communicator appeared on store shelves, its price, of course, turned out to be not as attractive as in the announcement. However, the smartphone is still the most affordable device in the Lumia family.
Contents of delivery
The Nokia Lumia 520 mobile computer comes in a traditional company small box made of extremely thick cardboard. In addition to the image of the smartphone in various colors, the packaging contains only licensing information and information about the configuration. You won't be able to find out anything about the characteristics of a smartphone by picking up its packaging in the store - apparently, the developers decided that if you paid attention to the Lumia device, then you already know the details about its filling or you do not need this information.
In general, the Nokia Lumia 520 package is standard for a budget smartphone - nothing superfluous, only the most necessary things: charger, Micro-USB cable, wired stereo headset, battery and documentation.
Characteristics
Since the Nokia Lumia 520 is the cheapest smartphone in the Lumia lineup, the developers have removed everything from it that, in their opinion, was redundant. In addition, they were faced with the task of separating models 520 and 620 as noticeably as possible, the implementation of which, obviously, also negatively affected the characteristics of the review hero.
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So what are the features of the Nokia Lumia 520?
- SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8227, 1.0 GHz, 2 Krait cores
- GPU Adreno 305
- Operating system Microsoft Windows Phone 8
- Touch display 4 ″, IPS, 800 × 480, capacitive (high sensitivity), multitouch
- Random access memory (RAM) 512 MB
- Internal memory 8 GB, slot for memory cards microSDHC
- Communication 2G GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz, 3G WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz
- Data transmission GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA (up to 21.1 Mbps)
- Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n (2.4GHz)
- A-GPS, Glonass, gyroscope, orientation sensor, accelerometer, proximity sensor
- Cameras: 5 MP (autofocus)
- Battery 1430 mAh
- Dimensions 119.9 x 64 x 9.9 mm
- Weight 124 g
In terms of platform, the Lumia 520, 620 and 720 are pretty much the same. They are built on the same SoC Qualcomm MSM8227, which includes two Krait computing cores with a maximum frequency of 1 GHz and an Adreno 305 graphics core. Learn more about Qualcomm processors in general and about this SoC in particular from our special material.
The amount of RAM in these smartphones is also the same - 512 MB, modest by today's standards. Modest, of course, if we compare "head-on" devices based on different operating systems, which is fundamentally wrong. Apparently, the Windows Phone 8 operating system itself and applications for it consume less memory than Android and its programs, because according to the testimony of independent utilities, 395 MB of RAM are available in the Nokia Lumia 520.
There are also no differences in the amount of built-in flash memory in the Lumia 520, 620 and 720. All smartphones have exactly 8 GB of it, in the case of Nokia Lumia 520, 5.2 GB is available to the user, a significant part of which will be occupied by built-in applications. Expand your storage space for your music, photos and videos with removable microSDXC memory cards up to 64GB. Also, the owner of the smartphone is provided with 7 GB of data in the Microsoft SkyDrive cloud service.
Actually, on the hardware stuffing, the similarities between the 520th Lumiya and her older sisters end, in terms of other key parameters, the Lumia 520 is significantly inferior to them.
The Lumia 520 has an IPS matrix with a resolution of 800 × 480 pixels, like most Lumia, but the display itself is devoid of a polarizing filter, it lacks support for ClearBlack technology, there is no Gorilla Glass and there is no oleophobic coating. Thanks for leaving gloved touch screen support.
The Lumia 520 developers left only one camera, depriving it of any flash. In terms of basic photo and video shooting capabilities, it is practically not inferior to cameras of more expensive smartphones.
The rechargeable battery of the hero of the review does not differ in large capacity and size, the amount of stored energy is 1430 mAh. But, unlike the batteries of other Nokia mobile devices, it is removable.
The baseline comparison of different Nokia smartphones is shown in the following table.
| Nokia Lumia 520 | Nokia Lumia 720 | Nokia Lumia 920 | Nokia Lumia 820 | Nokia Lumia 620 | Huawei Ascend W1 | |
| Screen | 4 ″, IPS | 4.3 ″, IPS | 4.5 ″, IPS | 4.3 ″, AMOLED | 3.8 ″, IPS | 4.0 ″, IPS |
| Resolution | 800 × 480, 233 ppi | 800 × 480, 217 ppi | 1280 × 768, 332 ppi | 800 × 480, 217 ppi | 800 × 480, 246 ppi | 800 × 480, 233 ppi |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 @ 1 GHz (2 cores, ARMv7 Krait) | Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 @ 1.5 GHz (2 cores, ARMv7 Krait) | Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 @ 1 GHz (2 cores, ARMv7 Krait) | Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 @ 1.2 GHz (2 cores, ARMv7 Krait) | ||
| RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Flash memory | 8 GB | 8 GB | 32 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Support for memory cards | microSD | microSD | not | microSD | microSD | microSD |
| Operating system | Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone 8 |
| SIM format * | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Mini-SIM |
| Communications | 2G / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n, Bluetooth | 2G / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n, Bluetooth, NFC | 2G / 3G / 4G, Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n, Bluetooth, NFC | 2G / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n, Bluetooth, NFC | 2G / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n, Bluetooth | |
| Battery | removable, 1430 mAh | non-removable, 2000 mAh | non-removable, 2000 mAh | removable, 1650 mAh | removable, 1300 mAh | removable 1950 mAh |
| Cameras | rear (5 Mp; video - 720p) | rear (6.7 Mp; video - 720p), front (1.2 Mp) | rear (8.7 Mp; video - 1080p), front (1.2 Mp) | rear (5 Mp; video - 720p), front (0.3 Mp) | ||
| Dimensions (edit) | 120 x 64 x 9.9 mm, 124 g | 128 x 68 x 9 mm, 128 g | 130 x 71 x 10.7 mm, 185 g | 124 x 69 x 9.9 mm, 160 g | 115 x 61 x 11 mm, 127 g | 125 x 64 x 10.2 mm, 130 g |
| Cost ** | RUB 7,990 | RUB 13,990 | RUB 19,990 | RUB 15,990 | 9990 RUB | 9990 RUB |
* the most common formats of SIM-cards are described in a separate material
** the price is given at the time of this writing, for Nokia models - the recommended price, for Huawei - average
Design and appearance
In my subjective opinion, Nokia Lumia 520 is a very nice smartphone. Perhaps it's my personal preference for an angular-rectangular design or the optimal, again in my opinion, proportions and sizes of the device and cute multi-colored back covers made of soft-touch plastic (you can purchase several colors). The 520th model looks more advantageous even than the "washed" 620th. All these are personal impressions, but now we turn to the facts.
Neither in size, nor in thickness, nor in weight, the Nokia Lumia 520 falls under the category of ultra-thin and ultra-light communicators. However, you don't expect this from a budget device. On the other hand, it is convenient to hold and operate the communicator with one hand - the thumb covers the area of \u200b\u200ba small by today's standards screen without any problems, and the thick rounded "rubberized" edges of the back cover-boat provide a reliable grip. In general, the design of the body of the review hero is one of the most optimal from the point of view of the reliability of the position of the smartphone in the hand and control of it, only sharp corners sometimes dig into the palm if you take it wrong.
There are no serious complaints about the design and build quality of the Nokia Lumia 520. The smartphone itself fits securely into the shell of the cover; squeak is observed only if you press hard on its center; there are no backlashes and large gaps between the parts. There are also several minor design flaws: dust collects in the hole for the phone speaker, hardware buttons dangle a little in the grooves, touch keys are not backlit and often work from false touches when working with a smartphone inaccurately.
On the front panel of the smartphone, in addition to the display, touch keys and the speaker, there is a microphone, light and proximity sensors.
It is difficult to remove the communicator body from the cover without long nails: you have to contrive and press on the camera lens to move the body. If you pick up its edge in the area of \u200b\u200bthe telephone speaker with your fingernail, then detaching the cover is quick and painless. Reinstalling the smartphone body into the cover-shell does not pose any particular problems.
Only by removing the battery cover can you access the battery, as well as the Micro-SIM and microSD cards. You will not be able to replace them without turning off the power to the device and disconnecting the battery. It's funny, but a rectangular piece of rubber is glued on the back of the lid, which should ensure the strength of the smartphone's structure and prevent the back panel from bending. Judging by the presence of the aforementioned small squeaks, it copes with its task only with a C grade. The rubber frame around the main speaker of the smartphone plays the role of the second stop for the lid.
Technological holes are provided in the battery cover for all connectors, the main speaker and the camera lens. Hardware keys are presented in the form of plastic repeaters attached to it. There is no protection for the camera lens, but it itself is slightly deepened relative to the level of the rear panel - so, unlike many other smartphones, the Nokia Lumia 520 does not lean on it when it lies on its back.
The left side of Nokia Lumia 520 is empty, on the right there are three hardware keys: double for volume control, power and camera control. All of them have a relief comfortable shape and a clear pressure, but the last parameter is strongly influenced by the correct installation of the lid: with a slight displacement and distortion, the buttons stop pressing distinctly.
On the upper end of the body of the hero of the review there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack. At the bottom there is a Micro-USB connector.
Overall, the look and feel of the Nokia Lumia 520 is not bad. Of course, they cannot be compared with the outstanding technological solutions of glass and aluminum devices of the highest price range, but for a budget smartphone, the hero of the review looks and is assembled quite well.
Software
The Nokia Lumia 520 smartphone runs on Windows Phone 8. Since Microsoft still prohibits any tampering with the appearance of the system, all the few devices with this OS have a standard graphical interface. Changes made by the manufacturer of a particular smartphone model are limited to adding third-party software and disabling certain hardware-related functions and settings.
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Apart from the famous manufacturer, Nokia devices are also attracted by the abundance of proprietary software developed by this company. First of all, we are talking about navigation services, united under the general name Here: Drive, Maps and Transit. Here Maps allows you to view maps online and offline, search for a specific address and organization, plot routes - in general, everything that Google Maps and Yandex.Maps can do. Here Transit, as the name implies, allows you to plan your trip by public transport. Here drive is a handy car navigator. These programs, of course, have their advantages and disadvantages: the former include the ability to download maps of almost all countries on Earth for free, and the latter, a slightly confusing interface. Previously, they also lacked support for the service monitoring the traffic situation, but in the latest versions of applications, traffic congestion accounting has appeared. It should also be noted that maps of any region can be used for free only in Here Maps and Here Transit, and in Here Drive there is a restriction on maps only for the region where the SIM card inserted into the smartphone comes from. In the full version of the program, Here Drive +, there is no such limitation, the update costs 664 rubles.
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Nokia Music + is a multimedia combine of free streaming radio (with the ability to listen to your favorite tracks offline for a monthly subscription) and a regular digital music store. The approach, on the whole, is clear, there are more and more such applications and services, but the Nokia application combines two approaches at once: one from iTunes, the other from Yandex.Music.
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Nokia Care - a program-collection of tips for using the capabilities of a smartphone and its maintenance. Nokia Lived Photos - a kind of application for "animating" photos and showing them to friends on social networks. Nokia Panorama allows you to take panoramic photos using the built-in smartphone camera.
Nokia Ringtone Maker can create and set any DRM-free music track from the device memory as a ringtone. Nokia Top Applications just provides a list of interesting, from the point of view of service developers, programs from the Windows Phone Store. Nokia Smart Photo helps to choose the best shot from a series of shots taken by the program itself.
This concludes the list of additional Nokia software. There are several more tabs in the smartphone settings dedicated to accounts in the company's services, pairing with branded accessories and contacting support with reviews, but it doesn't make much sense to dwell on all of them. It also makes no sense to pay attention to MTS programs and services that are installed in the memory of this particular instance of Nokia Lumia 520. The smartphone was purchased in the store of this operator, since it was originally sold only there, and most of the mentioned functions are tied to the SIM card of this company.
Display and sound
The screen is exactly what the developers of the Nokia Lumia 520 have seriously saved on. On paper, everything looks great: IPS-matrix, 4 inches diagonal, resolution 800 × 480 pixels, density 233 pixels per inch, 16 million colors. But in practice, the display of the hero of the review is mediocre, no more.
Black color on the screen of Nokia Lumia 520 looks gray, it was noticed by all smartphone owners, and nothing can be done about it. The real black color display of the hero of the review is not able to show. The absence of polarizing and antiglare filters, as well as the ClearBlack technology, also has a negative effect when working with a smartphone in bright ambient light - it becomes difficult to see anything on the Nokia Lumia 520 screen. It's good at least that there is practically no color inversion.
The touch sensor recognizes up to five simultaneous signals, but the quality of its work is not very good - after the third touch, it starts to get confused.
The protective glass of the display, not Gorilla Glass, gets very dirty when working with a smartphone, the lack of an oleophobic coating affects. If not wiped clean, fingerprints will very quickly cover the entire screen.
The operating system controls the brightness of the display backlight based on the readings from the ambient light sensor. The backlight power level can also be indirectly set manually, there are three levels of brightness adjustment.
Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, carried out a detailed examination of the screen using measuring devices.
The smartphone screen is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface and, judging by the reflection of objects in it, there is no anti-glare filter (or it is very weak). The reflection in the screen is tripled, which implies the presence of an air gap between the surface of the matrix and the outer glass. On the outer surface of the screen, apparently, there is still a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, but in this case it is not very effective - the finger glides on the surface of the screen badly. Still, fingerprints from such a screen are easier to remove, and appear on it at a slower speed than in the case of ordinary glass.
With manual brightness control (three fixed levels are available) and when displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 310 cd / m2, average - 200, minimum - 80. These three levels are more or less suitable for comfortable work during the day on the street. in a well-lit room and in the dark. Although, of course, the maximum brightness value is not very high. Note that in the settings of the screen parameters there is a checkbox that turns on a special mode for increasing readability in the sun, but we did not find any visible or detectable effect from turning on this mode (neither in the dark, nor in a lit room, nor in the sun) - exactly the same as in the case of previous Nokia smartphones with the same option. Either the company has introduced this option so that the user is aware of the supposedly improved readability in the sun and can even "turn it on", or the effect is so slight that there is no real improvement (or always there).
Automatic brightness control works according to the light sensor (it is located to the right of the logo on the front panel). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by first selecting the brightness level. Below we give the screen brightness values \u200b\u200b(when displaying a white field in full screen) for three values \u200b\u200bof the selected brightness (for levels low, middle and tall). In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 10, 12 and 15 cd / m², respectively (dull, but you can read), in an office illuminated with artificial light, it is set at 125, 160 and 190 cd / m² (acceptable), in a brightly lit environment (equivalent to daytime outdoor lighting, but no direct sunlight) increases to 270, 380 and 380 cd / m² (the latter two values \u200b\u200bare even higher than the manual high brightness setting). As a result, this function works more or less adequately. Brightness control is performed using pulse width modulation (rectangular pulses with 100% amplitude) with a frequency of 326 Hz. This is a fairly high frequency, so when working with a smartphone, backlight flickering at low brightness is not visible, but if desired, this flicker can be detected, for example, by quickly waving a pencil in front of a white field on the screen.
In this screen, an IPS-type matrix is \u200b\u200binstalled. The micrograph shows a typical IPS subpixel structure:
The screen has very good viewing angles with no tint inversion and no significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen. True, it seemed to us that the brightness of the white field decreases more when deflected, and the shift in the shade of gray colors is greater than in the case of a typical screen of a modern smartphone with an IPS matrix. When deviated diagonally, the black field is strongly lightened and acquires a purple tint. When viewed from a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is good. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 30 ms (17 ms on + 13 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 42 ms in total. The contrast is typical for IPS - 666: 1. The gamma curve plotted at 32 points did not reveal any blockage in highlights or shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 2.38, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve deviates little from the power law:
Perhaps there is a dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight in accordance with the nature of the displayed image. This is confirmed by the fact that the ratio of the brightness of the white field to the brightness of the black field is 800: 1, which is higher than the contrast value given above. As a result, the obtained dependence of brightness on the hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on the entire screen.
The color gamut is slightly narrower than sRGB. However, the important fiducials - green and skin tones (between the green and red vertices of the gamut triangle) - are close to the sRGB borders, so in general the images on the screen have a saturation close to natural.
Apparently, the matrix filters mix the components together. The spectra confirm this:
This technique allows you to increase the brightness of the screen with the same energy consumption for the backlight. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the black body spectrum (delta E) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the variation in color temperature and delta E is small, which also has a positive effect on the visual perception of color balance. (The dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there the color balance does not really matter, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
The color balance and the work of automatic adjustment of the screen brightness do not cause any complaints - in contrast to the rest of the screen characteristics, which are typical for a budget solution, that is, not outstanding. It's good at least the IPS matrix.
The main speaker of Nokia Lumia 520 is distinguished by high volume and good sound quality, but it is very easy to muffle it by covering the corresponding hole on the back of the smartphone with your finger. The phone speaker also left a positive impression: the volume and clarity of the sound allow you to successfully communicate with the interlocutor even in a relatively noisy place. There were no complaints from the other side of the phone line, which means that the microphone in Nokia Lumia 520 also copes well with its duties.
The Nokia Lumia 520 has a very powerful and high-quality headphone output. Paired with good headphones, the hero of the review is able to provide comfortable listening to music in almost any conditions, you just need to remember about its negative effect on hearing if you try to compete with external noise in the subway. The complete headset deserves only a satisfactory assessment. Simple to look at, with only a microphone and no call answering key, it delivers acceptable audio quality. There are no creaks, rattles or hiss throughout the entire power range, but the sound itself looks too flat: the high frequencies are poorly audible, and the low ones merge into a hum.
It's a shame that the Nokia Lumia 520 doesn't have a built-in FM radio.
Wireless interfaces and communication
Despite its budget, Nokia Lumia 520 has all the most popular modern communication facilities. It contains: 2G and 3G cellular communications with HSPA + support, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b / g / n, Bluetooth 3.0 and a combined A-GPS / Glonass receiver. The hero of the review is distinguished from the older models by the lack of LTE and NFC support.
There were no problems with the operation of the cellular communication module. The smartphone quickly connected to the network and provided reliable communication in various conditions. Data transmission over the mobile network was mainly limited by its capabilities, and not by the capabilities of the device. Testing the connection speed in the field conditions of the Moscow region showed a good result. It's funny, but sometimes instead of the "H" icon, the smartphone showed an unusual "4G" icon - it is clear that there is no LTE in the Nokia Lumia 520, and outside of Moscow it is found only sporadically. Apparently, the operating system just perceived the HSPA + signal in this way.
Connecting to an 802.11n home network with a TP-Link TL-WR1043N router as a base station also went smoothly. In this case, the speed of connection to the network was limited only by the bandwidth of the communication channel with the provider. Subjectively, the quality of Wi-Fi signal reception in Nokia Lumia 520 is better than in many other communicators. So, the hero of the review successfully detected the network and connected to it where the Samsung Galaxy S2 did not find anything.
The Bluetooth file transfer rate between the 2009 MacBook Pro and Nokia Lumia 520 was 1.6 Mbps. Unfortunately, the hero of the review does not have a Bluetooth modem profile, so you can distribute mobile traffic only by organizing a Wi-Fi access point. Connecting the smartphone to the Sony MW1 wireless headset initially caused both devices to freeze. After a reboot, their connection was restored and it became possible to use the headset both for listening to music and for making phone calls. The functionality of the headset, however, remained at the basic level: the names of the tracks on its screen were displayed normally, but instead of the names from the notebook of the smartphone, only numbers were displayed.
The operation of the A-GPS / Glonass receiver did not cause any complaints. Both built-in navigation applications and third-party ones quickly determined the location of the device, and the connection was stable in the future.
Camera
The Nokia Lumia 520 has a single 5 megapixel camera. It is equipped with an autofocus system, but not equipped with a flash.
The most convenient way to control shooting is using a separate hardware key located on the right side of the smartphone body. The interface of the camera control program is very laconic; the main screen contains only icons for shooting modes and calling up settings. The list of settings itself is very short, it contains only basic basic parameters.
The camera and control program start up pretty quickly, but the process of taking a picture is somewhat slow due to the thoughtfulness of the autofocus system. But once you have indicated the focus area by touching the screen, you do not need to worry about the "shutter release": the camera itself will try to focus and immediately get a picture.
The maximum image resolution of the Nokia Lumia 520 camera is 2592 × 1936 pixels. Video is shot with 720p resolution and 30 frames per second, recording format - MPEG-4, AVC / LC-AAC. The quality of photos and videos, at a subjective point of view, is not bad for a budget smartphone.
Battery life
It is difficult to expect outstanding battery life from a device whose rechargeable battery has a capacity of only 1430 mAh. Nevertheless, the filling of Nokia Lumia 520 is not exactly the most powerful, and the developers of the smartphone clearly tried to squeeze extra minutes of work out of their hardware and software platform - which is worth a separate tab in the device settings, which is responsible for enabling and configuring the power saving mode. To make the results more honest and objective, in all our traditional tests this mode was disabled, since it could not seriously affect music playback, and a decrease in the brightness of the backlight in the e-book reading test contradicts our method of measuring battery life. So, let's not beat around the bush, here are the test results.
When playing music, the smartphone screen was turned off, while reading, the brightness was set to 100 cd / m², 720p video in MP4 format (H.264 / AAC) was used. As you can see, the results were by no means the worst. They almost completely coincided with the indicators of Nokia Lumia 720, which is built on the same platform as the hero of the review, and this despite the smaller battery in the latter. Surely the small diagonal of the display had a positive effect.
Overall, the Windows Phone 8 platform and the Qualcomm MSM8227 SoC performed well in battery life tests. The Nokia Lumia 520 is on par with devices such as “long-playing” Android smartphones based on the MediaTek platform in terms of active time away from power sources, and provides its owner with an acceptable level of mobility.
The battery of the review hero is charged very quickly, in a little more than a couple of hours - thanks to the complete charger with a charging current of 0.75 A.
Performance
Perhaps this is the most uninteresting part of any review of a smartphone based on Windows Phone 8 at the moment. It is not interesting for several reasons. The first is the scarcity of devices with this OS on board and the extreme similarity of their hardware characteristics: in fact, all current Windows backgrounds are built on the basis of several SoCs and differ only in display resolution. The second reason is the senselessness of comparing devices with different operating systems, since only cross-platform browser tests can give a more or less relevant result, which depend only on the "raw" processor performance and JavaScript engine optimization in a particular mobile browser. There are no truly relevant and convenient benchmark programs for comparing devices on different OSs.
Be that as it may, we will rely on the existing tools. Since the hardware content of Nokia Lumia 520, 620 and 720 are practically twin brothers, there will be no significant differences in the results of their tests. It is unlikely that Nokia engineers could deliberately or unconsciously worsen the platform of the review hero, and without such errors there is nothing to have any effect on the final scores.
| Nokia Lumia 520 (2 × 1.0 GHz, Adreno 305) |
Nokia Lumia 720 (2 × 1.0 GHz, Adreno 305) |
Nokia Lumia 920 (2 × 1.5 GHz, Adreno 225) |
Huawei Ascend W1 (2 × 1.0 GHz, Adreno 305) |
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| AnTuTu | 7746 | 6490 | 10903 | 9455 |
| MultiBench 2 CPU | 11,465 | 11,635 | 17,748 | N / A |
| MultiBench 2 Graphics | 33,249 | 31,047 | 37,873 | N / A |
| PhoneMark | 604 | 556 | 943 | 774 |
| WP Bench Free | 178,91 | 177,98 | 229,84 | 214,25 |
However, as it turned out, in most of the tests Nokia Lumia 520 even outperformed its older brother - Nokia Lumia 720. What could be the reason for the priority of a more budget smartphone on the same hardware platform, it is difficult to say - perhaps, in the case of the AnTuTu test, it is that that Nokia Lumia 720 did not pass graphics processing speed measurements.
Here the estimates of Nokia Lumia 520 and 720 practically coincided, which once again proves the direct dependence of these tests on processor performance.
The performance of the hardware stuffing of the Nokia Lumia 520 smartphone is quite enough for games. Angry Birds, Asphalt 7, Assasin's Creed, NFS: Hot Pursuit - they all started normally and worked after installing the review hero in the memory. Despite rumors about limited support by some games for devices with 512 MB of RAM, we did not have a chance to encounter them during testing.
In general, the performance of the Nokia Lumia 520 is not at all budgetary - by the standards of devices with Windows Phone 8, of course. Everything that a mid-range smartphone like Nokia Lumia 720 can offer is in the current hero of the review.
Video playback
The video player built into the OS in the Nokia Lumia 520, as in the case of the Nokia Lumia 720, refused to play videos enclosed in media containers that it did not understand. By themselves, he knows the codecs: after all, it is worth resaving the video in MP4 format - and the hero of the review without any problems plays a movie in H.264 / AAC format with a resolution up to 1080p.
We did not find the MHL interface in this smartphone, so we had to confine ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the smartphone itself. Screenshots with an exposure of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the frame output of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames / from). In our tests, we used a stock video player. The test results are summarized in the table:
| File | Uniformity | Skips |
| Screen | ||
| watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4 | not reproduced | |
| watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4 | not reproduced | |
| watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4 | fine | not |
| watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4 | fine | not |
| watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4 | fine | not |
| watch-1280x720-60p.mp4 | not reproduced | |
| watch-1280x720-50p.mp4 | well | not |
| watch-1280x720-30p.mp4 | well | not |
| watch-1280x720-25p.mp4 | well | not |
| watch-1280x720-24p.mp4 | well | not |
Note: if both the "Uniformity" and "Gaps" columns have "green" ratings, this means that when watching movies, most likely, either artifacts caused by uneven interleaving and skipping of frames will not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing experience. "Red" marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.
The intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate more or less evenly, but files with 50 fps (720p and 1080p) and 60 fps (1080p) are not played. The smartphone starts playing a 720p file with 60 frames per second, and it does it perfectly, but only for the first few seconds, and then the playback turns into a slideshow. Strange but true: In general, 1080p files play slightly better than 720p files. The displayed range of brightness exactly corresponds to the standard range of video - all gradations of shades are displayed in shadows and highlights (for video in the range of 16-235).
Impressions and conclusions
Since Nokia Lumia 520 is the cheapest smartphone with Windows Phone 8, we had to make a discount on this circumstance for the whole review: this function is absent, it has been worsened, something has been excluded - but for that kind of money ... Yes, the low price of a smartphone makes it compare with other devices on Windows Phone 8 is very simple. The main conclusion is this: if you want to get acquainted with the modern Microsoft mobile operating system and its ecosystem, your choice is Nokia Lumia 520. In my opinion, overpaying for more expensive models is not necessary.
If you just need a good smartphone on Windows Phone 8, then you should also opt for the Nokia Lumia 520, since in terms of its basic capabilities, hardware, performance and battery life it is in no way inferior to the 620 and 720 models, and the Lumia 820 and 920 are already quite different money. In fact, the hero of the review has only two serious shortcomings: a mediocre display, as well as the missing front camera and LED flash.
The hero of the review looks worthy in comparison with the total mass of budget smartphones, including those with a legion of Chinese devices. Firstly, now it can be purchased practically at the price initially announced by Nokia - a little less than $ 200, which puts it on a par with the Chinese on Android. Secondly, the hardware stuffing of Nokia Lumia 520 is practically the best that the segment of smartphones on Windows Phone can give for the most modest money. Of course, Chinese devices with Full HD displays and quad-core processors will look more interesting on paper and in the hand, but only until something starts to freeze, crash or fall off in them. Nokia still provides some quality of workmanship, and Windows Phone 8 itself is very undemanding to resources, it works smoothly and quickly.
As for the Microsoft mobile platform, there are only two major shortcomings left; fatal or not - only time will tell. The first of these is still a significant lag behind Apple and Google in filling their own app store. The situation with the usual popular programs is slowly being corrected, from my own minimum of necessary software, I could not find only a normal offline dictionary, such as Lingvo, and a navigation program with support for a traffic tracking service, such as Yandex.Navigator. Moreover, there is Lingvo in the Windows Phone Store, and it costs the same money as for iOS, but it requires a network connection to search in a dictionary, and if there is Internet access and a browser, then why a separate and paid program? To create Yandex.Navigator, its developers need some access to low-level programming interfaces, which Microsoft refuses to provide. Why he is to them - it is not clear; regular Yandex.Maps and Here Drive work like that. Thus, the main problems of the current Windows Phone Store are the lack of several programs that are really necessary in everyday life, whose developers are in no hurry to do anything to make them appear, and an extremely meager, practically poor choice of entertainment applications and especially games. While they continue to port classic games to iOS and create great new ones, Windows Phone 8 is content to be content with a few popular games from other platforms (the appearance of Angry Birds was a real event), games owned by Microsoft companies and very diverse, but equally uninteresting arcade games and puzzles by independent developers. A sad and strange situation, given the support of the popular DirectX in Windows Phone.
The second serious drawback is the continued division of memory into internal, which is suitable for installing programs, and external (for example, on a microSD card), on which only music, photos and videos can be saved. Of course, 8 GB of internal memory is a lot by the standards of Android, but by the standards of Windows Phone 8 this is very small: it is clogged with applications and their data very quickly, and as a result, we get a comical situation when the internal memory has come to an end, and on the memory card tens of gigabytes are free.
Despite the improvement in the interface and capabilities of the operating system, there are still many small bugs and errors in it - I will list just a few. Disconnecting the battery resets the date, time, and volume settings. The voice mail phone number specified in the MTS cannot be changed (more precisely, it is possible, but to no avail). The phone control program, when launched, displays a list of recent calls instead of the phone keypad, and to see it, you need to place your finger on a very small icon. The Yandex search built into the system does not work well: it refuses to update the search list, then it does not update its own widgets, instead of redirecting to the site, it gives the list right in the same window, and, most importantly, it does not look for anything in the smartphone's memory - not contacts, no programs, no files. Why would such a search need a separate key on the body of the device?
Many of the things that you get used to using other smartphones are not present in Windows Phone 8 at all. There are no convenient indicators of the operation of the wireless modules, there is no way to quickly enable or disable them without digging into the settings (the Battery program is of great help here). The same “dialer” program cannot search for entries in the contact list either by the first digits of the number, or by the alphanumeric representation (3 for DEF, 4 for GHI, and so on). The list of such small but unpleasant things is endless; Perhaps I will focus on these few, which especially interfered with the long-term work with the smartphone.
Now again on the good: the bulky Zune as the only synchronization program with desktop computers has been replaced by simply "Windows Phone for Desktop" in versions for PC and Mac. The functionality implemented in the program is quite good, for example, it can synchronize the contents of the smartphone's memory with iTunes - something that the owners of Android devices will probably never see out of the box. There is also a second connection option - as an MTP device with direct access to the microSD card and some directories of the smartphone's main memory.
In general, Windows Phone has a lot to develop, the system has already come a long way from the deplorable state of the original Windows Phone 7, and it is not worth stopping at half of it. The platform has potential, no one will deny it. With the release of the Nokia Lumia 520, assessing all the features and disadvantages of Windows Phone 8 has become much easier and cheaper.
Content:Several inexpensive models were presented and released this year, the Nokia Lumia 520 is just one of them. For a Russian buyer, the name Nokia still means a lot, and a lot of buyers will want to get an affordable gadget with everything they need. Choosing now for yourself a smartphone with "squares" on the desktop, you will have to come to terms with the lack of variety of modern games, problems with multimedia players. But at the same time, it should be noted that the platform is developing and that over the past two years the progress has been significant. In addition, the eighth generation of smartphones, which appeared after the models on Windows Phone 7.5 and 7.8, offers more possibilities. Now there is support for memory cards, performance has improved, there are enough improvements to take a fresh look at these models.
Nokia Lumia 520 is sold for 7 thousand rubles, the smartphone is not the cheapest of the WP8 devices. However, if you don't want to buy gadgets from Alcatel or Huawei, but you need products from a renowned manufacturer, then it makes sense to turn your attention to Nokia Lumia 520.
Equipment:
- smartphone
- nokia Stereo Headset WH-108
- battery
- Nokia USB Cable CA-190CD
- charger Nokia AC-50
- short instruction
Design
Copying of their own developments continues, Nokia smartphones are very similar to each other and differ mostly only in size. This policy is now observed by many manufacturers, so everyone is free to evaluate it in their own way.
I think this is more of a plus than a minus. Nokia is distinguished by a careful approach to design, trying to create beautiful and comfortable things, so the pretty shapes of the Nokia Lumia 520 should appeal to the majority.
I got a device of a bright red color, the youth colors should look closer to the target audience, of course, less catchy colors are sold: white, black, blue, red and yellow.
The dimensions of the phone are as follows: 120x64x10 mm, weight 124 g. As you can see, average values, this is a normal indicator for its class. All controls are located in convenient locations, easy to reach, everything is at hand.
Below are three standard touch-sensitive keys.
Above the screen there is a proximity and lighting sensor, as well as an earpiece.
There is nothing on the left, on the right there are three buttons: volume control, screen lock and a key for shooting.
Connectors are located at different ends: at the top is a 3.5 mm headphone output, at the bottom is a microUSB port.
The removable back panel is made of matte plastic, it is not slippery, the smartphone is pleasantly felt in the hand. The coating is durable, it should not be scratched over time. The lid holds tight, is securely fixed, but over time, a creak may appear. Inside, a foam pad is glued to the plastic, which plays the role of an additional shock absorber, but this does not help.
There is a battery inside, two slots are provided on the side: one for microSIM, the second for microSD.
Display
The diagonal of the screen is 4 inches, the resolution is 480x800 pixels, and the dot density is 235 PPI. The capacitive sensor supports 5-point multi-touch and also responds to gloved finger touches.
As with many budget solutions, there is no oleophobic coating, so there may be some inconvenience when you have to clean the surface.
IPS-matrix with good color rendition, the display is bright, but the data is not readable outdoors. In this model, Nokia saved and deprived the smartphone of an additional layer. But there are all the necessary sensors: light sensor, proximity, orientation.
Filling
The smartphone is equipped with a modern dual-core 1 GHz Qualcomm MSM8227 processor, 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of its own. Responsible for the graphics Adreno 305. By the standards of Android devices, the specifications are modest, but for a WP solution this is enough for fast work without glitches. So the smartphone looks promising in this regard, no one will complain about sudden brakes. Unfortunately, some games do not run here, so the situation is not very good with resource-intensive applications. If you want to play, it's better to look at smartphones with 1 GB of RAM available.
Own memory 8 GB plus 7 GB in the "cloud" SkyDrive and a slot for microSD, which works fine with volumes up to 64 GB inclusive.
Interface
The lock screen can be any user-defined image. Here you can see information about time and date. At the bottom of the event line, icons of new messages or calls will be displayed, if such are left without the user's attention. Now it is possible to display additional data, for example, there will be notifications from clients from social networks or the weather.
On the desktop, tile icons are arranged at will. Their size is adjustable, now you can choose from three different formats, up to 4 labels are added to one row at once, and not 2, as it was before.
The menu lists in alphabetical order all the programs that are installed on the phone. This includes both standard applications and subsequently added by the device owner. There are two background options for the menu design: black or white, as well as a rich palette of multi-colored themes that allows you to quickly change the look of your smartphone.
Contacts
The phone book is divided into three sections. The first one shows all the names that are in the device's memory. The second displays the ones that were used most often, these are the most popular contacts. The last column will pull together news from social networks. For example Twitter or Facebook.
The new user receives a first name, last name, patronymic, place of work, pseudonym, appeal, picture. It is assigned several phone numbers of different types: mobile, home, work, organization, pager, fax. Three types of e-mail are set. Additional fields are assigned to the contact. This is an address, a website, a birthday, a note, an anniversary, a loved one, children, office location, position. As a ringtone, you can set not only one of the files in the phone's memory, but also any other.
The search menu will help you find the right person. The phone allows you to create user groups. They will be highlighted separately in front of the general list of names. By adding users to each group, you can follow the life of friends, see their messages, pictures. Of course, it is permissible to write a letter, SMS or call them from here. The "Rooms" function has appeared, which should be considered an example of a classic contact group, but with expanded functionality: it is easy to communicate with a limited circle of people, exchanging pictures, calendar entries or notes. Moreover, this group includes not only users of WP-smartphones, but also the owners of other devices.
Calls
The telephone part is divided into four groups: the call log itself, dialing, phone book and search. The device does not know how to remember the section that was used for the last time. Thus, to dial a number, you will always need to perform an extra action associated with the transition from the call list to the virtual keyboard.
Latin characters are displayed on the virtual keyboard, but they will not help when dialing a number. There is no function of automatic selection of suitable numbers. The call list is very simple to organize. Here, the entire history of calls goes in a long line of numbers. It doesn't matter if the numbers were the same or not. The phone cannot combine calls of the same type.
Posts
The correspondence is formed in two sections. The first consists of correspondence in the form of SMS and MMS, the other consists of Facebook contacts. Messages are displayed in a column. If you open the chat window, messages will appear, which are divided into blocks. At the same time, incoming and outgoing SMS differ from each other in shades, which makes it easier to read. In addition, the date and time of receipt of the message, the number or name of the person with whom you are communicating are marked here.
You can choose between portrait or landscape mode. In both cases, about half of the screen is allocated for the keyboard. A separate key is available to change the input language. Another special button stores a lot of emoticons in memory. Copying and pasting of text is supported.
A mailbox setup wizard is available that works with popular mail services, so that users of Gmail, Yandex or Mail.ru will not have any problems. Each account is assigned a name, the interval for checking the box is configured: push-mode, every 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Alternatively, you can check your mail manually. The deadline for loading the correspondence is set, the signature text is included, which will be displayed on the sent letter. The mailbox offers several headings-categories: all, unread, follow-up, important. The name of the sender is highlighted in large print, below the content of the letter is in small text. To the right, the time or date of receipt is indicated. New letters are highlighted in bright color.
The calendar
The device offers a choice of several ways of displaying information. This is a day scheduled by the hour, a list of scheduled events or tasks displayed in a separate column. In addition, all data is displayed in the form of a regular monthly plan. It is important to note that in some squares something will be written, but it will not be possible to see it. The device allows you to use several calendars at the same time, each of them is highlighted in a different color. In the settings, you can change it by choosing one of the possible options.
Browser
The browser allows you to simultaneously keep open up to six windows. The loading speed of resources is high, and the work of the application itself pleases. It is fast, scrolling through even large sites occurs without delays. Unfortunately, the browser is unable to adapt the scaled font to fit the screen borders. You have to navigate the page to see the hidden text.
The address bar is at the bottom, right under the fingers, which is very convenient. An icon for reloading the page is provided on the left, an additional menu opens on the right. This includes the history of visited pages and bookmarks. The required resources can be added directly to the desktop. In the application settings, you can disable saving cookies, select the view mode. This item allows you to activate the mobile or full version. The application is available in landscape or porter mode, the search for the desired words on the page works.
Music
The phone supports the formats.m4a, m4b, .mp3, .wma. The section with music and video is combined into a general group. It also includes podcasts, but there is no radio in this model. Another tab shows history. The last list will show the new data that has been added to the phone. In each of the categories, except for the first one, file covers are displayed, all this looks very nice. The Music section will offer a list of files sorted by name depending on the selected criterion. The following options are offered: artists, albums, compositions, playlists, genres. If you click on one of the letters, you can use the quick search function among the data.
The repeat mode is activated for all songs or for just one. There is a mixed playback mode. Also, the song you like can be noted separately. If you click on the volume control button, a small menu will open, where information about the track and buttons for moving between songs will be displayed. It is also available when the screen is locked, which is convenient.
Nokia Music
This is a kind of duplicate of the built-in player, but besides the usual function of playing music, there is another one here: the use of playlists, which are created on the basis of the Nokia Music Store. In it, you can not only purchase licensed content, but also listen to songs, but you need a good Internet connection.
Video
The advantages of the updated software include extended support for codecs, so that the smartphone will show many films after simply copying the data into its memory. There are three keys to control the player, as well as a scroll bar that helps you quickly navigate through the movie. At the same time, it is impossible to say that the phone is capable of playing everything in a row. Often times, a lot of videos have to be converted before they are dumped to the phone, as it used to be during the time of the mandatory use of the Zune.
Camera
The smartphone has a 5-megapixel autofocus camera. Shooting is started not only from the menu, but also using the dedicated key on the side. You need to press it and hold your finger for five seconds, after which you can take pictures. The button is two-position, comfortable. You can shoot by touching the display with your finger while setting the focus point. An excellent opportunity is to start shooting in locked mode, this allows you not to waste extra time, but to start taking photos right away.
Settings:
Shooting mode: auto, close-up, night mode, night portrait, sports.
ISO: auto, 100, 200, 400, 800.
White balance: auto, cloudy, day, fluorescent, incandescent.
The camera in the smartphone is no different in its capabilities to its classmates, the pictures are of average quality, a typical solution of the middle level.
 Gallery Pictures from the camera and other images fall into the general section. Pictures are sorted by albums, dates and people. This includes pictures from Facebook if you add your account to your smartphone. Data viewing is simple and convenient. The screen displays a matrix of folders or the icons contained in it 2x3 or 4x5, respectively.
If you select the desired item, it will open on the display. You can change the scale of the picture with multitouch or double clicking. Any image can be set as the lock screen wallpaper, sent by MMS, e-mail, posted to Facebook or Twitter, or uploaded to SkyDrive. Also, the image is added to the list of favorites, opens with an editing program. The picture can also be transferred using applications, for example, uploaded to Twitter via an additional client.
The face recognition function will allow you to tag people in the pictures. The photos can then be uploaded to Facebook. An application for editing pictures is built in, it will allow you to apply various effects. The function of simultaneous selection of several pictures has appeared, now it has become much more convenient to transfer files.
Applications Clock Several alarms are stored in memory. Each of them is assigned a signal time, a repeat mode by days of the week. You can choose from melodies from the device memory. You can also give the alarm a name.
The calculator offers all the necessary functions for making calculations. If you turn the device on its side, an additional settings menu opens.
Office The section includes applications that work with Word, Excel, Power Point and One Note. Accordingly, these are programs for text documents, spreadsheets, presentations and notes. The device allows not only viewing data on the screen, but creating new files of these types or editing existing ones. There are a lot of settings, it is unlikely that someone will manually create a large presentation, but it will be convenient to make adjustments to a text document. The document can be sent by email, uploaded to SkyDrive, or to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
Navigation Nokia smartphone buyers get excellent navigation HERE Maps and HERE Drive. Maps with excellent detail, street names in Russian. Moreover, it is worth noting that there is also the numbering of houses. Several modes of terrain display are supported: map-scheme, satellite and a diagram showing public transport. It is convenient to plot routes here, maps are also available offline. The distance from one point to another is calculated both by car, public transport or on foot. At the same time, key points are indicated, you can estimate the entire upcoming road in advance.
2D and 3D modes have been implemented, and the interface is displayed in dark colors to make it easier to navigate in the dark. You can download the required maps of the area, as well as a package with voice prompts. If you wish, you can take your smartphone with you to any country in the world and use it even offline, which is very convenient.
Score Each application is provided with screenshots and a picture-icon. The price is indicated, while it is given in the currency of the country, information about which is indicated in the account. The rating of the program, reviews, its size are displayed. If you wish, you can download the demo version and try it out. It is inconvenient that the smartphone does not have a separate list of purchased software, such an opportunity is not enough.
Connections The smartphone supports GSM850 / 900/1800/1900, WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100, GPS, A-GPS and GLONASS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n works well, reliable reception, network passwords are saved. In this case, locking the screen causes disconnection from the Wi-Fi network. Bluetooth 3.0 with EDR allows you to listen to music on wireless headphones. The smartphone can work as a network access point for other devices. In addition, DLNA support has appeared. The big advantage of new smartphones is free data copying, which eliminates the need to work with the Zune. Now the smartphone is defined as an external drive, content is copied easily and quickly, which was not enough for users before.
Working hours The battery capacity is 1430 mAh. Nokia claims up to 14.8 hours of talk time, up to 360 hours of standby time, 61 hours of music listening. Usually a smartphone works for about 1.5-2 days with an average load, but with intensive use it can be discharged in one day. Conclusion First of all, I would like to compare the Nokia Lumia 520 c. Only negative emotions remained from the latter, while this model turned out to be much more successful. There is a much better screen here, performance has improved, the filling has become more powerful, a slot for a memory card has been added. If you want to save money, then the Lumia 520 will be an adequate solution in terms of value for money: Windows Phone 8 for a reasonable price, as well as a good set of useful programs. Devices from Huawei and Alcatel are less famous when other WP8-backgrounds from Nokia are more expensive.
© Alexander Pobyvanets, Test Lab |
One of the most affordable smartphones based on the Windows 8 operating system is the 520. The characteristics of its hardware and software components, as well as reviews of the real owners of this gadget, are what will be discussed in this material.
Equipment
The Lumiya 520 has a quite familiar package bundle as for an entry-level device. This gadget is sold with the following accessories and components:
- Energy efficient charger AC-20.
- BL-5J battery. Its nominal capacity is 1430 mAh.
- Interface cable CA-189CD. Most often it is used to exchange data with a personal computer or laptop.
- Stereo headset from
- User guide. On one of its last sheets there is a warranty card.
Although it is indicated in the documentation that the front of the device is protected by glass, it will be difficult to keep the front panel in its original condition without a protective film. Also, the cover will not be superfluous either. The body of the device is made of plastic and it is not difficult to damage it. Well, an external flash card will allow you to increase the amount of built-in memory. All three of these accessories - a protective film, a case and a flash drive - will have to be purchased separately. They are not included in the basic configuration of the smartphone.
Gadget design
The front panel of the device, as noted earlier, is made of protective glass. The manufacturer does not specify which one. But we can say with confidence that we are not talking about "Gorilla Eyes". In the upper part of the front panel there is an earpiece, and in the lower part there are touch keys, which are used to control the device. The rest of its central part is occupied by the display. On the right side of the device are the lock, camera and volume buttons. The microUSB port is located on the lower edge of the device, and the audio port is on the upper edge. On the back of the device is the main camera and a loud speaker. There are 5 color options for the body of this device: white, blue, red, yellow and black. From the point of view of practical use, the best of them is Nokia Lumia 520 BLACK. Its characteristics in terms of hardware and software resources are identical, but it gets dirty not as noticeably as, for example, exactly the same "Nokia", but in a yellow version.
CPU
A very modest entry-level processor solution is used in the Nokia Lumiya 520. The characteristics of the hardware capabilities of the CPU clearly indicate that this solution is aimed at the budget segment of smart phones. More specifically, this device is based on the S4 Plus processor solution from the leading developer of chips for smartphones - Qualcomm. Its second name in accordance with the manufacturer's nomenclature is MSM8227. This chip consists of two compute modules based on the Krait architecture. In the maximum load mode, they can increase up to 1 GHz. At the time of its release (2013), this chip could not boast of an outstanding level of performance. Therefore, most resource-intensive applications (these are mainly the most demanding 3D toys) did not run on this smartphone. But for ordinary tasks, its computational capabilities are quite enough. This is reading books, watching movies, listening to music and radio, and surfing Internet resources using browsers - this smart phone can handle all this without any problems.
Display and video adapter
One of the main advantages is the display in Nokia Lumia 520. Its characteristics are far from being flagship, but even the type of matrix used (and this is IPS) is not so often found in entry-level gadgets. As a result, the viewing angles of this device are close to 180 degrees. Well, the color rendition, brightness and contrast are at an excellent level. The presence of an air gap between the screen and the touch surface of the front panel of the device is one of the few disadvantages for this gadget.
The display resolution of this device is 480x800 with a diagonal of 4 inches. It is almost impossible to distinguish individual pixels on its surface. The second important component of the graphics subsystem is the graphics adapter. This device is used from Qualcomm. Of course, this video accelerator cannot boast of an outstanding level of performance. But, on the other hand, it does an excellent job with its main task - processing video information.
Camera
There is only the main camera in Nokia Lumia 520. Its technical characteristics are very modest. It is based on a 5 megapixel sensor. There is also an autofocus system. But the owners of this smart phone should not dream of such things as LED backlighting and image stabilization system. They are not implemented in this device. The quality of the panoramic images obtained with the main camera raises no objections. But the text will be difficult to photograph so that it can then be disassembled. Videos on this device are recorded in 720p format. The image quality in the videos is acceptable.
Memory
One significant drawback is in the memory subsystem of the Nokia Lumia 520. The characteristics (reviews indicate this nuance) are not balanced. If the presence of 8 GB as a built-in storage can be attributed to the advantages of the device, then 512 MB of RAM is a significant drawback. A bundle of 4 GB (built-in storage) and 1 GB (RAM) looks much more preferable. But the developers carried out an experiment that certainly did not go to the benefit of the smart phone of this model. It is because of the 512 MB that the interface in the operating system "slows down" and does not start such toys as "Asphalt 8" and GTA: San Andreas. Although the rest of the hardware (the next device in this line "Lumiya 525" proves it) allows you to easily run them.
There is also a slot in this gadget for installing an external drive. Its maximum size can be 64 GB. If this is not enough for you to store personal data, then you can use various cloud services.
Battery
One cannot expect a high degree of autonomy from the Nokia Lumiya 520. The characteristic of the technical parameters of the battery confirms this once again. As stated earlier, this smart phone uses a BL-5J battery with a nominal capacity of 1430mAh. Now you need to take into account that this device uses a dual-processor solution S4 Plus from Qualcomm with a frequency of 1 GHz, and has a display diagonal of 4 inches. With an average load on the gadget, one charge of its battery will definitely last for 2 days. If you use the device less intensively, then you can count on the fact that this value will increase to 3-4 days. Well, at maximum load, the battery can last 12-14 hours. That is, it will have to be charged every day with such an intensive mode of use.
Interfaces
All the required types of wired and wireless data transfer methods are supported by the Nokia Lumia 520 smartphone. The characteristics of the phone indicate support for the following:
- The main way to exchange data with the global web is Wi-Fi. The b, g and n modifications are supported. information retrieval in this case is limited to 150 Mbps, but this is quite enough for downloading files of any size.
- The second way to receive and send information to the global web is the GSM and 3G mobile networks. In the first case, you can communicate on social networks or browse simple Internet resources. You can't count on more at a speed of several hundred kilobits. Well, in the second case, when the device operates in 3G networks, you can not limit yourself in communication and download files of any size. The speed in this case can reach 20 Mbps.
- Another important way to exchange data is Bluetooth. It allows you to connect to the device or a similar smart phone. In the latter case, you can exchange photos or music.
- Navigation in this device is carried out in two ways at once: using GPS and using A-GPS.
- The main wired method of transferring information is the microUSB port. He is also responsible for charging the battery.
- Another wired port is the 3.5mm audio jack. It connects a wired stereo headset or external speakers.
System software
The operating system used is "Windows Background 8" in Nokia Lumia 520. The characteristics of this OS on the part of users speaks of a high level of its stability and reliability. At the same time, all existing software for this platform will run on it without any problems. Its key drawback is support for only 32-bit calculations, but 64-bit ones are out of the question. But, on the other hand, do not forget that the device appeared on sale at the beginning of 2013 and at that time there was no need to think about anything more.
Application software
The Nokia Lumia 520 can boast of an impressive set of supported application software. The characteristics of its hardware make it possible for most of the programs of this platform to run on this device without any problems. Among the pre-installed software, one can distinguish the presence of clients of the social networks "Facebook", "Instagram", "Twitter". There is also Skype and Office. In general, everything you need to work is immediately on this device. Well, what is missing can be installed from the application store. If you wish, you can even find free programs in it.
