Nokia Lumia 520: Is This The Best Budget Smartphone In The Market??[UPDATE 2.0]

Nokia's most recent and entry level smartphone Lumia 520 is the cheapest Windows Phone 8 device in the market right now. But has this got what it takes to be crowned the honors of the Best Budget Smartphone? Let's find out.

UPDATE:

Imangi Studios has tweaked it's famous game, Temple Run on the Windows Phone 8 platform. Now, the game will run with 512MB of RAM. This means that the Nokia Lumia 520 can run this games too. This alone has made me increase the rating if the gaming performance of this phone by another 0.5. So rejoice and run hard.

Read on for full review.
UPDATE 2.0: 
Recently, Asphalt 7 has also been tweeked to be able to run with 512MB of RAM. This is another good news as this game runs quite  smooth on this cellphone.

BUILD QUALITY: 8/10

Nokia is known for it's solidly build phones and has no doubt got the best phones in it's locker in terms of build quality. The Lumia 520 is no exception to this. It's by far the best build phone under the 

Rs.10,000 price mark. The fit and finish of the cell phone is comparable to some of it's elder brothers like Lumia 620 and Lumia 720. The phone seems durable and very sturdy. It seems as if it has a 

uni-body finish on the phone though it is not. This give it the feel of being a premium phone and this alone is compelling enough to recommend this phone. It's surely gonna last for a long time.

                  

HARDWARE: 7/10

The Lumia 520 has a pretty impressive processor under the hood. It has a 1Ghz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon Krait processsor. Coupled with 512 MB of ram it gives a smooth and lag free experience to which i will get to a bit later.

The display is a 4inch 480*800 one with a pixel density of about 233ppi. The display is good with good colour reproduction. It should be noted that it is not a "clear black display" so outdoor visibility isn't that great. Though you can use this display with your gloves on which is a big factor for people from colder countries. Overall the display is decent.

CAMERA:8.5/10

The Lumia 520 has a 5MP camera which does HD video recording at 30Fps and produces some really good  daylight photographs with nice colour reproduction and decent contrast levels. Although there is no flash on the device, still it does decent low-light photography with acceptable results. The downside is that it has no front facing camera so the skype integration cannot be used to the fullest.

SOFTWARE:7/10

The Lumia 520, as you know, runs on the Windows Phone 8 os. The beauty of this operation system is that it has to offer a lag-free -experience across all devices whether high-end or entry level. So without breaking your bank, you will get a hassle-free smartphone experience with unfortunately the competition is unable to provide. Nokia has put a lot of proprietary apps and lenses for its camera. You get free lifetime offline voice guided navigation for your country and muc more. Sadly the Here City Lens app is not available due to the lack of compass. The Windows phone app store is fast expanding and most of the common apps are available on it. Though, at this moment, the sheer app count is nowhere near to that on Android. That being said, the social media integration is seamless, and if you are overly active on social media websites then look no further.

GAMING PERFORMANCE:7.0/10[UPDATE]

The processor on the Lumia 520 is quite capable to play most high-end games, but it is killed by the low 512MB ram which stops it from playing those high-end games. So you need to look at some alternatives if gaming is important to you. However for casual gaming, it is good enough. If you like to play only racing games then it is good enough for you as Asphalt 7 is supported.

BATTERY:8/10

The Lumia 520 comes with a 1420Mah battery pack which seems small but easily provides a full day a battery backup and sometimes even more, depending on your usage pattern. All in all it has decent battery life.

VALUE FOR MONEY: 9.5/10

CONCLUSION:8/10

This is going to be a hot selling phone and deservedly so. To conclude, here are some Pro's and Con's which you should look at.

PRO'S:

• Good Build Quality(best in class)
• Good Processor
• Decent Display
• Above Average Camera
• Nokia Music, Here Maps and Other Nice Apps By Nokia are really good and useful.
• Really Smooth User Interface.
• Good Battery
• Value for Money

CON'S:

• Outdoor Visibility
• Lack of Front Facing Camera and Flash
• Lack of apps
• Not for Intense Gaming

VERDICT:

At a price of about Rs.10,000(MRP) i.e. around 200$ for an unlocked phone, Nokia Lumia 520 is a great buy with one or two minor flaws. You can't go wrong with buying this phone.It has great value for money and one of the best in it's class.

                                            Hope this review will help you with most of the pro's and con's and this amazing phone.Tell me in the comments section whether you found this review helpful. Also post any queries down below. Follow me on twitter to be posted about my following reviews, tips, tricks and more.

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