Nokia Lumia 521: Quality Smartphone on an Extreme Budget
by Vivek Gowri on August 8, 2013 1:08 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Nokia
- Mobile
- windows phone 8
- Lumia 520
- Lumia 521
The camera, on paper, looks pretty competitive. The 5MP resolution won’t blow anyone away, but as we’ve noted recently and before, resolution isn’t the biggest deal in the world. The plastic optical system with a f/2.4 lens indicated some promise, though. This being Nokia, obviously the natural expectation is for the imaging system to hold its own.
And for the most part, it actually does. The image files by default are 16:9 aspect ratio, with a resolution of 2592x1456. This isn’t exactly 16:9 actually—that would be 2592x1458—but it’s near enough to make no difference. The rest of the camera interface is pretty much the same as what we’re used to in most other Windows Phones, with the exposed manual control options being limited to ISO, exposure, white balance, aspect ratio, and four scene modes. And I know I covered this before, but I really liked the camera button; it’s a shame that more phones don’t have solid two-stage camera buttons with good, positive feedback.
In well-lit scenarios, image quality is pretty solid, with good colors and reasonable sharpness. It won’t blow anyone away, but this is easily on par or ahead of where we were in terms of smartphone imaging before the Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S came out in the latter half of 2011. What actually surprised me was that the images looked pretty solid when viewed at 1:1 on my 30” display (the 2560x1600 resolution is very close to that of the image output, which made it easier). Definitely much better than I was expecting, and actually better than many of the smartphone camera stills that I’ve accumulated over the years, particularly ones more than a year old.
The low light story is mixed. On the one hand, the lens is bright enough to give you pretty reasonable images in dimly lit situations, with good detail and not as much of the grainy mess I was expecting. It's worth noting that in dimly lit scenarios, the shutter speed is a bit slow so it's pretty easy to end up with blurry images if you aren't careful. These are usable, social media-worthy photos though, and that’s really all that can be asked from a phone like this. On the other hand, there’s a distinct lack of fancy features. Like a flash. Yeah. So while the 521 is a decent low light camera, if low light is really closer to no light, you’re out of luck.
As noted before, there’s no front facing camera either. It’s not a huge deal for me, because I rarely make use of the feature—Skype video calls from my phone just aren’t part of my normal usage model—but it’s something that could count as a pretty big omission for some people, particularly internationally. I think an LED flash and a front facing camera probably could have been included for not that much more, perhaps an increase of $10 on the price would have covered it, but I can understand why Nokia would be so hesitant to increase BoM costs on a device like this.
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textomatic - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
To close down an app keep hitting the back button until you're out of that app.You can only navigate back in the browser. No going forward. Their is a third party app called UC Browser that does let you navigate backwards and forward.
Krysto - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Seems like a loss leader for Nokia.Gunbuster - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
I highly doubt it. It's just the other high end models they really rape you on. Do you think they put some unicorn horn or magic fairy dust in a Lumia 925 or Galaxy S4 that makes is cost over six times as much to produce? Nope, they are just making a bunch of profit from people who don't realize the "Free", "$99", or "$200" on contract phone is really priced at $400, $500, or $600+Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
I really do not understand the review philosophy.... this phone seems like it compares best with a Galaxy S2 in terms of features, price, and performance, yet there are no charts comparing them. Scratches head. Why would I want to know how this thing compares to an S3 when an S3 is still over $200?toraji - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
very good point shadowmaster, I think it is hard to admit that the 520 and 521 are just block busters so they need to find some strange comparisons to cover up their biased opinion and as far as I am concerned it is not working because the 520 and the 521 are just best in class.there is nothing to compare to be honestdirtyvu - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
don't forget that this includes the full Nokia suite of apps including the HERE maps (powered by Navteq whose maps power most GPS devices such as Garmin). even if you don't get cell phone service or a data plan, you have full turn-by-turn offline navigation as long as you've already downloaded the maps (and you can do that over wifi). the whole US takes up about 2.6 GB. California takes up about 250 MB. so not bad. for $100-129, you get a good GPS device at the very least which can then be used as a cell phone if you so choose.Death666Angel - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Very cool feature indeed. I'm not a driver, so those things pass me by very easily. If I were, that would definitely play a role in my purchasing decision.toraji - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
if you are not a driver you might be a walker, there are 3 different apps included for people that do not drive, transfer, city lens and here maps AWESOME way to find your destination :o)toraji - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
I would not recommend downloading us maps because it takes up valuable space, I would only download maps for places where I do not have data coverage or while I am roamingdirtyvu - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
being able to download whole countries is a very good feature. other mapping systems don't offer that. you can download only a very small map with Google Maps. and the device does accept 64GB MicroSD cards. I'd rather use the space for maps than for things like Angry Birds. for me, the most important uses would be navigation, phone calls, email, and web browsing.