Nokia seems to have nailed the ultra low-end of Windows Phones with the Lumia 520 on paper. Coming in a variety of jolly colors, it hits the sweet spot of price and productivity, employing a decent display, dual-core processor and a 5MP camera, all at rock bottom pricing. These are the dry specs, though, and it will certainly feel the Android heat in that price range, so read on to find out whether the Lumia 520 delivers in the important aspects...
Design
The rectangular front and strongly tapered back of the Lumia 520 are nice to look at, but the phone feels somewhat bulky and edgy in the hand for this modest screen size. The choice of materials fits the price range, as Nokia used nothing fancier than basic plastics for the rigid-feeling, fairly slippery housing. The back cover is very easy to pry open, revealing the micro SIM and memory card slots, and is available in red, yellow, black and white to suit your style
The buttons on the right are not easily clickable and with a pretty shallow tactile feedback to boot. The most-used lock/power key is in the middle there, where you have to press it with your thumb joint instead of the finger tip, which seems reserved to press without bending the finger only the volume rocker.
There is the usual for Windows Phones camera shutter key underneath those, but spaced away enough from the edge to allow comfortable grip while capturing photos and videos with it.
Display
A 4” 480x800 pixels IPS-LCD screen is what you will find mounted on the Nokia Lumia 520, with pretty thick top and bottom bezels surrounding it. The 235ppi pixel density is good for the category, and the viewing angles, while shifting color and contrast a bit at the end of the tilting motion, are wide too.
When you add peak brightness that ensures decent outdoor visibility, we have no complaints about the panel that Nokia chose to ship with the Lumia 520, save for the apparent lack of oleophobic coating, making you wipe the screen pretty often.
Nokia, for that matter, has equipped the display with the Synaptics super-sensitive touch layer that debuted in its Lumia 920, and allows you to operate the handset even when you have your gloves on.
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