Nokia Lumia 520 for just €49.99. Meteor/ Carphone Warehouse/ Harvey Norman

balfe1990

Only just after seeing this in store so I picked one up for the ma.

Bought one for my girlfriend on the weekend for twice the price after Moore Street botched her iPhones screen replacement and she's delighted with it.

Crazy good value for money. With Windows Phone 8.1, this would be silly to turn down.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/Product/strong-Nokia-strongLumia-520-White/238912/1_3

TheDriver

its a great phone, windows phones are much easier to use than android to be honest however its not to everyones taste. Great battery life however.

Phantom99

balfe1990 wrote: »

Only just after seeing this in store so I picked one up for the ma.

Bought one for my girlfriend on the weekend for twice the price after Moore Street botched her iPhones screen replacement and she's delighted with it.

Crazy good value for money. With Windows Phone 8.1, this would be silly to turn down.

Was looking to buy one of these but on o2 network. 100EUR on o2. Is there any way to buy this and unlock it to use as o2 billpay phone

balfe1990

TheDriver wrote: »

its a great phone, windows phones are much easier to use than android to be honest however its not to everyones taste. Great battery life however.

I'm of the opinion that they're much better than Android handsets (the majority anyway), especially with 8.1. The app gap is there (buy closing fast), but there's always third party apps

The thing of it is, with this phone youre getting 80-90% of the experience for a tiny price. If you were to buy an Android for the same cost, you'd maybe be getting 40% of the experience if youre lucky. And you'd be dealing with a buttload of lag as time progresses.

balfe1990

Phantom99 wrote: »

Was looking to buy one of these but on o2 network. 100EUR on o2. Is there any way to buy this and unlock it to use as o2 billpay phone

Dunno, the aforementioned mother is also on O2, so will be looking to unlock this too. I know there's a bloke on adverts.ie that unlocks these. Just search Lumia 520 unlock and you should find him.

eBay or the Chinese shops are other options.

RobbingBandit

In store do you have to port a number, am having some issues with my iphone and think I might switch to this.

balfe1990

RobbingBandit wrote: »

In store do you have to port a number, am having some issues with my iphone and think I might switch to this.

No, I just went in on a whim and bought the phone. They gave me a meteor sim (that's fit for the bin), as procedure.

No credit purchase necessary.

RobbingBandit

I got €5 free credit with mine and the sales assistant insisted on opening the phone to put the credit on the phone, also asked my for my details, bit miffed at the phone having to be opened as the box is now torn

run_Forrest_run

TheDriver wrote: »

its a great phone, windows phones are much easier to use than android to be honest however its not to everyones taste. Great battery life however.

totally agree, I bought this as my first smart phone (mainly due to price and it being a Nokia) and I'm not disappointed. Brilliant phone, I paid €120 for mine and was happy but €49.99 is unreal value.

ShagNastii

I'd agree. Absolutely super value. I'm an iPhone man and I bought a Lumia for my dad for Christmas. Was astonished just how good it measured up to the higher end of the smartphone market. Will probably pick one up as a spare.

leo2a6

TheDriver wrote: »

its a great phone, windows phones are much easier to use than android to be honest however its not to everyones taste. Great battery life however.

do u have one ? Coz I wanted to buy one and read lot of bad review on the battery life, screen breaking easily, few windows apps, etc...

Plascebo

balfe1990 wrote: »

Only just after seeing this in store so I picked one up for the ma.

Bought one for my girlfriend on the weekend for twice the price after Moore Street botched her iPhones screen replacement and she's delighted with it.

Crazy good value for money. With Windows Phone 8.1, this would be silly to turn down.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/Product/strong-Nokia-strongLumia-520-White/238912/1_3

Showing as out of stock now

bmm

Sold Out , online at least !

balfe1990

Try instore if you can, there was a good few available in Dun Laoighre earlier. Only in black though, so no red, yellow, cyan etc.

Fingleberries

balfe1990 wrote: »

Try instore if you can, there was a good few available in Dun Laoighre earlier. Only in black though, so no red, yellow, cyan etc.

The Meteor branded Lumia 520 also works on the eMobile network (I've confirmed it with my spare handset) purchased in-store, Balbriggan.

It's a fantastic little phone, great performance all around (small battery, though) but with Win 8.1 installed it's great. All the fancy bells and whistles features, too (including Cortana).

Moneymaker

Excellent value there, no question.

Xivilai

I have this phone and its great

AlanS181824

Great value for a phone of that quality.

shema

Does the camera on this phone have a flash?

RobertFoster

No.

fdevine

The Samsung phones that CPW were selling recently were SIM free.

There is every possibility that the Nokia phones are SIM free too. Worth checking

Sadderday

Just got one in Grafton Street... they only had white left. seems good so far but guy in the shop said I could play candy crush on it and I can't

Anyone rate the battery life ?

bidiots

You will not get a better phone for the money, simple. Even at twice the price.

beauf

I don't have data on but do have wifi on and with light use it lasts me a day and a night. But I'm a light user.

Not as many apps, (with the same quality) on WP. Love the speed though.

Sadderday

well I can watch netflix on it so happy dayz

beauf

Sadderday wrote: »

Just got one in Grafton Street... they only had white left. seems good so far but guy in the shop said I could play candy crush on it and I can't

Anyone rate the battery life ?

Is it unlocked do you know?

Sadderday

beauf wrote: »

Is it unlocked do you know?

No idea I thought it was meteor pre pay deal

You need a micro sim though

paddyk

Will this phone work in the USA?

RobbingBandit

Box says Meteor on the sticker so unlikely.

TheDriver

Sadderday wrote: »

Just got one in Grafton Street... they only had white left. seems good so far but guy in the shop said I could play candy crush on it and I can't

Anyone rate the battery life ?

brilliant, much better than expensive smart phones

balfe1990

Sadderday wrote: »

Just got one in Grafton Street... they only had white left. seems good so far but guy in the shop said I could play candy crush on it and I can't

Anyone rate the battery life ?

Yeah, no candy crush, but there's a million alternatives that are more or less the same. Glass Crush(lol) for e.g.

I don't play many games but Geodefense is legit. Its got Xbox Live integration too.

Battery life is daycent. If you've got battery saver on (turns off non-crucial processes and background tasks), it can go for a few days. Medium to heavy use, it should see you through the day easily.

beauf

I get neither of those games when I search the store. Are you doing it from a 520 or a different WP ?

balfe1990

beauf wrote: »

I get neither of those games when I search the store. Are you doing it from a 520 or a different WP ?

Searching from my own phone(not a 520).

Couldn't get it either

Search "anygame" instead. Theyre the developer, should be the fifth or sixth result.

beauf

No don't get that either on the 520.

balfe1990

beauf wrote: »

No don't get that either on the 520.

Weird. Might be because I'm on Windows Phone 8.1. Which you should definitely update to, makes the software even better

Another way to do it is search via the Bing button (e.g. Glass crush windowsphone.com). Once you see the URL ,instead of it taking you to the website on the browser, it should redirect you to the in built store app

hardantzr

cheers just bought it great phone at that price

NATLOR

balfe1990 wrote: »

Dunno, the aforementioned mother is also on O2, so will be looking to unlock this too. I know there's a bloke on adverts.ie that unlocks these. Just search Lumia 520 unlock and you should find him.

eBay or the Chinese shops are other options.

Just be aware that unlocking this costs around 30 euro,great phone though

balfe1990

NATLOR wrote: »

Just be aware that unlocking this costs around 30 euro,great phone though

Really!

I was under the impression codes could be had for a few quid on eBay. You can if youre stateside anyway, perhaps its different here

NATLOR

Sadderday wrote: »

Just got one in Grafton Street... they only had white left. seems good so far but guy in the shop said I could play candy crush on it and I can't

Anyone rate the battery life ?

The colour difference is only the battery cover which is changeable get them on e bay or amazon,battery life is pretty good but always depends on your usage

NATLOR

balfe1990 wrote: »

Really!

I was under the impression codes could be had for a few quid on eBay. You can if youre stateside anyway, perhaps its different here

Not for this phone on Irish networks unless its changed in the last two weeks

Macker

Just got one in Harvey Norman ,Swords and its not locked , well 48 sim works

bazwaldo

For the same price as cpw?

freebee23

Macker wrote: »

Just got one in Harvey Norman ,Swords and its not locked , well 48 sim works

Was it the same price as cpw???

Sam Mac

Will be ringing to check store stock tomorrow. Looks to be a good 4S alternative. Cheers OP!

schraderbrau

Thanks OP, picked one up. Delighted with price but still need to get it unlocked. Another question actually: it takes a micro sim but I currently have a standard sim, should I just cut it with a scissors/blade to make it fit?? Thanks

RobbingBandit

freebee23 wrote: »

Was it the same price as cpw???

cpw is in all harvey norman stores now.

bazwaldo

schraderbrau wrote: »

Thanks OP, picked one up. Delighted with price but still need to get it unlocked. Another question actually: it takes a micro sim but I currently have a standard sim, should I just cut it with a scissors/blade to make it fit?? Thanks

Usually works. The sim cutters you can buy make it easy but if you know where to cut a scissors will do the same job. Or go to a phone shop and they'll have a cutter.

long_b

Sam Mac wrote: »

Will be ringing to check store stock tomorrow. Looks to be a good 4S alternative. Cheers OP!

I love Nokia and Windows Phone but that's stretching it ...a LOT.

It's a better of an entry level smartphone, but it's no iPhone competitor

beauf

balfe1990 wrote: »

Weird. Might be because I'm on Windows Phone 8.1. Which you should definitely update to, makes the software even better

Another way to do it is search via the Bing button (e.g. Glass crush windowsphone.com). Once you see the URL ,instead of it taking you to the website on the browser, it should redirect you to the in built store app

Cheers that worked. I think its only the US store. I think you switched your phone to US to install developers 8.1 preview.

I hadn't got around to the preview. You can't roll back the preview so it probably voids your warranty. But I guess the phone is so cheap it hardly matters.

beauf

long_b wrote: »

I love Nokia and Windows Phone but that's stretching it ...a LOT.

It's a better of an entry level smartphone, but it's no iPhone competitor

I was going to say the same. It a great cheap phone. But its not a competitor to an iPhone. The camera on the 4S is vastly better and the apps and OS is much better.

That said I find the 520 camera much better than I was expecting, in good light. I love how fast the 520 is in general.

Sam Mac

long_b wrote: »

I love Nokia and Windows Phone but that's stretching it ...a LOT.

It's a better of an entry level smartphone, but it's no iPhone competitor

Really?! My 4s had a lot of lag - even just typing a text or searching on Chrome would take ages to load the text which I typed. Not impressed with the iPhone at all, except the video recording quality, which is excellent. Not worth the cost at all though IMO, vastly overpriced. (Which seems to be the norm for all Apple products)