It's a shame the previous thread was locked due to trolls (wasn't my thread, just found it via searching). Anyway... I am going to paste my review from target here. They are selling the phone clearanced for $35.
Target.com Review
I bought this clearanced for $35, but even at the suggested $60 it is the best value in a brand new smartphone I have ever seen.
To start, it lets you update to windows 8.1. What does that mean? Among other things, you get Cortana (think Google Now and Siri competitor) and it works phenomenally well. I gave it a shot asking questions like I would ask siri. While it was slightly slower, this is a $60 phone compared to my 5S, which retails $650 for the base model.
There is 8GB onboard storage and you can expand that, should you want to. I bought this phone to get into window phone 8.1 a bit more, so I probably won't expand memory just yet. But it's nice to know that it's an option.
Two cons that I found, and they are minor (especially considering I got this thing for $35) is that there is no LTE and there is no flash on the camera. LTE you can live without. The camera, unless you are in really ideal conditions, will leave you wanting in picture quality. Then again, I am unsure if you could even find a point and shoot for $35 these days.
Again, the value is unbeatable, and if you were wondering, this will work just fine on an AT&T contract line. I literally grabbed this at Target, took it to an T&T store, they activated another sim (the 5S takes a different sim and the sim inside the box of this phone is a gophone sim only) and I was on my way in about fifteen minutes.
Did I mention value? Incredible. I have half a mind of buying another one of these just to have around in case I need a backup phone for some reason. Internet, navigation, emails, texting, phone calls, for $35??? That's about what you pay a month on AT&T next to have an iPhone. Insanity!!! End
I should add that I bought the 521 to try out TMO a few months ago and ultimately returned it (mainly due to lack of TMO service here). The difference between 8.0 and 8.1 is night and day. As silly as it seems, just the notifications bar and springboard wallpaper are enough to make it feel totally new. Pretty damn please with this device.
Having used a Lumia 820 and 920 I honestly don't know how they managed with this device. Unless I was really set on a bigger screen I am not sure I could really justify paying the premiums for the higher end Lumias; this thing just runs so smoothly. MS finally has a competitive OS IMO. But nobody knows about it.
Target.com Review
I bought this clearanced for $35, but even at the suggested $60 it is the best value in a brand new smartphone I have ever seen.
To start, it lets you update to windows 8.1. What does that mean? Among other things, you get Cortana (think Google Now and Siri competitor) and it works phenomenally well. I gave it a shot asking questions like I would ask siri. While it was slightly slower, this is a $60 phone compared to my 5S, which retails $650 for the base model.
There is 8GB onboard storage and you can expand that, should you want to. I bought this phone to get into window phone 8.1 a bit more, so I probably won't expand memory just yet. But it's nice to know that it's an option.
Two cons that I found, and they are minor (especially considering I got this thing for $35) is that there is no LTE and there is no flash on the camera. LTE you can live without. The camera, unless you are in really ideal conditions, will leave you wanting in picture quality. Then again, I am unsure if you could even find a point and shoot for $35 these days.
Again, the value is unbeatable, and if you were wondering, this will work just fine on an AT&T contract line. I literally grabbed this at Target, took it to an T&T store, they activated another sim (the 5S takes a different sim and the sim inside the box of this phone is a gophone sim only) and I was on my way in about fifteen minutes.
Did I mention value? Incredible. I have half a mind of buying another one of these just to have around in case I need a backup phone for some reason. Internet, navigation, emails, texting, phone calls, for $35??? That's about what you pay a month on AT&T next to have an iPhone. Insanity!!! End
I should add that I bought the 521 to try out TMO a few months ago and ultimately returned it (mainly due to lack of TMO service here). The difference between 8.0 and 8.1 is night and day. As silly as it seems, just the notifications bar and springboard wallpaper are enough to make it feel totally new. Pretty damn please with this device.
Having used a Lumia 820 and 920 I honestly don't know how they managed with this device. Unless I was really set on a bigger screen I am not sure I could really justify paying the premiums for the higher end Lumias; this thing just runs so smoothly. MS finally has a competitive OS IMO. But nobody knows about it.
. Great backup phone.
