Nokia Lumia 520 Tips and Tricks

Windows Phone 8
Phone: Nokia Lumia 520
Factory OS: Windows Phone 8

Have you updated your Operating System?
Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Windows Phone 8.1
Or view tips for all Windows Phone versions

Warning: This will remove ALL data on the phone.

To hard reset your phone, go to Start – Applications list – Settings. Then scroll to the bottom and choose About. Then press Reset your phone. Then press Yes.

If you can’t do that, then some alternative methods are as follows:

1) First press and hold the Camera + Volume Down + Power buttons simultaneously.
Then release the Power button when the phone vibrates – but continue to hold down Camera and Volume Down.
Then release the camera button and Volume Down when the Format prompt is displayed on screen.
Then press Windows button twice to confirm.

2) Turn the phone off. Then press and hold the power key until it vibrates. Then release.
Press and hold the Volume Down button. If the exclamation mark is displayed, then let go of the button.
Then input the follow sequence of keys: Volume Up – Volume Down – Power – Volume Down.

To disable caller ID, go to Settings – Applications – Phone.

Then change Show my Caller ID to either Everyone, No one or My contacts.

This is useful if you don’t want people to see your phone number when you call them.

To turn off Geo-tagging for photos, go to Settings – Applications – Pictures & Camera.

Then change ‘include location (GPS) information in pictures you take’

Because of the touch screen sensitivity, it can be hard to position the cursor within a certain word. To get around this, Press and Hold on a word. While dragging the cursor along the letters, pull your finger down. The cursor will move along, but you will be able to see it as your finger will be out of the way

To get accents while typing in non-English languages, just Press and Hold the appropriate character. For example if you want the French a with an accent, press and hold the a button.

To add Google Calendar to your phone, go to Settings – Emails – Google email.

From here you can sync your emails, contacts and calendar to the phone.

To get directions to a location, you need to begin from the home screen. Then go to Apps – Maps and select Directions.

Then enter an address or place of interest, like a shop or restaurant and press Go.

Then choose either Walking or Driving. The phone will then calculate a route.

To show real-time traffic information select the More button and select Show Traffic.

If you are using a Nokia Windows Phone, then Dolby will give you better sound quality for your music files.

First insert your headphones, then go to Settings – Audio. From here you can adjust some predetermined settings or else you can swipe right and press Playback. This will enable Dolby playback which will improve the sound quality measurably.

If you are taking photos where there is a high contrast between light and dark colours or shapes (for example taking a photo of someone with the sun in the background), then there is a function that will improve these photos.

Launch the Camera app and then choose the Gear icon in the bottom right of the screen. Scroll down and select Wide Dynamic Range and change this to On

To change the screen lock timeout, go to Settings – Lock & wallpaper. Then choose the duration before the screen locks.

This is handy so you don’t accidentally bump the keys when the phone is in your pocket. It will also improve your battery life.