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

To bookmark a website, go to Start – Internet Explorer.

Then go to a website that you want to bookmark.

Make sure the phone is in Portrait mode. Then press the Favourite button.

Then if necessary you can change the name of the bookmark. Select Ok.

If you would like your phone to announce who is calling you, then from the homescreen, scroll to the right and choose Settings. Then Easy of access. Then press Speech for phone accessibility.

To put your phone in flight mode, or offline mode, go to Start – Applications list – Settings. Then press Flight mode.

There is a way to filter your contact lists, however by default your Contacts list will show all Contacts for the various accounts you have setup on your phone. This list may include Facebook and Twitter and the list can become quite long.

To filter your contacts, go to Start, then flick left to the Applications list. Then press Settings – Applications – People. Then select Filter your contact list. Then choose the accounts you want displayed on your Contacts list.

If you’re on a call, you can record the conversation. While speaking, put the phone on Speakerphone. Then hold down the Camera button to record the call.

To dial using Country Codes that are stored in your contact list, go to Settings – Applications – Phone – International assist

There are a number of ways to get your IMEI number.

First, the easiest option is to look at the label of the box that your phone came in.

Secondly, if your phone has a removable battery then open the cover and remove the battery. Your IMEI should be on a serial number plate and your IMEI number should be shown there.

Lastly, from the Dialler, enter *#06# and it should be displayed on the screen. This won’t work on all phones and all networks however.

Bing Vision is a great tool which works in a similar way to the QR / Barcode scanner on some phones.

Open the Bing Vision App and it will use phone’s camera to take a phone of an object, product, book etc. It will then scan any text on the object and search for relevant information. It can also translate the text into another language.

Any example might be to scan the cover of a book. Vision will search for the book and provide you a price comparison from various book sellers.

To disable the mobile version of websites, go to Settings – Applications – Internet Explorer and change it there.

This is useful if you get annoyed by websites automatically serving you mobile versions of their site. By following the steps above, you can tell the phone browser to act as a standard browser for each website that you browse.

To change the homescreen background to white, then start from the homescreen and scroll to the right.

Then choose Settings – Theme.

You can then change the theme from dark/black to light/white.