Nokia’s very low-end Windows Phone 8-based Lumia 521 has gotten FCC approval and is headed to T-Mobile here in the United States starting on an unspecified release date. The international equivalent announced at MWC 2013, the Lumia 520, goes on sale soon in various markets worldwide.
The specs on this thing aren’t blow-away, but they aren’t meant to be. The frequencies max out at HSPA+, which means T-Mobile will likely market this as a 4G device. Technically, HSPA+ is considered 4G, but it’s no LTE. Aside from that, the Lumia 521 features a 4-inch 800×480 resolution display, a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, Adreno 305 GPU, 512MB of RAM, a 5MP rear camera, 8GB of internal storage expandable by up to 64GB via microSD card slot, and a 1,430mAh battery.
UnwiredView speculates that the Nokia Lumia 521 will go on sale at T-Mobile for free with a two-year contract. This makes sense, since the Lumia 810 and HTC 8X — two Windows Phone 8 devices that are higher up in range than the 521 — both sell for free after signing a two-year agreement with the carrier.
Now that the Nokia Lumia 521 has gotten the FCC’s blessing it’s only a matter of time before it hits T-Mobile store shelves.