You might not know this, but before I was 110% Windows Phone I had a thing for Blackberry. Specifically the Curve 8320. That’s because it had one feature in a smartphone that I absolutely needed back then – Wi-Fi calling. If you’re a Windows Phone fan and hoping to get a phone with Wi-Fi calling you might want to check out the Nokia Lumia 521.
On May 20, anyone with a Lumia 521 on T-Mobile will be getting an update to software/firmware version 1030.6409.1316.0016. The update will be delivered over-the-air (OTA) and add Wi-Fi calling to the little handset that could.
Great news right? Yeah, except you will be needing to do a master reset after completing the update. That means you’ll need to back up your device and not get too heavily involved with a game – like Monster Burner. To get the update make sure you’re running the latest version of the OS, have more than 50% battery life, and at least 150MB of available memory on your device.
The Lumia 521 isn’t on the wish list for most of you, but it’s a compelling handset for budget shoppers or first time smartphone owners. It’s also the first Windows Phone device that we can think of to have the ability to place calls over Wi-Fi. Know of any others? No word on if this is using Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology to get it done, but we’ll hit up T-Mobile and Nokia to find out more for you and if we can look forward to this feature in other handsets.
The Lumia 521 is becoming a compelling device between the low price and new Wi-Fi calling feature.
What do you think of placing calls over Wi-Fi? Is this a feature that should come to higher end Lumia devices?
Source: T-Mobile Support, Windows Phone Central Forums
Thanks for the tip Dustin H!
