From the Forums: Thoughts on new Lumias, happy with accent colours?

It's time for a From the Forums to wrap up the excitement from this year's Mobile World Congress. We've had an eventful week where Windows Phone Central has covered the latest headlines from the floor in Barcelona, but what's been happening in our forums? We'll quickly walk through some light-hearted threads to cool everyone down and return back to normality.

Nokia announced the Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 Windows Phones that bring new price points to the platform with the latter turning out to be the cheapest Lumia Windows Phone yet. While the two smartphones are low and mid-range hardware, they won't disappoint as we're talking dual-core support with decent cameras and displays. The only downside to both devices is a restricted amount of internal storage, but expandable with microSD.

Forum member squire777 kicked us off with a new thread detailing his thoughts:

"In regards to the 520, it is a very nice phone considering the price (roughly $200). If anyone is looking for a budget phone they have two good choices now in the 520 and 620. I quite like the 720 as well and will pick one up if we find out that it has Band IV support hidden away inside (Nokia site does not list it at the moment). However at the moment it looks like there aren't any carriers in North America that will sell it, and it looks like Nokia is targeting Asia with both the 520 and 720."

We've provided our thoughts on the two handsets, as well as being pleasantly surprised by the quality and looks of the hardware on offer. While Nokia did not announce a new flagship Lumia (or EOS) Windows Phone, those of us who have only just managed to purchase a Lumia 920 will feel relaxed that their device has not been succeeded just yet.

But what are your thoughts on both the Lumia 720 and Lumia 520? Be sure to add your opinion in the "Lumia 520 and 720 - initial thoughts?" thread. 

Colour selection - bad or good?

Changing the accent theme of a Windows Phone (including whether you have a light or dark background) helps keep the UI feeling fresh and appealing, without the user having to dive deep and perform a mass amount of alterations. But is the colour selection enough? We've lightly touched on this before, with many consumers calling out for a simple colour selection tool for new and unique colours to be applied.

Forum member ContributorM created a thread asking that very question:

"With the myriad of color choices out there, the colors chosen as 'accents' are a bit bland and uninspiring. I know where the inspiration for the overall look has come from, but considering how big the color spectrum is, maybe not only MSFT, but other companies should really consider the gamut of colors for their screens and OS. Really surprised that there isn't an option to choose my own accent color."

What are your thoughts? Head on over to the "Anyone find the color selection on WP8 uninspiring?" thread and add your $0.02.

ATIV S

Miscellaneous: If you could no longer use Windows Phone, iOS or Android?

If Windows Phone was no longer a reality, or for some reason you couldn't use the platform any longer, what would you choose as an alternative? Restricting the choices available to just iOS and Android, which would it be? Member nube_android created the thread to ask the intriguing question. We looked over the title a few times, but found it to be a strong question indeed.

So we put it to you, iOS or Android if Windows Phone wasn't around? Be sure to provide your answers in the "If you could not use Windows Phone..." thread.

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.