Nokia was once the most dominant cellphone manufacturer and sold phones at a rate of knots. A combination of bad decisions and a lack of innovation has lead to their current status. Currently, they are behind Apple, Samsung and other Android based manufacturers in terms of sales and device activations. So it is not a pretty sight if you are a Nokia employee.
I have had the privilege of having a Nokia Lumia 800 the last few days. Initially I had huge reservations on the Microsoft Mobile operating system. Call it the scars of having had a device that had Microsoft mobile 6.5 on it as an operating software. I decided that for an objective review those old feelings needed to be put into the past.
The Nokia Lumia 800 visually looks like the Nokia n9. The difference between the cellphones is found under the hood. The N9 features Symbian where as the Lumia 800 features Windows Phone 7. As small as that my seem, it is a huge difference. The Lumia 800 sits very comfortably in the palm of your hand. The lack of a keyboard is an initial shock but users who purchase the device will have made the decision to go to a touchscreen phone.
The fact that I did not have to refer to the device documentation is another sign that Nokia has made a decent device. The menus guide you through the initial setup process and before you know it the device is ready to be used.
I love the little touches that Nokia and Microsoft have put on the Lumia 800. A simple “goodbye” message that pops up on the device when you switch it off, is indicative of someone actually thinking about the user. In terms of specifications there is nothing to complain about. The Lumia delivers a unique experience to anyone who wants to give it a chance.
The stunningly social Nokia Lumia 800 features head-turning design, vivid colors (cyan, magenta and black) and the best social and Internet performance, with one-touch social network access, easy grouping of contacts, integrated communication threads and Internet Explorer 9. It features a 3.7 inch AMOLED ClearBlack curved display blending seamlessly into the reduced body design, and a 1.4 GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a graphics processor. The Nokia Lumia 800 contains an instant-share camera experience based on leading Carl Zeiss optics, HD video playback, 16GB of internal user memory and 25GB of free SkyDrive storage for storing images and music.
I took a lot of photos and I must admit that I not once wanted to take out my regular phone. Did I want to look for my digital camera? No, not once. The Carl Zeiss lens found on the Lumia 800 provides excellent images.
I found it extremely hard to put the phone down. Browsing the app store (which for the record has a lot of decent apps) provided a lot of entertainment. Being able to watch real times scores on the ESPN app for example was very handy when I was on the road over the weekend.
So, what is the synopsis? If you are an early adopter not looking for an iPhone or Android device, then I think the Lumia 800 phone will be a pleasant surprise. The Lumia 800 has shown me that Nokia is not to be written off.
