Just over a year back Redmond re-invented itself with the Windows Phone 7 and the same has done well to brand Microsoft that was being referred to as the dinosaurs of the mobile / internet era. What Microsoft created with WP7 has seen its way to Windows 8 and we now are more optimistic of the Microsoft mobile offerings than ever before. Just a few months later, Nokia shocked the world by jumping over to Windows Phone as its primary OS.
The Nokia partnership got mixed reviews back then and just six months later the first of Windows Phones from Finland are here. Was it a wise decision leave Symbian, abandon MeeGo and jump to a fairly new operation system? We have the Nokia Lumia 800 with us and here is the first impression from our team.
Annkur
Assessing the Lumia 800 or the 710 is tricky. We aren’t just talking about how these devices stack up against the competition (Android & iOS) but the bet Nokia has made on Windows Phone 7. If we speak from a design perspective, the Lumia 800 is top notch. It is as refreshing and new as Windows Phone itself. This is the best hardware spec that Nokia has ever outed and early feedback from anyone seeing this thing for the first time is positive. Despite the somewhat steep pricing compared to a few Android handsets, I are sure Lumia would find its takers. It is a bit westernish OS as someone said, no Bluetooth file transfer (yet), no file manager, totally unlike what Symbian was. The obvious question is, will Symbian addicts upgrade to Windows Phone? That may sound like a big concern, but I feel that they would.
The Symbian user-base is being eroded and Android / Blackberry are making hay. WP7 and good hardware that Nokia has can turn that around. I have liked Windows Phone’s UI and Mango is fast. But two things that would determine the long run success of the association – Apps & low cost devices. While we wait for that, Lumia 800 is a step in the right direction, might not break all sales records, but it is refreshing!
Nimish
The Nokia Lumia 800 has everything going for it. It has got some very good hardware, and is topped up by the ultra smooth Windows Phone 7.5. In fact, if you just look at specs this is easily the best Nokia ever in terms of both hardware (barring the camera, where I think the N8 and N86 were better) and software. Alas, there is a ‘but.’ And that stems from the fact that unlike Nokia’s previous flagship devices like the N95, the E90, the N8 and even the much-maligned N97, the Lumia 800 does not actually stand out from the competition. Thanks to the relative inflexibility of the Windows Phone interface, the Lumia 800 in terms of user experience is not too different from other Windows Phone devices in the country – in fact Samsung’s Omnia W matches it in every department other than the camera pixelage, at a price that is almost Rs 10,000 lower.
Yes, the design is innovative (although very reminiscent of the N9) if extremely thick, but even there, the whole idea of pressing down on the top to expose the USB port is plain daft, although I will not be as critical of the need to open the USB port every time you have to change your micro SIM (after all most people will not do so often). And while I will applaud the presence of an auto-focus camera in a high-end Nokia phone, I must confess that the camera on the Lumia 800 has not really delivered the kind of pictures I was expecting after seeing the likes of the N8 and N86, although it did fairly well. And yes, the problem of good enough apps persists – iOS’ competition has got to figure out that quantity alone is not enough. That said, the phone offers a lot – great e-mail, social networking, browsing (minus Flash) and a pre-installed office suite.
The problem is that you can get those in just about any Windows Phone device. The sole REALLY distinguishing point between Lumia and its other Windows Phone competitors is in my opinion, Nokia’s superb navigation software. But I am not too sure about how many would pay a premium for that. Even Nokia’s Music Unlimited service is missing from the Lumia.
All of which makes the Lumia 800 a very good phone, but not a great one. And as in the past, I am going to pin the blame on the software running beneath the hood. In the N97 and N8, it did not do enough. In the Lumia 800, it does everything but with hardly any difference from the competition.
It would have been all so different if the Lumia 800 had been the first phone to run Windows Phone 7.5 – the fact that it is not, places it within a crowd of very good devices, rather than at its head. I will say of it the same that I said of the N8 – the best Nokia smartphone I have ever used, but not good enough to take out some very stiff competition. The lower priced Lumia 710 might do that, though.
Shaun
The Nokia Lumia is a promising device to say the least. It boasts of a drool worthy design. The polycarbonate body and curved Gorilla glass gives the phone a perfect unibody finish. Also the camera on the Lumia is impressive, which has always been Nokia’s forte. Nokia’s hardware with Windows Mango phone makes it a very interesting combination. The metro UI feels good on the Nokia Lumia and it also has built in Nokia Maps and Drive applications along with Nokia Music which helps it standout from other Windows phones.
The pricing of the device though is a major bone of contention. With the likes of Samsung Focus which are priced more than 10k below the Lumia, it wont be a very tempting device per se. Still the lack of quality apps is a hindering factor which really makes the difference between Nokia Windows Phone and the Apple iPhone or the Android phones.
Any questions about the Lumia 800, feel free to ask our team in the comments below?
