Windows Phone is the window that Nokia is staring
earnestly at for its revival. The company that once dominated the mobile phone
market had rapidly lost its market share to iPhone and Android phones at the
higher end of the market and upstart players in the budget market. While the
Finnish mobile phone giant is still the largest mobile phone manufacturer by
numbers, its share in the smartphone market has taken a beating.
For a while Nokia worked on its Meego OS only to abandon
it. The Nokia N9 will remain as the only MeeGo device. With its recently
launched Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 Windows Mango phones, Nokia hopes to bring
back its glory days.
Clear and Simple
Beautiful all-screen design
The phone has a curved 3.7-inch AMOLED ClearBlack glass
touchscreen display with 800x480 pixels resolution. The ClearBlack display does
reduce reflections on the screen and improves visual image quality, especially
outdoors. The blacks are fully black and it also becomes difficult to
distinguish where the display ends.
And the curved screen gives a pleasant touch experience.
Swiping left to right is actually a breeze on the curved screen. The phone also
has a Gorilla glass front that helps protect the display from scratches, drops,
and bumps, thereby giving a sense of security.
Though the phone has borrowed its looks from Nokia N9,
but the screen size varies. A 3.9-inch panel on the Nokia N9 has been reduced
to 3.7-inch on the Lumia 800 to accommodate Windows Phone keys.
Even though the phone's display is sharp, crisp and
detailed, but it does not match the display quality of Samsung's HD Super
AMOLED and Apple's Retina display. But the lack of reflection is an advantage
for the Lumia 800.
Notifying Factor
See what everyone's up to
Satisfy the need
to see what's being said. Get updates from all over the place in one place.
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn updates are integrated into your home screen.
Chat and SMS work together. And you can see all your latest emails at a glance.
It really is easy.
Hardware and styling
The
phone comes packed in a small gift like box which includes the standard
contents - a handset, charger, USB cable, an earphone, and paper manuals.
One look and you know that
Nokia didn't bother too much in investing on a new design. The Lumia 800 looks
like a N9 clone, albeit with a different soul.
The
phone is sleek and looks handsome. My review unit was a matt black. The left
side is completely expanse, while the right side is loaded and includes
lock/power on and off button, volume rocker and a capture button.
On the bottom is the cleanly
drilled speaker. Yes, only one. The top includes a 3.5mm socket, a flap for the
micro USB port and a SIM card tray that accepts only micro SIM card (this means
that you may need to ask your mobile service provider for a new SIM as your
existing one may be incompatible, or if you are more adventurous you can chop
your SIM to convert it into a micro SIM).
The micro USB flap opens when it is pressed from the one side and the SIM card
tray can be taken out only when the flap for the micro USB port is open. It
might sound a bit troublesome, but given that I don't swap SIM cards every day,
this doesn't seem to be too much of a hassle. However, the flap that covers the
micro USB part looks delicate and chances are you may accidentally break it.
For a phone of its segment, I was disappointed by the absence of a front-facing camera. Also, as I love notification LEDs, not finding one on the Lumia 800 was a minor disappointment.
On the back is an 8 megapixel auto focus camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. Weighing 142g, the phone is slightly heavier than Nokia N9 that weighs 135g. But in terms of thickness, both are equally thick at 12.1mm. However the HTC Radar, which also runs the same OS, is both lighter and thinner than the Nokia Lumia 800.
Something else that was annoying was that when I plugged in a totally drained out Lumia 800, it just didn't display whether it was charging itself or not. Users shouldn't be left guessing.
Very Fast
Beyond the browser
Bing, Internet Explorer 9,
HTML5. Wi-Fi. This is the web without the wait. Even video playback is fast.
You'll find more, faster and see web pages as they're meant to be seen.
Amazing Photos
Carl Zeiss optics
The phone is engineered with an 8 megapixel camera with f/2.2 Carl Zeiss Tessar
lens, autofocus, dual-LED flash and 3x digital zoom. It is the same lens that
the company had used in its Nokia N8 phone, whose camera is still considered as
the best camera on a mobile phone in the market.
Undoubtedly, the Lumia 800's
camera produces excellent and sharp images, but in low-light conditions, the
camera fails to impress. The Lumia 800's macro mode also didn't deliver
satisfactory results. Also the phone does not support zooming while recording
video.
A
user can long press the side-mounted camera button to get into the camera app.
As the user taps anywhere on the screen, the camera gets ready to focus and
auto-expose the image based on the information in a particular scene.
It offers various options to
customise images including scenes (backlight, beach, candlelight, and so on),
exposure value, effects (normal, black and white, negative and sepia), flicker
reduction and more.
In
video mode, the camera performed quite well and shot crisp 720 HD video at 30
frames per second, but in low light conditions, it did not live up to my
expectations. Also the phone cannot record videos at 1080p. This is a Catch-22
situation for Nokia. Single core-phones cannot shoot 1080p video and the
Windows Phone OS does not support dual-core processors.
While
the absence of 1080p recording is not the death knell, it just give competitors
an advantage.
It seems that
an 8 megapixel camera is becoming a standard for higher-end phones. We compared
the results from a Samsung Galaxy Note, Apple iPhone 4S with that of the Nokia
Lumia 800 and found that the Lumia 800's camera is far from the best in town.
Miscellaneous
Powered by a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 512 MB RAM,
the phone is fast and multitasking a breeze.
The phone has a 1450 mAh
battery that offers a fair battery backup. With normal use, the phone's battery
can survive more than a day. But heavy usage will force you to charge it more
often.
Keeping in tune with Nokia has stood for over the years, the phone delivers
good reception and call quality. The built-in speaker is quite audible but not
top-notch in noisy areas.
The phone offers 16GB of memory and there is no slot for memory card.
Ready For Business
Work on the go
Take work for a walk. Work here. Work there. Work anywhere. Take Word, Excel,
and PowerPoint with you and get things done. It's like being at the office but
nicer.
Ready To Go
Find Your Way Out
Explore with location-based apps and destination-based information. Find new
places, new things to do, and better ways to get to them. Then use turn by turn
Drive navigation to find your way easily and effortlessly.
*please, check local availability
Music
Hear
it Here First
Enjoy streaming radio from all over the world.
It learns the music you love so you’ll get new releases streamed to you based
on your music preferences. It’s practically personalised and knows your new
favourite band before you do.
*please, check local availability
Verdict
After long, Nokia has shown a flicker of competitiveness and it is also the
best Windows Phone device in the market now. But it is also equally true that
it is not the best smartphone around.
The phone and the OS
are both good, but it isn't a killer.
It is priced at Rs
29,999, which seemed to be a bit expensive to me, given that it is a
phone-eat-phone world out there.
Pros
Non-reflective display
Sleek and
slim design
Appealing,
Intuitive and responsive OS
Cons
No front
camera
Sightly
expensive
Unsatisfactory camera performance in low light conditions
Lack of
quality apps on Windows Marketplace
Bluetooth connectivity issues
Nokia Lumia
|
800
|
Dimensions
|
· Size: 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm
· Weight: 142 g
· Volume: 76.08 cc
|
Memory
|
· 512 MB program memory
· 16 GB internal user memory
· Skydrive
|
Battery Performance
|
Talk
time (maximum):
· GSM up to 13 h
· WCDMA up to 9.5 h
Standby
time (maximum):
· GSM up to 265 h
· WCDMA up to 335 h
Video playback time up
to 6.5 h
Music playback time (maximum) up to 55 h
Browsing (WLAN, maximum) up to 6.5 h
Browsing (3G HSDPA, maximum) up to 4.5 h
|
Design
|
|
Display and user interface
|
· 3.7” ClearBlack AMOLED display with WVGA 800x480
resolution
· 16 million colours
· Standby UI Windows keys integrated with display
· Capacitive touch screen with pinch zoom
· 2.5D curved glass seamlessly integrated to unibody
|
Keys and input methods
|
· Capacitive touch screen with pinch zoom
· Standard UI Windows keys integrated with display
|
Personalisation
|
· Home screen tiles
· Ring tones
· Wallpaper
· Changeable colour themes
|
Hardware
|
|
Power Management
|
BV-5JW
Battery (embedded) 1450 mAh
Talk
time (maximum):
· GSM up to 13 h
· WCDMA up to 9.5 h
Standby
time (maximum):
· GSM up to 265 h
· WCDMA up to 335 h
Video playback time up
to 6.5 h
Music playback time (maximum) up to 55 h
Browsing (WLAN, maximum) up to 6.5 h
Browsing (3G HSDPA, maximum) up to 4.5 h
Operation
times may vary depending on radio access technology used, operator network
configuration and usage.
|
Data Network
|
· WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g/n with 2.4 GHz
· HSDPA CAT 10 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA CAT 6 5.76 Mbps
Requires data
service. Data services may not be available in all networks. Data
transmission speeds may be as high as HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, but may vary based
upon network capabilities and other conditions. The establishment and
continuation of a data connection depends on network availability, provider
support and signal strength.
|
Connectivity
|
· A-GPS
· Accelerometer, proximity sensor, Magnetometer, ALS
· WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g/n with 2.4GHz
· USB 2.0 high-speed through micro USB connector
· Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1
· 3.5 mm AHJ connector
|
Memory
|
· 512 MB program memory
· 16 GB internal user memory
· Skydrive
|
Operating Frequency
|
· GSM/EGSM 850/900/1800/1900
· WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 I/II/V
|
Software and applications
|
|
Software platform and user interface
|
· Windows Phone 7.5
· HTML 5, CSS3, SV, XHTML, DOM and more
|
Applications
|
Business Productivity
· Office Applications (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, One Note)
· Skydrive** storage for Documents & Notes
· Lync (Corporate IM)
· Outlook tasks
Games
· XBOX Live Hub**
· See friends presence and leaderboards
· Find friends to play games
· 3D Avatar control & creation
Synchronisation
· Zune PC SW + Mac Connector
· Calendar, Contacts, To Do list
· Media (Music, Video, Photos, Files)
Pre-loaded apps
· Nokia Drive** – turn by turn navigation
· TopApps** – locally relevant applications
· Nokia Contacts Transfer – helps to migrate your phonebook
from other devices & platforms.
· Nokia Music** - Enjoy great music from the world’s most
locally relevant catalogue (14 million tracks). 100 great radio channels with
something for everyone.
· Local or Operator Apps
** Service may not be available in all markets
|
Personal Information Management (PIM)
|
· Contact transfer from other devices
· Facebook integration with phonebook
· Face detection for picture tags before sharing
· Groups allows users to create groups, and share messages
and photos within the group
· Contacts
· Calendar
· To-do list
· Notes
· Synchronisation
· Zune PC SW + Mac Connector
· Calendar, Contacts, To Do list
· Media (Music, Video, Photos, Files)
|
Communications
|
|
Email and messaging
|
· E-mail (SMTP, IMAP4, POP3)
· Mail for Exchange 2003 & 2007
· Rich HTML
· Viewing of email attachments – .doc, .xls, .ppt, . pdf
· Facebook integration with phonebook
· Face detection for picture tags before sharing
· Groups allows users to create groups, and share messages
and photos within the group
|
Call Management
|
· Contacts: advanced contacts database with support for
multiple phone and email details per entry with personal thumbnail pictures
· Logs of dialled, received and missed calls
· Conference calling
· Integrated handsfree speaker
|
Sharing and internet
|
|
Browsing and internet
|
· Internet Explorer 9 with desktop rendering
· Hardware graphics acceleration
· HTML 5, CSS3, SV, XHTML, DOM and more
· WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g/n with 2.4GHz
|
Navigation
|
|
GPS and navigation
|
· Integrated GPS, A-GPS receivers
· Accelerometer for correct orientation of display
· Nokia Drive with free drive and walk navigation
· Download the latest country maps for Nokia Drive for free
· Nokia Maps available from Marketplace
· Bing Maps
|
Photography
|
|
Camera
|
· 8 MP camera
· Carl Zeiss lens
· LED flash
· Auto Focus
· 720p, 30FPS
· Touch focus
· Fast 1-click sharing
· Fast and non-destructive image editor
· Geotagging
|
Image capture
|
· Fast 1-click sharing
· Fast and non-destructive image editor
|
Video
|
|
Video cameras
|
· 8 MP camera
· Carl Zeiss lens
· Auto Focus
· 720p, 30FPS
· Touch focus
|
Video codecs and formats
|
Playback:.
HD 720p video playback
· H.264 @30fps
· MPEG-4 ASP
· 3GP, .3GP2, .MP4, .M4v, .MBR., .WMV (Windows Media Video 9
and VC-1)
Video
capture
· 720p video recording
· mp4
HD video
capture (720p)
· H.264
|
Video sharing and playback
|
Zune
Video side-loading
|
Music and audio
|
|
Music features
|
Zune
music
Nokia
Music (in selected markets)
Free
streaming Mix Radio*
(*not available on all markets)
Wide
range of audio codecs supported
· .m4a, .m4b, .mp3, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9)
· AAC/AAC+/EAAC+
· AMR-NB
· EVRC
· QCELP
|
Radio
|
Stereo
FM radio
|
