Nokia Lumia 800 Review - Nokia's Brave New Foray into WP7
by Brian Klug on January 4, 2012 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Nokia
- windows phone 7
- Mobile
- WP7
- Lumia
- Lumia 800
Of chief interest in the context of the Lumia 800 review are the software preloads that come on our device. This is again something that can change between regions and carriers. Our Lumia 800 came preloaded with a number of Nokia apps that have been ported from other platforms - Nokia Music, Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps, and Application Highlights. In addition the Lumia 800 comes by default with a Nokia Blue color theme, an interesting and nice little touch.
Nokia’s Apps
Nokia Drive provides turn-by-turn navigation, and on first launch downloads voice guidance and maps based on your choice of locale. It isn’t freely available in the market, but does get marketplace updates and, in the course of the review, has received more than a few. I drove around with Nokia Drive a few times and found that its turn-by-turn guidance does work well, though there’s no way to leave the application running and reply to a text message, for example. You’re either getting guidance and inside the application or getting no guidance at all if answering a call or replying to an SMS (not that you'd do that while driving, right?). Going back into navigation also takes a few seconds while the GPS comes back up, something else to keep in mind. I’m not sure whether the difficulty here is providing functionality that can’t be achieved with the current state of WP7 background APIs, but it’s a noteworthy omission.
Nokia Drive
The UI also feels a bit off for WP7, something I’ve seen other people note as well. In fact, the Nokia Drive interface seems to be an almost 1:1 port from the N9. For a port, the software admittedly does work well and seems speedy enough, but does depart from the Metro style guidelines with its menus and navigation. If you can get over that small negative, Nokia Drive does indeed provide a very competent turn-by-turn voice navigation experience that gets the job done very well. Oh, and best of all it’s pre-installed on the whole Nokia Lumia range.
Nokia Maps
Nokia Maps is next, which again is a close analog of Nokia Maps from the N9. This has more of a Metro UI feel to it, and on the Lumia 800, is no doubt positioned to take the place of Microsoft’s first party Bing Maps solution. It’s a 2D perspective top-down view with Nokia fonts and themeing that we’ve seen many times before on Nokia phones. As expected, it delivers with three different map view options - map, satellite, and public transport - whose views are self explanatory. The Nokia Maps application also feels much more at home inside Metro-ized WP7 than Nokia Drive.
Nokia Music is something of an analog to Zune Music and Videos, and by default lets you browse your existing music collection under “my music” and view local music events under “gigs.” With a Nokia account, you can also apparently stream and mix music, though I don’t have a Nokia Music account provisioned for such things.
App highlights is another Nokia specific application and provides a nicely curated list of applications that everyone should install on virtually any WP7 device out of the box. YouTube, Netflix, Yelp, Facebook, Adobe Reader and those sort of must-have applications are all listed with marketplace links. It is telling about the functionality still missing from the core of WP7 that you need to go download a YouTube and Adobe Reader application from the market to use those things, but Nokia has done a nice job listing all of it. Of course there are also some app recommendations for a few other categories of applications as well, all of which link to the main marketplace.
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This pretty much wraps up all the Nokia-specific applications. The rest of the Nokia-specific customizations include small things like the two Nokia feedback entry points, and the interesting little theme customization I mentioned earlier. At this point, it’s definitely obvious that Nokia’s presence is in its few software sideloads, but going forward with WP7 it’s also apparent that their influence will take on a much larger role.
Mango Explored
We haven’t had an opportunity to take a larger look at WP7.5 “Mango” until now, and it bears going over the numerous improvements that have been made to the platform since last we visited it. Microsoft unsurprisingly has a nice rundown with the changes but we should still go over the larger ones.
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The new IE browser (left), Mango's multitasking interface (right)
I still think the largest change of all is the much-needed IE update, but the other major thing is introduction of a multitasking interface. WP7 already had multitasking features, but navigation purely with the back button could admittedly be confusing in a world where both Android and WP7 use this “back” paradigm so heavily. Now, holding down back brings up a nice switcher that lets you page back and forth between activities. It doesn’t switch in-between apps per-se, but rather the topmost screen in an activity stack - eg, you can go into one and tap back until you wind up back at the home screen. The list isn’t infinite either and reflects whether the OS has expunged an application. It’s almost like webOS’ card switcher, but a bit different. Background agents are now present, which is close to true multitasking, yet you can still sense that things close. The interface presents an easy way to switch between views, but it can still be confusing to switch between given applications.
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Mango also brings a bunch of communication-related improvements. Messaging now includes MSN Messenger and Facebook chat functionality, and speech-to-text dictation. The email client now includes a conversation view that groups messages by subject appropriately, and inbox linking if you prefer viewing a single inbox. It’s confusing to me that the excellent IM and SMS combined view doesn’t include support for more IM platforms or plugins, hopefully this is coming at some later date.
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Microsoft also improved a bunch of their first party applications, including the People hub, which now integrates Twitter and LinkedIn in addition to Facebook, along with better organization and groups. Search now includes camera functionality which can scan text and 2D barcodes (QR codes and Microsoft tags). Again Mango brings a bunch of subtle improvements to Microsoft’s first party applications that are welcome, to say nothing of the new APIs that many people wanted for WP7 (including network sockets, clipboard, background agents, etc.).
The features that have been added in Mango bring the platform up to a point where it arguably should’ve been 6 months before it finally hit, but better late than never for the platform.
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smellslikepoo - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
I don't have this phone or an android or an iphone. Last year I shelled out for an unlocked N8 after doing some research. Personally for me it's a awesome piece of tech. The Ovi Store is somewhat limited in it's selection but this really doesn't faze me much. All of the most popular stuff was included or could be a downloaded for free. The processor is a little long in the tooth but I haven't seen another phone that comes close to the hardware packed into my N8. When I bought it I purchased an Otterbox case as well. Most people who see the phone in the case think it is a cheap android.Ihave used my girlfriend's iphone 3 and played with alot of droid phones. Recently I bought a gingerbread tablet. The first thing I noticed about android is that it is alot of fun on my tablet but would hate to be stuck with android on a phone.
I thought the iphone was pretty nice but would hate to be stuck with itunes and all the other things apple. I wasn't impressed with the phone aspect of the phone either.
When people would ask me what apps I could run or how fast my processor is most of the time I'd say... I I dunno. It do know I have a 12mp camera with a real xeon flash, bt3, usb to go, real gps with a lifetime of free maps all around the world, amoled screen, hdmi, works as a wifi hotspot and 48 gb of storage. People look at the case and think it's another cheap plastic knock off until I show them the aluminum body that is...
I was
smellslikepoo - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
.... Hoping this phone would be like my N8 only with WP7. Guess I'll keep my-not-so-smart-but-has-the-features-I-actually-use-in-a-phone-camera until they come out with something comparable.In all honesty I'd pay double today for another N8 if I could use it on Verizon's network.
Death666Angel - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
This hasn't necessarily got anything to do with the Lumia, but wanted to share it nonetheless.I don't understand Nokia's reputation for solid phones quite frankly. My experience is a small sample size, but the experiences made in my circle of family and friends is nothing but horrendous. A friend had an N85 which broke 2 times (couldn't dial anymore once and display crack the second time) which got replaced by a N95. That had random reboots and bad call quality. A family member from my wifes side had a N97 which they can't do anything with because it is much too slow. Another friend got a Nokia X8 but portrait/landscape orientation doesn't work one bit. I don't know anyone who has a Nokia Smartphone and is happy and content.
Granted, Samsung, Apple, LG, HTC etc. aren't marvels of quality control. But at least they don't have a reputation like that. They get called out when shitty stuff happens. I don't see the same level of scrutiny applied to Nokia.
As for the phone reviewed here. I feel thoroughly underwhelmed. Battery/charging issues, small display (personal taste), ordinary build quality, irreplaceable battery, great camera.... My SGS2 shoots photos that I cannot distinguish from my point and shoot (Canon IS590), that is good enough for me (again, personal taste).
But since WP7 is kinda supposed to be on the cheap side, 420€ for this thing is too much. I get an SGS2 for the same kind of money with a better screen (RGB>RGBG), better SoC performance and better battery times. If you want WP7, go with another brand would be my advice and use the money saved to buy the next generation. This thing ain't worth it. :)
Heron Kusanagi - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
Before that, what is the X8? There's only the X7 in Nokia's portfolio.Well, Nokia feature and dumb phones back in the day have that reputation of solidness. My family has quite good experience with Nokia, especially with the E series. My E63 is with me for 3 years going on the 4th. My dad's E5 is holding up amazingly too.
The thing is Nokia doesn't get called out because it was the best before the iPhone came out, and if you
I think mileage will differ. Like how some guys swear by Acer while I keep having issues with it.
I am skipping this generation of Nokia WP7 phones because of my contract which doesn't end in June. But I do think the Lumia 800 is a solid first attempt.
Death666Angel - Friday, January 6, 2012 - link
Meant the Nokia X7, got a bit confused with the Xperia X8. :-)binqq - Friday, January 6, 2012 - link
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huy5sys - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - link
Nokia missed an important trick IMO.How about a 3:2 mode for 6x4 prints withou the need to crop?
16:9 ==> 3552 x 1998 = 7,096,896 pixels
4:3 ==> 3264 x 2448 = 7,990,272 pixels
3:2 ==> 3462 x 2308 = 7,990,296 pixels
About the same pixel count as the 4:3 mode
Probably needs only a minor software change.
Makes a big difference.
Hope someone from Nokia is listening.
juzzle - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
I spent 5 days with a Nokia Lumia 800. I loved it, but returned it. Read the whole story (compared to the iPhone 4S) at the link below:"The Nokia Lumia 800 and Windows Phone Mango 7.5 make a formidable combination. Beautiful build quality, gorgeous display, immediate responsiveness and an extremely elegant operating system (clearly better in many respects than iOS5). I bought the phone 5 days ago to replace my painfully slow iPhone 3G. Despite this praise however, the phone is going back today, replaced by my shiny new iPhone 4S – “what?!” I hear you say – well read on."
Be warned that some grey market versions of this phone (notably Hong Kong) do not come with Nokia Drive or Nokia Music.
http://opinionroad.com/2012/01/16/nokia-lumia-800-...
Shuol - Sunday, February 5, 2012 - link
The phone has a great feel and looks great on the desk. But the software really lets the phone down. It is obviously microsoft software which always lack innovation. The user experience is defined by the programmed functions - i.e. it's bottom up instead of top-down. e.g. when you go to bed you set an alarm. Instead of the phone asking whether it should turn off the phone function until the alarm goes off, you have to set flight mode. This is 2012 not 1990. Nokia gave me corporate blah blah and passed the buck to microsoft, so I created www.nokia-lumia-800.org to vent my frustration and collect everyones thoughts.tipoo - Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - link
According to Engadget and a few others the new firmware (as of today I think) nearly triples the battery life, I'd like to see that tested. That's either some crazy optimization or some crazy bad original firmware