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
Conclusions
The Lumia 800 is indubitably the best Windows Phone hardware out there right now. When people previously spoke in hushed tones about wanting Nokia to make Windows Phones, the unspoken reasons for wanting a Nokia WP7 device were a few notable features - a camera without compromises, hardware build quality that’s unique and solid, Nokia’s attention to detail, and Nokia's existing market share and ability to get those devices to market.
The Lumia 800 is unique in that it’s the first step in Nokia’s switch to Windows Phone, and for the large part does fulfill a big cross section of those criteria, at least at the high end. I can’t shake the feeling, however, that many people simply wanted a Nokia N8 running Windows Phone 7 (and its still-unsurpassed camera quality). For whatever reason, however, the platform Nokia chose to go with that would become the Lumia 800 borrowed the N9’s exterior instead.
I have nothing but praise for the physical build quality of the Lumia 800, and it's really that attention to detail which puts the Lumia 800 squarely in the lead, at least in my mind. The competition has similar or identical specifications on paper as well (the same 1.4 GHz MSM8x55 SoC, 8 MP camera, 512 MB of RAM, etc.), so it's in these ancillary features that Windows Phone hardware differentiates itself from the pack.
The Lumia 800 does have a few places where it stumbles, however. The aforementioned charging and battery situation is a notable issue that represents a considerable oversight, and I find myself wishing that, like so many other Nokia devices, the phone shipped with pentaband WCDMA instead of two tri-band variants. Having an internal battery is another point of contention, though it’s hard to judge how good battery life will be after Nokia has patched the power management IC firmware.
There’s also the Windows Phone side of things, where Nokia diehards haven’t pulled any punches taking note of the platform’s shortcomings - lack of USB or external storage, a still fledgling application ecosystem, and a few others. I’m inclined to agree that while the other major smartphone OSes have taken some big steps forwards, WP7.5 only now just arrives at parity with where those OSes were midway through last year. There’s still time for WP7.5 to catch up, but I can’t shake the feeling that despite the OS being so much better than it was when it launched, it still isn’t as powerful as the alternatives. For normal consumers the functionality WP7.5 offers is perfect, but for Symbian and Maemo users looking at the Lumia series it’s a huge deal. On the other hand, Nokia's WP7.5 devices do include Nokia's suite of software, which importantly includes turn by turn GPS navigation (Nokia Drive) for free, where the other WP7 contenders would have you use TeleNav GPS or another subscription service.
While it's unclear in what form or on what carrier the Lumia 800 will arrive stateside, it's clear that something superficially similar to the Lumia 800 is in store for AT&T at least. Among the rest of the Windows Phone contenders, it's arguably neck and neck between the Samsung Focus S and the Lumia 800, but how fast Nokia can fix those charging issues might tip the scales. How the Lumia series does against Windows Phones from Samsung, HTC, and LG remains to be seen, but if the Lumia 800 is any indication of what's in store, I think they're in for some competition.
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Thermogenic - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
The polycarbonate shell gives it the weight. That's one of the main selling features of the phone, but it's not for everyone.jagor - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
It seems you have the High and Low levels switched in the Display Metrics table. If so, and max brightness is just 196 nits for the High level, you probably should use the High brighness level in the battery tests for an apples to apples comparison.Brian Klug - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
Fixed!-Brian
zvadim - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
I find USB ports on top to be a PIA when using phone in a windshield/dash mount.ReySys - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
Finally no thanks to Microsoft or Nokia Marketing or Carrier in Mexico I´m going to have mine thru Expansys Unlocked! Really a lot to do to market WP7 worldwide! More than 20 models last year but only LG Optimus arrive to Mexico thru Telcel! I decide to wait to mature a little more... My decision was right Optimus has Battery problems. Still Ipm going to buy an, Thinkpad W, Asus Transformer Prime & maybe at last an iphone 5! Sorry IT Administrator & Consultor need to test & from an opinion. Already have 2 blackberrys! I before all of them a Dopod 900! Still functioning! Long wait!Braumin - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
I was hoping for more, I know it is a bit misguided but the opening paragraph said it would look into the new features that Mango brought to WP7. They were barely even talked about.I understand that Apple and Android are dominant, so when they sneeze out a tiny update they get an entire article just for the update. This was just a gloss over of WP7.5. Anandtech should have given it a review on its own.
I know Brian doesn't use WP7 as his smartphone, but quips like this bug me "It’s 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"
Well, you don't HAVE to download a YouTube app - you COULD just go to the youtube web page. Is it telling about the functionality still missing from the core of iOS 5 that you still have to install a facebook app? Facebook is fairly well integrated into WP7, and so is twitter. I know it is still missing things, but these are the items that should have come up in the Mango review which just never happened.
steven75 - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
That part about downloading Adobe Reader does sound pretty behind the times to me. Only Microsoft has an OS that can't natively read PDF files (that goes for the desktop too).Braumin - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
I agree about Adobe Reader - sure am glad it is FINALLY going to be native in Windows 8.465thGTG - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
Android can't natively read PDF files without a third party app either, but I don't see what the big deal is regardless. If you try to open a PDF file on a WP7 device it asks if you want to install a PDF reader from the Marketplace and proceeds to do that for you. Painless.Brian Klug - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
I wanted to spend a lot more time codifying why (for me at least) I think that WP7 needs more before it really feels as powerful as Android or iOS. We've been big fans of WP7 for a while now (I was at MIX10 when it launched, and we covered the WP7 launch) but I still can't shake the feeling that it should be more at this point.Codifying that was my original objective for part of this article, and obviously some of that didn't really make it though in the end. I use WP7 now and then, but I'll be first to admit it isn't nearly as much as Android and iOS.
-Brian