Thanks to Nokia, I received the Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone review set in a special package. If you have read my blog, you would have know that this is NOT my first time talking about Nokia Lumia 800. So, what other things have I got to say on this Nokia Smartphone? Read on.

The first encounter with Nokia Lumia 800 was last year November. I was invited by Nokia for a special preview and hands on.

Here is a video that I made after my first encounter with Lumia 800.

Made from polycarbonate and a special curve glass, the Lumia 800 feels solid (but a tad heavy) and according to Nokia, if you scratch the polycarbonate body, the scratch mark will be less significant as the color is embedded into the material.

BTW, for this review, I do not wish to repeat what I had posted previously. So, if you wish to see every sides of the Nokia Lumia 800, click the below link.

Click Here to Check Out My First Preview of the Nokia Lumia 800

For those who fear that you will scratch the phone, Nokia has provided a cover in their package. It is the same color as the phone. The review set comes in Black color. So, the cover is also black.

The other side.

The cover is very fitting. In fact, it fits so well that every time, anyone touches the phone, I have to explain that there is a cover on the phone.

Apart from this cover, I was also impressd by the Nokia charger in the package. It is small, simple yet functional.

The back (for Singapore, we are using the UK standard plug).

The standard charging/data cable is provided together with Nokia earpiece.

What is Great about Nokia Lumia 800?

If you have used a Windows Phone before, you will know that Microsoft has strict rules for Windows Phone. Almost all WP7s are identical. Luckily, thanks to the partnership with Microsoft, Nokia has some features that are exclusive to Nokia phones. Here are my favorite three.

• Nokia Drive
• Nokia Maps
• Nokia Music

Apart from the above, there are other apps that are specifically for Nokia WP7 like Contact Transfer, App Highlights and even the CNN app.

Nokia Drive

With Nokia Drive, you basically do NOT need another navigational app. It has more than 100 country maps that you can download. And it is FREE!

If you feel bored, you can even download different voices (male, female) and languages for the navigational instruction. It even comes in Cantonese.

Nokia Maps

If you just need a map to browse about, Nokia Maps should be sufficient. It is free to download on Nokia phones.

All maps data are from Navteq, a company that Nokia has acquired in October 2007

Nokia Music

If you love free music, you can turn to this app. It has mixture of paid songs and free ones for you to listen. In mix radio, I can even download the songs for offline play.

In my opinion, these 3 apps are enough for anyone to seriously think about getting a Nokia Smartphone.

Looking deeper, there are other great features on the Windows Phone’s OS too. The Metro design by Microsoft is very refreshing.  Unlike other OSes, it replaces standard app icon with Tiles. And the Pin function is a clever way to get what you are interested to the main menu (very Pinterest-like). The Live Tiles feature is really a great idea from Microsoft too. Actually, I think the font used on Windows Phone is pleasing to the eyes.

What is NOT Great on Nokia Lumia 800?

Nokia Lumia 800 does NOT have a front facing camera. So, if you wish to have a video call with your friend (lets say, using Tango or the Skype app), you will need to use the primary camera for your friends to see you.

Nokia Lumia 800 does NOT have NFC (Near Field Communication). This is a technology that is slowly picking up in Singapore. It is strange that Nokia, as a big supporter for NFC, did not incorporate that into the Lumia 800.

Nokia Lumia 800 battery life is an issue. This is a big problem and Nokia has acknowledged it. Based on Nokia blog, it will be rolling out an update to address the problem. And actually today (6th March), I got a notification for an update. Already done with the update but not sure if it will help with the battery management or not. Will continue to monitor.

Nokia Drive, although great, needs data for navigation routing. This means that you may incur data charges when you need to perform a navigational route on Nokia Drive when you are overseas. (Thanks to the many complains, Nokia has recently announced that Nokia Drive 2.0 will no longer need data connection for routing).

Not bad. Out of my 4 complains, 2 seems to be on the way to be fixed 🙂 .

Summary

As a whole, Nokia Lumia 800 with Microsoft Windows Phone Mango is considered one of the stable phones around. I have tried Android, iOS and Windows Phone. In my opinion, Windows Phone with only a single core processor is very stable and the UI (User Interface) is smooth.

However, Microsoft needs to speed up on getting more official apps into the Marketplace. That is one of the gross for many people. I have talked to people and their first impression is whether their favorite apps are already on board Windows Phone.

Windows Phone also needs to mature fast. That means it has to be on par with the iOS or Android devices. Currently, there are already a few Android devices having Quad Core processors. We have not even heard of one Windows Phone on Dual Core.

Of course, it does not mean that with Quad Core, it goes 4x faster or with Dual Core, it means 2x faster. However, as a consumer, it is always a comparison game. We would want a better phone for ourselves and it seems that specifications is one way to “proof” that the phone is better.

Overall, I am actually quite satisfy with the phone (despite my complains) as it is really very efficient. The metro design and the clean look are very refreshing.

With this, I will end my review. However, I will continue to get more people to try out this phone and let them express how they felt about the Nokia Lumia 800. Stay tuned!

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