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Nokia might be going through some tough times with all the competition it now has to face in the smartphone industry. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel with Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop promising to bring the Finnish giant back in the right direction. The Nokia Lumia 800 does have some heavy responsibilities on its shoulders as it has the task of proving to the masses that it is a sign of what’s in store in the future from Nokia. It does have some decent specs onboard and now it’s up to us to cut it open and see how it performs.
Design The Nokia Lumia 800 would definitely remind you of the Nokia N9 as they look very much like each other. However there are some differences that would help you tell the phones apart. For instance, the Nokia N9 had the front fully covered with a 480 x 854 resolution screen but on the Nokia Lumia 800, you will find three capacitive buttons under the screen. The result of this is a slightly smaller screen at 3.7 inches with a slightly lower resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. However it is still Nokia’s Clear Black AMOLED display and is protected by the strong Gorilla Glass. The Nokia Lumia 800 measures 4.59 x 2.41 x 0.48 inches making it a wee bit smaller than the Nokia Lumia 710. Another thing that reminds us of the Nokia N9 with this phone is the polycarbonate unibody design which is again of very high quality. However we managed to spot two major differences with this phone and that is the fact that it comes with a physical camera button as well as a repositioned flash. The dedicated camera button is definitely a welcome addition as it helps us take photos quickly. However this means one more extra button on the already packed right side. On the right of the phone we already have the power button and the volume rocker. On the top you will see the microSIM card and microUSB port together with the standard audio jack. Flip the phone and on the back sits an 8MP f2.2 camera which has Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. Features So what powers this smartphone? Inside the Nokia Lumia 800 is a Quallcomm MSM8255 single core CPU that clocks in at 1.4GHz. The processor is capable of tackling most tasks with ease. However, when you use apps that requires a lot of processing power that is when you see the other side of the processor. Although it lags when using these apps it is not too obvious to the extent that you will start hating the phone. The Nokia Lumia 800 also is a little tardy when you try to transfer huge amounts of data from memory to storage. The Nokia Lumia 800 is another Nokia phone that sports Windows Phone 7.5 OS instead of Nokia’s out of favor Symbian OS. The decision to stick with Windows Phone 7.5 OS is a good one as you get a more modern feeling from the phone plus you can also navigate through the phone easily as it is very user friendly. This version of the OS is an improved one and it gives Nokia Lumia 800 some of the basic things people look for these days like multi-tasking capability, deeper social networking integration as well simple things like copy and paste. Unlike other phones that have up to seven homescreens, this OS sticks two one homesceen and one other screen for its apps. On the homescreen you will find live tiles that are either shortcuts to an app or an app specific notification. To get to the apps screen, just slide the homescreen to the left. Over here you see all your apps, and depending on what you prefer, these apps can be pinned to the start menu too. Another cool thing we picked up in this OS is the multi-tasking pane that pops up when you long press the back button. In this pane, you get to look at the apps that are currently open. Nokia of course has slotted in some apps or their own. The newest of the lot found on the Nokia Lumia 800 is the Nokie Drive – a voice guided GPS app. Now you don’t have to fork out big bucks to get an awesome GPS product. With this app, you can even cache your maps so that you are ready for that drive across US. Nokia Lumia 800 sports a 3.7 inch screen with a WVGA resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. This screen may not be the biggest screen out there as you may already know, but the Clear Black AMOLED display does not fail to impress. It produces beautiful looking images and thanks to the processor, the screen is also very responsive to touch making it a delight to use. There is another feature on the Nokia Lumia 800 that is the same as the Nokia N9, and that is the 8MP autofocus camera. You would expect the results from the cameras to be the same, but that’s not the case here. The Nokia N9 did give a pretty good all round performance but it lacked detail, however with the Nokia Lumia 800 we get amazing details but there seems to be problems in handling noise. The camera does produce pictures with great color reproduction and contrast levels were decent too. Indoors, the camera does a better job when you turn the LED flash on. Video recording is done at 720p HD resolution. Videos performed better as the recordings were smooth and the audio was good too. Web surfing on a Windows phone would obviously have to be done on an Internet Explorer browser. That is exactly what happens with the Nokia Lumia 800 and the results are great as loading time is short and navigational functions like scrolling and zooming can be done easily. Sadly though there is no support for Flash. Moving on to the connectivity options, the Nokia Lumia is a GSM phone and also a tri-band 3G phone which comes with the usual stuff like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The phone performs well too when it came to call quality. Our friends on the other end of the line said they heard us loud and clear but it’s not all rosy as what we got on our end wasn’t the clearest piece of audio. Battery life seems to be an issue with the Nokia Lumia 800 as it is different from the other Nokia and Windows phones that have amazing battery life. If you are an average user, you will be able to use the phone for almost the whole day before you will need a recharge.
Pros and Cons The Nokia Lumia 800 is well designed and solid in the hands. We like the Nokia apps that are onboard this phone. Even with a single-core processor, the phone performs its job smoothly. This smartphone is slightly expensive for its set of specs. We would have also liked a better battery life. Conclusion This phone is just the first of many phones that we are soon to see coming out of Nokia’s stables. Nokia Lumia 800 definitely shows that Nokia is on its way up. So if you have the cash then this phone will do the job for you. Buy Nokia Lumia 800
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