Nokia’s Lumia really feels and looks fantastic. When we got our hands on our Nokia Lumia contract we were actually surprised at how amazing it felt. The phone is made from a plastic – however it is a high quality polycarbonate plastic rather than the cheap plastic of yesteryear. This means it is one of the highest grade plastics in use in consumer tech and it really feels it. It is strong and capable and we found it to be very enjoyable to hold. The device is a lovely shape, if a little unusual and people who know the Nokia N9 will see its uncanny resemblance.
Nokia has added a 1.4GHz chip into the phone, which we found to be sufficiently fast when compared to most dual core phones. This chip is paired up with 512MB of RAM and with Windows burning in the back ground it is excellent at multitasking and really good at most things you ask it to do.
Windows Phone 7 Mango powers the phone and we must say we were impressed with the quality of the aesthetics and the whole user experience. The phone is sharp as a pin and really performs. It also looks amazing and we must say really impressed us in terms of pace. The tile display is also very functional and in many ways the phone is leaps and bounds ahead of the previous Windows Phones.
One of the biggest problems with the OS is the lack of apps in the app market which may be seen as an issue by some people. The number of apps is increasing every day, and many people will contest that most WP7 apps are actually useful – unlike a large proportion of Android and iPhone apps. Nokia have also included some of their own apps with the Lumia, including Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive. These shouldn’t be available on other WP7 devices, although some people have already managed to crack them for non-Nokia phones.
Nokia has added an 8mp camera in the phone, with the ability for 720p video recording. This is all quite good, though nothing spectacular. The Carl Zeiss lens improves proceedings a little. Although it is not the most spectacular camera found on a smartphone, it is more than adequate for most people’s day to day needs.
The screen on the phone is spectacular and it really impressed us. We loved the 480x800p screen, which looked fantastic. The AMOLED display is bright and capable and really show cases the phones strong points, especially the colours and actions of Windows 7.5. The screen is 3.7 inches and so a good size for most activities, while it also ensures the phone is not so overly sized that it won’t fit in pockets.
Hands on we really liked the Nokia Lumia 800. It is a fun and also a very functional phone and Nokia has really pulled its socks up thanks to the new Windows OS and some other nice tweaks – particularly the gorgeous design that was previously employed on the Nokia N9. If it ain’t broke – reuse it! But the Lumia has many benefits over the N9, and could easy be one of the best Windows phone deals on offer.
