REVIEW: Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone

Finally, i got hold of one of the Nokia Lumia devices for a quite number of days–at least two weeks for a better grasp of its features. The production of the Lumia series was “outsourced to Compal Electronics which has the experience in the chipset”. The Lumia series is using the Windows Phone OS 7.5 Mango which is now outdated by the Windows Phone 8.

The Lumias got its design from Nokia’s Meego-based, Nokia N9. The entire casing is made of a durable poly-carbonate material enabling its antenna to receive more radio signal than having a metallic casing. The antenna is located near the edge (right side if you’re facing the back of the phone).

Visit Nokia Phils for the official specifications of Lumia 800. In this review, i’m using the specifications by gsmarena.com. The Lumia 800 is also known as Nokia Sea Ray.

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 – RM-819 HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 – For Canada
		HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100 – RM-801 CV
	Announced	2011, October
	Status	Available. Released 2011, November

One of my regrets while reviewing the Lumia 800 is the poor 3G signal of Sun Cellular which i’d been using for more than two weeks of evaluating the unit. Most of the time i only got EDGE signal from Sun making it difficult for me to navigate the different apps installed on the Lumia 800.

Another thing, i wasn’t able to make some screen shots of the various functions and features of the phone due to the absence of a screenshot feature which usually found in smartphones.

BODY	Dimensions	116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 76.1 cc
	Weight	142 g
		– Touch-sensitive controls

DISPLAY	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches (~252 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass
		– Nokia ClearBlack display

Though, setting the display brightness to “automatic” would save your battery from draining early, it would be uncomfortable to others like me who’s no longer have a good eye sight. I always set the brightness to “high” to give myself a clear look at the screen.

The AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of Lumia 800 is very responsive and i don’t see any hitches swiping it.

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

The Loudspeaker in Lumia 800 is not as loud as we want. It can’t beat the decent sound i’d experienced from the Blackberry Curve 9320. It can’t even beat my MyPhone T23 Duo which uses a Yamaha amplifier. Lumia 800’s sound is too thin to hear and tinny for the ear.

Even when you used the earphones you can really distinguish that its sound quality is below par to those other smartphones.

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	16 GB storage, 512 MB RAM

Minus the device built-in usage, you have about 14Gb of storage remaining for your use as the Lumia 800 has no expansion slot for additional space.

DATA	GPRS	Class 33
	EDGE	Class 33
	Speed	HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

One BIG DISABILITY of the Windows phone is its restriction to use bluetooth in transferring files like images and music. You can’t pass any files directly to any bluetooth-enabled devices. Your runaround is to upload it online then download the files to your other devices. That’s too hassle!

Windows Phone 7 supports some Bluetooth devices like phone headsets, car audio systems, and speaker docks but won’t let you send and receive items which are Object Push Profile such as contacts, pictures, and music over Bluetooth through mobile-to-mobile, or mobile-to-computer connections.

Only these Bluetooth user profiles are supported by Windows Phone 7:

• Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP 1.2)
• Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP 1.3)
• Hands Free Profile (HFP 1.5)
• Headset Profile (HSP 1.1)
• Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP 1.1)

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual-LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps, check quality
	Secondary	No

The autofocus of the Lumia 800’s only camera  works when you half-pressed the dedicated camera button. But i can’t share it here the pics that i shot in the absence of a Bluetooth  functionality of the phone.

However, the 8-megapixel camera is way below the quality of images taken by Sony Mobile Xperia phones that i have reviewed here.

FEATURES	OS	Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
	CPU	1.4 GHz Scorpion
	GPU	Adreno 205
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML5, RSS feeds
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	No
	Colors	Black, Cyan, Magenta, White
		– MicroSIM card support only – SNS integration – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic – MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA player – MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player – Document viewer/editor – Video/photo editor – Voice memo/command/dial – Predictive text input

You can do Tab browsing in Lumia 800 with its fast browser. So, it can do multi-tasking by opening other apps or tabs at the same time.

The live Tile menu has simplified the task in opening various apps and features including your favorite contacts. The Notification is just above the start screen which you can swipe sideways to open directly to it. If the message is from your favorite contacts included in the Tiles, a note on it is displayed.

There’s no built-in Facebook and Twitter buttons on Lumia 800. You have to download it from the Market Place. One thing not really outstanding is the Facebook App (also develop by Microsoft).

It has no Chat feature. I’m using the Fim chat app which is also intuitive but still need some refinement so that it would work like the regular FB chat. Though it’s intuitive but you can’t do some features you are used to when using Facebook like:

• You can’t choose the album where the uploaded picture should be placed.
• Choosing a friend to tag with is not easy since you have to scroll the entire contact list before reaching the name you’re looking. There’s no shortcut for it.

The App List is easy to use since the items are listed alphabetically. You can Pin to Start Menu the items so that you can access it at the Start Menu in a Tile.

In the second image above, apps like the Connectivity Shortcuts, Facebook  and Fim Chat are arranged accordingly. The Connectivity Shortcuts allows users to turn-on the connectivity features without going to the Setting and look for the Bluetooth, WiFi, and Cellular switches.  The app can be added to the Tiles in the Start Menu.

One good thing with Windows Phone software is its integration of the contact’s profiles in social networks. You can directly see the contact’s status and posts in Facebook right at the contact list as shown in the third pic above.

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1450 mAh (BV-5JW)
	Stand-by	Up to 265 h (2G) / Up to 335 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 9 h 30 min (3G)
	Music play	Up to 55 h

The battery lasted only up to about 5 hours with 3G connection on and all other features are on even if the WiFi and Bluetooth functions are off. This is something that Nokia Lumia should improve since you’ll end up recharging your battery on midday and dinner time. The battery in Lumia 800 is built-in just like the iPhones.

The mini-USB port is located at the top with a clip-on cover. Beside it is the SIM card tray which will pop-out once the USB port cover is open. The 35mm input jack for the earphones is also located at the top of the Lumia.

MISC	SAR US	1.27 W/kg (head)     1.08 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.94 W/kg (head)
	Price group

TESTS	Display	Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal)
	Loudspeaker	Voice 60dB / Noise 59dB / Ring 61dB
	Audio quality	Noise -87.3dB / Crosstalk -87.8dB
	Camera	Photo / Video
	Battery life	Endurance rating 35h

 I LIKED

#1 – Live Tiles in the Start Menu is intuitive and very responsive

#2 – The touchscreen is very responsive

#3 – You can feel the device is fast

#4 – The “People” where the contact’s social networking profiles and SMS messages are integrated within the Contacts List
makes this phone different from other smartphones.

#5 – The display screen is crisp and clear

#6 – The robust design of Lumia 800 is appealing

I DON’T LIKED

#1 – Images, sounds and other files can not be shared to other mobile phones or computers

#2 – Facebook app is not easy to navigate

#3 – Battery is not replaceable

#4 – No card slot for additional memory

#5 – No screenshot function

#6- No shortcut for connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Cellular setting, Airplane mode (an App–Connectivity Shortcuts can be used though.)