The Lumia 800: Nokia's new mobile contender

Is Nokia's Lumia 800 a true contender to the best handsets from the iOS and Android camps? Chris Leggett certainly thinks so.

 Remember when we reviewed the Nokia N9 a couple months back? It’s easily one of the best Nokia devices in recent years, but we only wished that its exceptional hardware were complemented by an operating system suitably equipped to make the most of it.It’s a call seemingly heeded by Nokia, and the Lumia 800 takes that same winning hardware and powers it with Windows Phone 7, an operating system that’s fast winning over critics everywhere. And the marriage of WP7 and Nokia’s hardware could well be the catalyst to propel both Microsoft and Nokia into mobile-market contention.The Lumia 800 is of a very similar build quality to the N9’s excellent hardware, right down to the slick polycarbonate-unibody finish. It makes for a smooth, rubber-like surface that, coupled with its slender form factor, is pleasant to the touch and extremely comfortable to hold. The design is suitably minimal, and the inputs (the power input and microSIM slot) are covered and can be accessed by opening protective latches. Its 3.7-inch AMOLED display is exceptionally crisp and clear, and excellent for viewing movies, images and the like. Its clarity and resolution isn’t quite up there with the retina and super-AMOLED displays of the smartphone market, but it’s more than adequate nonetheless.A hardware improvement over the N9 is its 1.4GHz scorpion CPU, which ensures that navigation of the phone’s interface is exceptionally quick. The reaction time for virtually any command is near instantaneous, which is about all you can really ask for.Of course, what truly distances the Lumia 800 from the N9 is the inclusion of the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system (OS). It ultimately comes down to personal preference, but WP7 offers an attractive, powerful, intuitive and dynamic OS. Its vertically scrolling tile interface feels less cluttered than its horizontally scrolling peers, and important functions can be easily accessed. You’ll need to install the Zune media player (an iTunes-like program) in order to transfer media, but this can be easily installed by simply connecting the device itself to a PC.In any case, WP7 is fast becoming a favourite among critics, but its uptake hasn’t been enough to present a threat to the likes of Apple and Android just yet. This might just be the phone to change that, but one downside to the Lumia 800’s use of WP7 is that its app marketplace simply doesn’t have the scope and variety of its major competitors just yet. However, this is improving by the day, and it will continue to do so as the OS’ uptake increases.On the software side of things, Nokia’s chipped in with its Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive applications, which were two of the stronger aspects of its mobile offerings in recent years. Drive, in particular, is a rather powerful and free turn-by-turn navigation solution, and a great value-add to the WP7 experience.Also like the N9, the Lumia 800 features an 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, a dual-LED flash and a resolution of 3264 x 2448. It leverages the versatile capture options afforded by Windows Phone 7, which allows users to adjust saturation levels, flicker reduction, white balance, exposure value and more. In a nutshell, you can snap some fantastic photos with this phone, and while it’ll never compete with a decent DSLR, you’ll not really need to haul a dedicated point-and-click camera around again.In my experience, the Lumia 800’s battery life was, well, inconsistent, but certainly skewed towards the reasonable. On one occasion, the battery appeared to drain after only roughly half a day, but I could typically get around two days’ normal use out of a single charge.

Picture taken from the Lumia 800:

 One caveat to bear in mind when considering the Lumia 800 is that, internationally at least, its successor, the Lumia 900, launches in a matter of weeks. The 900 is a very similar device, but includes a front-facing camera, an improved battery and LTE support (which is a moot feature for us here in New Zealand). However, Nokia’s not announced any plans to release the 900 in New Zealand at the time of writing, so it could be months away from a local release if it is indeed headed for these shores at all.Even still, it does little to detract from the fact that the Lumia 800 is a fantastic phone, and a true contender to the best handsets from the iOS and Android camps. It’s an aggressively priced phone that will likely see Windows Phone 7 gain some market traction and re-establish Nokia as one of the major hardware players. So while two horses vie for the lead in the mobile-market race, Nokia and Microsoft’s promising partnership could see a third subtly edge its way into contention.