Nokia Lumia 800: The Box
While Nokia N9 got a minimalistic box content, I don’t think anyone was expecting something different from a Nokia Lumia 800 in the similar sleeves and we are in for exactly the same content except the phone and manual obviously.
Nokia Lumia 800 – All screen handset with 3 Touch Buttons at the bottom
Nokia Fast USB Charger AC-16
Nokia Charging and Data Cable CA-185CD
Nokia Stereo Headset WH-901
Get started guide
Product information
Leaflet Cover
For the details on each of these, you should either hit over the links or check out the last Nokia N9 post page 1.
There was nothing special to mention separately as I already wrote about them with Nokia N9 in just last post, so skipping that part entirely and heading toward the hardware exteriors.
Nokia Lumia 800: The Exteriors
No matter what you feel about Nokia nowadays, no matter what you think of Windows phone ecosystem, no matter if you mocked Lumia 800 as a less capable twin of Nokia N9, there would be no denial of the fact that Nokia Lumia 800 represents the Windows Phone in its most beautiful form that world has ever seen.
The same design was praised whole heartedly by almost all the big blogs once came with Nokia N9 and there is no reason that you don’t appreciate the same with Nokia Lumia 800 as well.
Nokia N9 and Nokia Lumia 800 go beyond the point till where we could have called them just “similar”. They actually are twins and it would be hard for any non-geek to recognize the two from a distance. Same one piece engineering brilliance, same rounded edges comforting your hands, same flat bottom letting the device stand, same tiny MicroSIM/ USB slots on top and finally the same Nokia Logos on top & back.
Then how come geeks find difference between the two devices apart of software that it houses? This actually not that hard. Its kind of 50-50. There are actually three sides of the device from where you can’t tell the difference in Nokia Lumia 800 from Nokia N9:
From the left side of the device
From the bottom side of the device
From the top side of the device
And three sides of the device from where you can tell the differences in Nokia Lumia 800 from Nokia N9:
From the back, where LED flash is in line with Camera module than being in side (as was in Nokia N9)
From the right side, where we get much needed inclusion of Physical Camera shutter
From the front side, where we get actually 3.7” screen than 3.9” and bottom has 3 Touch sensitive buttons (Back, Windows, Search)
If you go more closer to the phone then you will find one more big difference that is “lack of front camera” (Trust me, this came as a big shocker to me).
it was much bigger shock than what I felt about Nokia X7, when I seen the same without a front camera. That’s another thing that the presence of front camera in Nokia N9 was kind of just formality, but when a company is launching their first ever Windows phone with the particular version that finally started supporting Video calling, then you expect them to avoid excuses. (Will come back to this in next parts).
Rest build etc goes just the same as Nokia N9. Same iconic build that make even geeks from other side of fence lusting for it. The thin one piece build of Nokia Lumia 800 feels just like what Nokia fans would have been wishing for their Nokia Touchscreen phones since always. Kind of no competition hands down.
One thing that I missed to add about this build in my Nokia N9 review is the fact that the MicroUSB Cover button has a magnetic lock that removes one of those possibilities that some of my friends had in their mind that it might get loose over time.
To know that why this build is so special, you need to take a look at the other best looking phones in the market. Be it iPhone 4S, be it Galaxy Nexus, be it Moto Razr or HTC Sensation, none come close to its homogenous yet durable build quality of Nokia Lumia 800. One has to admit that as of now Lumia 800 is a benchmark in terms of industrial design. Not just the looks but the kind of material used as well, where Nokia used the RF transparent injection moulded plastic for crystal clear reception.
You might be fan of any platform, but you would sure wish to have a handset that looks like Nokia Lumia 800. If pictures not to be believed then you should take it in your hands for once, any Chroma Stores or Nokia Stores around would sure love to allow you for the same. Do it once for sure.
Only complaint with the build is the same as was with Nokia N9, the metallic part of the camera panel on the back that looks great but prone to visible scratches even after extreme care of the device. The other issue that I faced with my unit (might be issue with one unit only) was a little loose camera button, which works perfect, but feels a little loose than the other buttons on side. With the Black unit, the metallic buttons shine like some jewel and interestingly I got no scratches on any of the button like the way, I received scratches on the metallic camera panel on the back.
Nokia Lumia 800: The Interiors
I might sound like a fanboy but trust me, when you take a Nokia Lumia 800 in your hands and play a little with it, then the specs like processor or GPU might be the last thing to complain for. In fact, the same is the case with almost all the Windows phones. I had my hands on Windows phones from Samsung, HTC and LG as well and never found the UI lagging for any moment unlike Android\Symbian. But one always need to know what’s running his\ her phone so let’s visit the highlights of Nokia Lumia 800 specs sheet:
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Dimensions 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1mm (7.6mm at corners), 76cc, 142g (7g heavier to Nokia N9)
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Windows Phone 7.5 a.k.a. Mango (Some Nokia apps inside but no Nokia specific changes in Core OS)
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3.7”CBD AMOLED Corning Gorilla Glass Screen with a WVGA resolution of 800×480 pixels, PenTile Matrix Display
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1.4GHz Single Core MSM8255 CPU, Snapdragon /Scorpion S2 chipset, Adreno 205 GPU (One generation down than the one on HTC Sensation)
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512 MB LPDDR2 (Same as in iPhone 4S), 512 MB ROM, 16 GB Mass Memory (Plus 25GB SkyDrive), no MIcroSD Card support though
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HSDPA Cat10 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA Cat6 5.76 Mbps, WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
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It got Quad band connectivity rather than Pentaband connectivity of Nokia N9 (WCDMA Band IV (1700/2100), WCDMA Band V (850) missing)
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3D Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Compass (Magnetometer Sensor), Proximity Sensor
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8.0 Megapixels Carl Zeiss AF camera with an aperture f/2.2
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1280 x 720 pixels video recording resolution with 30fps
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FM Radio (with a very simplistic UI)
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2 Microfone inside, one serving purpose of noise cancellation
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Micro SIM Support only
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Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR (without capability of Dial up connection or Data Transfer)
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BV-5JW 3.7V 1450mAh non-removable battery (not soldered on chip though)
Its been a strange story that while the platforms that do not have real multi-tasking enjoy higher specs while the real multi-tasking ones like Nokia or BlackBerry always been shy about the specs. Logic?? Anyway, Windows Phone is a relatively new platform and yet to start supporting Dual Core or Quad Core processors or retina like high resolution displays, so it was bound to be the same story with Nokia Windows Phones of 2011, reasonable over specs rather than flaunting names. But trust me, Windows Phones make you feel the fact that its not megahertz that matters for performance, but its about optimization.
Nitish Kumar's Blog 
Holy shit! 24 pages? :-O Sorry man, I give it a pass.. I am too busy, like you 😦
Nice post. How about an option to display the post in one page? May make it simpler to read
You are just awesome dude… how the hell can u review soooooo much!! hats offff! even i own nokia lumia 800!! feels like reading n reading… (now in page 1)
Will consider to put a PDF file for whole post.
One hell of a review Nitish.
Thanks mate. Went out a little early than scheduled but hope I covered most of things
Looks like you can now publish a book on Lumia Review 🙂 Great Review..
Nice review , by the way about OTA , it’s a wp7 limitation and not lumia , soon wp in market currently supports OTA same is true about other few features.
Yup! The review is mostly about Windows Phone as a whole rather than Lumia only
Good post , though I must say I couldn’t read it in one go 🙂
Even though I havent used or tried any WP device for more than half an hour, I just hated UI and how it looks. I don’t think that perception of ugly,over simplified UI will change.
As expected and read all over for me 3 things stand out for WP. These can make it success.
1) People Hub
2) Brilliant Office Suite ( and its FREE)
3) Email
But sadly I feel Nokia is going away from their soul and going Apple way.
This may be good for company(I really doubt) but not good for industry as whole.
Suyog,
I had similar sentiments about WP UI before trying it myself. Even I mentioned once that I felt those uneven fonts as ugly. But trust me, views are bound to change once you allow it grow over you. Not all the praises going around are dummy.
Agree with Nitish, once I got my hands on Lumia 800, I didn’t like UI for few hours or a day and missed home screens. But later, started loving the UI and now I am a fan of UI. 🙂
People hub is exceptional as just like Meego it brings all social activities at one place and like WebOS it brings all the photos (even twitter ones).
So in all, people hub will effectively help people managing their social needs without going behind any apps that is a great thing for n00bs or even people coming from Symbian/Meego.
Second great thing is speed of UI that literally no offers either be Symbian or Android
Suyog, I’ll agree with Nitish.. in just two words…. you will see my views about it changing too… it’s actually a good UI. there are however some features that really were needed but if talking about UI, seriously I think if I was given more time with it I would been liking this UI. and I’ll not say like many out there that “Windows Phone 7.5” is not that good to be used.
But still I’ll say that MeeGo on N9 (for its given time) has been the most *Mature* smartphone OS (in most of the aspects) among all of them.
And Nitish; that really is great post above, I’ll try to read it completely 😛
Review is great for people want to know about the History, comparison , apps functionality , dimensions but drawback is too massive detail..
Very interesting article, Nitish. I’m very exited with Windows phone on Nokia, but lack of BT and file transfer worries me. Nokia has been great among other things because of its flexibility and versatility. Does is support USB on the go, like my N8? What about something small but GREAT in functionality, notification light? Man, I think Nokia should never get rid of this. It helps the user so much to see through a notification light, that you have a missed event.
Quite a thorough article on the Lumia 800(& upcoming 900)windows phone. The most important things for me are:i’m not going to sell a Rolls Royce to ride a better handlind motorcycle-ie,my Nokia E7-00 vs any Lumia! No storage! No tethering! No bluetooth! No sale!
One of the most comprehensive review of Lumia 800 I have read. sheer Brilliant.
Are u still using this device? How is the battery life holding up for you?
Any word on Lumia 900 launch date in india?
Thanks,
-Pankaj
The best review of WP that I have seen , kudos to u Mr. Kumar ! U r right , the Lumia 800 is beautiful ; it should be since it`s a copy of the N9 ! But that same design is also a problem in certain areas of the world ( more about this in a bit . ) .
i`ve always said that WP has potential but it`s still immature ( Takes 3 years to work out enough of the bus and work enough features in , to make the OS useful . ) , seriously late to the party and there r too many other OEMs trying to get a piece of the pie . In all fairness to Nokia , they haven`t had a chance to make an impact on WP yet , maybe WP8 will change this . Nor have the Lumias been out too long , though this is changing . So it`s still a bit early to say for sure .
That said , WP hasn`t exactly taken off yet , marketshare is still single digits . Nor do I like the Metro UI , though my issue with it is more function than form ( but I do think it`s ugly !) . I firmly believe that a homescreen should convey enough info to keep u current at a glance , and the Metro UI doesn`t do this . Even Windows Mobile could do this !
WP`s biggest problem , IMHO , is it`s requirements for a constant connection and Skydrive . Not so much a problem in developed countries , but in emerging markets with their infrastructure issues and the need to watch data usage, it`s a different thing entirely . I don`t think WP will do well in emerging markets ( It seems to not be … ) , though it also doesn`t seem to be doing well in many developed countries either , with the USA , Finland and Russia as notable exceptions .
Nor will do well in countries where the N9 was a success, most notably China , due to the problem that WP is functionally inferior to Meego , and Symbian , for that matter . even the new 311 is better from what I can tell !
For these reasons , I don`t see WP as more than moderately successful , assuming it takes off , of course ! Maybe WP8 will change this , ir really needs too ! cheers !
Mofo awesome! Never believed there existed a greater Lumia 800 fan than me! :p
Hmmm , no replies , can`t say I`m surprised lol !
On second thought , looks like the 10/19/2012 post MIGHT have a reply so I take back the previous remark , t least to an extent lol…
Every thing about Windows Phone OS is covered very well.