Nokia Lumia 800 and the battery issue:
If you are active on twitter or read the blogs actively, then you sure would have listened about battery issues with Nokia Lumia 800 and must be thinking that what’s wrong this phone. So, let me tell you details about the issue.
There are two issues actually and both of them are software related, NOT hardware related.
First Issue is as described by Nokia itself, a software bug which is "limiting the phone’s ability to access the full battery capacity". According to Nokia, not all Lumia 800 phones are affected by this issue.
There is very easy way to check your unit. First, fully charge your battery and then dial ##634# to access the Service menu (Nokia Diagnostic app). Go to Battery Status section – if your capacity is less than 1000mAh then your Lumia 800 is indeed having a problem accessing the full battery capacity.
Obviously, nothing to worry as the fix is on the way (even delivered as an update for some) and even If you don’t want to wait though, Nokia will replace your phone with a brand new piece (only a small percent of Lumia 800 units are affected by the issue, obviously not the new ones).
Second issue is one that becomes visible when you fully discharge the phone, which obviously will happen with most of the people, who use the phone a lot. If you discharge the phone completely, and then attempt to re-charge, occasionally the phone will go into an endless boot loop, where it powers on, starts WP7, detects that the battery is below its power-off threshold, and shut down. Then the cycle repeats.
Actually what happens here is unlike most of the electronic devices out there, Windows Phone software on Nokia Lumia 800 somehow allowed to drain the battery completely rather than switching it off before 5% battery threshold reached (user will be shown that battery went 0%). And once it happens even charging wont work as that part too requires the device to have a little charge remained. I tried this overnight and couldn’t boot the device if placed on with normal charger.
The simple solution of the same issue is to charge by connecting the discharged phone to PC/Laptop via the provided USB cable, which charges the phone without the requirement of having the phone some battery backup remaining in it. Trust me, this will always works.
As about the issue, then yes it is an issue and Nokia\Microsoft are aware of it. An update is already rolled out to fix the software bug and the new update will be able to shutdown the phone when its on 5% battery capacity, hence eliminating the issue.
Conclusions and verdict from my side:
So, what I say about Nokia Lumia 800? Should one buy it or not? Is it worth the price or not? etc etc.
I don’t want to be diplomatic here, but will again say that it depends on individual’s choice and use cases.
If your purpose is Social Networks, Calls, Messages and wanna have a phone that may make people turn their heads towards you, then sure Nokia Lumia 800 has no match. The inherent simplicity of Windows Phone makes everything else out there feel outdated and the looks of Nokia Lumia 800 is sure the deal breaker.
Windows Phone as of now, feels complete for most of the things that you are used to do with your phone and that too without bothering for any details. Some (including geeks) might find it over-simplification of things and may feel that they have less options for customizations here, but remember same been the story for original iPhone too that was out even without many of the popular essentials and nothing stopped it from changing the world.
But this is about Windows Phone, when about Nokia Lumia 800 itself, then being the first Nokia Windows Phone, I would say that there are a few things that will hold my hands to recommend it fully. There are some big compromises that has been made to deliver it before time and the biggest compromise is front camera.
Microsoft has bought Skype and already laid out plans that first they will deliver a Skype for Windows Phone app soon and then the integration into the core by end of second half of the year itself. Sure, Nokia Lumia 800 feels itself out of the place, when Nokia Lumia 900 has already been announced with better specs (though no raised curved glasses like Lumia 800 anymore), so its your choice if you wanna wait for another few months or wanna enjoy the beauty.
So at the end, this time again, I will leave this over you only.
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.