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Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Reception and call quality Superior reception - as good as, or better than, any smartphone I've had. Voice tone is however a little tinny for my liking.
- Display Maybe harsh, but OLED display noticeably changes colours with changes in angle & often is harder to see than OLED phones from other makers
- Battery life Superior for a present-day smartphone, but then WP7 phones do generally well in this respect.
- Camera Not a great cameraphone enthusiast - even hyped iPhone 4S camera I think is a giant pile of meh. From that frame of opinion, this camera borders on crap
- Ease of use WP7 has, IMO, the best use experience in terms of the OS among the smartphone platforms. Nokia doesn't fiddle with anything here
- Design and form factor Not as gaga about the seamless shape as some - it's a little toylike if I was honest - nevertheless it is smart. Included (almost) matching case is nice touch
- Portability (size / weight) I hate the trend for flagship phones to resemble liferafts in size. 800 is nice and compact, reassuringly solid without being weighty.
- Media support It supports all the usual suspects codec wise, but nothing out of the ordinary. Flash is out as well of course.
- Durability Polycarb body offers good mitigation against general impacts while included case promotes further protection. Screen is pretty resistant to drops.
- Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) Lots of Nokia accessories, but many aren't specific to this handset. WP7 app diversity and quality still needs work.
Detailed review
Given the fanfare over the Elop Flip Flop and the fact that they've pretty much bet the farm on Windows Phone, I was eagerly expecting Nokia to bring their A+ game to the platform when news broke that they would be releasing a new handset.
What I saw, after the smoke had cleared after launch and Deadmau5 had done his thing, was something more akin to the B- / C efforts that other makers had brought to WP, albeit done with significantly more panache - but one that's not unique to WP. And talking about the device it borrowed the unique design from, it was puzzling to say the least that the Lumia 800 was weaker-sauce hardware wise than the older N9, which itself was something that Nokia must have known was a dead duck even when they were working on it given the total 'success' of the Maemo N900.
Notwithstanding the criticisms of some of the parts fitted to the Nokia, what is further disappointing is what is missing. Given the time it was released, it should have had (regardless of whether people find them useful or not) a front-facing camera and a full complement of Mango compatible sensors.
A slightly disappointing initial effort from Nokia, but nevertheless a decent Windows Phone by dint of there being not that much worthwhile competition. My advice? If the Samsung WP7 in your particular market is fortunate enough to not be crippled with 8Gb of RAM but has 16, look long and hard at it (while considering the possibly slightly worse reception it has) before picking this.
*UPDATE 29/06
I had a day not so long ago where just bizarrely I couldn't keep the phone in my hand. For some reason I kept dropping it that day - including a fall practically from head height into concrete, face down with that "slap" sound where you know it's landed totally on the screen - and if it were an iPhone, you know it's new phone time. Passed with flying colours - colour me both surprised and pleased.
What I saw, after the smoke had cleared after launch and Deadmau5 had done his thing, was something more akin to the B- / C efforts that other makers had brought to WP, albeit done with significantly more panache - but one that's not unique to WP. And talking about the device it borrowed the unique design from, it was puzzling to say the least that the Lumia 800 was weaker-sauce hardware wise than the older N9, which itself was something that Nokia must have known was a dead duck even when they were working on it given the total 'success' of the Maemo N900.
Notwithstanding the criticisms of some of the parts fitted to the Nokia, what is further disappointing is what is missing. Given the time it was released, it should have had (regardless of whether people find them useful or not) a front-facing camera and a full complement of Mango compatible sensors.
A slightly disappointing initial effort from Nokia, but nevertheless a decent Windows Phone by dint of there being not that much worthwhile competition. My advice? If the Samsung WP7 in your particular market is fortunate enough to not be crippled with 8Gb of RAM but has 16, look long and hard at it (while considering the possibly slightly worse reception it has) before picking this.
*UPDATE 29/06
I had a day not so long ago where just bizarrely I couldn't keep the phone in my hand. For some reason I kept dropping it that day - including a fall practically from head height into concrete, face down with that "slap" sound where you know it's landed totally on the screen - and if it were an iPhone, you know it's new phone time. Passed with flying colours - colour me both surprised and pleased.
good review!
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review history
- 2012-06-29
-
Edited comment on Durability
Updated detailed review
Durability rating changed from 4 to 5
- 2012-06-08
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Updated detailed review