Hands on with the Nokia Lumia 800

 The first smartphone I had ever used 6 years back was a windows. In those days, the only touch screen phones around were the Windows phones. Manufactured by HTC, iMate, O2 and a few other companies, these phones were huge and needed a stylus to operate. It was almost similar to the PC, where you tapped on the Start button and the menu dropped down. There was a Control Panel, Windows Media Player, a very dysfunctional Word, and a few more programs (there were no 'apps' then). Setting up an email account was hard and even web browsing was limited (Blackberry ruled that market. I never considered BB to be a smartphone, I think it's an email phone and that's it). There were plenty of buttons on the phone, and many ports for different devices. You needed an external SD card of not more than 512MB max which had to be loaded with data before you could insert it back into the phone. There was no PC sync software (or there was but the PC never recognized the phone). The only competitor was Palm, but they never came to India. I used the Windows phone for 3 years, and by then 2007 had arrived.

2007 redefined the smartphone with the entry of two new players in the market: Google with Android and  Apple with iOS (was not called iOS then). These phones not only transformed the smartphone industry, but the entire mobile phone industry. Touch phones now responded to your finger, there was no need for a stylus. Screen sizes became bigger, cameras became more clearer, phones had inbuilt memory and there was no need for memory cards. It also introduced us to the world of 'Apps' or applications which can do a variety of functions and operations which was never thought possible.

As Apple and Android were gaining ground, there were two companies that were on a downward slide. The flaws of the Windows phone were exposed with the advent of other platforms, and its share in the market was falling. At the same time, Nokia saw a sharp decline in phone sales, and less people were accepting the Symbian platform. Analysts and tech enthusiasts were writing off Windows as a phone OS and Nokia as a manufacturer.Even I thought so, till I saw the Nokia Lumia 800.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is Nokia's first phone to run on the Windows 7.5 Mango OS. I first saw the phone at the priority store in a local mall, and it immediately caught my fancy. I browsed through it, kept it back and went on. But as days passed, my urge to use the phone starting increasing. I finally decided to use one, and I am glad that I did. Similar looking to the Nokia N8, the phone is sleek and chic. The glossy touchscreen is slightly convex giving a bubble like feel to the phone. The phone looks like its made out of a single piece of poly carbonate, with small openings for the necessary plugs. Unlike earlier phones, the battery is inbuilt and the phone comes with a memory of 16GB. The good part about the material is that even if it gets scratched, it won't expose a glaring silver color but the same color of your phone (Black, Blue or Pink). The screen is made of Gorilla glass and gets no scratches; the OLED screen is extremely clear and makes high def pictures look stunning. Even with sunlight, images are as clear as ever. The touch is extremely responsive and effortless. The response is fast and that leads to swift usage.There is no front camera (will be there in the Lumia 900) but there is a rear 8MP camera, which is attached with a small still slip with the Nokia logo embossed. There are 4 buttons on the side - volume, on/off and camera. The Start button, Bing Search and Back are capacitative touch buttons. Overall, the form factor is great, good to look, great to hold and comfortable to use.

As I switched on my phone, I was asked to enter my Windows Live ID. Luckily I had one and I did. It then went to initial setup, and I was easily able to transfer my contacts through the 'Contact Transfer' app. In less than a minute I was done and good to use the phone like any other. The interface is a welcome change from other Mobiles OS. It's based on the Metro tile interface, that is now seen on the XBox and Windows 8. Unlike most smartphones, where the icons are on the screen and you can add widgets, the Lumia and most Windows phones work on live self-updating tiles. You can add an app as a tile on the Start screen. The app (not all, but few) keep updating depending on the availability of new content and information. News apps show the headlines, Weather apps show the latest climate based on location etc. There is the main start screen with all the tiles, and by swiping left, you can see all the apps. Unlike all smartphones which populate the screen with apps as icons, the Lumia lists them alphabetically and you have to keep scrolling down for more so there are no multiple screens.

While there are stand alone Facebook and Twitter apps, you can also configure your Facebook and Twitter profile inbuilt . By doing so you not only add to the People app, but also the Me app. The People appbshows you all your contacts, by swiping you can see the latest Facebook and Twitter feeds, swipe again and you can see who are the people you have been engaging with recently. The UI and experience is amazing. All Social feeds are at one place. When you choose a contact, you can see the person's number, latest Facebook and Twitter Activity, history of SMS Text and calls. The Me app is all about you. It's about what your are doing in the Social space. You can update FB and Twitter directly from there. It also delivers Social notifications. While Sony has tried to integrate Social with People scape, the Lumia experience stands out.

The Lumia is power packed when it comes to inbuilt apps. Office 365 is already loaded and needs to additional purchase. You can now edit your Word docs, Powerpoint presentations, Excel worksheets on your phone. Save and upload to cloud is another feature. When it comes to GPS and Maps, Nokia is by far the undisputed leader in India. While there is Google Maps, navigation is not available in India. Most GPS apps for iOS and Android need to be purchased additionally. That's not the case with Nokia. The Lumia comes with Nokia Drive, the turn-by-turn GPS navigation app, and it works fantastic even in India. Perfectly accurate and precise, Nokia Drive will ensure you're never lost. While configuring it, you have to download maps for India. Finding known places is easy, but exact addresses is hard to find. You can view the maps in 2D and 3D. Unlike most GPS apps, Nokia Drive and Maps is simple and easy and needs no special understanding. There is a Local Scout app, which based on your location tells you the closest restaurants, hotels, malls, cinemas and other relevant information. And its just there, always.

Nokia is also known for its phone cameras. The Lumia 800 comes with a 8MP Carl Zeiss Tessar Camera.  Compared to the iPhone 4 and many Androids, its the best. The picture is clear, and even in the night pictures come without the white patch. The camera is comparable to point and shoot cameras, and you can also adjust the Scenes, white balance, exposure, ISO, Metering Mode, Effects, Contrast, Saturation, Focus and Resolution. The camera is easily accessible by the lower button on the right side. I am not the best at photography, but I like the Lumia camera the best.

The default email account is Windows Live/MSN/Hotmail, but you can add Outlook, Yahoo, Google, POP and IMAP accounts. Among Social, you can add FB, Twitter and LinkedIn. The messages interface is also great and is now a thread interface between you and whoever you are messaging. The bubbles stand out against the black background and that gives a great effect that makes your conversations come alive.

Windows has incorporated Zune into the OS and has made it the defauly player for music and video. By tapping on the tile, you can choose between music, videos, podcasts and radio (most smartphones don't come with inbuilt radio, so this is definitely a plus). By choosing music, you can then swipe between songs, artists, albums etc. Same goes for videos and podcasts. You can also view your history and the apps which have audio and video content within the Zune app. The speakers of the phone are good and loud, and you can hear music and sound even from a distance.  Music can be transferred through the Zune Desktop software for Windows and Windows Phone connector for Mac.

For apps, there is the Windows Marketplace. You can use your Live ID to make purchases. While the number of apps is less compared to iOS and Android, all the important apps are available so there is so particular utility or function you will miss as such. There maybe lesser games but its only a matter of time before it catches up. Skydrive is a must-have app and is Window's offering of cloud services. With an initial 25GB limit, you can upload almost anything from your computer and access it on your phone thus transforming your mobile phone into you portable PC right in your pocket (more on Skydrive in my upcoming post). With inbuilt Office, your productivity on the Lumia can be at its best.

If there is one complaint I have with the Lumia, it's the battery. The battery is inbuilt so I can't change or put an external battery of higher charge. It doesn't last more than a day, and I at least expect a day and a half to two. I hope something is being done to improve them. Lot of work needs to be done on voice commands, though dictation for speech to text is good, but needs a slight accent. I also think there is a better way for multi tasking, right now a long press on the back button shows all open windows. You can't close them directly but you have to choose the app and keep pressing back.

Many believed Microsoft, when it came to mobiles is a sinking ship and Nokia had made a wrong choice by going with the Windows OS and not Android. I beg to differ, I think its great that such software it combined with superior hardware to make the experience complete and fulfilling. I've used the phone for only a week and a half, and there's lots more to learn and discover. Do let me know what you think, and remember its not just Apple and Android, its also Nokia and Windows. If you're buying a new phone, its worthwhile to consider the Lumia 800 ( Lumia 600 is also available, costs lesser).

     PHONE SPECIFICATIONS (Source: gsmarena.com)

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

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

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

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

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

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual-LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps, check quality
	Secondary	No

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

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 Lumia 800 costs about Rs.30,000 while the Nokia Lumia 600 costs Rs.18,000.