Nokia Lumia 800 - A Beacon of Hope

Overview

Nokia’s renewed strategy to work with Microsoft has finally materialized in the form of the Nokia Lumia 800. With Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop declaring it as “the first real Windows Phone”, hopes and expectations are running high on Nokia's latest smartphone, powered by Microsoft’s updated Windows Phone 7.5.

Deep down, the Lumia 800 is armed with some fairly decent hardware. This includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chip, with its single-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz coupled with an Adreno 205 GPU. With 512MB of RAM to work with while most other devices of its class have moved on with 1GB of RAM, we have to wonder if that will be sufficient for its multitasking aspect. If you're more particular about the phone's hardware, here's a quick listing of its specifications:

Key highlights of the Nokia Lumia 800 Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8255 single-core 1.4GHz processor 512MB RAM Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 3.7-inch AMOLEDcapacitive touchscreen / 800 x 480 pixels 8-megapixel camera / autofocus, LED flash 16GB 1450mAh battery 142g 116.5 mm x 61.2 mm x 12.1 mm Price: S$775

Design and Handling

Handling the Lumia 800 is like riding a bike. And in this case, the bike is the Nokia N9. it’s understandable for anyone to confuse the Lumia 800 and its unibody design with Nokia’s first and only MeeGo device. The design is downright similar to the N9, and we were not too surprised by the microUSB port hidden underneath a hinged cover. Likewise, you'll have to prop the cover open before you can gain access to the micro SIM card holder. That's right, if you're planning to purchase the Lumia 800 off the rack without a contract, there's still a need for you to either cut your SIM card to micro SIM size, or request for a new one from your telco. This step is probably not necessary if you are swapping from an Apple iPhone 4 or 4S to the Lumia 800.

The contoured design, coupled with a convex screen, does remind us of how we swiped the MeeGo interface on the N9. And it's not too different on the Windows Phone 7.5 interface. As we swiped across the menu, be it up, down, left or right, we were pleased at how the convex design made it easier to sweep across the 3.7-inch display. This is a size that works well, neither too big to require two hands nor too small for your eyes.

There are some slight changes to its design, but ultimately, the overall design doesn’t deviate too much from what we saw on the N9. For those who are wondering about the smaller 3.7-inch display, this is easily explained by the inclusion of the three standard shortcuts for Windows Phone devices. With Microsoft stipulating those three shortcuts as a necessity for all Windows Phone devices, we have 0.2-inch shaved off the screen real estate, leaving it with a smaller, but still manageable 3.7-inch screen size.

Handling the Lumia 800 is somewhat similar to how we felt on the N9, even with its weight boosted to a slightly heavier 142g (from the N9's 135g). As mentioned, with the new shortcut keys, the screen size is reduced by 0.2 inch, but that did not change the overall dimensions of the Lumia 800. Sharing the exact same 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1mm dimensions as the N9, the Lumia 800 is perhaps one of the heftiest Windows Phone devices to date. Some might see the weight as a disadvantage, but for those who prefer a more solid and sturdy feel to their phones, the Lumia 800 has the right weight balance, topped with a sleek uniform design. Similarly, oil smudges will make a frequent appearance on both the screen and its non-glossy body.

With its volume and power buttons located at the same right profile, an additional camera button (which is also a required hardware button for Windows Phone OS) is fitted towards the lower right profile. When we attempted to capture photos, we realized how the curved body didn't give us a good grip between our index finger and thumb. As such, we had to take extra care to hold the Lumia 800 with both hands while we pressed the camera button to capture the shot.

The new hardware buttons definitely add a new dimension to the usability of the device (as compared to the N9), mostly in how the back, home and search buttons are sufficiently sensitive to our touch. While we aren't too crazy over more buttons on the Lumia 800 as compared to the cleaner N9, there are some upsides to having a dedicated camera button to capture images quickly, and a more obvious shortcut button to return to the previous screen(s).  We do miss how we can unlock the N9 by double-tapping on the screen, and find it much more cumbersome to depress the power button and slide upwards on the screen to unlock the Lumia 800.

Nokia Drive and Nokia Maps

If there's one reason for us to choose the Lumia 800 over any other Windows Phone, or even other smartphones, we can answer that with two words: Nokia Drive. The preloaded and free navigation app is by far one of the best feature that Nokia has to offer, one that Nokia is hoping to leverage with Microsoft to strengthen its market share over the next few months.

To understand the advantage Nokia Drive has over various similar turn-by-turn navigation apps, you'll have to ask yourself this - how much do you spend on these navigation apps? Companies such as TomTom do have these navigation solutions, though its pricing leaves much to be desired. Take for example, an iPhone user who purchased the TomTom app. The greatest issue arising from these apps purchase, is the various pricing for each region. As you travel across various countries, the purchased app might not have the necessary map, prompting you to purchase yet another TomTom app for a different set of maps.

Nokia Drive has none of that. In fact, it's extensive list of maps are free to download, along with a wide range of navigation language. Till now, the only contender to this free offering comes from Google Maps Navigation, which is only available in limited countries. On the contrary, Nokia Drive covers more than 100 countries in over 50 languages.

When we brought the Lumia 800 out for a drive, we realized that its maps and voice navigation aren't preloaded onto the device. The former requires a Wi-Fi connection to download the maps which could run hundreds of megabytes in size, while the latter is downloadable through a 3G connection. Consider this - once the maps have been downloaded through a (preferably free) Wi-Fi connection and loaded within the Lumia 800, there's no need for the device to constantly download any further map data. And that should provide you with a more power saving navigation system without the constant data connection draining the battery. Comparing Nokia Maps and Microsoft's Bing Maps (which requires you to constantly download map data) side-by-side, we believe that Nokia Maps will be a much better option.

Nokia Drive performed admirably in accuracy and re-routing even after we've deviated from the original route, but all that is for naught when the Lumia 800 couldn't sustain itself beyond half a working day when we tapped into its GPS features constantly. As much as we approve of the Drive app and its usefulness, we aren't too sold on the idea of a Lumia 800 with a flat battery after a short day of travel.

However, to put things into perspective, you'll have to understand that such intensive usage of its GPS feature isn't common on smartphones. Any other smartphones and its battery would perform similarly with a constant power drain from the GPS chip. For the Lumia 800, the prospect of a free navigation software gave us more reasons to constantly use it, but we had to live with the downside of a lower battery mileage.

Nokia Music

If you have been hoping to do online music purchases, you're in luck - the Nokia Music Store is available through the Nokia Music app within the Lumia 800. Early users of Nokia's Music Store won't be able to copy their DRM-protected music onto the Lumia 800, but the good news is, any future purchases on the music store will be free of DRM. This allows you to transfer songs that are downloaded through the store onto your PC via Microsoft Zune.

If you'd rather enjoy your music through streaming services, the Mix Radio feature within Nokia Music gives you a wide genre of songs. And if a particular song catches your fancy, you can download it through the Nokia Music Store. Unfortunately, this feature is currently unavailable in Singapore, though Nokia mentioned that they are committed to bringing it to this region within the first half of 2012, subjected to its agreements with record labels.

Similar to how apps are recommended on the Windows Phone Marketplace, top songs are also found within the music store, if you're not too sure of the genre that gets your groove on. Our test unit has a gigs option, which will supposedly provide you with a list of music acts that's happening near your location. However, the app wasn't able to retrieve any information or find any gigs that were happening in the vicinity when we gave it a go.

What's Missing?

From all aspects, the Lumia 800 is a top-of-the-line Windows Phone device from Nokia, and it has given us a few practical features such as Nokia Drive that's exclusive only to the Nokia portfolio. With Windows Phone 7.5 running the show, the Lumia 800 seems to have everything under control.

Or so we thought. As we scrolled through its settings, there was one missing feature - Internet Sharing, or what is commonly known as wireless tethering. As such, you won't be able to create a wireless hotspot through your cellular data with the Lumia 800. This missing feature, which is a common sight on rival operating systems such as Apple iOS and Google Android, is a clear disadvantage to the Lumia 800.

According to Nokia, the company could have loaded the smartphones with the feature, but unless they offer significant value to a large number of people, they often take away from the experience elsewhere (in battery life, available screen size, alternative features, price etc.) without delivering sufficient value in return. The Finnish company further added that with Microsoft unveiling the Mango update just three days after the Nokia-Microsoft partnership was announced, agreements had already been made and development work was already underway. Regardless, Nokia is looking at various opportunities to include more features in upcoming Nokia Windows Phones.

Performance

With a single-core 1.4GHz processor deep within the Lumia 800, we were pleased that it lived to our expectations with a smooth and seamless interface. Screen transitions were fluid with no visible lags. The same can be said for the scrolling, with the interface reacting quickly to our touch as we scanned through a list of apps within the menu. To stress test how its 512MB ram handles multitasking, we activated numerous apps to determine if there were any perceptible slowdowns in performance. Thankfully, apps switching was snappy, though there were moments when an app required a bit more time to restore to its original state.

 

Multimedia Performance

Though the Lumia 800 comes with a smaller 3.7-inch display, it retains the same AMOLED display found on its MeeGo-based cousin. And that means we received the same visually pleasing experience on the Lumia 800. Videos and images that appeared on the display were rich in colors, and the details are sufficiently sharp with its 480 x 800 pixels resolution. Audio performance could be a little better, especially with the speakers located at the bottom of the Lumia 800. If you do watch movies with the Lumia 800 in a landscape orientation, chances are, your palms will block and muffle the speakers. Our suggestion? Stick to the 3.5mm audio port, which is right at the left edge of the Lumia 800's crown.

Did the Lumia 800's camera impress, as the earlier N9 did? Surprisingly, even though we are looking at the same camera hardware, the answer is no. Though images looked great on the Lumia 800's AMOLED display, we saw something very different when we viewed it on regular LCD screens. In comparison to the N9, we noticed that the Lumia 800 comes with a slightly warmer tinge to its photos, which may not be well accepted by those who prefer a more cooling hue to their images. Noise is prominently found across the images, and details were somewhat lost on the finer areas within the image.

Battery Performance

Windows Phone devices, both old and new, haven't managed to impress us with its battery mileage. Earlier on, we've mentioned how the Lumia 800 went dry with a fair bit of GPS usage. To put things into perspective, we put the Lumia 800 through our regular battery test and compared it against devices with similar specifications. Factors such as battery capacities, display sizes, resolutions and processing power are considered. Our testing methodology involves testing a video with a 480 x 800 pixels resolution looping under the following conditions:

• Screen brightness and volume at 100%
  
   
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections active
  
   
• Constant data stream via email and Twitter

We targeted devices utilizing single-core processors to compare against the Lumia 800, which puts the HTC Radar, Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S and the N9 as likely contenders. In particular, the Radar gives us a better understanding of how a similar Windows Phone 7.5 device performs, while the Arc S with a larger screen and Android operating system will highlight the potential differences even with a similar 1.4GHz processor. The N9, with somewhat similar hardware specifications to the Lumia 800, is added in to visualize the different performance between Windows Phone 7.5 and MeeGo.

The verdict is definitely not in favor of the Lumia 800. With only 259 minutes clocked on a full charge, the Lumia 800 fared slightly lower than the Radar. Even with its supposedly more power-efficient AMOLED display, Nokia's flagship Windows Phone is left with the shorter end of the stick when it comes to battery mileage. The Arc S came up much stronger with an additional hour, while the N9 blazed through the comparison with a strong 435 minutes lead. Though the N9 does have a high battery mileage, do remember that we were not too keen on the sluggish performance of the MeeGo OS. These results only indicate that the power consumption on the Lumia 800 is less then desired, thus its overall low battery life despite a similarly rated battery capacity with the rest of the phones.

Lastly, we come to the portability of the device, which is affected by not just the battery life, but also the overall dimensions and weight. To give it a tangible measurement, we calculate it as a portability index.

Portability Index = Ratio of Battery Life to (Weight x Volume)

As you might have guessed, a higher number translates to a much better portability index. Looking across the compared devices, the Lumia 800, which tips slightly higher on the weight and dimensions scale on top of a low battery mileage, returned a relatively low score. While the sturdiness of its design will be a welcomed addition for some, having a lower battery mileage, and in turn a lower portability index, won't give users a compelling reason to choose the Lumia 800 over stronger options.

Should you be less dependent on Nokia Drive and its GPS activity, the Lumia 800 will survive on a full charge for probably three quarters of a working day. That approximates to probably 10 hours of cellular and data usage mixed with HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, on top of some audio/visual entertainment on the unit. In our opinion, that falls short of current smartphone standards, which usually run for a whole day under a full charge with the usual calls, messaging and data activities such as web browsing and multimedia streaming.

Conclusion

Is the Nokia Lumia 800 the real Windows Phone that you've been waiting for? It's undeniable that the Lumia 800's unibody design, with its curved profile and convex display, certainly creates a head turning effect for many. It might be on the heavier side of things with its 142g weight, but it does provide users with a phone that's well built with a solid feel. The additional buttons, from the three standard shortcuts to a camera button on its right, have certainly changed a few things on the Lumia 800 when compared to the similar looking N9. A reduced 3.7-inch display, though using the same AMOLED technology and a WVGA resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, also meant a higher pixels per inch density for the Lumia 800. And that did put the Lumia 800 at an advantage over similar Windows Phone makers such as HTC, with images and videos that had richer colors and details on its 3.7-inch display.

Feature-wise, Nokia definitely brought much more to the Windows Phone platform with its Nokia Drive app. The lure of free maps and turn-by-turn navigation, with fast GPS locking and accurate readings, are compelling reasons for Windows Phone users to consider the Lumia 800. Music lovers will also love the fact that you can purchase music off the Nokia Music Store, and it will no longer have the DRM restriction that locks downloaded music onto registered devices.

Like all things, the Lumia 800 does have its Achilles Heel. The absence of wireless tethering, otherwise known as Internet Sharing on Windows Phone 7.5, created a disadvantage against similar devices on Google Android or Apple's iPhone that comes with it. If you prefer using speakers as the primary audio output, the Lumia 800 might disappoint you, not to mention it's located at an odd location that would most likely be muffled by your palms.

Furthermore, its imaging performance did not live up to our expectations. This came as a surprise to us, given how the N9 did fare quite well on our imaging tests, but its Windows Phone cousin failed to do so on our test charts with its warm tinge and higher noise levels. Like all Windows Phone devices, the greatest downside comes from its battery life, with an average 4 hours and 19 minutes on our intensive battery test on its 1450mAh battery. Even when using the phone casually with a mix of activities, we found that it would last up to three-quarters of a day and not up to our expectations of one full day at least for modern smartphones. So if you do get the Lumia 800, be sure to have charging options at home and at work to ensure undisrupted use of the device.

All things considered, the Windows Phone portfolio is quite limited, especially so in 2011. If you are keen to switch to the Windows Phone environment, the Lumia 800 is probably the most likely choice, other than the HTC Radar. The caveat that comes with the Lumia 800, is a S$775 price tag that's not too surprising for similar smartphones. However, if budget is of concern, the Finnish outfit will be introducing Windows Phone devices such as the Nokia Lumia 710 with a lower price tag at S$505.

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