Nokia Lumia 800
Today I finally got my hands on the much hyped Nokia Lumia 800. I had been very tempted to jump on a plane and head to London when these devices were first launched in Europe and I can say that it has been worth the wait. It makes my poor old HTC Mozart look and feel like a dinosaur.
The Nokia Lumia 800 came as a result of a recent completion Microsoft and Nokia ran where the first 50 developers to publish 3-4 new apps would get one of the Nokias (Lumia 710 for 3 apps and the 800 for 4 apps). While the 710 looked great too, I was keen to get my hands on the 800, so even though it meant quite a bit more work, I eventually got all four apps submitted and approved on the Marketplace.
First Thoughts
Wow this is solid!
Having read about the Lumia 800's solid polymer body (plastic), I thought it might feel light and flimsy, however I was pleasantly surprised, it felt solid and strong. It was heavier than my Mozart and about the same as the iPhone 4s I have at work.
Cool it comes with a case!
Even though the polymer body looks absolutely stunning, the dints and scratches on my Mozart are testament to the rough treatment the modern smartphone must endure. Nokia have thought of this and provided a snug-fitting, rubberised cover (Soft cover) that protects the side and rear of the device. Compared to some of the covers I've seen on iPhone's, this one actually looks like it's meant to be there. In fact, if you didn't know any better, you would think that it was actually part of the body.
What's this 1 – 2 business!
After spinning the phone around and checking out all the vital parts, I discovered some rather intriguing text on the top of the device; 1 - push, 2 - slide. Having not bothered reading the quick-start guide, I fumbled around for a while before I finally opened the micro USB port (1 – push) and the micro SIM card holder (2 – slide). Thankfully you don't change your sim all that often, but I did think the flap covering the USB port was a little over engineered. To be truthful, I loved that my Mozart didn't have a cover at all as it made it so easy to connect the cable – something you do all the time when you are deploying apps to your development device.
Is it just me or does that screen look amazing!
Now I know my poor old Mozart has seen better days, but the AMOLED screen on the Lumia 800 is really amazing. Black really is black and the colours are much deeper too. I will not even bother pretending to know why this is, but the result is stunning, you can barely tell where the screen ends and the surround begins – they just meld together.
Over the next few days I am sure I will get the chance to try out some of the Nokia apps, such as Nokia Drive, Nokia Music and Nokia Maps, but for now just let's say that I am one happy camper.