Nokia's first Windows Phone device has been under a lot of scrutiny since its inception and now it's finally here we have a chance to fairly judge the Lumia 800, rather than speculating, moaning and generally being doomsayers.
Software
Nokia announced that it would be joining forces with Microsoft earlier in the year and the Lumia 800 is the first device to come to fruition from that union.
The Lumia 800 runs on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and, as you'd expect, performs very well thanks to the rapidly maturing mobile platform.
You get plenty of upgrades over the launch version of Windows Phone in Mango, including support for (select third party) multi-tasking, social networking support, Internet Explorer 9 (which now supports HTML 5, which is a very important addition in light of Adobe's recent abandonment of Flash mobile).
Windows Phone 7.5 is a great choice for Nokia and makes the Lumia 800 a viable choice for any mobile fan.
Samsung's Galaxy Note runs on version 2.3 of Android and the Google software is a delight to use.
There's apps aplenty available via the Android Market, loads of customisation potential and, most importantly, the platform runs fast, safe and smooth.
Display
Nokia has chosen to imbue the Lumia 800 with a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen that operates at a resolution of 480x800 and has a pixel density of 252PPI.
Choosing AMOLED was a great choice by Nokia and the Lumia 800 thoroughly lives up to its name thanks to the delightfully bright, vivid screen.
The Galaxy Note's display is a great performer and the size adds so much to the device. If you're viewing photos or exploring the wonders of the World Wide Web then it's a fantasic device to choose.
Power
Nokia hasn't scrimped on the power for the Lumia 800. It runs on a single-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz and also features an Adreno 205 GPU, giving the device plenty of grunt and the inclusion of 512MB RAM will help the device chew through even the most testing apps, games or other tasks.
Samsung's Galaxy Note offers more though, in the form of a 1.4Ghz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400MP GPU and 1GB RAM, which drives the device to perform with blistering pace.
Form & Build
Samsung Galaxy Note - 146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm, 178g
Nokia Lumia 800 - 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 142g
Samsung has stuck firmly to its tried and tested 'plastic über alles' approach for the Galaxy Note. The device is light, thin and doesn't really feel as if it should cost a fortune.
Sure, there are no creaks and the device is fairly robust, but the general feel and aesthetic isn't something we recommend.
The display benefits from a Gorilla Glass coating though and we can't fault the device for comfort (considering it's such a big-screened smartphone) so we'll take our minor gripes and stow them.
The Lumia 800 feels fantastic in the hand and exudes class. It's polycarbonate chassis feels strong and looks great and the device is thin enough to not feel like a brick in your pocket.
Camera
Nokia's relationship with Carl Zeiss has produced some great camera-phones over the years and while the Lumia 800 is a good device, it's by no means great.
The 8-megapixel camera, which benefits from autofocus, dual-LED flash, geo-tagging and 720P movie capture, is a nice performer but doesn't live up to the standards we've come to expect from a company with Nokia's nous.
If you're willing to invest time in taking a picture with the device you'll be fine as it's fully capable of producing stunning results. Nonetheless, the device does struggle to focus and can seem laboured to start from cold, which is never a winner when you're trying to snap an impromptu photo
These minor gripes can be ironed-out with a software update though, so don't let this put you off the device entirely.
Samsung's Galaxy Note features an 8-megapixel camera too, which comes with an LED flash, autofocus, image stabilisation, geo-tagging, touch focus, face & smile detection and 1080P video capture!
Its power is immense, its screen is delightful and it feels like you're using a sheet of cardboard to surf the Web. What's not to like about that?!
Nokia's Lumia 800 is a great stride forward for the company though. The device is solid as rock and performs well thanks to Microsoft's excellent operating system.
No comments:
Post a Comment