- Photo: Nokia
It’s do or die time for Nokia and yesterday the struggling Finnish mobile company unveiled its first ever Windows Phone Mango smartphones, named the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710. These two handsets are essentially Nokia’s last hope, but fortunately they also look very promising.
Rising from the ashes
No company has suffered greater from the introduction of the iPhone, and touch screen smartphones in general, than Nokia. Once the world’s number one phone maker, it is now battling for its very existence. Nokia was unable to adapt to the global trend towards touch screen smartphones, until finally, the company reversed course, brought in a new CEO, more or less abandoned its own mobile operating systems and fully embraced Microsoft’s Windows Phone as its new OS of choice.
First Windows Phone models
Nokia’s decision to go with Windows Phone, and not Android, was met with heavy criticism. Not only would Nokia be able to launch Android handsets much sooner, but other manufacturers, like Samsung or HTC, had already been quite successful with the Google OS. Nevertheless, Nokia opted to go with the Microsoft mobile OS and now, eight months after the decision was made, we finally have the fruit of the company’s labours before us in the form of the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710.
Very stylish look
The first thing you’ll notice about the Nokia Lumia 800 (the higher-end of the two) is that it looks very good appearance-wise. The rectangular Nokia smartphone is made from one piece of poly-carbonate and is available in either red, blue or black. Unlike most of today’s modern smartphones, which sport aluminium exteriors and mostly darker colours, the poly-carbonate Lumia 800 manages a very bright shade of blue or red. Plus, the colour is actually part of the material, not just an overcoat of paint, so it won’t chip off, wear out or get scratched.
AMOLED display
After the Lumia 800 models stylish and colourful exterior, our attention turns to its 3.7 inch AMOLED screen. The Nokia handset’s display is about the same size as the iPhone 4S and on the smaller side when compared to new models like the colossal Samsung Galaxy Nexus or the HTC Titan. The phone’s screen is made from Gorilla Glass, and features an attractive curved glass design. It’s also capable of full HD video playback, and looks good in action too.
Good hardware
Turning to the inside of the Lumia 800, its hardware specifications are fairly advanced, though not incredible. The Nokia Lumia phone runs off a single-core 1.4GHz processor, which isn’t as fast as some dual-core mobile CPUs we’ve seen, but nonetheless the Lumia 800 reportedly runs very smoothly. Storage won’t be a concern with the phone either, since it includes 16GB of onboard storage space, supplemented by 25GB from Nokia’s SkyDrive cloud storage.
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Powerful camera
On its back, the Nokia Lumia 800 boasts an 8MP camera, complete with auto-focus and Carl Zeiss optics. The camera is capable of recording video in HD as well (though only 720p) and the phone itself comes with an instant snapshot button for quickly taking shots. Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be any front facing camera for video conferencing.
Lower-end Lumia 710
True to Nokia’s spirit of offering affordable mid-range phones, the mobile company is also releasing a less advanced, cheaper version of the Lumia 800, with the Lumia 710. The 710 shares many similarities with the 800 model, including the same processor, general size and shape (although it’s thicker, rounder and bulkier), and of course operating system. However, it offers less storage, a lower quality display, and only a 5MP camera.
Latest Mango version
Nokia has always done hardware well, but what makes the Lumia models different is that they now do software well too. The Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 both run the latest Windows Phone 7.5 Mango OS, which has earned praise for its unique tile interface, ability to make things easily accessible on the homescreen, multi-tasking, Xbox Live integration and improved social features. Although WP 7.5 has barely made any inroads as far as market share is concerned, the OS itself typically gets good reviews and would definitely provide a good amount of variety beyond Android, iOS and BlackBerry.
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Mid-range prices
The newly debuted Nokia Lumia smartphones might not be as powerful as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, or even fellow Windows Phone models like the HTC Titan. However, with the Nokia Lumia 800 starting at £365 SIM-free and the Lumia 710 beginning at only 270 Euros, the two handsets strike an excellent combination between affordability, performance and style. This could definitely be a winning strategy and reviewers, for the most part, are pleased with the Nokia models. With that said, many things, like processor power, screen size, microSD capability and so forth, could be better.
UK contract and release info
The Nokia Lumia 800 will be arriving in the UK in November for £365 SIM-free. It’s also available via Vodafone, as well as Three and Orange if you’re prepared to lock into a longer contract. The 800 smartphone can be pre-ordered now and is available for free with an 18 month contract. The Lumia 710, meanwhile, won’t be arriving until sometime in 2012 it seems, though it will be fairly affordable when it does land. Will you be getting the Lumia handset this holiday season and do you think Nokia is finally back with these new models?