Hands On: Nokia Lumia 800 | TechTree.com

Hands On: Nokia Lumia 800

A promising new Windows Phone flagship.

 
Hands On: Nokia Lumia 800

Nokia had invited us to experience its Lumia 800. Having heard a lot about the device's CNC-milled, monoblock design, I was looking forward to the first encounter.


Hardware
Out of the three available colours, I liked cyan the most. Girls will probably go for magenta, while the classic black will have the most takers. The device's design is stunning, and resembles its cousin, the N9. However, to accommodate three capacitive keys, the 800's screen has been made smaller. Its display flaunts curved glass, which is refreshingly different from its rivals. Overall, the device looks "premium" and feels good to hold.



 

Hands On: Nokia Lumia 800


Performance And Apps
WP Mango runs fluidly on the phone's hardware. Social network integration, especially of Facebook, is unmatched by any other mobile OS. Nokia Maps offers a great level of detail for Indian cities, something that Bing Maps failed to deliver. Moreover, Nokia Drive brings free voice-guided GPS navigation to the table. What's missing though is a file manager, which we are used to getting in Nokia devices. I was also told that the phone doesn't support a mass storage mode, which is a typical WP restriction, but I feel that Nokia could have made a difference here. Let's save the other details for the full review.




Hands On: Nokia Lumia 800


During the event, I also caught up with Nokia's Product Manager, Kaustuv Chatterjee, for a quick Q&A session.


Why is there no file manager on the Lumia 800? I've always enjoyed it on older Nokia devices such as the N70 and E50.
See, here basically you can go and delete any file you want because it's right there [in the gallery].


How about a proper file manager where you can create folders and arrange files the way you like?
I will take it as a feedback and use it for the future releases.


Another annoyance is the dependability on Zune. Why can't we just drag and drop files into the device?
That's quite a lot to do with the platform. WP Mango was pretty much developed by the time we decided on the [Nokia-Microsoft] deal. So we didn't want to disturb that. However, you're gonna see a lot of customisation, differentiation, and Nokia-ness coming into these phones in the future.


Can we expect mass-storage mode via an update?
I can't comment on that right now, but I'll take that as an input and convey it to the development team.


Any word on the company's next camera flagship device?
We will announce it closer to launch [laughs].


So you guys are working on the N8's successor, right?
We are always committed to bringing in newer devices. What I can tell you right now is that yes, we are going to launch pretty shocking and category-defining products in the future [is he hinting at a tablet?].


If the N8's successor gets materialised, what OS will it run? Symbian or WP?
I can't comment on that.


When can we expect the Lumia 800 to hit stores?
Sometime in December.


Will it only be available in black? Or will cyan and magenta also be available?
All three colours will be available at the time of release.

 

Hands On: Nokia Lumia 800



Tags : Previews, Nokia, Windows Phone, Lumia, ck

 
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