Love the Nokia N9 but afraid of the high price tag, new OS and dead end path? No problem, the N9's twin is here as the Nokia Lumia 800 running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango. It shares the same physical design, polycarbonate unibody design and luscious AMOLED display too. The Lumia 800 has an elegant, high quality design with a completely unique look that sets it apart from the crowd. From the curved Gorilla Glass to the unibody polycarbonate body, it's simply luscious to look at and hold.
Call quality is excellent, as per usual for Nokia and earpiece volume is just average.
This is the Windows Phone many folks have been waiting for. It's available in Europe, but Nokia hasn't released a date for US availability (they said it will be coming, have no fear). We have the Euro unlocked version, which happily has AT&T 3G HSPA 14.4 on the 1900MHz (but not 850MHz) band for 3G data speeds. In late Feb. 2012, Nokia released the RM-819 version with both AT&T 3G bands (850/1900/2100MHz). The phone has a 3.7" AMOLED ClearBlack Gorilla Glass display that runs at 800 x 480 resolution (Microsoft's standard resolution requirement). It's every bit as sharp and vibrant as the N9's, just a little smaller and 54 pixels shorter because Nokia had to make room at the bottom for the usual Windows Phone capacitive buttons. The display is a head turner, with vivid colors, rich blacks and decent outdoor visibility.
The Nokia Lumia 800 runs on a 1.4GHz single core CPU (MS doesn't do dual cores in Windows Phone 7.5 Mango), and it's supremely fast. Really. The standard live tiles and UI are here, and Nokia hasn't customized it with MeeGo-like gestures. Perhaps that will come in a software update. The phone has 16 gigs of storage with no expansion slot-- you know Windows Phone isn't the friendliest to removable storage.
We've got an 8 megapixel camera on the back with dual LED flash and 720p video capture, same as the N9. We're thrilled to see better cameras on the new crop of Windows Phones, and Nokia knows how to make a good camera phone. Alas, there's no front camera.
For those of you intending to hit importers' virtual storefronts, keep in mind that the Lumia 800 has 3G on AT&T and overseas, but it does not have T-Mobile's 1700MHz 3G band so you're rocking with EDGE on T-Mobile. And the more commonly available Euro version RM-801 has AT&T 3G only on one of their two bands, though you should get coverage in many if not most markets. The phone uses a micro SIM, just like the Nokia N9 and iPhone 4S.
Call quality is excellent, as per usual for Nokia and earpiece volume is just average.
