Design elements
The problem with Windows Phone, at this stage in its life, is that it lacks both features and tweaking options. Right now it’s somewhere between iOS 2 (2008) and iOS 3 (2009). I quickly became irritated with the “live” tiles, they were far more “alive” than they needed to be: the non-stop transitions are a gimmick. But there’s no way to turn these animations off.
The base of the handset is home to the speaker grille
Windows Phone is also going to need a richer shell than the one offered today: a dual-list design of Tiles one one side, and a long, vertical list of apps on the other. So the platform needs to gain not only major, mature features, such as tethering, but also needs more customization options.
The Lumia 800 is on the large side, but thin, and is fashioned from a single shell of non-sticky matte plastic. It doesn't attract fingerprints, as most glossy plastic cases do. But it isn’t the most comfortable device you'll ever shove in your pocket, due to the strange decision to give it sharp right-angled corners. Different, yes - comfortable, no.
The micro USB port flap seems unlikely to last the life of the handset
Perhaps you can live with that – if you keep your phone in a manbag or handbag, away from the body. But less excusable is the decision to hide the micro USB port needed to charge the device under a fiddly door. Since Nokia has not included its traditional pin charger port, this door will need to be opened and shut every day. Which doesn't inspire confidence.
In addition, the phone frequently gave me a "Goodbye" while accessing the door – even though it wasn't really going anywhere, and remained fully operational. It's like Knock Down Ginger in reverse. I wondered how either the sharp corners, or the doorflap, got through the approval process. We may guess that the design was considered striking, so looks were considered more important than feel or convenience.
Next page: Battery assault
COMMENTS
So far as it goes not a bad effort
And from the title I was talking about the review not the phone itself.
No comment on the maps from Nokia, how was the GPS signal pickup? Does this phone offer all the current Symbian methods of position determination?
The included headphones and music output as a whole got no mention which greatly disappointed me.
The included case that comes with the phone, worthless POS or actually worth using? Did it make the design issues worse or better for the reviewer? Was it even tried? How hard was it to get on the phone and then take off? Did it add excess bulk?
Charging time? Power consumption of said charger? Both when charging and not.
Design issues. OK you didn't find the design that great and I don't mind a reviewer saying that, but given it's been taken from the N9 nearly in its entirety I would wager that the build quality will be much much better than is hinted at in here. The technology of the screen got very short shrift. I find this baffling when it is of such a cutting edge nature.
Come on El Reg, stop pulling your punches. I come here looking for a review that lets the reader know that the phone has been truly used and abused. This reads like it was borrowed for 24 hours and that the reviewer had several other more important things to be doing at the same time. For a review score of 80% I would of expected much more detail. If you felt that all the phone had to offer was covered then I would of said the score, based on this review, should of been around the 58-62% range.
That's because it's not really a Nokia
The innards and antenna are made by Compal, an off-the-shelf WP7 board (because they are all the same). And the camera is better than the one on the E7, better sensor and not EDoF - low-light performance is bad because you can't do miracles with small-and-thin camera modules after Nokia caught all that flak about the lardness of the N8 camera.
Of course, being Andrew, no mention of how the Maemo6 in the N9 was the modern platform Nokia needed and already had, with an app GRID, letter scroll shortcuts, Skype integration, Opera (which will never be ported to WP7 because of MS rules), and TWO days of battery life (and the N9 is a real Nokia in reception and call quality)
Something grumpy or grudging on every page, inadequate battery life, poor form factor & it still gets 80%. You are easily pleased, aren't you?
Nokia or MS? We know you work for one of them
(body) in the chest freezer
Empty shell compared to the N8
I have played briefly with samples of the 800 & 710 and it has the shiny shiny but no where near the customisable grunt I get from my current device.
Read/write from/to external USB memory being a big one.
Symbian may seem complicated to some but you can really make it do things that other phones just wont. Maybe its just me who like messing with settings & trying things out? FM transmitter too, proper useful.
Maybe the N8 was/is the pinnacle of what a phone can do & its all down hill from here in to the phones for nuggets sphere who like shiny over function, but I sincerly hope not.
Only gripe is that Orange take an age to release OTA updates, but other than that, boss!
Gonna take a lot more to prise me away from S^3
