Nokia Lumia 800 review

The first Windows Phone from Nokia has finally arrived, but is this smartphone the shot in the arm Nokia so desperately needs or a shot in the foot? Julian Prokaza finds out in our review.

The Nokia Drive app on the Lumia 800

The Nokia Drive app on the Lumia 800.

Nokia Maps essentially duplicates the stock Windows Phone 7 Maps app, although the addition of simple building outlines for city centres and public transport network overlays (for rail, tube and tram) make it marginally more useful. Finally, Nokia Music is a media manager with built-in MP3 purchasing and free "mix radio" music streaming from four genres that makes it more akin to the limited listening options of Last.fm than, say, Spotify. At 352 online for an unlocked model, the Nokia Lumia 800 costs about the same as the unlocked HTC Titan which has a higher specification and a bigger (but not necessarily better) screen, but the Lumia's gorgeous design certainly gives it an edge. That said, the iPhone 4S only costs 47 more unlocked and it's a much better smartphone in terms of both hardware and software.

So what's our verdict?

Verdict

The Nokia Lumia 800 is by far one of the best looking Windows Phone 7 smartphones we’ve seen so far, but its allure is diluted somewhat by its fuzzy PenTile matrix display and an unlocked price that puts it in the same territory as the iPhone 4S.

Connectivity: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G 850/900/1900/2100 Display: 480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches, PenTile matrix AMOLED OS: Windows Phone 7.5 Camera: eight megapixels rear facing GPS: A-GPS Processor: 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Bluetooth: 2.1+EDR Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n Storage: 16GB internal RAM: 512MB Dimensions: 117 x 62 x 12 mm Weight: 142g Battery: Lithium Ion 1450 mAh