Video: Start up times, Nokia N9 vs Nokia Lumia 800 (+ vs iPhone 4S)
This is a test I did with my previous Nokias, fascinated by what each software update may have been doing regarding boot up times, updates not always guaranteed to bring faster start up (sometimes it might be slower).
I’ve mentioned before that the Lumia 800 has a quick start up time but it’s not really one I’ve tested to see precisely how quick. Adrianisen did a couple of videos comparing the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia N9 with an iPhone 4S.
I JUST WANTED TO ADD, THAT THE MOMENT YOU SEE TILES, THE LUMIA 800 IS USABLE. There’s nothing else waiting to load. It is Windows Phone not Windows PC. 
The Lumia 800 did superbly, clocked at 14 seconds by his timing. The N9 was clocked in at 37 seconds. Not to shabby either. iPhone 4S is improving, I remember post 1 minute boot up times before from older iPhones, now it was set in at 30/26 seconds. In my own tests that is around 19 seconds for my Lumia 800 and 64 seconds for the Nokia N9. Based on how I time it, I clock his Lumia 800 at 19 seconds ( Start at 1:14 end at 1:33). Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBejvjxom8s BTW, my Lumia 800 has the firmware of 7740.16 (not the latest one that was made available last week) whilst N9 does have the latest officially available PR1.1 (though PR1.2 is coming). In the time it takes the Nokia N9 to start up once, I could comfortably start the Lumia 800 twice. What’s the significance of this? Nothing really. They’re just start up times. For most people that leave their phones on all the time, it won’t mean much. For some that like to turn their phones off when not in use, it’s nicer to have a little bit less of a wait in your hands but again, nothing really severe. What’s the start up time on your phone (and firmware?)
Category: Lumia, Maemo, MeeGo, Nokia, Nseries, Video, Windows Phone
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Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at mynokiablog.com and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and facebook.com/MyNokiaBlog. Contact us at tips(@)mynokiablog.com or email me directly on jay[at]mynokiablog.comSubscribe
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Sites That Link to this Post
- Nokiatividade » Blog Archive » Tempo de Inicialização – Nokia N9 x Nokia Lumia 800! | December 11, 2011
- Mobilissimo.ro | December 12, 2011
- Nokia N9 VS Apple Iphone ! Comparison Of Which Is Better | April 7, 2012
Interesting thing is that a Windows Phone never hangs and never needs to restart. I’m using Dell Venue Pro fro last 4 months and Lumia 800 for last 45 days and the fact is that. Never need to restart the device. But it’s nice when your battery is dead and after charging again you will be surprised by an instant boot up of the device.
This has been my experience also. I had an LG Optimus 7 and the darn thing just REFUSED to need any kind of reboots and NEVER hanged for almost a year. Fluidity and stability at its best.
Exactly with Windows phone you forget when it was the last time you rebooted it
just the opposite of symbian phones. XD
Someone should tell Microsoft. From http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2606900
“If your Windows Phone is not responding or not operating as expected, the following steps may resolve the most common issues…”
Tell what? It’s nice to have the instructions when it happens once every year or so….
“Tell what?”
MS knows that shit can happen, some of you seem to be of the opposite persuasion, so they should let them know.
“It’s nice to have the instructions when it happens once every year or so….”
In your experience. In my experience my N8 has been pretty stable. Doesn’t mean that shit doesn’t happen to others and I’m sure that in WP7 support forum, I can find many users with issues.
WP is a much simpler (and therefore cleaner) OS, no wonder there.
Symbian is quite heavy code-wise, and it has a lot of legacy code. No wonder there are more bugs to be worked out etc.
I still prefer the functionality of Symbian even with occasional restarts.
My N8 has only rebooted on me when I have tried to do something too processor-intensive, like copying a 3000 message long sms thread, which it just couldn’t handle.
Otherwise S^3 1.2 is as stable as anything else out there, and I haven’t needed to manually reboot ever since my purchase a year ago.
its not so simple as that
wp7 was developed from he ground up using from the best software company in the world
first priority of them it was to make a smooth and simple to use OS
on the other hand symbian is an old relic with legacy problems that it should had died with s60v5
symbian 3 should had been developed from the ground up like windows
I understand you’re fascinated by WP, it’s not my cup of tea but to each his own, however unless you want to appear just like a rabid 13yr old fanboy (see under ‘arcana112′) you should at least inform yourself on the thing you hold so much dear to you.
Transition from WM to WP is almost as the same transition from s60v5 to S^3 – both of them were not written from ground up (nor was pretty much any OS in the past several years). WP still has more WM elements in it than it has the `new stuff`, and same goes for Symbian. WP added .NET XNA/Silverlight layer, S^3 added Qt layer – the difference, S^3 didn’t shed its previous legacies such as AVKON, which pretty much defined that it won’t differ itself much visually.
Strictly structurally speaking – Microsoft would do better if they have taken the Symbian core and bolted on it the Metro UI and .NET bindings, than reusing the strain that was wrong from the get go – Windows CE. They would do even better by getting rid off the .NET at all, but that’s a whole other topic…
Both, the S^3 and WP have their own set of flaws and their set of strengths, it’s everything but a black-white issue…
1. MS are very definitely *not* the best software company in the world (record for reliability is more likely to be Unix variants or something like OS/400 devices – we ran those for years without a reboot or a restart, while being used by tens of thousands of people).
2. S^3 is no older than WP7.
3. Both S^3 and WP7 have underlying architecture that goes back years, difference is that S^3 has attempted to keep some backwards compatibility.
While WP7 is more of a clean start (from the interface perspective), the underlying OS (CE) is an evolution of what has gone before.
off course the core is windows ce
you have to start from somewhere
thats even more amazing on what they have achieved especially if you compare it with wm6
but they build on that and had a plan all along
qt on symbian 3 the way they implemented it seemed as an afterthought
you cant say that for xna/silverlight
symbian 3 even if it was a lot better than v5(you cant get any worse than that) it had many of the problems of the latter
especially on the UI
Attempting to keep backwards compatibility is what’s screwing Windows up. A clean start is necessary after a while, and is a good idea if you don’t have a huge marketshare.
WP has no backwards compatibility whatsoever.
I’ve had a Lumia 800 for one day, and I’m surprised to report that the device froze on me while opening a website (www.nfl.com, mobile version), which required a reboot. Not a great start, but in fairness, everything else has been smooth so far. I’ll be using it for roughly a month before deciding to keep it or keep my N9.
I’m hoping I don’t experience the same battery problems that others have been reporting with the Lumia 800. So far I’ve noticed nothing unusual to that end, but it’s still very early days (haven’t even charged it yet).
N9 was owned by Lumia.
This just proves that WP7 has superior software engineering behind it.
Elop is one smart guy for killing it quick.
haha, like long boot time means harmattan is bad.
No, not at all. Neither of these phones you would really need to reboot. It’s not like my N97.
But short boot times definitely are good.
Ok but apart from software updates I’ve maybe rebooted my N9 the times in the last month. Boot times are just not a significant factor if the phone is reliable and not rebooting constantly.
Exactly, comparing boot times is like comparing times during copy-paste action – totally useless info.
I don’t think having a longer boot time means MeeGo Harmattan is bad. This might not be significant to many users. It’s great that the Lumia 800 is super quick but not bad that N9 is slower in that regard.
There are other things I’m noticing such as scrolling is a little less fluid on N9 when at the store. It’s barely noticable to most people and most won’t care, but if you did the Lumia is faster there.
Don’t want to discuss other points right now (both phones have various strengths and weaknesses which will suit different types of users better – though a combination would be supreme)
If you get used to their 60 frames of Windows phone you can’t go back to something worse like meego or Symbian
True. And before anyone tries to say “oh the eye can only see 24FPS” or something like that when they bring up the fps argument for video, try watching something in 60FPS vs 30fps. Even in video, pan around with 60FPS, or even quickly jolt from one end to another , it’s blurry at 30FPS but clear at 60FPS.
I thought 60FPS scrolling was supposed to come to Symbian but I don’t recall my N8′s scrolling ever being anywhere near that smooth.
What do you think happened to Nokia’s promise of “fast booting times” for their MeeGo device/s?
what happenes? a burning plattform memo? a lot of people left nokia after that. under this circumstances meego is even better. on the other hand wp is more than a year on the market and lacks features that meego can provide.
Where’s Slacker Radio on the N9? Where’s Whatsapp? Where’s Kik? Need I go on?
Where’s Skype on the Lumia 800, if we’re going to pull the apps argument… To me, and a lot of other people, Skype is tenfolds more useful than all the three apps you’ve mentioned.
Sure, it’s coming to the WP7 as well (tho I doubt it will be as so well integrated as it is on the N9), but who’s to say that Slacker Radio (given that it’s developed in Qt for S^3 it’s more than likely) and Whatsapp are not coming for the N9 as well? I don’t even want to guess what the hell Kik is… Alright, I had to check, another IM? But why, I can hardly see a point of Whatsapp, let alone other messengers now when most phones can connect to well established IMs across board…
skype is owned by microsoft so dont worry about that
it will have the best implementation on the OS
meego on the other hand doesnt belong in any ecosystem and hato keep it hopes on the good will of deveopers making apps for it
whatsapp have said that they dont care about meego
get uses to these quotes in the near future
“If you get used to their 60 frames of Windows phone you can’t go back to something worse like meego or Symbian”
Unless you need functionality not provided by Windows Phone, despite its 60 frames refresh rate, that is.
Good thing the majority of the consumers of the world DON’T then.
The majority of the consumers of the world use feature packed OSes -> Android + Symbian.
the majority of consumers but android phones because they are available on good prices
they dont care and many dont know about all the things their phone can do
I won’t pretend to know what the majority of the consumers know about the features since it’s a pretty big world out there.
However, they get a lower price and get more functionality (tapped or untapped), for less fps in the scrolling/swishing and swoshing.
Seems like a good deal for me (then again I’m a Symbian user
) and them apparently, if we go by the voices of their wallets.
what about saying that the N9 does 60 FPS perfectly ???
Yes! We need more compariason between performance, features and ergonomics of both devices. Eg please compare how fast it is to send SMS, place a call, etc.
It’s more likely they gave the N9 the slower processor to make it look worse!
No, they stuck with an OMAP3 because it was the same architecture as the N900.
Funny thing about you fanboys (of any tech) is that if the results were the opposite you’d be saying something along the lines ‘WP7 is much more complex system and it needs to boot properly in order to achieve the fluidity later on’…
1. the lumia runs with a 1,4ghz processor the n9 wwith 1ghz
2. the n9 has to load drivers for nfc etc.
3. is it true, that alarm clock in windows phone does not work, when the device is turned off?
at the n9 it works.
The N9 has 1GB of RAM, the Lumia 800 has 512MB.
And that helps in boot time by?….
Boot Time depends on serial things. This days the trends seams to simply load a virtual image of a ready state….think that’s what wp is doing…the n9 is doing a proper boot., boot gumtree does n not say anything about software quality…..
GHz is meaningless when the CPU architecture is different.
hey when windows phone is so superior:
why the n9 is not allowed to compete with the lumia in germany?
you can’t get the n9 there on contract. same in the us!
why is the lumia cheaper than the n9?
Why is Lumia 800 not allowed to compete with the N9 in China?
Lumia 800 is cheaper because N9 has stuff like NFC, Front facing cameras, 3.9″ screen, less production?
I wouldn’t say 800 was superior. They both are awesome in their own way.
Because WP with its typographic-oriented presentation can’t cope with Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, you name it). And Chinese government is not very keen on Microsoft controlling their mobile space… It has nothing to do with Nokia.
Just sayin’…
OTOH, Lumia is slowly appearing whereever the N9 was launched, the reverse case has yet to be seen…
yes in austria the will bring lumia before the end of the year.
so where is the n9 in germany?
http://www.notebooksbilliger.de/handys+smartphones/nokia+handys+smartphones/barren+handys/nokia+n9+64gb+schwarz
Good price, if you ask me (16GB version is 488€, an euro less than Lumia 800 on their site)… Can’t get it for less than 600€ around here…
As for official support, distribution channels, carrier subsidies, marketing & advertising – that ain’t gonna happen. Nokia made its choice, they’ve put all on black and now they wait for the end-roll on the roulette table. They won’t do anything that might put in question Elop’s strategy…
n9 in germany at amazon.de
“why the n9 is not allowed to compete with the lumia in germany?”
“Why is Lumia 800 not allowed to compete with the N9 in China?”
Yes why not indeed? Artificially limiting the availability of your products is stupid. It’s essentially limiting the revenue. They are both Nokia’s phones and whether one decides to buy N9 or Lumia, the money will still go to Nokia. From Nokia’s point of view, there’s nothing to lose if they compete with each other. There’s only something to lose if you look from Microsoft’s point of view. N9 eats away MS profits. Not selling Nokia’s Lumia however doesn’t necessarily affect MS profits at all, as long as there are other WP7 phones (Samsung, HTC, etc.) available in that country.
This sales strategy is bad business for Nokia. Not giving customers ability to buy the phone they want will drive them to buy other manufacturers’ phones instead. One wanting N9 will probably go for Android instead and one wanting Lumia will buy some other WP7 phone.
And whose to blame for this stupidity? Mr Microsoft – Stephen the Stupid. Flopper of the year.
Germany is one of Windows Phone’s most popular markets, why waste time on the N9 there? It makes sense to throw the N9 where Windows Phone really isn’t getting any traction.
N9 at least gets Unity based games. Which Windows Phones obviously don’t get. Mango comforters can please them selves with some what faster boot times and quite smooth menu experience, while others have something to do with their mobile computers.
Usually at this point fan boys respond, that “its a phone, you need a phone to make phone calls”. You need 20€ to get a phone that makes phone calls. When you pay hundreds of euros/dollars, you want to do something else with it too.
This is completely unfair and IDIOTIC comparison in every way humanly possible.
When the N9 is fully loaded you can get RIGHT INTO everything and it will work…right off the bat.
With WINDOWS PHONE, the moment it starts ANYTHING you open has a LOADING LOADING thing. Whether EMAILS, OR MESSAGES.
So the REAL TEST IS HOW FAST IT IS USABLE…sure Windows PC starts, but it used to be a real pain in the ass to get to what I am doing.
Seriously?
I don’t know if you have ever used a Windows Phone before because if you did, you would know the moment the tiles are visible you can touch and use everything.
The test would have been unfair if I was using the same criteria with Symbian because once Symbian widgets are visible, you still cannot operate it fully.
Did you not watch the Lumia 800 start up TWICE in the same time? Perhaps I should have just started it once and carried on using the Lumia whilst the N9 started up.
So get of your high horse, try out both phones before you complain about an unfair and idiotic comparison.
Seriously.
I have used it on a DVP with MANGO, before Mango was released to the public and after the official release as well for the past 7 months.
Immediately, the moment it loads click on EMAIL. You will see it say “loading”..try it.
You think it will take 1 minute from boot to load an email? If that’s your experience your phone was probably some CHINA Clone.
I just rebooted my phone, pressed email the moment I saw tiles and it was there. Sorry to disappoint.
I don’t think you even read when I said: “What’s the significance of this? Nothing really. They’re just start up times.”
It’s just something people test out and I had these two phones to test that.
Perhaps if I took the N9 behind the scenes and started it 50 seconds before pressing the Lumia 800 that might have been better for you.
Sorry , but that’s what it does on my Lumia 800.
But just to be clear, the start up times are not important at all. I just did this for anyone that might be interested since it’s a test everyone seems to do.
Jay, I am addicted to this blog…what can I do ? help!!!
how about after 1.2 since WP7 had 1 small and 1 huge update
I only just updated to PR1.1
1.2 is not available.
Lumia 800 has had one minor update and one upcoming that’s available to some but I don’t have it yet.
Even with Omnia7 and WP plain, it’s still faster. But again, it’s not really that important.
that boot time can be critical for emergency
…and have you attempt
to flash belle on your dead N8 to see if you can revive it ?
Just tested it on my GF’s DVP, and that does happen. It’s got a few things screwy with it like the compass not working even though it has the hardware, so it’s not necessarily representative of other WPs.
You mean like how it takes ~10 seconds to launch the email app on the N9 if it’s not loaded already, and when it does it just sits there like it’s frozen? Right off the bat my a$$, N9 needs to load just as well.
So just stop lying, you are only making yourself out to be a meego fanboy.
Not trying to start a war or anything but have you updated to PR 1.1? Because after a reboot my N9 starts the email app in about 3 seconds(tried it twice just to be sure).
Yes I have, it is still slow (plus I did a complete clean flash because I caught the wifi dropout bug when updating OTA like many had). It’s probably because I have 4 mail accounts sync to it. The apps cold loading speed is a frustrating thing on the N9, especially with the camera app!
The fact remains that even on the N9 it is most definitely not instantaneous if the app is not already in memory, so stop making it sound like it’s a WP7 problem.
“so stop making it sound like it’s a WP7 problem.”
I didn’t
What on Earth are you talking about? Everything baked in the OS is practically instantaneous. Troll much?
i think too mauch usage of symbian is not good for you
do you expect all OSs to be like symbian and lag when you reboot them?
I personally don’t really care much about boot up times, but I certainly won’t complain if my N9 did it faster. Thankfully, ever since PR1.1, the device has been butter smooth and I didn’t have to perform any reboots yet (minus when i switched developer mode on)
With Pr. 1.0 on my N9 I was just under 60 seconds, but also connected to WIFI in that time and the browser open. I’ve found my N9 to be very stable, so restarting times aren’t an issue anyway. Much more stable than my C7 was, although maybe it’s much better with full Anna now.
Basically both the N9 and Lumia seem to be stable enough that restarts aren’t an issue. And if you must, a minute to full functionality is fast enough for me.
XP at work is a solid 15 minutes to restart. Now that is painful.
LINUX FTW 20 second on year old laptop
duo core 2.30ghz/4gb DDR2 RAM
imagine on core i7/AMD phantom 3.00ghz w/ 6gb DDR3 RAM.i wouldn’t even wait for anything
WP7 is primitive so it starts faster.
My friends Linux machine starts up quick, as does my mac. Are they primitive?
Oh snap!
Is this Elop’s fault too??
All these news are great. *drool*
But I’m still waiting for the one that shows a new Nokia WP7 device with a sliding QWERTY keyboard.
When is that coming?
If I recall correctly, Nokia did state they intend to saturate market in 2012 with some dozen models throughout the year.
I’d LOVE to see a Nokia slider with design like the DVP and an E-Series keyboard.
My old Nokia 1100 do it in 5 sec! Its better then my N8?
N9 do more than Lumia crap phone.
I don’t really care how good WP is, I dislike it coz it is controlled by MS.
Storing files in the cloud? Huft! It only works in developed countries where network facilities are good. In some countries, speed is below 20 kbps.
How about transfering zip files from phone to phone at WP?
Windows Phone is targetted at developed countries, the likes of which have wireless data everywhere. Android and iOS are huge data hogs too, which is part of what makes them appealing if you can afford the data.
Windows Phone is targetted at developed countries??
But Nokia’s strength is at emerging market! Large number of Nokia customer there!
How about their fate?? S40??
What’s the point of this article? Trying to make WP7 look better at something, even if that thing is as meaningless as a start up time? Talking about WP7 fanboyism…
Anyway, here’s two things why WP7 is faster to start up:
1. WP7 is a more restricted, stripped down OS compared to MeeGo-Harmattan. Less features = less things to load at boot for WP7.
2. Lumia 800 has been given a 1,4 GHz CPU, while N9 was only given a 1 GHz CPU.
you got both wrong
its just a better smoother and faster os
less feaures=less time is ignorant to say the least lol
then my n73 should open in 5 secs lol
by the way why my gen1 wp7 with 1ghz is just as fast as lumia then? So by definition faster than n9
Does your n73 have 1 GHz CPU?
No. Neither did my N93. It was able to open up around 20 seconds. What then? Is it less feature packed than iPhone?
What about when Symbian starts up quicker than webOS phones? Is it less feature packed?
Also does it even matter? I think I pointed out in the post that it’s not significant. It was a test everyone did and something I had done many times before. But now, as usual, because it’s with a Windows Phone it’s bad.
can you tell how much time the new symbians 1ghz mobiles like the 701 need to boot?
With much lesser stuff to load, windows will obviously boot faster. No front cam modules to load, no mass storage modules to load… Just load the stupid tiles and you’re done…. No NFC and 16GB are some other jokes! The N9 has to load all these modules before booting….
Huh, didn’t expected a civil war to happen now of all times. Between those 2, I’d pick the Lumia for sure. I mean, having a W7 laptop with a WP7 phone sounds like great intergration. I also have Zune as my main media player. That thing beats others in terms of UI design.
As mentioned, really who cares about boot up time. But I think WP7 takes longer time to shutdown than MeeGo Hartman.
Yes that’s true. I think it got even longer after Mango.
But quick enough so that it can start up twice (with time to spare) whilst N9 starts up.
My 5800 boots up in 35 secs….45 seconds to be totally useful……
Hi,
Thank you for your nice information Video: Start up times, Nokia N9 vs Nokia Lumia 800 (+ vs iPhone 4S). I like it.
Thanks.