Nokia Lumia 800 review from TechnoBufallo and MobileIndustryReview

OK a couple of different review formats. First up is the very well known TechnoBuffalo. Jon Rettinger puts the Nokia Lumia 800 to his audience and shares his findings in video whilst Ewan MacLeod from Mobile Industry Review has a very long piece of text. Both are iPhone users (though Ewan more into the BlackBerry persuasion).

Jon has a huge audience in America, one Nokia once to break into again.  Before going into the review, the comments are already quite telling. For one, the top voted comments aren’t slating the device as they often do whenever it was some form of Symbian (possibly more due to preconception than experience. Like the notion of Windows or Internet explorer hurts the ears of some folks before they actually give it a go)

• Nokia’s build quality is absolutely outstanding – some would say legendary in the industry.
• When you hold the Lumia 800, you know a lot of time on detail was spent on the device. Ewan makes a point about this too, saying “it feels good”, and that there’s a reason why he’d wear a particular suit, use a particular pen, carry a particular bag. The Lumia 800 carries this trend to give that specific, classy impression.
• Jon says that whilst he hasn’t reviewed that many Windows Phones, he’s a huge, huge fan of the OS and doesn’t think it gets the love it deserves.
• It’s a joy to use, it’s very smooth and fluid (hearing tweets from users – just random ones not related to Nokia saying it’s snappier than their iPhone 4)
• Jon says don’t be (the idiot that gets) too caught up in the specs of being only single core. In Jon’s mind, it’s all about the user experience and the Lumia 800 delivers an EXCELLENT experience. he says he didn’t feel a stutter at all.
• Contacts transfer apparently made life so much easier. (BTW, can the Symbian version sync with any bluetooth phone or just Nokia ones?)
• Text on the screen looks absolutely beautiful, the resolution is fine, almost the sweetspot.
• Pinch to zoom JUST as fluid as iOS (on dualcore)
• On the camera – Jon says he’s not a camera guy. He just prefers to snap and go, if it’s good it’s ok. Jon says the camera here isn’t working so well, not looking good, apparently appearing as if they look like photos through plastic wrap. He says his is good and notes some reviewers having problems whilst others didn’t. If he was referring to the video quality, I also had poor experience with the early batch Lumia 800 as the continuous AF sucked, mostly out of focus. Retail versions are already out, hopefully it’s fixed. I also hope that may be the reason why we haven’t gotten our own Nokia Lumia 800 for testing just quite yet.
• Jon doesn’t like lack of USB mass storage, no drag and drop. Not an issue with most users who won’t use that but for those who do want it and are aware of it, you may need to look into that app that allows USB mass storage for Windows.
• Lol, you can tell Jon doesn’t use Windows Phone because he complains about the lack of a profile switcher. Well if you press volume (thinking about wanting to change the sound levels, it is more of a task centric OS) you pull up, surprise surprise, ring and vibrate as well as changing levels of the incoming alert sounds.
• App wise, this was a fear but he says the ones you use the most and the ones you come back to – most are there. Says it’s been surprising how robust the market place has been, with minimal trouble finding substitute for apps that he’s needed.
• Overall the phone has been absolutely outstanding. There aren’t many phones jon says where he could say “I could use this” or “I can recommend this phone” …but fortunately for Nokia fans, Jon says “this is one of those phones”.
• Elegant OS on a great hardware, that delivers really outstanding end experience.
• Things just work well on it.
• Says it’s the phone Nokia fans deserve (already feeling resentment of the M&S fans)

Next up, Ewan from MIR. Spoiler – he is also delighted with the user experience of the Nokia Lumia 800.

http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2011/11/the-nokia-lumia-800-its-business-ready.html

Cheers Viipottaja and Oh Hei for the tip!

Category: Nokia, Video, Windows Phone