1 Year on Since February 11, 2011

I thought it would be interesting to note that today is Feb 11, 2012, one year from possibly one of the most significant dates in the Nokia Calendar as it switches over to an entirely new platform, Windows Phone. In a mere 8 months, Nokia pumped out not one but two Windows Phones in their new lineage – the Nokia Lumia phones 710 and 800. Last month the Nokia Lumia 900 was launched and we’re expecting to see more in a couple of weeks at MWC.

It’s been quite a whirlwind. I was as unhappy with the move as the strongest naysayers are now, but I thought I’d give Windows Phone a go – learn about what it is that Nokia have gotten themselves into and fortunately, I was surprised to find I enjoyed it. I felt it was just the sort of ‘polished’ experience of fast, fluid reliable core smartphone more distant the promises of PR1.1 got, the clunkier my N8. Just like my experience from N97 to N900, I kinda felt like I had an up-to-date smartphone in terms of the usability side of things (note, it was pre Anna days and my n8 suffered severely from the Symbian slowdown that occurs with time and longer ownership of the device).

Note of course, from Feb to June, we really had no idea what Nokia had in the N9 and where Nokia could have gone. I really enjoy both phones, I wish I could have some amalgamation of both (WP’s emails, keyboard, people hub, social integration, panoramic loveliness, apps, touch focus, stability/fluidity, the browser with some Nokia Swipe). There is in a way some compromise in the fact that both share the iconic, premium design; something which I’m still absolutely enamoured with and enjoy snapping pictures with in our Lumiappaday series.

There’s still unfortunately a lot of infighting in between Nokia supporters/Symbian supporters/N9 supporters/Lumia supporters. It is a full year on and there’s pretty much no going back on this strategy. It’s a tough fight ahead and it may continue getting harder but the indications are still looking positive that Nokia can turn their image around. More markets are getting Marketplace and Nokia will have more countries to roll out current and future Lumia devices. We’ll be looking on at MWC to see possibly some Nokia Tango handsets, but it’s not until later in the year that we might see some Nokia Stamped Apollo powered Lumias.

Category: Lumia, Nokia, Windows Phone