Nokia Lumia 800

karlaserv

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Review from Waikato Times

Nokia's long-talked-about collaboration with Microsoft, the Lumia 800 smartphone, has finally arrived on New Zealand shelves.

It was well worth the wait. Of the four Windows Phones I have trialled during the past 18 months the others being the HTC Trophy, the LG Optimus 7Q and the Samsung Omnia this is the fastest and the best.

It follows hot on the heels of a slightly lower-spec Lumia 710.

My first question was: "Where's the battery?" Emptying the box of the accessories and finding the instructions, I found it was integrated into the handset. This means the handset, like the Nokia N9, is about as slim as they get. The 3.7" (800 x 480) touchscreen is black and shiny, and delivers a crisp picture when it's on.

The Micro-SIM the Lumia 800 uses slips into a SIM tray at the top of the phone and is easy to fit.

Accessories include a rubber sleeve that slips over the handset, protecting it from scratches in your pocket and helping it bounce if you drop it.

You can't remove the SIM with the rubber sleeve on, but you can connect the USB lead to a power outlet or your computer for charging.

From a power socket, it's a two-hour charge, and longer from a USB port depending on the power of your PC.

While we're talking about PCs, you can transfer videos and music too, and from the Lumia 800 using Microsoft's free Zune software from zune.net. It's a trendy media player that's worth a look, even if you don't have a Lumia 800.

The Lumia 800 handset also comes with earbuds, and Nokia is also about to release a very nice set of padded headphones designed to complement it.

There's nothing new here for Windows Phone fans the Lumia 800 comes with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango installed, although I have not seen the operating system perform so quickly.

The Lumia 800 lacks an expansion card slot, so the 16GB of internal user memory will have to be enough.
Syncing my contacts book from Hotmail, I found 16GB was more than enough for scores of albums.

That's another thing I like about this phone. Its high-definition speaker is located at the bottom of the handset, so you don't lose sound fidelity when you lay it on its front or back a problem with other phones I have trialled.

If you want to use this phone for serious stuff, its Microsoft Office application, which saves files to the phone or SkyDrive through a Hotmail account, is fantastic. This function has enabled me to write stories while waiting for my children outside school, kindergarten and the other places.

The integrated inbox means email from my personal Hotmail and Xtra accounts appear in the same inbox as email from my Waikato Times address, which is delivered via Microsoft Exchange.

Telecom has also added a series of its own apps, included the official All Blacks one, which makes this phone stand out from other Windows phones.

This $899 phone is available from Telecom and Vodafone.
 
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