Nokia Lumia 800

   

The Nokia Lumia 800 is the first Windows Phone handset to spring from the Microsoft / Nokia tie-up announced in February, and we've got our hands on an early sample to check it out.

The Nokia Lumia 800 shares its exterior styling with the previously substantially less hyped Nokia N9, a Meego-based smartphone, although the screen size is reduced from 3.9" (854x480 pixels) to 3.7" (800x480 pixels) to conform to the Windows Phone spec list.

The CPU, however, increases from the 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 to the 1.4GHz MSM8255 Snapdragon/Scorpion which certainly helps add snap to the Windows Phone Mango OS.

The Nokia Lumia 800, although being the more expensive of the two Nokia Windows Phone offerings (the other being the budget Nokia Lumia 710) shares the Nokia N9's 16-bit AMOLED ClearBlack display whereas the Nokia Lumia 710 sports a 24-bit ClearBlack TFT.

This being said, even though the colour depth is theoretically deeper than in the Nokia Lumia 710, AMOLED screens are seen as better than the older TFT technology due to the more vivid colours and better contrast ratios.

Moving away from Nokia comparisons, the Lumia 800 also has to compete with the likes of the HTC Titan and HTC Radar Windows Mango phones. When we compare screen size we find the Nokia Lumia 800 feeling a little small with the HTC Radar and HTC Titan entering the fray with 3.8" and 4.7" screens respectively although all competitors are limited to the same 800x480 pixel resolution.

Obviously the iPhone has managed to be a success with a smaller screen at 3.5-inches, but the trend towards bigger displays is increasing all the time, and we have to say we're fans of those over four inches thanks to the improved internet and media experience.

This means that the pixel density on the Lumia 800 is a little sharper, but in our side by side comparisons we noted very little difference between the three, and even the Lumia 800 displaying text with a little less clarity.

When it comes to internal storage the Nokia Lumia 800 and HTC Titan are equal with 16GB of fixed internal storage, with the Nokia Lumia 710 and HTC Radar weighing in with 8GB a piece.

Based on the two manufacturer's product specs it soon becomes apparent that the Nokia Lumia 800 is intended to compete against the HTC Titan and the Nokia Lumia 710 with the HTC Radar.

When compared dimensionally with the HTC Titan (131.5mm x 70.7mm x 9.9mm and 160g) we note that the Nokia Lumia 800 (116.5mm x 61.2mm x 12.1mm and 142g) cuts a very slim profile, with a lighter yet reassuring weight.

The physical appearance of the Nokia Lumia 800 is a dream to observe and handle, with its smooth curves fitting snugly to the hand both with and without the protective case provided in the purchase packaging.

First impressions of the phone are mixed. If you're used to handling the current crop of super slim handsets doing the rounds in today's phone shops, you can't help but feel the Lumia 800 is a little on the chunky side, even compared to the iPhone 4S thanks to it being around 10% thicker.

However, that's not to say it isn't an attractive device, with its large 3.7-inch OLED screen pushed to the sides of the chassis and a cool curved polycarbonate shell gives the phone a very premium feel indeed.

Nokia has worked very hard on the unibody design here, making the battery inaccessible and using top-mounted flaps to cover the charging port and SIM slot - intriguingly, we're seeing a microSIM here, which seems to be the fashion for the next wave of smartphones.

It's a slightly odd system, and one that some will find a little bit difficult to get used to - but it does lend a certain sleekness to the design.

One area we can see getting consumers annoyed is on the back panel - as you can see the demo sample we tried was already scratched up, and the same thing has already begun happening on our review model.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is quite reasonably priced, costing nothing on as little as a £26 Orange or Vodafone contract with Carphone Warehouse compared with HTC Titan starting at £31 pm with Vodafone and £36 pm with Orange.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S Review

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Verdict:

The Arc S has a faster processor and better battery life than the original Arc, and even costs slightly less SIM-free, but the 3D and USB features aren't compelling reasons to upgrade

Review Date: 26 Oct 2011

Price when reviewed: £334

The original Sony Ericsson Xperia arc impressed us with its slim design and latest version of Android, but we were worried that its single-core processor might be underpowered compared to the slew of dual-core smartphones appearing on the market. The follow-up to the Arc goes some way to addressing the power deficit, but instead of doubling the cores Sony Ericsson has fitted a faster 1.4GHz single-core processor.

Current Xperia arc owners don't need to feel they're missing out, though, as the Arc S isn't hugely different from the original. It still runs Android 2.3 and has the same 4.2in screen, and despite the 40% faster CPU the S doesn't feel any quicker than the original Xperia Arc - Android runs smoothly, but we didn’t see any particular improvement when multitasking.

The phone has a sparkly plastic rather than metal casing, which may put some people off, but it also helps keep the weight down - at only 114g it's one of the lightest big-screen smartphones we've used. Sony Ericsson has generously included an 8GB microSD card, and there's 1GB of internal memory.

We were expecting the faster processor to reduce battery life, especially as the Arc S has the same battery as the Arc. However, in our light usage test where we play an MP3 file on a loop, the phone lasted for almost 40 hours - a seven hour improvement on the Arc. Depending on your use of 3G, GPS and Bluetooth, the Arc S should last a full day or even two without charging. Installing apps such as Advanced Task Killer and Juice Defender should help reduce the need for charging too.

As we went to press, Sony Ericsson's website still mentions USB Host support on the Arc S page, which is rather misleading. The phone itself doesn't support USB OTG (On-The-Go) - the official name for USB host support. Instead, you have to buy an optional LiveDock (part code: DK10, £30), and it only supports keyboards, mice or gamepads, so you won't be able to use it to attach storage devices, for example.

The Arc S's camera hasn't changed from the original Arc's which is no bad thing. Shots are crisp and colours are natural, but some light areas were over-exposed. We were impressed by the dark and noise-free black areas, though. Video was less impressive, with obvious blurry artefacts from compression.

The camera has a new 3D panorama feature, where you take a panorama shot by panning the camera while shooting, and the Arc S then compresses this into a 3D side-by-side image. You then plug into a 3D TV via HDMI and use the TV's remote control to browse the phone's photo gallery. When displayed on a 3D monitor, the 3D panoramic images were fuzzy, and we found we needed to be careful with our viewing position and force our eyes to focus on infinity to see the 3D effect. It feels like a gimmick, and isn’t a reason to buy the Arc S on its own.

Our Vodafone sample came with Vodafone's own shop apps for music, apps and games, but these can be uninstalled if you don't want them. You can also delete some of the trial games and other preinstalled apps, to free up space for your own choices. Sony Ericsson claims there's only 320MB of the 1GB of user memory left for apps, once we'd uninstalled a few of the pre-installed apps and moved others to the SD card, we ended up with 420MB of total app storage. This is more than enough for most users, and it'll be a while before you run out of app space.

While the Arc S isn't a worthwhile upgrade for Arc owners, it's a great Android phone with a clear, bright screen and a good camera, with enough power to run apps and games, decent battery life and plenty of storage. It's now cheaper SIM-free than the original Arc and has better battery life, so it picks up and extra star and a Best Buy award.