Lumia 800 - Don't judge a book by its cover. Review on Nokia Lumia 800

I own a Nokia Lumia 800 for some days now. Below are my comments -

The GOOD:

1) Excellent touch screen

2) Stylish looks and decent effort by Nokia

THE BAD:

The Issues: Now comes the long part -

1) Issues in connecting to Exchange Server: I had a tough time getting my exchange server online. Some of the issues faced were –

a. Very slow set-up – As compared to Android, where I could setup exchange in 1 step within precisely under a minute. Lumia took~ 3-4 steps and at least 5-10 minutes.

b. No SSL and Certificate Error: Further, it is unable to use SSL connectivity. I keep getting the certificate error. This was not there in Android and I-Phone. Being a windows OS, Exchange compatibility should be good and easy. In my current set-up there is no SSL connectivity, which is a huge security risk keeping in mind that the data connection can be snooped and all the mails/exchange password can be sniffed.

2) Call Receiving: Some of the issues faced in call receiving are –

a. When you get a call and you donot want to take the call, there is no provision to reply with an SMS. This is an important function for a business phone. Nokia should seriously add it to their next OS update.

b. While talking on the phone, if you get an SMS / Email the SMS alert tone goes off while you are talking. Because of this you cannot hear the other party. This seems to be a bug and should be rectified in a business phone as during the day you keep getting many phones and emails and while speaking you donot want the email alert tone going off and interrupting the phone call.

3) Phone Dialler:

a. The icons below are very small and sometimes difficult to press

b. The dialler history need to be colour coded so that it is easy to identify outgoing, incoming and missed call. Currently it is difficult to do so. Further all calls to a single number can be clubbed.

c. The dialler needs to have a sort facility to show outgoing, incoming and missed calls separately

4) Emails:

a. Grouping of emails is a little buggy and groups wrong emails as a conversation.(EDIT: You can only attach photos to an email. Any other files like .ppt, .doc etc. cannot be attached. As a business phone where you work on these files on the move, unable to attach them to emails is a BIG drawback. Nokia / Windows needs to come up with an update sorting this issue)

b. You donot come to know which email is new and which is already read / responded to. Generally new emails should have a bolder font and read emails can be un-bolded. If an email is responded it can have a small back arrow and if forwarded to someone a small front arrow below it.

c. You cannot mark an email important etc.

5) Nokia Drive / Maps:

a. You cannot use the phone while downloading maps. If you exit the screen the download automatically stops.

b. Downloading on a wifi will keep the screen ON till the download completes. This should not be the case. There should be a provision for background download.

c. Provision should be to download the maps on the PC and then transfer to the phone.

6) Documents Transfer:

a. USB: Connecting the phone via USB does not show it as a drive on the computer. Hence, you cannot transfer files from the PC to the phone

b. Zune: I cannot transfer the mp3 on my PC to the phone via Zune. This should not be the case. There is no other method to transfer data from the PC to the phone.(EDIT: I found out that there is a small heading in 8 pt. named setting(hardly visible with so many large icons on the screen). You may choose which directories to link by clicking'Manage'. By default it takes'My Music'.)

7) Currently there is no Gtalk for Windows 7.5(the OS on Lumia)

8) Quick Access to connectivity: You cannot quickly access GPS, Wifi and phone ringer. This should be within 1-2 clicks which is not the case. You need to navigate all throughout the menus. Hence, for quickly putting the phone on silent / starting GPS etc. is a problem.

9) From the main screen, we should be able to go into the emails. If one receives a message one should keep getting a notification. One should not be checking my emails intermittently. For example in a Black Berry a light blinks if you get an SMS / Email.

10) Limited Apps for Windows 7.5 like No Swyping keyboard like Swype.

11) The price of the phone is a little in the higher side keeping in mind only a 512 mb RAM and no slot for expandable memory. All competing brands these days have 1GB memory in this price point and have slots for expandable memory.

12) The battery is not very good and last barely a day on a normal use. It has died couple of times on me during office. It is best to keep a USB charger to charge from Laptop / desktop.