Connectivity and phone

Connectivity

Specifications

The Lumia 800 supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi bands and WEP, WPA, WPA-Enterprise and WPA2-Personal encryption algorithms. The phone supports GPS and A-GPS (assisted GPS, read more below).

The phone operates on quad band, which means that it works on 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz frequencies, so you'll get reception all over the world.

Supported WCDMA bands are 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1900 MHz and 2100 MHz.

GPS

You get free lifetime voice guided navigation with Nokia Navigation, which is pre-installed on the phone when you buy it. The S II had problems getting GPS lock always, but the Lumia locked instantly. I didn't have a chance to test the Nokia Navigation more thoroughly, but the one time I did, it performed really well. The assisted navigation works really well and the guidance comes a little before you need to turn, so you can be a local everywhere.

You can pre-download the maps to your phone before you go, so you can use the navigation abroad without any extra costs caused by downloading the maps.


Microsoft's own Maps app

Memory

Sadly the Lumia doesn't have a microsd card slot, so you'll have to manage with the internal 16 GB. If that's not enough, you can save on the cloud using Microsoft's SkyDrive service, where you get 25 GB of free cloud storage.

There's a nice SkyDrive app for Windows Phone, but it seems that the desktop client is still missing. There's no Dropbox application for WP, which would be nice to have as Dropbox has a Windows client that integrates to the file system seamlessly.

To transfer data, you will need to use Microsoft's Zune application. I don't have anything bad to say about the software, but a mass memory mode would be awesome. Zune transfers your pictures and music blazing fast on the phone and to your computer.


Calling performance

Call quality on this phone is awesome, although the earpiece is a little quiet. I experienced no dropped calls, and even in a basement with the phone showing no reception the call didn't drop off.

To call someone from your contacts, you need to first tap on the name, and then tap on call. There aren't no shortcuts like in Android, and in the S II's TouchWiz UI you can just simply swipe right to call. In the call log you do have a shortcut on the left of the contact to save a tap if you wish to call back a missed call.

To answer a call when the phone is locked, you first need to unlock the phone by sliding up the handle. I think this is an unnecessary precaution to prevent accidental answering. The dialler has large keys and you can hear the familiar dialing sound when you dial a number.

Missed calls notification will be displayed next to the phone icon and tapping it will lead you to the call log. You can access the dialer from the dialer icon on the bottom of the display.


Unlocking the phone before you can answer the call is a little cumbersome

You can't decline a call with an SMS, which you can do in Android.

Calling is easy enough and works just like the phone feature in a phone should work.


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NIKO April 11 2012
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