Ben's Talk3G Blog

It's no secret, or at least a badly kept one, that I'm intrigued by Windows Phone, especially the tie-up with Nokia. Once upon a time I'd have simply bought one and had it as my main phone for a few months at least, but in the days of the iPhone there quite simply isn't anything else I could or would want to switch to.

Now I need a 'second phone' as an emergency contact number. The Nokia Lumia 800 is not, perhaps, an obvious choice for this purpose, but the battery life improvements that have arrived with the latest software update do at least make it plausible. What's more, it's a phone that, while not my primary, I'll have to carry with me and actually use. So I want something nice.

My last foray into foreign phone territory was with the Google Nexus One, manufactured by HTC (Hateful Technology Company). Harsh, perhaps, but my dislike of HTC products is justified in my eyes - they're exceptionally bland and just not my cup of tea. They're for the masses, and that's fine. Then there's Android, which I know has plenty of fans, and I'm fully behind it as a global enabler of smartphone growth that's bringing the Internet to millions upon millions of previously unlikely web surfers, but for me it has demonstrated that Google has absolutely no expertise in creating consumer operating systems and, despite copying the best mobile OS (iOS), it couldn't copy the panache with which iOS delivers the user experience.

Nokia, on the other hand, have never struggled to produce phones full of soul and personality. They've produced plenty of crap, yes, but it has all been capable of sending me a little misty-eyed (at least up until the mid and last throws of the dismal NSeries). Microsoft, despite my personal preference of Mac OS on the desktop since ~2005, have the experience. The two coming together was always an alluring proposition, and now it's finally bearing fruit the appeal of the current flagship product is undeniable.

There's something else that appeals about Windows Phone over Android... Microsoft has clear motives to create a great mobile OS. It wants to sell it. It's a product. Android, on the other hand, is something of a Google anomaly. It's a plug into other Google services, and its motives are just that - Google services and Google advertising. How fun for the user, to have an operating system created by what has to be the worlds biggest advertising company.

But what has always appealed to me most about consumer devices is the tactile experience. The Nokia Lumia 800 appears to tick all the boxes here. First and foremost, it comes in cyan, which looks awesome. But the device itself being a unibody of plastic and glass without messy memory card or battery doors really appeals to me. I won't know for sure until I've held it, but from looking at the pictures I get the distinct impression that I'll not be able to put it down. This contrasts with the Nexus One, which I was, quite frankly, unable to make myself pick up.

There are other things I'm looking for in the Nokia Lumia 800, though, which I'll be disappointed if I don't find. Nokia's legendary reception and voice call quality had both better be there. The battery life needs to be Nokia-esque. The phone needs to be durable. Yes, there's plenty I'll be looking for, and I look forward to sharing with you all what I find.