With Symbian Series 40 , Nokia has removed  the divide between feature and smart phones , launched in 1999 with Nokia 7110,  early S40 phones offered  the inexpensive handsets which can access the internet via WAP , then came email capability and support for Opera Mini Browser followed by Touch and Type in C3 followed by Dual SIM Capability and with the new Asha series , Nokia has taken S40 to the whole new level , with cloud powered browser which can compress data by up to 30% .

While being inexpensive and Smart Lite. , S40 phones always has gorgeous designs had always been popular amongst the masses in developing countries including Brazil , India , China , and the Far East and no wonder today the S40 series phones crossed the 1.5 billion mark.

The legendary 15,000,000,000th  device was purchased by Mayara Rodrigues in São Paulo Brazil and had been given the phone by Nokia Brazil Vice President, Almir Luiz Narcizo, and retail network President, Luiza Helena Trajano

Nokia is not stopping here , since their Ex CEO Oli Pekka , Nokia’s vision had been to reach the next billion customers and gradually they are achieving their target.

On behalf of Team SenseApplied , we congratulate Nokia on this milestone achievement and wish them many more in future.

Nokia has pulled all stops in designing the Nokia Lumia 800. The curved glass front , the poly carbonate body all shows that Nokia had their best and brightest at work to make their comeback phone a success .

Nokia Lumia 800 features a unibody design like that of N9 , that means that the user cannot themselves replace the battery and open up the phone.  The body is made of single piece of poly carbonate plastic without any joints , it’s the same material being used in fighter jet planes and Nokia added their unique approach of using the colored resign to manufacture it so the same color as the phone is down to the core i.e. if ever the phone gets scratched , the same color will come out from underneath.  The reason of using a Poly Carbonate body beside aesthetics is that Poly Carbonate plastic does not interfere with Cell Signals and the phone will not suffer from Anteena Gate problems.

On the front of the screen , is the beautiful 3.7 inch Clear Black AMOLED screen fused with the body giving it a flowing feel.  With Clear Black Technology , the blacks come out darker and the whites come out much brighter showing more realistic colors.  The glass as of in N9 is curved and is a pleasure to swipe or slide upon.  To have the enjoy more of the screen and worry less about the scratches, Nokia has used Corning Gorilla glass which can withstand scratches during normal use.  The front is totally physical button free ,  and the operations are performed with three capacitive keys . Nokia Lumia 800 does not have a front Cam however the front does have Ambient sensors.

On the top of Lumia 800 are the 3.5 mm Audio Jack , Micro USB Charging and Sync port and Micro SIM tray slot .  The user can access the Micro USB port by pressing the slot door on one side and the door pops open and for Micro SIM Access, the holding tray cover is to be slid a bit left to unlock it.  Some may say that the Micro USB cover is prone to breakage , but Nokia taking a cue from N97 design has thought of that .  If you look at the support for the door , it’s made of sturdy material , I have gently tried to push the door ( Gently )  to test it and found it’s prong connector with the body  quiet sturdy.

On the bottom of the phone is the speaker grill.  The reason for  putting the speakers on the bottom instead of the back are that often sound on the back speakers are muffled when kept on the table or on an uneven soft surface like the bed.  With speakers on the bottom , there is no chance that they will get covered and distort or muffle the sound. 

The left side of the phone is left plain with out any buttons just the beautiful polycarbonate body while on the right side are Volume rocker keys, Power and Screen Lock Key and Camera Key. 

At the back of the phone is what makes Nokia Phones stand out from rest of the pack, a 8 MP Carl Zeiss Camera with Dual LED Flash.  We will discuss the camera details in a later post so for now all we can say that its photographs are better than other competitor phones such as from HTC.

Overall during our 3 days of use , we found the phone to be sturdy and practical with hardware and software complementing each other .  It’s been admired by many including many of our iPhone touting friends and we hope that Nokia will soon launch it the phone in Pakistan.

Nokia had a long history of being associated with Hollywood Blockbusters, even my first encounter with a Nokia was through the movie ‘  The Saint’  featuring Val Kilmer , along the path , Batman -  The Dark Knight has featured Nokia 5800 Express Music , Diehard 4 featured Nokia Nokia N90 , 9300i , 770 Tablet and E61  and who can forget Neo and others using Nokia 7710 the banana phone in The Matrix.

While we are working on our first impressions post of Nokia Lumia 800 , we couldn’t stop to  think that this phone is meant for the silver screen with a strong character .

Now Nokia has launched Nokia Lumia 800 -  Batman edition so this phone may be featured in the upcoming Batman – The Dark Knight Rises , but where else you’d like to see this phone in which movies and TV programs.

For us the best contenders to use Nokia Lumia 800 are

In Movies

Taken 2 –  Liam Nelson has already used the N73 in Taken now Taken 2  in the works , no other phone will suffice in his strong role.

Transporter:  A fast car (  Audi or BMW) and Jason Statham in his signature suit will  perfectly complement the looks and sturdiness of Nokia Lumia 800

James Bond : With Bond everything has to be cutting edge technology and has to look good just like Lumia and if Sean Connery or Roger Moore cannot make a comeback .  Daniel Craig will do.

Sex and The City :  Given my earlier choice of action flicks Sex and the City seems a bit odd choice but add Sarah Jessica Parker -  The fashion Diva , to it and Nokia Lumia Cyan or if possible White has found it’s perfect match.  Her strong personality and sense of fashion will definitely complement to the phone.

In Indian Cinema , Don3  : If you have seen Don2 ( for those who do not understand Hindi can get one with English subtitles)  this movie has blown apart MI4 in Pakistan and as Don3 hint is already given in the movie, I’d like to see no other than Sharukh Khan to use this phone.  He is already associated with Nokia and I hope Tag Heuer let him use Lumia 800 instead of their Meridiist which he was using in Don 2.

I’m also a fan of American TV Serials especially the sitcoms and Spy ones and for me the best contenders to show Nokia Lumia 800 are

Burn Notice -  the phone is meant for the lead role Micheal Westen ( Jeffery Donovan ) again his knack of using spy technology and bugs and his style (  love his suits and glasses )  as Nokia Lumia 800 can’t be opened easily so he could be rest assured that his  phone cannot be easily bugged.

Castle :  Richard Castle and Kate Beckett , the two main characters had been using Windows Phone in some episodes and Nokia Lumia 800  will match their persona with it’s strong features.

Big Bang Theory -  Dr Sheldon Cooper -  call him an eccentric nerd but he can go on and on about his phone if the script is right,  just give him a Cyan one which matches his colorful shirts.

Chuck: My favorite Nerd Herd Spy –  as he is now planning to take Carl Michael Industries towards technical espionage a black Lumia 800 is all he needs .

These are our picks for Nokia Lumia 800 what are your’s?  -  do inform us in comments

At  last after a long wait we have received our Nokia Lumia 800 trial device -  thanks to Nokia Connects . We may not be the first one in Pakistan to get the Lumia 800 but we are the first one to unbox it and we are going to do it quick as we have much in store for you about this ‘Amazing’  Everyday device which we will cover during our trial period and beyond .

Starting with the box , the design is the same as of Nokia N9 so there is nothing to talk much as it features the same iPhone style stacking.

However  the information on the box showed the exclusivity of this particular phone that it is among one of those showed at Nokia World 2011. 

Inside the box , the accessories include the 

• Nokia Stereo Headset WH-902 ,
• USB Charger AC-16 , Black Silicon soft cover ( matching my phone color)  and
• Charging and Sync Cable CA-185CD along with
• User Guides and Information Leaflets in English , German and Spanish.

So folks this was a quick unboxing of Nokia Lumia 800 covering what is inside the box , soon to follow is our first impressions and rest assured during our two weeks trial period we will cover each and every aspect of this  Amazing Everyday Device.

If you have any questions or queries about Lumia 800 do leave us a comment

I’ve recently updated my Nokia Suite to version 3.3.84 ( Beta Version available from Nokia  Beta Labs ) . As I was exploring the suite , I went to the Phone Info Tab and there it was showing my phone warranty to be Valid.

A click on the information Icon showed me that Nokia Suite has checked my warranty information from Pakistan database and have found it valid.  Alas it does not show how much warranty is left, but still it’s quite handy information from Nokia.

If you find any other useful information from the new Nokia Suite do let us know in comments.

While the whole world is talking about Nokia Lumia 900 , I couldn’t help but reflect on Dec 2011 , when I went to Thailand on vacation with my family and took a Nokia N8 with me.

How do you spot a tourist , they usually had a camera in their hand or hanging on their necks and carry maps but not with Nokia N8.  At the beginning at the Phuket beach I did had my DSLR   on my neck , playing all touristy but by the end of 2nd day I had enough of it as I was taking more pics from my N8 and video it was making was amazing . Beside people get a lot uneasy when you point a DSLR towards them , point a phone cam and they don’t mind at all.

One of my greatest fears when travelling abroad is the high communication costs in terms of mobile data usage but I was glad that this time I took N8 which sips data instead of my Samsung Galaxy Note.  ( During my summer vacations in US , my Galaxy S 2 ate somewhat 2.0 GB of data in 20 days of vacation ).

When I landed at Bangkok Airport , the local carrier True Move was giving out free SIM cards by handful to everyone , I grabbed 6 of them and to my surprise each had 10mb of free data and 1 hour free WiFi included included with 7bhat credit.

As I was running ‘leaked’ Symbian Belle on my N8 , using SKYPE was out of questions , but with What’sApp on my N8 I was never out of touch with my family and friends in Pakistan.  The best thing about Symbian Belle was that I was able to shutdown mobile data usage with a click when I was sleeping or travelling to avoid unnecessary usage.

The Thailand maps I loaded on the phone before I left were also a life saver , from the nearest mall to nearest mosque everything was in my hands and I was hero to my wife and kids when I found the nearest halal eatery right behind the hotel in Pattaya instead of walking 500m to Central World Mall.  The maps  even put my mind at ease when the Tuk Tuk I took on new year’s eve to my hotel in Bangkok  started taking side streets and a quick glance on the Nokia Map assured me that we are going the right way . 

Not everything was perfect , the maps showed many of the streets names in Thai instead of English and the lack of a ebook reader for which I had to rely on my iPod,  but still it was a minor tradeoff considering the awesome pictures memories it made putting my DSLR  to shame.

Below are some of the memories my Nokia N8 stored for me to cherish and remember the good times I had with my wife and kids.

No doubt Nokia Lumia 900 is the best on the block and making waves at CES 2012 , still we thought about comparing it with it’s younger siblings the Nokia Lumia 800 and  Lumia 710 to make it easier for those interested in the Nokia Lumia Series.
 

All three devices has the same Windows Phone 7.5  operating system  and they performs the same, the difference lies in the hardware and here we go with our comparison

Size and Weight
 
Nokia Lumia 900 : 127.8 x 68.5 x 11.5 mm , Weighing 160gms 
Nokia Lumia 800 : 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 -  Weighing 142 g
Nokia Lumia 710 :  119 x 62.4 x 12.48 mm -  Weighing 125.5 g
 
Screen
 
Nokia Lumia 900 : 4.3 inch , 800 x 480 pixel  Clear Black AMOLED Display
Nokia Lumia 800 : 3.7 inch , 800 x 480 pixel  Clear Black AMOLED Display
Nokia Lumia 710 : 3.7 inch , 800 x 480 pixel  Clear Black AMOLED Display
 
CPU
 
Nokia Lumia 900 : 1.4 GHz Single Core – Qualcomm APQ8055 + MDM9200
Nokia Lumia 800 : 1.4 GHz Single Core – MSM8255 SnapDragon / Scorpion
Nokia Lumia 710 : 1.4 GHz Single Core – MSM8255 SnapDragon / Scorpion
 
Memory
 
Nokia Lumia 900 : 512MB RAM – 16GB Onboard + 25GB Skydrive Cloud Storage
Nokia Lumia 800 : 512MB RAM – 16GB Onboard + 25GB Skydrive Cloud Storage 

Nokia Lumia 710 : 512MB RAM – 8GB Onboard + 25GB Skydrive Cloud Storage

 
Camera
 
Nokia Lumia 900 :  Front and Back Cameras 
Front Cam :  1280 x 720 pixel , 1.3 MP Front Cam
Back Cam :   8 MP Carl Zeiss -  3X Digital Zoom , Dual LED Flash
Nokia Lumia 800 : 8 MP Carl Zeiss -  3X Digital Zoom , Dual LED Flash
Nokia Lumia 710 : 5 MP  -  3X Digital Zoom , Dual LED Flash
 
Battery and Talk Time
 
Nokia Lumia 900 : BP-6EW 3.7v 1830 mAH -  7 Hrs Talk Time – 300 Hrs Standby – 6.5 Hours Video Playback – 60 Hours Music Playback
Nokia Lumia 800 : BV-5JW 3.7v – 1450mAH – 13 Hrs Talk Time – 265 Hrs Standby – 55 Hours Music Playback
Nokia Lumia 710 : BP-3L 3.7v – 1300mAH – 6.9 Hrs Talk Time – 400 Hrs Standby – 38 Hours Music Playback

Availability
 
Nokia Lumia 900 : USA Only ( For now )
Nokia Lumia 800 : Global
Nokia Lumia 710 : Global

We hope this brief overview will help you in making your decision to either go for the 4.3 inch Nokia Lumia 900 LTE enabled  , the sleek and sexy Nokia Lumia 800 or the playful yet affordable Nokia Lumia 710.

If we have missed something do let us know and we will add it to the comparison

How Smart Can A Smart Phone Be ?  Well Nokia Lumia 710 is  the one which has the answer for Meaning For Life ,  by keeping your friends closer and showing you where the closest you can get strawberry Ice cream.  All this and much more is the first advert for Nokia 710 –  now being aired in USA .

Stephen Elope’s disruptive strategy is going full steam ahead, what started with launch of Lumia 800 and 710 , the result of Nokia and Microsoft’s joint effort , has delivered a potential block buster the Nokia Lumia 900.

Nokia’s greatest strength in mobile phones is it’s design and hardware selection and they have gone all out in Lumia 900 , you can’t say ohh they missed this in case of a Lumia 900 and it is as perfect and ground breaking as Nokia N95 8GB was launched in 2007. 

Available in Black and Cyan colors , the poly carbonate body is same as the one introduced in Nokia N9 and carried forward to Nokia Lumia 800.  What set it apart from it’s little brother Lumia 800 is the 1.4GHz  Single Core -  Qualcomm APQ8055 + MDM9200 (WCDMA)  processor , 4.3 inch800 x 480 pixel  Clear Black Glass AMOLED Display and 1MP front Camera for video calling  along with a 8 MP Carl Zeiss illuminated with Dual LED Flash. 

The Bp-6EW  -  1830 mAh , battery has a  impressive life with 7 hours of 3G Talk time and 3G standby time of 300 hours , while music can be played for 60 hours and video can be watched for 6.5 hours

Powered by Windows Phone 7  Mango -  Nokia Lumia 900 also supports WiFi Tethering for upto 5 other devices.   For storage the phone comes with builtin 16GB of memory of which 14.5 GB is available but having Windows Phone has it’s advantages , you also get complimentary 25GB free storage on the cloud on Microsoft SkyDrive and it’s seamless integration makes saving and retrieving files from the cloud a snap. 

For the worldly traveler , Nokia Lumia 900 is also a world phone with support for all the bands from GPRS and EDGE to HSPA and even LTE there is no technology which is left out in the phone and coupled with Diversity Antenna Array to maximize RF performance so you can be assured any way you will pick your phone it will not loose signals. 

One thing which I don’t like is the Micro SIM but again not many are like me and change their phone every day .

Being a Windows Phone 7  device , Bing Maps and Internet Explorer 9 are included and At&T has bundled their At&T Navigator but Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive are available for download along with Tango Video Call thanks to the front Cam.

For Gaming there is a whole bunch of XBox titles available and for entertainment there is the exclusive ESPN Sports Hub and At&T U-Verse Mobile

For Business users there is email support for IMAP , POP and SMTP beside support for popular web based email clients like Outlook , Gmail , Yahoo , Hotmail and Nokia Mail is built-in.  The greatest feature of a Windows Phone 7 device is it’s Microsoft Office compatibility and based on my experience with other devices and platforms I can say that Windows Phone has the best integration be it Word , Excel or Power Point files.

Overall Nokia has left no stone un turned when designing the Lumia 900 and we cannot wait to get our hands on it .  The Phone will be available between March to May 2012 through AT&T on contract (  price unknown but we believe it will be equivalent or less than iPhone ) , hopefully a European version should come out soon so people like us from ROW can also enjoy this great phone.

In less than 12 hours ( Monday 3PM Pacific Time ) Nokia will present their Press Event at CES 2012 being held at Las Vegas.

Speculations are rampant that Nokia will bring out their flagship Windows Phone 7  powered Lumia 900 in conjunction with AT&T and the response for Lumia 900 will decide the fate of Nokia in the crucial North American market.

C-Net has started a live Blog page HERE where they will cover the event live , we are looking forward to it as the event begins at 5 am Pakistan time . Surely we’ll be up and covering it from here .