SpecEagle review · Nokia

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Nokia's first Windows Phone, wrapping WP7 in the N9's gorgeous body.

SpecEagle Editorial·Nov 2011·$580
Overall
50/100
Class rank
#4 of 7
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

Nokia bets the company on Windows.

The Lumia 800 was Nokia's first Windows Phone, wrapping the smooth Metro UI in the beautiful polycarbonate body of the N9. It launched the Lumia brand and Nokia's all-in Microsoft gamble — a striking device hampered only by WP7's limitations.

01Display

64/100

64/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2011.

TypeAMOLED ClearBlack, curved glass
Size3.7 inches
Resolution800 × 480 px (WVGA)

02Camera

58/100

58/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2011 — 8 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.

Main8 MP, f/2.2, Carl Zeiss, dual-LED
Video720p
FrontNone

03Performance

54/100

54/100 puts it above the 51-point average for flagship phones of 2011.

ChipsetSnapdragon S2 1.4 GHz
RAM512 MB
Storage16 GB

04Battery

56/100

56/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2011.

Capacity1,450 mAh
Standby~265 hours

05Build

74/100

74/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2011.

06Value

56/100

56/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2011.

What works
  • Stunning N9-derived polycarbonate body.
  • Smooth Windows Phone 7.5 Metro UI.
  • Carl Zeiss camera.
  • Curved ClearBlack AMOLED.
What doesn't
  • WVGA, single-core — couldn't go to WP8.
  • No front camera.
  • No microSD.
  • WP app ecosystem was thin.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 7-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .