Nokia's Lumia handsets hands-on

Nokia has introduced its Lumia range of smartphones, the first from the Finnish company to run on the Windows Phone platform.

The Lumia 710 and 800 handsets, which debuted at Nokia World in London on Wednesday, also mark the first time Nokia has used Qualcomm Snapdragon chips in its devices.

Both devices run the Windows Phone 7.5 mobile operating system, called Mango, and both use the 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor. They also both come pre-installed with features such as Mix Radio and Nokia Drive, and use a mobile version of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 browser. In addition, they have a micro-SIM rather than a standard SIM card.

The Lumia 800, described by chief executive Stephen Elop as Nokia's new flagship device, has the better specifications of the two. It will launch in the UK in November with a price tag of €420 (£367).

It combines the usual smartphone staples of Wi-Fi, HSDPA connectivity GPS and Bluetooth with a 3.7-inch Amoled display. On the rear of the phone is an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, capable of capturing HD video. Internal storage is limited to 16GB as standard and cannot be expanded, as there is no microSD slot. The device also has a fixed rear panel, meaning owners cannot change the battery themselves.

The touchscreen display performed particularly well in the limited hands-on tests ZDNet UK conducted. Similarly, the device did not show any signs of lag when opening or closing apps, indicating that the processor has enough heft to smoothly run the Mango operating system.

Like other Windows Phone Mango devices, such as the HTC Titan or Radar, the Lumia 800 comes with Microsoft Office access built in. This allows users to access documents such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint files stored locally or remotely.

A Microsoft Lync messaging and communications app will be available as part of Office on mobiles before the end of the year, a Nokia spokesperson told ZDNet UK.

Like other Windows Phone devices, the Lumia 800 comes with People Hub, which permits people to set up groups of contacts for quick access to email, messages and updates from social-networking services such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. It also lets people look at all updates from all contacts, if they prefer. 

The design of Lumia 800 stands out as different to that of its main smartphone rivals, somewhat echoing the Nokia N9. It is available in black, blue or pink and weighs 142g. It is 12.1mm thick. The side of the handset is home to power, volume and camera shutter buttons.

The Lumia 800 also has three microphones: one for calls and two for noise cancellation on the rear. On the bottom of the device is a speaker for music playback and hands-free calls.  

The Lumia 710 is the lower priced of the two devices — at around €270 — and features many of the same hardware specs as the Lumia 800. One of the differences is the 710 comes with a 5-megapixel, rather than an 8-megapixel, camera. It also has removable interchangeable rear covers, allowing access to the battery, unlike the Lumia 800.

Nokia Drive, which is pre-installed on the smartphones, provides real-time voice-guided navigation. Unlike other mobile navigation products, such as Google Maps on Android and iOS devices, Nokia Drive pre-loads all the mapping information it needs. This means it does not need a data connection to navigate. If a user deviates from the pre-loaded route data, the handset will simply download the rest of the data required to get to the destination.

Like the 800, the Lumia 710 provides Microsoft Office integration, with access to documents stored locally or remotely. The remote files can be kept on SharePoint or can be stored in a user's back-up on SkyDrive, which comes with 25GB of storage as standard.

In addition to the Zune music player, both Lumias come with Mix Radio, which delivers streamed music mixes or lets people download tracks for offline playback. 

Downloading the Mix Radio playlists is as simple as pressing and holding your finger on the mix you want and selecting "make available offline". Users are allowed to download four mixes, for a maximum of four weeks, after which the handset will renew the licences to play the music the next time it connects to a Wi-Fi network.

The 710 comes in a range of colours, and interchangeable rear covers can be bought separately. Other optional accessories are an NFC-capable headset, which can also be connected via Bluetooth. Neither of the Lumias support near-field communications (NFC), as the Windows Phone platform does not currently support it.

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