Mrs FD got a new Nokia Lumia last weekend, and mine arrives on Friday.

So far there are some pro’s and some major cons!

Pro’s
Its simple menu system and functionality is bliss after having an Android phone, and the more we use it the nicer it is compared to Android.

Its also very quick, the internet loads quickly and there is no draginess on apps, resizing, flciking etc.

Finanlly a smartphone that syncs well with hotmail and outlook calendar.

It looks good!

Cons
Shocking battery performance, which now at last is being recognised by Nokia, but they need to come up with a solution fast.

Limited apps, but more are coming day by day.

Has anyone else got one, how are you finding it, what apps do you recommend?

Had one a while (bit privileged in that respect).

Re: the battery, read this:
http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/t5/Nokia-with-Windows-Phone/Nokia-Lumia-800-Nokia-comments-on-battery-life-concerns/td-p/1250749

And try the diagnostic test there. I had one that was poor, got it swapped out and it’s much better now. I get a solid day with fairly heavy use now (e.g. listening to music via bluetooth all day at work, twitter, email etc.). My previous one would die with that use after 7 hours or so.

Also connect it to Zune/windows phone connector (if on a mac) and check you have the latest update, makes a difference.

I like it though, It’s the reason my galaxy S2 is up for sale.

Best thing is probably nokia music, specifically the offline mixes (long press a mix to save it for offline listening). You might need to update nokia music in the market place to get this.

Also try out Zune unlimited – you get a 14 day free trial (remember to cancel tho if you don’t want to pay). All you can download/stream, pretty nice.

I also like how nearly all apps have a free “try” option, then you can buy if you like it. Something Apple need to do better IMO.

Yup, I got a Lumia 800 as a work phone last week – currently I also have a personal phone, too – iPhone 4. Initially, I found battery life terrible – but it’s got better recently, probably because I’m not endlessly mucking around with it. On 7.1 at the moment, by the way.

Apps? Flickr’s good. Weatherbug is also great, but I’ve not been able to tile it yet. Other than that, I’ve been swamped in the run-up to Chrimbo and haven’t had a chance to muck around with apps yet.

Liking the aggregation of content into ‘me’ and ‘contacts’ works well, makes sense to do it like this rather than in separate apps.
Camera’s smashing, generally very responsive interface for the phone. Display is beautiful.

Has anyone found an app for monitoring 3G usage?

I sued to use 3G Watchdog on Android which cut 3G if I got to my limit, so far I haven’t found any such thing on Windows..

Oh, and any specific questions on it I can probably help… i’m a bit of a phone geek and I’ve had it a wee while now. (disclaimer: that’s cos i was an invited guest of nokia at nokiaworld, cos of various online writing I do about mobile etc. Maybe that makes me biased? Who knows. As I said, I have an android device too, and my day job involves coding for android…)

Has anyone found an app for monitoring 3G usage?

Not currently possible AFAIK. I had a (admittedly brief) dig round the APIs the other day to see if this was technically possible as I couldn’t find one.

I’ve not looked to see if they’ve publicised the API changes in the Tango WP7 update, so maybe it’ll become possible…

Depending what network you’re on, you’ll have a dedicated webpage you can use to monitor which you could pin as a tile.

Biggest WP7 con IMO (and applies to all devices) is there’s no backup/restore. Yes, you can create a “backup” from Zune/WPC but it’s not a proper backup, just to restore the phone in case of SW update issues. What you can’t do, is backup one phone and restore to another, even if it’s exactly the same model.

IA – It would be a shame if its not possible to create such an app as I feel its a vital thing when most people have limited data.

I guess I will have to use the Orange info, which is far from ideal.

You say your battery is now ok, is that leaving things like 3G/Wifi switched on continually? That thread on Nokia suggests you should switch every thing off just about on the phone to make the phone last an acceptable amount of time…. that is not acceptable in itself for a smartphone.

I admit we havent dont the diagnostic thing, will try tonight.

You say your battery is now ok, is that leaving things like 3G/Wifi switched on continually?

Yup. If you want specifics, normal for me is:

Wifi/3g/BT on.
Listening to music over BT most of the day, either from Zune or nokia music.
1 gmail account set to fetch emails immediately (i.e. push update), hotmail and a mail for exchange account too, but updating only occasionally.
Calendar set to realtime sync with google.
Twitter and FB apps set for background data update
Twitter, FB accounts set in the people hub and updating.

Basically I’m doing nothing to try and preserve battery. As I said, my first one I managed to kill in about 7 hours at first, but i’ve generally been getting all day now. The amount of music/twitter etc varies day to day tho.

EDIT: oh check the SW update too. Settings-> about on the phone will tell you version. I’m on:

1600.2475.7720.11414 (Firmware version, that’s the device specific number).

Though I’m aware there is a slightly more recent version, but I dunno if that’s just regional variation or a testing version.

EDIT2: by slightly, i mean the sub version, 11454 or something off the top of my head,.

IA – It would be a shame if its not possible to create such an app as I feel its a vital thing when most people have limited data.

Well, it occurs it’d be possible to make operator specific versions…hmm which makes me think…maybe I should write that app. Need to find some spare time tho, and riding bikes is more fun 😛

I just had a squiz through the documentation and I can’t see anything about 3G usage. I can see where you’d be able to know when you start and stop using 3G, but not how much you are using 🙁

Does anyone find when the phone is on charge, their screen behaves erratically?

Thought about it…a bit ‘Meh’ and would much rather have an N9. I have an N900 at the moment and I really don’t know what to upgrade to. iPhone out cos I hate them, so might be a SGSII like everyone else!

I just had a squiz through the documentation and I can’t see anything about 3G usage. I can see where you’d be able to know when you start and stop using 3G, but not how much you are using

Yup, as I said not currently possible AFAIK. But all operators have a site you can quickly check, and you could pin that. Not found it an issue TBH.

Does anyone find when the phone is on charge, their screen behaves erratically?

No, not seen or heard of this, any more details?

Thought about it…a bit ‘Meah’ and would much rather have an N9. I have an N900 at the moment and I really don’t know what to upgrade to. iPhone out cos I hate them, so might be a SGSII like everyone else!

Heh, on my desk I currently have* an N9, Lumia 800 and SGS2 (which is for sale 😉 ). I had an n900 for a while, it’s hacks I did with that which got me into the mobile blogging scene.

In some ways the N9 is so, so great. Which makes it a shame that they basically killed it before it was born. In other ways it lacks. My main sim’s currently in the N9, it’ll probably end up in the Lumia I suspect.

Seriously, try a Lumia properly, it’s better than I thought it would be. The slickness of it all is very addictive.

*actually there’s a pile of other androids about too for work, i’m johnny gadgets right now.

Windows 7 phone here on a samsung omnia,
Pros, great screen
Cons, everything else, utter shite and was fed a load of bullshine when I bought it. Apps are overpriced and rubbish, it’s inability to send video in any format unless you connect to your computer using zune, no copy and paste. Compared to my Jesus phone it is satan!! Will be for sale for £6.35 in six months !!

Could be worse I’m having a bad phone year, I have a Wildfire that is terrible – luck the retarded brother of a smart phone, so earlier this year I bought a 2nd hand Nexus s and it felt like everything Android promised to be, it was a pleasure to use by comparison. 4 days later it got lifted from my pocket at a gig.

So this week I decided to treat myself to desire s, it arrived today and seems to have a large dead channel running vertically along the screen – so it’s a semi-touch screen (I used touchtest to prove this btw)

I think I’ll give up and go back to just not bothering with mobile technology.

The Lumia does look like a decent phone, I’d like to give one a try.

IA – I’d buy your phone but I need to wait to get the money back from my most recent purchase first 🙁

IA – If the funtionality did become available to do an app for 3G usage, then I would certainly be prepared to pay for the app as it could save a fortune in excess data usage charges.

Just one other quick question.

I’ve downloaded an app so that I can switch wifi/3g etc on and off. However all the variants I have tried so far have all bascially just been a shortcut to the settings screen.

Surely it can not be too mouch to expect one of the tiles to basically acts as an on/off button, rather than just a shortcut?

IA – If you want rid of the N9 for a paltry sum of cash (even a pink 16gb one) I’m your man!

running an omnia 7 and love it. great screen, everything is simple, well laid out and just works.

Just for wrightyson for god sake plug it in and upgrade it!
the upgrade to ‘mango’ brings in copy and paste and a whole load of ther stuff.

toby1 – I’m in no rush to sell the SGS, when you’re shopping again if you’re interested ping me on here.

FunkyDunc – yup, another MS limitation, they can only take you to the settings screen. To be fair, I understand the rationale behind it – same reason you couldn’t write such an app on iOS.

Teethgrinder – it’s a black N9, planning on keeping it, for now…

Ditto titusrider, mango was a biiiig upgrade for WP7.

Biggest WP7 con IMO (and applies to all devices) is there’s no backup/restore. Yes, you can create a “backup” from Zune/WPC but it’s not a proper backup, just to restore the phone in case of SW update issues. What you can’t do, is backup one phone and restore to another, even if it’s exactly the same model.

I’m astonished at this flaw, there is no way I could ever consider buying any devise that is capable of storing large amounts of data, yet you cannot back it up is, frankly inexcusable.

Oh you can backup the photos/music etc. in that they automatically sync if you set it to, and apps are associated with account not device, but I get your point, it is pretty bad.

Thing is, only* Apple and Symbian Nokias have this sorted really. You can’t do it (properly) on Android either**

*actually, I dunno about blackberries.

**if I want to properly backup my android device I need to root it. WTF google.

The screen problem I get is when you are plugged in to the mains charger, if you hold a finger on the screen on a page where something is scrollable (I.e. The menu on the home screen) the screen shakes around!

How odd! I’ll try that now, but pretty sure I’d have noticed.

Nope, not happening here. Something wrong with yours/your charger I reckon.

Maemo on the N900 has a program developed by the community whereby a full backup of the phone can be made.

IA-so do you need to use Zune of can the 800 act as a mass transfer device? I don’t want any more bloatware on my pc than I have already…one of the many reasons I think iphones are a bunch of arse with itunes.

N9 compared to an SGSII? Only way I’ll be likely to get an N9 is by getting an SGSII on contract and selling it using funds to get N9.

Inreresting stuff, I’m about to cjange my phone so upgrade to an iphone 4s or the alternative is a Lumia 800…..

Played about with a Lumia & it feels great & Windows actually feels easy to use….. but will I miss my iphone??

Thoughts and comments please.

Well, the main question is will you miss your iPhone or the ~£150 or so extra a 4S will cost you more?

TBH if you’re happy with your current one, no reason not to get a new one? But then “get an iPhone” is the “easy” answer – this is worth a read http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/17/2639938/so-what-phone-should-i-buy-and-other-unanswerable-questions

can the 800 act as a mass transfer device?

Nope. No mass storage. Zune or WPC (on mac) to get content on/off it. WP7 is a lot closer to iOS in terms of walled garden/restriction. In some ways it’s *more* restrictive (and some less, more customisable).

N9 compared to SGS2…well read that link above. I can’t really recommend. I can give you my opinion, but I don’t know what you want in a phone and you don’t know what I like 🙂

N9 is like a polished N900. Think OSX vs Linux, you can whip up an Xterm and write a bash script on both, but one is a bit more polished. I think the N900 is more mature though…which i guess in some ways gives hope for the N9 – the N900 was a similar “dead end” device.

SGS2 is more capable, but does it make it “better”…hard to say. There are things about android i dislike.

Maybe it says something that I have both, but am planning to sell the SGS2 and the N9’s in my pocket right now? Or maybe that just says I like gadgets and have played with the SGS2 so want a new toy now, and have a work nexus s for when I want to try ice cream sandwich out… ask me specific questions and maybe I can help more? EDIT: or maybe it just says I want a 29er and the SGS2 is probably easier to sell?

Also why not ditch the contract and buy an N9 (or SGS2) outright? This is the way to roll IMO. You get upfront cost, but lower overall, and easier to manage the cost, it’s not “hidden”.

I’d buy an N9 now if i could afford it outright. I will probably wait til march for my bonus as i might be able to afford a 16gb by then.

As for no mass storage on the Lumia, it’s a no-no on that alone. Love the N900 and I can’t even use 10% of it’s potential. It will never be sold on to Mazuma though! The whole open nature of it is amazing.I have tried NitDroid on it and TBH wasn’t that impressed over Maemo.

Oh yeah, the open-ness is cool – this took me a morning to knock up:

#N900copter

Still reasons that make the n900 a great phone, does some things very well.

The android experience is very variable, depends a lot on the device. That’s the only reason people care about specs on phones these days (in terms of CPU/RAM). Cos crap android phones can be…crap.

I suspect secondhand N9s will start to appear by march. It’s a phone bought by early adopters/geeks mainly, the sort that like to change phones regularly. Hell, I might be selling mine my then (maybe to fund a white one…they’re gorgeous!)

gratuitous white N9 pic I took:

Wow…sure I saw that on TMO!

Cool!!!

Best thing about the white’s the feel – it’s gloss, so it feels the same as the screen. Like one big smooth glass pebble.

Just taken the plunge and bought a cyan one. Can’t wait for it to arrive but what can it do to shut my iloverphone mates up?

Things that seem to impress people I show it to:

Let them hold it, use it. It’s a gorgeous *feeling* device, and so slick and fast.

Bizzarely, the case! They come with a really good rubber case, nicely fitting (on this note, I fancy a cyan case so I can “change” the colour of mine occasionally, if you fancy a swap for a black one, let me know).

The “me” and “people” hubs, once you add twitter/facebook etc accounts, everything’s just pulled in there automatically, the integrations’s superb.

Similarly, the Pictures hub, the way if you go to albums, it’s pulled in all your facebook etc. albums too, so you can browse/show them off etc. In general the tight integration of everything is ace, and something the iPhone lacks.

Nokia music is ace – save some offline mixes. Such a great, free, service.

Ditto nokia drive – genuinely good satnav with offline maps (don’t need a data connection, just start it the first time when you’re on wifi to pull them down).

Cheers,

I have it up and running and liking it so far. Few things I haven’t got my head round:

Contacts: What has happened here is that it’s pulled all the contacts from facebook, twitter and my hotmail so I now have multiples of lots of people. Is there a way to merge contacts?

Drive: can you set a home destination? Not completely intuitive to use just yet though there is an update pending?

IE9: can I change startpage from Vodafone hub seeing as I’m on Virgin.

I must say that the N9 is a beautiful looking phone, and, although I don’t really like the tile feature of the OS, at least it’s totally different to iOS, and MS seem to have done a reasonable job at making it actually work. Sure, it has flaws, some inexplicable as they were flaws Apple were heavily criticised for in early iOS iterations, like c’n’p, for example. If I didn’t already have so much invested in the Apple ecosystem, ie. I was starting from scratch I’d seriously look at one of these.
Although, my N95 and WinMob5 experiences might have made me a bit wary…

Merge contacts by going though and using the link button, looks like a chain symbol. You can also turn off bringing in fb contacts if that is an easier solution 4 U.

Not sure on the other two, I don’t have a home page on mine just opens a blank tab

I vowed to never go back to Nokia some years ago, betrayed myself and got one 2 years ago – after 6 months with it I once again vowed never to use Nokia again. This time I am sticking to it.

Had my Lumia for about 2 weeks now and loving it.

The simplicity of it after the faff of Android is great, but at the same time that does limit it a little.

The screen quality is amazing, as is the speed of the phone itself, it certainly doesnt miss out from having a dual core processor marketing rubbish thing.

The only app I havent managed to get so far on it that I had on Android was one for controlling 3G usage, everything else is there. The other frustrating thing is that there is no flashing LED to tell you when messages arrive etc.

Battery life is not a problem (post software update).

Would I recommend it to others, yes with out a doubt.