LONDON, United Kingdom – Nokia Lumia 800 passes the drop test. That moment has been and gone, it happens with all new phones. For the first few days you care for it as if it was one of your children and even think about buying a case for it. But usually, by Day Four, you lapse into old habits and take it for granted, like an old friend.
And then you drop it. On a tiled floor.
I should have put it down before picking up my coffee and toast this morning. Bending down to pick it up, I said a little prayer as I felt the tinge of guilt for not being more careful.
Just as toast tends to fall buttered side down, so smartphones tend to land screen down. And the Nokia Lumia 800 screen curves outward, so I knew it would be cracked in a thousand places.
But it wasn’t. It seemed like a miracle. I was told this phone was robust and it obviously is. Still, I reckon I was very lucky and I wouldn’t advise anyone to try it at home.
Anyway, that’s a bit of a diversion because I really just want to talk about how everything about this phone and its software has been designed with the people who use it in mind.
It’s so joined-up. Functions that exist in their own little “app silos” on other phones have been brought together under one tile. Nokia is connecting the apps which connect millions of people.
A great example is the way the camera works without even unlocking the screen. Nokia designers figured, if you want to take a picture, you don’t need any of the phone functionality, so bypass that.
You take the phone out of your pocket, pressing the camera button and by the time you are pointing it towards the subject, you are ready to shoot.
Straight after that, slide back to the picture, press the three dots top right and the share menu comes up. Hit share on Facebook and, provided you’ve already set up your Facebook, it’s there out on the social network in seconds.
After practising my quick draw techniques, I managed to go from pocket to picture in just 4.6 seconds.
On other phones I’ve used, you’d have to unlock the home screen, go to the camera icon, take the picture, go to the media gallery afterwards, call the picture up and then press the option to email. But the Nokia Lumia 800 stops you having to go in and out of apps all of the time by doing a lot of the multi-tasking for you.
Everything else on the phone has been thought through in the same way. From loading up music to using the in-car sat-nav Nokia Drive. This phone connects you to everything and everyone you care about better than any I’ve tried.
Not surprisingly preorders are going well, get yours here . . . but promise me not to drop it.