Remember Nokia? The folks who made the free phone your cell carrier tried to pawn off on you when you first signed up for cell phone service?
Nokia is actually the world's number one cell phone maker, but its fortunes in the face of iPhone and Android and the suddenly cheap smart phone have faded.
So last March, Microsoft – itself not doing so hot in the smart phone arena, what with the disaster that was Kin and tepid sales of smart phones armed with its Windows Phone 7 operating system – made a deal with Nokia, the first fruits of which were announced today:
The first Nokia smart phones to run the upgraded version of Windows Phone software, 7.5 "Mango" (the aforementioned fruit), the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710.
First, the bad news (for those who are looking forward to these new phones): while available for pre-sale in Europe (Lumia 800: 420 euro/$584, Lumia 710: 270 euro/$375), they won't make it to the U.S. until early next year. And they'll likely be subsidized, so pay no attention to the European prices. I mention them only for the sake of completeness.
The specs
Okay, more bad news. The Lumias also are lacking is some key features compared to its cutting-edge competition. The Lumias are 3G phones, not 4G, and likely will be available only from AT&T or T-Mobile.
While each Lumia sports a 1.4 GHz processor, they are single rather than dual core, meaning they won't be as snappy, especially for multi-tasking, as other smart phones with dual core chips such as iPhone 4S.
Each has a 3.7-inch screen, larger than iPhone but much smaller than all the 4-plus-inch Android models suddenly flooding the market.
And neither Lumia includes a front-facing camera, so no self-portraits or video chatting, perhaps the oddest omission.
Perhaps worse than Lumia's technical deficiencies comes the news that "Lumia" is Spanish slang for "prostitute."
Oy.
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, here are the specs for the two phones; where different, the Lumia 800 spec is on the right side of the slash, the Lumia 710 on the left.
Aesthetically, both Lumias are light and attractive. Both come in a variety colors: black, white, fuchsia (red) and cyan (blue); the 710 also will be available in yellow with replaceable back covers.
But the Lumia's appeal lie not necessarily in this pretty but disappointingly under-spec'd hardware, but in the operating system.
Mango is tasty
If you haven't yet surrendered to the pull of a smart phone, and/or you're uncommitted to either iPhone and Android, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango is actually a pretty sweet operating system. If I weren't already caught in Apple's velvet ecosystem web, I'd certainly choose Mango over Android – as soon as there is hardware to match this fascinating operating system.
Unlike the iOS-clone Android (Android's same-thing-only-different approach isn't much of an alternative to iPhone), Windows Phone is a fresh approach to smart phone interfaces. In nearly all ways, Windows Phone is more intuitive, easier to find stuff and more fun to navigate than iOS and Android, which offer similar app-centric approaches.
My favorite part of Windows Phone is the front page and its tiles. Instead of Apple's and Android's apps-only approach, Microsoft lets you pin anything – Web pages, specific photos or video, a phone book entry, essentially any screen from within almost any app – to the Windows Phone Home page.
And these Windows Phone tiles are "live" – animated to reflect whatever updates are going on behind the page, such as the number messages received. Many tiles are animated; a contact's icon, for instance, shuffles between their photo and their name. The tile for your photo gallery changes photos. The Home page always seems to be doing – something, which makes your phone feel almost alive.
And, unlike the limited number of apps iOS or Android restrict you to on a single screen, you can pin as many – or as few – tiles to the Windows Phone single Home screen as you like. You simply swipe scroll down to locate them rather than across multiple screens.
Getting to other apps is also easier than on iOS or Android. Simply swipe the Home screen left and you see a single alphabetical list of apps – no more hunting through numerous screens trying to locate that one app. Looking for "Angry Birds"? It's probably near the top of the list. Looking for YouTube? It's probably down toward the bottom – just scroll down.
Windows Phone "look & feel" is big, bold and rarely boring.
Mango upgrade
Mango offers more than 500 upgrades/improvements to Windows Phone, many of which, admittedly, had already been available on iOS and Android such as threaded messaging (having entire email conversations grouped under one heading).
Mango is now more-or-less up-to-date with its mobile OS competitors, function-wise, which helps erase lingering reservations I had about Windows Phone.
Added to Windows Phone capabilities is a single unified e-mail inbox, GPS navigation with voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions, and address book entries that include the latest communications and social media updates from Facebook, Twitter, et al.
Of course, Windows Phone lacks the vast library of apps you'll find in the iTunes App Store and the Android Market, but you'll find most of what you need and want. And seeing the word "Zune" – Microsoft's failed attempt to compete with iPod and iTunes – as the name of Windows Phone's music app doesn't fill one with confidence.
You can get a fuller overview of Mango's juiciness from this Microsoft promotional YouTube video:
But I'm afraid we'll have to wait a couple of months for me to get my hands on an actual unit for a more complete review.