Lumia, My Friend

Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak said recently ”Nokia Lumia Windows Phone is more a friend than a tool”. See WPCentral or WPPoweruser. I share his opinion as I have the same experience. The Lumia is elegant, and the use is simple and smooth. Even the little hatch covering the USB port which was criticized by many is flawless, and looks really nice.

The use of tiles makes more sense than the old way of putting small icons on a background image which is often confusing. And the fact that Windows Phone is new and dynamic, has the weight of Microsoft behind it and therefore will evolve into something really great has much appeal to me.

Of course, Wozniak mentioned that there are not so much applications for WP than for iPhone or Android, but we are just at the beginning of the life cycle of WP, more will come in an increasing pace. 

I just tested Skype for WP and it worked extremely well, simple yet very functional. The quality of the connection using 3G was excellent. My favorite weather applications are AccuWeather and Weather (by Matti Nieminen).  To follow the stock market I use MyStocks Portfolio. Other good Apps are Facebook, Google, Compass VO, GPS Satellite, Spotify, WhatsApp (free messaging) and Free Talking Alarm Clock. There are many mapping apps besides the Nokia and Microsoft ones, for example SketchMap Free, making it possible to make a quick sketch on top of a map.  I am not in games, but anyway Angry Birds are there if you are interested.  Another application is the NightVision Goggles, App, which changes the camera into night vision mode, well ….

There are also unofficial Apps on the web, and these can be “sideloaded”, but you need to do some “hacking” for that, not too complicated, but anyway, if you are interested.

Notes on Lumia

My opinion on the Lumia is very positive, WP is easy to learn and operate, even with one hand. I guess the bigger screen of the Lumia 900 will be and advantage over the 800, but that is a matter of opinion and money of course.

The small SMS text although ok for most people can be copied and pasted into for example Notes of Mobile Office. Mobile office has a pinch operated zoom function. The lack of functionality to send contacts by SMS or email can be corrected by downloading free software, the best seems to be Contact Sender, which creates SM or email messages from contacts. The reason for this can be that Microsoft wants people to start to use their Cloud services, where all user data could be stored “safely”. But still one needs a fast and easy way to send contact details to a colleague or friend “on the move”.

Taking panorama images is another issue I am working on, there was great software for both Symbian and Maemo platforms, but at the moment I have not found any useful App to do this.

Lumia

The Lumia 800 is a great phone indeed, simple to use and fast. The tiles of the menu move smoothly, and it is easy to modify the layout. A protective glove comes with the device; I think it is wise to use it as it covers the four buttons which slightly protrude from the body. Used with the body armor the feel is superb. It is easy to make telephone calls, and the sound is great.

Taken into consideration that the Windows Phone environment is new for Nokia the result is very good indeed, and improvements and updates will make this platform even better.

I just installed the latest update and this improves battery life, however, the thing that I miss are a good battery monitor App.

The other issue is the fact that the developers assume that all people have the same eyesight; font sizes cannot be changed. For example the text size of SMS messages is very small, and I would like a larger font. One possibility would be the solution of the Apple iPad, tapping to enlarge the entire screen.

Nokia Drive navigation works well, maps can be preloaded, but there is no possibility to store important personal locations. Nokia Maps has the possibility to save favorite locations, but lacks the functionality of preloaded maps. This feature is a major plus of the Nokia Symbian phones.

My suggestions for immediate improvement; Nokia Maps, and changeable text size, or if possible a large scrollable virtual screen. 


Another small issue, it seems to be impossible to send contact details (phone number, address etc) as an SMS, email or Bluetooth, this is a strange glitch. Possibly Microsoft has never thought about this feature which is standard in any phone. There is a solution, there are some free Apps, iTextContact and TextContact lite, which send contact details by SMS. However, not very elegant.