Got a new Windows Phone!

As part of the plan of killing off the MiKE network, Telus tried many times to sell me an iPieceofcrap. I always turned it down saying I'd only get a Windows Phone, and recently, they offered me a deal I would have been insane to turn down. They paid off the contract breaking fee and bonified my plan, adding a crapload of extras on top of a sweet phone.

I chose the Nokia Lumia 800. I have been a Nokia loyalist back in the pre-smartphone era, so I know this is a solid piece of well-built hardware.

The phone is squarish, but it feels good in my hand. The screen, at 800x480 is ginormous com pared to my former Android phone who had a 320x480 screen.

The colors look vivid and sharp, and the touchscreen just blew my mind, it is SO FREAKING SMOOTH! I also hated texting on my Motorola i1 because text entry on this phone SUCKED. Text entry with the Lumia is just awesome, I can't explain it, but texting just feels smoother and natural with the Lumia's on screen keypad, and the keys are not much bigger than they were on my Android phone.

Call quality was superb as well, clear and crisp, like I was talking to someone next to me. Nokia's expertise shines through clearly! The phone also holds a very good signal.

Now, on to the Windows part of the phone... this is the best version of Windows Mobile I have used by far. It is rock-solid stable, speedy, intuitive and minimalist.

Bottom line... a solid phone with a solid OS. I never thought I'd say that about M$, but they got it right with this version of Windows Mobile!

Here is a stock image, mine is black.

That does look and sound like an awesome phone.

Hokay, It's been over a week now with this phone, and bloody hell, why did I even bother with Android? Windows Phone 7.5 is absolutely rock-solid, even after being powered on for an entire week, it is still SUPER SMOOTH. I've only had one minor bug with Bluetooth, but the cheap Bluetooth headphones are to blame on this one and not the phone.

I have downloaded a few applications and they all ran pretty smooth. I have downloaded a Bejeweled clone to play on the go, and it's superb, runs smooth, sounds good, no problem.

I really dig the interface of WP7.5. I can drag everything I need on my home screen to acces quickly, and I also have the main menu which is a swipe away.

Speaking of the screen, it looks beautiful. The AMOLED display makes fpr one SUPER CRISP black background, because of course I use the "Dark" (read: black) theme.

Video playback is super smooth, I listened to several G1 Transformers episodes with absolutely no problem, with sound in Stereo Bluetooth. Awesome.

The only minor gripe I have is battery. I do not use a load of data, and I can get about two days out a charge. However... signal is down the crapper at work, so I think I'll put it in Airplane mode and see how it fares when not stuck in poor signal hell.

Camera, and video are both fine, the flash is uber-powerful and the Carl Zeiss lenses dish out some very fine pictures. Video is also superb in 720p.

The phone will only become better when I can update it to Windows Phone 8. IMO, WP is an underrated platform, and it is a damn shame. Not only is the interface better and easier to use (I especially HATE Android 4+, what the blue hell was wrong with the old interface!!!!!), the OS itself is, like I said, rock-solid. WP is definitively worth a look, especially now that their entry level Windows Phones.

I never thought I'd find myself praising a MS product... but WP is just that damn good. I have used BlackBerry, Android, and WP is just so much better. Don't get me wrong, BlackBerry is super stable too, and I prefer both of them over Android.

Bottom line: It kicks ass.