Hello this is Rafiii, and editor for Nokiaphones.fr fan of Symbian / Nokia Belle. Since few days I indulge in quite an interesting experience: Place completely Belle Windows Phone. For this I replaced my trusty N8 by 900, latest and high-end Lumia series.
I can see the most serious of you raise your hand and ask me the following question:
This is a good question! In fact a few very thin differences near the 800 is identical to the 900 level software. In addition they still have some similarities in their hardware design. But then I did not consider the 800 as a pretty good candidate. The reasons are quite simple to explain: I have the N9 and the 800 has inherited all the pots:
Speaker bad (the limit of vintage quality HTC 2010/2011)
Very poor wifi range (the only capture device with nothing on my balcony)
Low battery (1450 mAh for a device running on something other than Symbian does not allow me to take the day)
Screen visibility outdoors just average (better than the N8 but not at the E6).
The hatch USB case (you would have seen the carnage at MWC 2012 ...)
And it has created for itself:
No front camera (that I do not care I do not use it)
No Wifi hot spot (this is important I use)
No Gravity Twitter app to replace (rather than the N9 did not until recently)
First Windows Phone Nokia oblige, I did not wipe the mess (thank you to the first buyers of the 800 and 710).
Anyway I waited until the banana is not for greener try.
You guessed it, the 900 corrects all the problems outlined above. Special mention to the screen just gorgeous, the best ever put on a Nokia. Not bother to blow out the dots per inch higher on the 800/N9, screen 900 is just better, especially outdoors where it is as easy to read as the E6. Even better, it does not alter the color boosting brightness, AMOLED oblige. Regarding Twitter 3 clients stand out. Carbon which I find the best interface, which offers Rowi push notifications and Mehdoh which seems to have the most features. Three applications this year to follow clearly. I chose Custom Carbon even if I have three.
But then what about the handling? I just spent a screen of 3.5 inches with a 4.3 inch screen after all. Well again no problem. Nokia has slightly modified the plastic shell polycarbonate 900 compared to 800. Who cut corners finished the palm of my hand, the angles of 900 are more obtuse. Then Nokia has changed the plastic is slightly rougher, phone fits comfortably in your hand (black, white is slippery apparently). Finally Nokia has ensured that the metal strip around the camera is at the same level as the shell, thus providing a sensation of continuity affected despite the difference in materials. Short small change for the better.
Then point to debate the screen "flat". Both the curved screen on the N9 made sense with the Meego interface that required to scan the edge of the screen, as on the 800 curved screen is useless as ever this gesture is used in Windows Phone. At best it was pretty. And thank you for having picked up a Nokia codes design N8 namely the border around the screen. It seems silly like that but this rubber band provides a benchmark for my fingers do not go away if I do not want to interact with the screen (eg when I call). N8 on this contour was metal, this is not the case on the 900 but the choice of material is consistent with the rest of the phone, as was the case on the N8. Brief hardware level is good for me.
Needless to beat around the bush, Windows Phone and Nokia Belle are diametrically opposed, both in philosophy and in their functionality and their implementations of these features. Symbian fact that many Windows Phone does not do very well and that is very good Windows Phone Symbian does not know it. And vice versa. I'm talking about features taken one by one. Despite this overall experience on both OS satisfies me. What I like about Symbian is that I can control everything (yum install firewall to see what my application tries to open a connection unexpectedly).