The Nokia Lumia 800 is the first device from Nokia showcasing the result of the partnership between them and Microsoft. However the phone which had really caught the imagination of smartphone enthusiasts all over the world was the Nokia N9.

Now it is very clear that the Nokia 800 borrows heavily from the design of the N9 but why change something which is obviously gorgeous ? �So what has changed between them ? Read on to take a closer look at some of the obvious (and non obvious differences) !

Software

One look at the homescreen and you can see the world of difference between the MeeGo Harmattan OS on the N9 vs Windows Phone 7 on the 800. The WP7 operating system relies on a system of 'Live Tiles' which represents app icons both static and dynamic in a form of tiles.

On the other hand MeeGo Harmattan on the Nokia N9 does not include widgets in any form. What you do get are notifications of messages and call notifications on the standby screen and in the events view panel. The Nokia N9 relies on a 3 panel system varying between notifications , apps and multitasking bypassing the concept of a desktop as such. The Nokia 800 on the other hand has a secondary menu with a full listing of apps.

With Windows Phone 7.5 ie Mango, it is now possible to search for apps using the icon on the left which brings up the keyboard. Moving on to the multitasking experience , there is a fundamental difference between the two devices. The N9 lets you open as many apps as you want and displays them in a grid.

The multi tasking UI on the Nokia 800 is on the other hand is quite similar to Symbian

Comment (1)

For a second there, I was confused which is the Nokia N9 and the Lumia 800 if not for the Windows 7 interface.

Maybe the reason I like the Lumia so much is that I was eyeing the N9 for a very long time (yet I got a LG).