From 8am tomorrow morning (November 16th) the Nokia Lumia 800 goes on sale in the UK and five other European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Netherlands). In the UK, it is available on contract from £26 a month, PAYG for £400 and SIM-free for £469. For the launch of its first Windows Phone device, Nokia has seeded more demo units and trained more retail staff than any other launch in its history. Tomorrow is a big day for the Finnish company.

UK retailers

Here are the key UK launch retailers and their lowest pricing:

• Carphone Warehouse - free on a 24 month contract @ £26 (Vodafone and Orange)
    
• Phone4U - free on a 24 month contract @ £26 (Vodafone and Orange)
     
• Orange - free on a 24 months contract @ £31
     
• T-Mobile - £59 on a 24 month contract @ £25.53 
     
• Vodafone - free on a 24 month contract @ £36
    

The £26/24 month contracts offer a base total ownership cost of £624 (24 x £26). The 12 month Vodafone contract (see table below) also provides a relatively low base total cost of ownership at £631 (£199 and 12 x £36). However, these contracts all come with relatively limited inclusive minutes, texts and data.

If you are looking for a Nokia Lumia 800 SIM free, your best option is Carphone Warehouse, priced at £469. Other retailers will also be offering the handset SIM free in due course, but the majority will not get stock until January 2012.

For Pay-as-you-go (PAYG), the only offer currently publicised is from Three, who are offering the handset for £399.

For all of the above retailers, you can buy online, or go to one of the high street stores.

Other retailers, outside the launch partners mentioned above, are also offering the Lumia 800. Some such as mobiles.co.uk (associated with Carphone Warehouse) are offering additional incentives and may offer a better deal for some customers. For example, mobiles.co.uk are also offering the Lumia on an Orange  24 month contract at £26 per month, but with 9 months half price rental and £20 instant cash back for a base total cost of ownership of £487.

It may also be possible to improve on these prices by shopping around or using a cash back scheme or similar affiliate based scheme. 

   

Special offers - free Xbox 360, accessories, vouchers and more

Retailers are offering various special promotions with the Nokia Lumia 800. Phone4U is offering £50 of Nokia accessories with every phone. Carphone Warehouse is offering £50 of vouchers (choose from Sainsbury, Toys R Us and others). Vodafone is offering £60 of vouchers for the first 10,000 customers.

One of the offers that's been attracting a lot of interest is Orange's promotion of a free Xbox 360 to those upgrading to the Lumia 800. For this offer you need to be an existing Orange pay monthly customer on a 12, 18 or 24 month contract and will be required to upgrade to a Nokia Lumia handset on an 18 month or 24 month Animal plan. The offer is for the 4GB Xbox 360, which has a retail value of around £150.

This offer is also available to new customers through Carphone Warehouse opting for an Orange 24 month contract at £36.

 

Deal Tables

The tables below outline the current public deals for the Nokia Lumia 800 taken from the operator websites, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U. We'll keep these tables updated over the next few days.
   

SIM Free

Retailer	Price
Carphone Warehouse	£469

 

PAYG

Retailer	Price
Three	£399

 

New Contract

Operator	Contract Length	Minutes	Texts	Data	Offer	Phone Cost	Monthly Cost	Retailer
Vodafone	24 months	100	500	250 MB		Free	£26	CPW
Orange	24 months	400	Unlimited	250 MB		Free	£26	CPW
Orange	24 months	200	Unlimited	750 MB		Free	£26	CPW
Vodafone	24 months	300	Unlimited	500 MB	£50 Gift Card	Free	£31	CPW
Orange	24 months	600	Unlimited	250 MB	£50 Gift Card	Free	£31	CPW
Vodafone	24 months	600	Unlimited	500 MB	£50 Gift Card	Free	£36	CPW
Orange	24 months	900	Unlimited	250 MB	£50 Gift Card	Free	£36	CPW
Orange	24 months	600	Unlimited	750 MB	Xbox 360 4GB	Free	£36	CPW
Orange	24 months	900	Unlimited	250 MB	Xbox 360 4GB	Free	£36	CPW
Vodafone	18 months	600	Unlimited	500 MB	£50 Gift Card	Free	£41	CPW
Orange	24 months	1200	Unlimited	500 MB	£50 Gift Card	Free	£41	CPW
T-Mobile	24 months	300	300	-		£149	£20.43	P4U
T-Mobile	24 months	600	500	-		£39	£25.53	P4U
T-Mobile	24 months	900	500	-		£59	£25.53	P4U
Vodafone	24 months	100	500	250 MB		£199	£26	Vodafone
Vodafone	24 months	600	Unlimited	500 MB		£99	£31	Vodafone
Vodafone	24 months	900	Unlimited	750 MB		Free	£36	Vodafone
Vodafone	24 months	1200	Unlimited	750 MB		Free	£41	Vodafone
Vodafone	24 months	3000	Unlimited	1 GB		Free	£56	Vodafone
Vodafone	18 months	100	500	250 MB		£199	£31	Vodafone
Vodafone	18 months	600	Unlimited	500 MB		£99	£36	Vodafone
Vodafone	18 months	900	Unlimited	750 MB		Free	£41	Vodafone
Vodafone	18 months	1200	Unlimited	750 MB		Free	£46	Vodafone
Vodafone	18 months	3000	Unlimited	1 GB		Free	£62	Vodafone
Vodafone	12 months	100	500	250 MB		£199	£36	Vodafone
Vodafone	12 months	600	Unlimited	500 MB		£139	£41	Vodafone
Vodafone	12 months	900	Unlimited	750 MB		£99	£46	Vodafone
Vodafone	12 months	1200	Unlimited	750 MB		£59	£51	Vodafone
Three	24 months	2000	5000	Unlimited		Free	£37	Three
Three	24 months	500	5000	1 GB		Free	£30	Three
Three	24 months	500	5000	Unlimited		Free	£33	Three

 

Upgrades

Operator	Contract Length	Minutes	Texts	Data	Offer	Phone Cost	Monthly Cost	Retailer
Vodafone	24 months	100	500	250 MB		Free	£26	CPW
Orange	24 months	400	Unlimited	250 MB		Free	£26	CPW
Orange	24 months	200	Unlimited	750 MB		Free	£26	CPW
Orange	24 months	900	Unlimited	250 MB	Xbox 360 4GB	Free	£36	CPW
Orange	24 months	600	Unlimited	750 MB	Xbox 360 4GB	Free	£36	CPW

Upgrades are also available direct from Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile, with exact pricing dependent on your current monthly spend.

Please note that many of the retail links in this article are affiliate links. This means AAWP will receive a small commission should you choose to buy through these links.