In part 1 of our Lumia 900 coverage, Ewan took a chatty look at the hardware and summarised his feelings about the device - we're now seeing the Lumia 900 appearing in European shops, making it all the more appropriate that we accelerate our review schedule. In this, part 2, I look at the 900's camera capability and its viability for creating and consuming multimedia.
Last time, in part 3 of our continuing review, we looked at the Lumia 800's communication and personal information management applications. Now we turn our attention to another area of productivity – the Office Hub. Here, Windows Phone 7 offers a mobile office experience via the cloud, whether you're using SkyDrive, Office365 or SharePoint. Mobile versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPointand OneNote are built into every device, adding significant value for mobile workers. Finally, we'll look at how file management is or isn't(!) handled in Windows Phone 7.
Oh dear. Last week's release of a comedy kart driving game in the Xbox Live store caught my eye, as it's a genre that I enjoy. It's got a huge amount of branding over it so you never forget that this is a Pac-Man game (no I'm not going to capitalise it all the way through the review), but it's missing many elements that could make it an acceptable game.
How do you fancy seeing the world through the window of a food truck? For some reason that's the dream of Bonnie, the titular character in Bonnie's Brunch, now available for Windows Phone. Preparing and serving food has never been as colourful or fun, as this time management game from Funny Lab Studios proves.
One of the exclusive applications for Nokia's Windows Phone 7 devices is from the sports network ESPN. There are many apps out there providing news and media clips to sports fans, but with the ESPN brand name behind it, many people are going to grab this for their Lumia. Given the exclusive nature, Nokia might be banking on this app to help sell Lumias. If so, they may be disappointed.
So far, Rafe has given us his in-depth hardware review of the Lumia 800, and Steve has looked at the still and video capture performance of its camera. After months of everyday use, it's time to turn our attention to the software of the Lumia 800. Yes, most of the Lumia 800's built-in software is the same on all Windows Phone 7 devices, and so this is a review of the platform as a whole too. This part (three) of the review will look at communication and personal information management (PIM) software. Parts four and five will go on to look at Office, multimedia, exclusive Nokia apps, and much more.
It might have been around for the last year, gathering fans and turning them into addicts, but now that Wordament has hit the Xbox Live branding, it's going to be discovered by a much larger audience - and mobile word play gaming will never be quite the same. Has the underground indie hit made a successful transition? Yes it has.
Look past the quirky name that sounds like a comedy cop show on Bravo TV and you'll find that Jellies vs Paul is a smart puzzle game for Windows Phone, mixing "obsessive collection" with the "escape the maze" genre. This is definitely one for the puzzle fans out there, but it's accessible enough that it could become a sleeper hit for the platform.
You wouldn't think that Curling would make an absorbing game for Windows Phone, but thankfully the team at MaxNick decided otherwise. Curling3D brings the target game from the ice rink into your Windows Phone handset with a delightful mix of graphics and computer AI, to provide a big gaming challenge.
You've got to love a 'labour of love' utility that opens with a splash screen of a 'hungry chipmunk working tirelessly to start your app' - in this case GPS Calculator. Not quite what you might expect - rather than divulge the inner workings of your GPS satellite reception, it's more a mathematical aid, based around your position and around points on the Earth's surface. With widgets and calculation aids galore, and with a price of 'free', this is a must-download for orienteers and map-heads across the world.
