Nokia Lumia 810 With Windows Phone 8 Makes a Surprise Weekend Visit

NEWS ANALYSIS: A T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 810 with Windows Phone 8 landed on my doorstep with a box-full of mostly pleasant surprises.

Navigation happens by sliding the screen with a finger. You can move and resize the tiles by pressing and holding whichever one you want to move. You can completely scramble the screen so you can’t actually find things if you do this enough. You can also choose apps to pin to the Start Screen, hide apps that are on the Start Screen already, and enable live data for apps that have it available.

Despite only having had the phone for a few hours, my first impression is that I’ve found a phone I actually like, something that’s fairly rare in this endless sea of phones with icon grids and page after page of the same ol’ stuff.

But will the phone do things that I can’t get elsewhere? That’s hard to say, but at least Bing Maps works; Nokia Drive is installed on this phone (but not on non-Nokia phones); and I’m constantly being surprised by what I find with City Lens, especially since I don’t live in a city.

So far what I like about Windows Phone 8 is that it’s easy and mostly intuitive to use. The tiles do what you expect them to do, and there’s a complete list of apps just by sliding the Start Screen to the left. You can reconfigure the screens; you can resize and configure the tiles; and if you want, you can see the content on some apps such as the calendar which will show you your next appointment.

I also like the fact that changing the overall theme of Windows Phone 8 is easy. I hated the T-Mobile Magenta, so immediately changed it to something less obnoxious. In my case, I chose a dark blue. I also like the way Windows Phone 8 groups related functions. So you have a group called “People” that combines your social networks, your contacts and photos of people all in one place.

Windows Phone 8 supports other types of groupings as well, including one called “Groups” that you can basically design yourself. The interface is completely different from the iPhone or any Android phone (although there is an Android shell that lets your phone mimic a Windows phone).

In short, my experience so far is that it’s just easy and fast. Since I like it, chances are it’s not cool. But do I like it enough to dump my BlackBerry and take a Windows Phone home for the night? I don’t know that yet, but I do know that I like it.