Hardware

The Samsung Captivate Glide has a very simple form built with the usual lightweight plastic that its manufacturer uses plus some textured back cover to help with the grip. The rounded edges though makes the phone friendly to the palm. It has that old feel of cellphones before the new designs came in.

The back portion of the phone has the 8MP camera with an LED flash. On top are the headphone jack, port of the micro USB while the sides have the volume rocker and power button. At its base is the microphone and the slot for the microSD. On the face of the Captivate Glide is the 1.3MP camera. The 4-inch Super AMOLED screen gives the user enough space for comfortable manipulation of the different apps and functions of the phone.

If you still want the physical keyboard for that tactile feedback, this phone is perfect for you. The keyboard can be snapped out without any problem plus the keyboard is pretty spacious to avoid all the typo errors.

Software

The take of Samsung to give the Android a nice skin so even the less techie users will be very comfortable to use it is a very commendable touch. From the box, you will have seven screens, and if that is quite too much, you can trash what you do not want. Too bad though that you do not have options to customize and pin the buttons that you often use.

Conclusion

Users who are fans of the QWERTY keyboard will find the Captivate Glide an ideal phone but if you will be on a contract, add a few more dollars and you will be able to get a higher end spec phone. Just saying.

The Lumia 800 was actually rushed into production taking only around half a year to build. Lumia looks like the the N9, plus the Mango, and some abrakadabra from Nokia.

Hardware

Nokia said that the Lumia 800 is an improved product or a refinement of the Nokia N9 but looking at its specs, it looks like the new phone is worse off. The Lumia 800 does not have the pentaband 3G configuration, no front facing camera, plus the notification LED has gone poof. The screen is also a bit smaller compared to the N9 because of the buttons below.

The Lumia 800 has a RAM of 512 MB only instead of getting a 1 GB. The storage is also not that appealing maxing out at 16GB instead of 64 GB like the N9. The phone also cannot be coupled with other Nokia accessories because it does not have the NFC.

Amid our complaints, we can see that the best features that you can find on the Nokia N9 were also implemented on the Lumia 800 starting with the nice industrial look. The brains of this phone is as the same setup as the Titan using the single-core MSM8255 processor clocking at 1.4 GHz. Those who have not see an AMOLED display before will also be very happy.

We compared notes with some reviews, and saw that there were some complaints that might be power related.

Software

The operating system of the Lumia 800 runs smoothly, runs fast, and looks good. The keyboard is very easy to use. You might not have the wide variety of apps yet but the core functions are handled well. For now you can tinker with Nokia Drive, Nokia Music, and App Highlights which points you to other apps like eBay, Kindle, or Accuweather.

Verdict

The Lumia 800 can be a good phone depending if you are the type who likes Windows Phone. It is a carefully crafted, simple, and efficient device but do not look for high resolutions, widgets, big storage, and other high end features.

There are, however, some negative aspects associated with the Palm Pre. For one thing, it can be a bit of a cramped fit while working the keyboard. The battery life leaves something to be desired as well, and the phone itself can sometimes be a little bit laggy. There is no expansion slot, it lacks any video recording abilities, there is no onscreen keyboard, and it lacks support for Flash as well. Plus, the phone’s App Catalog remains in the beta stages.

Still, it’s a sold little smartphone, though probably not the best choice for professionals who need something fast. It does come with a great operating system, the Palm webOS.