news Pre-orders for the Nokia Lumia 800, the first Nokia smartphone with Windows Phone 7 operating system, are now available, with exclusive online offers announced by Optus in a statement this week. The offers (valid until 29 February) come as a precursor to the much anticipated launch of the handset in Australia on 1 March.

The statement said that Optus customers can snap up (subject to conditions) the stylish smartphone through one of two offers exclusive to online orders. One offer is $0 monthly handset repayment costs upfront on a $49 Optus Cap Plan for consumers (24 month contract, min total cost $1176). The other is similarly a $0 upfront deal on a $49 Business Complete plan for small and medium business (SMBs) customers (24 month contract, min total cost $1176).

From 1 March, the Nokia Lumia 800 will also be available from Optus retail outlets and call centres for $0 upfront on the $59 Optus Cap and Business Complete plans (24 month contract, min total cost $1416). Optus customers looking for an alternative have the option of the Nokia Lumia 710, a lower-end, lower-cost Windows Phone 7 phone that will be launched on the same day and made available for $0 upfront on the $29 Optus Cap or Business Complete Plan (24 month contract, min total cost $696).

The Nokia Lumia 800 features 16GB of storage, an 8 megapixel camera, 512MB of RAM, a single-core 1.4GHZ Snapdragon CPU, a 3.7 inch touch screen running at a resolution of 800×480, and Windows Phone 7.5. It also comes with a micro-USB port. In Delimiter’s review of the Lumia 800, reviewer Jenneth Orantia was all praise for the phone.

In the review, Orantia wrote: “There’s no doubt about it, the Lumia 800 is a gorgeous phone. The simplicity, elegance and fully-stocked feature set of Windows Phone 7.5 paired with the stunning hardware design of the Lumia 800 amounts to a lethal combination that will change the game for both Nokia and Microsoft.“

“For Nokia, it’s the first smartphone that really innovates on all levels since the N95, and for Microsoft, it puts a much sexier face on its Windows Phone operating system, which is key for winning over more users. The distinctive design and eye-catching colour options will go a long way towards attracting everyday users, while the huge improvements in Windows Phone 7.5 should prove appealing for geeks and power users that are keen for something different.”

The Lumia 800 is similar in design to Nokia’s N9 handset launched in Australia last year. However, while the N9 ran the now-obsolete Meego operating system, the Lumia 800 will run Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 operating system, which Nokia is standardising on, following a management shake-up in late 2010 which resulted in former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop taking the help at the Finnish firm.

Australia has not seen a major launch of a new smartphone running Windows Phone 7 since late 2010, when Microsoft and its smartphone hardware partners HTC, Samsung and LG worked closely with Telstra to bring a swathe of models running the operating system to market. Over the past six months, a number of local Windows Phone 7 enthusiasts have started to question the major telcos as to when new launches would occur.

Image credit: Nokia, Optus

Tweet

• • Topic
  • Voices
  • Posts
  • Freshness
• • Malcolm Turnbull, Time Traveller

    Started by:  quink in: Everything else

  • 2
  • 4
  • 2 days, 15 hours ago

     Karl

  • Article on 'Ultraviolet'

    Started by:  ray73864 in: Everything else

  • 2
  • 2
  • 5 days, 11 hours ago

     Karl

  • Surface sells out … of its tiny amount of stock?

    Started by:  Renai LeMay in: Gadgets

  • 4
  • 4
  • 6 days, 12 hours ago

     douglasrose

  • Coalition fraudband plan summary…

    Started by:  Hubert Cumberdale in: National Broadband Network

  • 4
  • 4
  • 1 week, 4 days ago

     JamesH1

  • NBN Is A Question Of Reliability

    Started by:  JamesH1 in: National Broadband Network

  • 1
  • 1
  • 1 week, 4 days ago

     JamesH1

  • Renai asked:

    Started by:  Tinman_au in: National Broadband Network

  • 1
  • 1
  • 1 week, 4 days ago

     Tinman_au

  • What Happened to Whirlpool posts

    Started by:  MikeK101 in: Everything else

  • 2
  • 2
  • 3 weeks, 4 days ago

     Bob.H

  • Conroy/Turnbull NBN Debate Next Week

    Started by:  zephram in: National Broadband Network

  • 1
  • 1
  • 3 weeks, 4 days ago

     zephram

  • Blocked from posting? Let me know

    Started by:  Renai LeMay in: Everything else

  • 2
  • 2
  • 3 weeks, 6 days ago

     Abel Adamski

  • Falsehoods of the day

    Started by:  Karl in: National Broadband Network

  • 4
  • 5
  • 1 month, 1 week ago

     Anonymous

  • Is IBM selling its Network Services Division to Telstra?

    Started by:  Renai LeMay in: Everything else

  • 1
  • 1
  • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

     Renai LeMay

  • 10 Terabit NBN plan? Yes please :)

    Started by:  daniel996 in: National Broadband Network

  • 2
  • 2
  • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

     Karl

  • Renai (or anyone else?): List of working tags?

    Started by:  Tinman_au in: Everything else

  • 3
  • 6
  • 1 month, 4 weeks ago

     midspace

  • Receiving spam from "OEMSoftware Newsletter"?

    Started by:  Renai LeMay in: Everything else

  • 4
  • 4
  • 1 month, 4 weeks ago

     midspace

  • A brief update on banned users

    Started by:  Renai LeMay in: Everything else

  • 6
  • 9
  • 2 months ago

     Autocrat

•