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The Nokia Lumia 800 has people “looking at Nokia with fresh eyes again”, according to a new video showing how the new Windows Phone was designed.
The video goes behind the scenes at Nokia’s London design studio — not a million miles from CNET Towers, as it happens — where a “SWAT team” of industrial design and user experience bods from Nokia and Microsoft worked on the phone.
An example of the fusion between hardware and software is the way the on-screen live tiles (the coloured squares on your home page) match colours exactly with the colour of the phone’s shell.
The hardware wonks and software types from the two companies teamed up to turn the new phone round in six months — which is pretty impressive. They had a dry run with the Nokia N9, which is basically the Lumia with different software inside.
The N9’s MeeGo software doesn’t have as much of an ecosystem as other operating systems, such as iOS and Android, so it never went on sale here. But it gave a tantalising glimpse at what Nokia had in store for us.
Nokia developed a design language it calls Fabula for the N9, a style that shapes the Lumia 800, the N9 and future phones. Details include the slightly curved screen, which is intended to encourage the swiping motion of your thumb when using Windows Phone.
Click play on the video below to see how the Lumia 800 was developed. There’s some interesting insights into how new gadgets are designed, including some adorable wax models as the design takes shape. Plus look out for a not-so-subtle dig at Apple’s iPhone on the subject of the antenna…
The phone is available on 16 November. Does the Lumia 800 have you looking at Nokia with fresh eyes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
