Full-featured Office
Office is one of the key selling points of Windows Phone. Document viewing and editing is absolutely free and integrated into the OS.
With Mango SkyDrive integration is one thing that was improved. Now, docs are automatically synced between the phone and your computer through SkyDrive. In case you missed it, Microsoft are offering free 25GB of storage with each SkyDrive account (but individual files are limited to 100MB).
There's more - the Locations tab replaces the old SharePoint tab. This lets you browse Office docs stored on the phone, in SkyDrive, through SharePoint or in Office 365 (a paid service that includes Office web apps).
The Office hub breaks down into three sections - Documents, Locations and Notes.
Office app
Anyway, let's look at the two most important apps - Word and Excel. They share the Documents panel, which lists all available documents of the relevant types (in order of last used). Both viewing and editing of files is supported.
The Excel section of the Office hub got better too - it grew the all-time favorite Auto-sum function and you can now tap and drag to select multiple cells.
Editing a Word document • Editing an Excel doc
Editing is pretty straightforward and easy to use even on a mobile device. You type in the text and you can use the Format key to change the formatting of the selected text. You can also insert comments.
Formatting options include the standard bold, italic and underline, as well as text size, highlighting and font color. For highlighting and font colors you have only three colors to choose from, which is a little limiting but should be enough for most cases.
PowerPoint files will thrive in the Documents section too - but they are for viewing only, you can't edit them or create new ones.
A PowerPoint document
Collaboration for both Word and Excel files is enabled with SharePoint. It allows syncing, sharing and web publishing but you'd need to use the right SharePoint server. You can attach those files to emails, though you need to do that from the Office hub. You can't do it from the email editor, which caused a little confusion at first.
OneNote is Microsoft's collaborative note taking tool. It has great (and easy to use) support for lists of multiple levels, you can add photos and voice memos and you can send notes via email when you're done. OneNotes can be synced with your SkyDrive or Windows Live account so that they are accessible from everywhere. Pin-to-homescreen is available too and so is the To-Do feature that turns the selected line into a to-do item that can be checked off.
Anyway, the apps support pinch zooming and work very well for viewing even complex documents. But Microsoft's fondness for simplicity may have over-simplified the editors. Still the innovation that Mango has brought to Windows Phone Office is great and shows Microsoft is dedicated to improving the Office experience further.
Organizer and apps
The business side of Windows Phone has its own list of cool updates in version 7.5.
The Calendar can view sub-calendars for each account you have and you can give each a different color to make it easier to tell apart. You can also disable sub-calendars if they're getting in the way.
The calendar offers day and agenda views too for more comprehensive hour-by-hour browsing of your appointments.
Calendar • Day view • Agenda view
To-dos can be created too. Those can only be synced with Live accounts, and not a Gmail account for example. Each to-do can have a priority reminder, due date and notes. Later, to-do's can be sorted by priority.
Creating a To-Do
The WP calculator is nothing extravagant - it has the simple portrait view of basically all calculators on the planet, while turning it over to landscape reveals the more complex scientific mode.
Calculator app
The alarm app is simple to use and has an iOS-esque interface. You get the alarm time with an on/off switch to the right.
Alarm app
Windows Phone Mango provides users with the basics in smartphone organizing but should you need anything more the Marketplace is there too - it offers apps for just about everything - most of which are free.
There's an app called Contacts Transfer, which does just that - it pairs with another phone over Bluetooth and leeches out your address book. This makes switching from your old phone to the Nokia Lumia 900 a smooth sailing.
WindowsPhone.com remotely protects your dataThe Windows Phone website is the cloud of sorts for all WP7 smartphones
All you need to do to use the site is register your email (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) and then setup an account on your Windows Phone device.
The options given to you on the windowsphone.com website are limited to billing information and security. You can update your billing information, view the apps you've bought and go to the web version of the WP Marketplace and buy new apps. Note that they will be sent to your phone to be downloaded locally on the device, unlike on the Zune app for your PC or Mac.
The features most important to users are the Find, Ring, Lock or Erase. To use them you'll have to input a phone number that comes from the list supported countries. After you've done this the website will have access to your phone's location so you'll be able to pinpoint its almost exact location.
The windowsphone.com interface
The other features are pretty self-explanatory - Ring will use your phone's ringtone to send a signal if you've lost it around the house, Lock will lock it with a 4-digit PIN code and Erase will wipe all your sensitive data off the device so you don't have to worry about it falling into undesirable hands.
What we didn't like about the windowsphone.com cloud is that it doesn't allow wireless sync like on the iCloud, for example. We just think that any cloud-based service should offer this. Also the number of countries that allow tracking your device is limited and many countries where WP is available won't have access to these much-needed features.
The rest of the website includes guides on each individual feature of your phone and depending on where you live there's a very detailed list of providers and operators that offer WP handsets.
Final words
Launching a flagship months before a major overhaul of the platform isn't exactly a planning masterstroke. The Nokia Lumia 900 will not get Windows Phone 8 and the news breaking just about when the phone hit the stores is more than just an unfortunate coincidence.
The Nokia Lumia 900 comes at the wrong time and it sure looks like the wrong place as well. The global version cannot even dream of the success of its AT&T-branded sibling.
Well, all that is sadly true but only from a certain perspective. There're lots of politics and agendas involved. The European (and global) launch doesn't come at the best of times but the AT&T exclusivity had to be honored. The point is, the Lumia 900 is debuting in Europe but it's by no means a newly released device. The phone has had an impressive run - it probably did even better than Nokia and Microsoft expected.
So, what kind of market is the Lumia 900 coming to? The good news is it won't have a heavyweight WP7 competitor like the HTC Titan II. The bad news is the new generation of droids are at war and the Lumia 900 lands right in the middle of the carnage.
HTC One X • Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III • LG Optimus 4X HD P880
No, the Nokia Lumia 900 will not be satisfied with walkover wins against the likes of the HTC Titan and the Samsung Omnia W. It shouldn't be surprised by Nokia Lumia 800 owners giving it the cold shoulder, convinced they made the right choice several months ago. Finally, it must realize it stands little chance against the multiple-cored and HD-screened Android flagships. And the fact that it's currently priced at around their level doesn't help.
HTC Titan • Samsung Omnia W I8350 • Nokia Lumia 800
On the other hand, it's been recently released and the price will only go down. How quickly and by how much is hard to tell but the Lumia 900 is overpriced and the sooner Nokia does something about it the better. But when, and if, your carrier is ready to offer a reasonable deal, the Lumia 900 is a phone worth considering. And it doesn't even have to be free-on-contract like the current AT&T plans.
The premium build, the best screen on a Windows phone, the fluid UI and the exclusive apps are good enough reasons in our books. Not to mention, it does look like a proper flagship, and some of the new droids should take notice.
The Nokia Lumia 900 had the time of its life in America and lands in Europe in a period of transition. It will be the Nokia flagship until the next generation of Microsoft-powered smartphones come with a bang. In a way, it's like being in charge of an interim government. Still gets you a place in history. But the Nokia Lumia 900 is a phone that deserves better than being remembered for leading the coalition of the forgotten.
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