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It's November 16th, we're nine months removed from Stephen Elop's impassioned speech about Nokia and Microsoft placing big bets on one another, and today the first fruit of that partnership is hitting store shelves. The Lumia 800 is launching in the UK with what can be described as truly widespread availability. All the major carriers are on board and the usual hub stores like the Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U will also have the latest and greatest Nokia in stock. The Lumia 800 is a 3.7-inch Windows Phone 7.5 handset, much like Samsung's Focus Flash and HTC's Radar, but what makes it stand out is a highly distinctive industrial design and a few value-adding, Nokia-exclusive apps like Nokia Drive, the full-fat Nokia Maps experience, and Nokia Music with MixRadio.
If you're eager to get yours or just curious to try one out, head out right this minute. Some stores on Oxford Street in London are opening early especially for the Lumia 800. It also bears mentioning that the launch 800 handsets across all markets will be black, with the cyan following a few weeks later, and the magenta variant arriving a couple of weeks after that. Nokia tells us this is due to manufacturing constraints, with all of the early production capacity being dedicated to what's likeliest to be the most popular hue.
