Nokia is rolling out a fix for the Lumia 800's tragic battery problem, and it should be arriving on all devices in the next two weeks.
Since the Lumia 800 came out last year, many owners have complained that the Windows Phone wasn't pulling its weight in the battery department.
We heard about a software update designed to knock the problem on the head way back in November, and in December the Finnish phonesmith admitted there was indeed a problem, caused by a software bug.
The issue appeared to be that some Lumia 800s weren't charging fully. We've also experienced a different battery-related problem on our test unit, where the phone refused to recharge or turn on after the battery died.
It's good that Nokia has finally produced a patch for the problem, though unfortunately the update -- which also brings "Wi-Fi connectivity enhancements" -- won't arrive in a convenient over-the-air package.
Once your phone bleeps to tell you the update is available, you'll need to plug your Lumia 800 into a computer using a USB cable, then use the Zune software to funnel the update into your phone. If you're not sure how to do that, check this site.
The Lumia 800 isn't alone when it comes to battery blues -- in the wake of the iPhone 4S launch, owners were incandescent to find that some of Apple's brand-new blowers were stricken with rubbish battery life. Apple has since released a battery fix of its own. Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners also recently reported battery bugs, but Samsung promised they weren't widespread.
Despite an occasionally rubbish battery, we've been very impressed with the Lumia 800, with one of our reporters so blown away he said Nokia's effort had put him off owning an iPhone.
What do you think of the Lumia 800? Is yours afflicted by a bad battery? Tell us in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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georg55 19 January, 2012 16:18
Lumina 800 gets a day and half with moderate use ,location services being the culprit for poor battery and the ask Ziggy voice recognition software,turn them off and you will be fine.I welcome the update though so the battery capacity is up. overall remains smooth and does every thing i want of a smart phone
anonymous 20 January, 2012 14:59
georg55, that may be the case for your Lumina 800, but it certainly has not been the case for mine thus far. With location services and wifi both disabled, along with trying minimal usage, enabling battery saving features and reducing the screen switch off period, I was experiencing no more than 8 - 10 hours before it was switching itself off. This was also after December update.
I have applied the update today and it is currently charging, the battery capacity reported to be 1476 mAh, unfortunately I did not log full charge capacity but apprently this is an increase, and also I did not check how much charge it was reaching per cycle, as apparently it may not have charged fully (I assumed it was fully charging). Nevertheless, I am hopefully that this problem will be resolved, or I'll be posting mine back to Nokia and advising them to fold. After being loyal for years I switched from N97 to Samsung Galaxy S (which I loved). This upgrade I decided to take a punt with Nokia again with the release of a new platform and more robust production (I had two N97's both of which broke down repeatedly). I love the phone, but if this battery issue is not resolved, I will never return to Nokia.
anonymous 27 January, 2012 15:33
Carried out the latest update from Nokia last night. Before update Full Charge Capacity was 1516 mAh and after update now is only 1425 mAh!!!
anonymous 28 February, 2012 09:19
Got a change of phone after the last udate did not work. Got the software version ending 0001. The battery was great for a week showing 1 day and 18hrs of charge now only showing 14 hours and losing power quickly.Anyone one else experiencing this