A diamond may be forever, but Nokia phones come pretty dang close to matching diamonds in toughness. Case in point, a Swedish man who dropped his phone in a lake three and a half months ago. He recently found his Lumia 800 and the results are pretty typical of Nokia devices that go to hell and back.
Roger Nilsson lost his Nokia Lumia 800 in a lake and was able to recover it. The first Windows Phone handset from Nokia was at the bottom of this lake for 3.5 months until he was able to retrieve it. The condition? Covered in algae. Here’s what Roger say’s happened after recovering the device:
“Took it home and started to clean as best I could, shells and shit on display, green goo around the entire phone + some other stuff. Let it dry on a radiator and then I put in the charger cable in the belief that either can plug into the house or the charger into pieces
Imagine my surprise when it boots up as usual! Everything works just like before, the camera is great, and battery life is two days and so on.”
And there you have it ladies and gentleman, your Lumia 800 can survive at the bottom of a lake that any of us. The Lumia 800 is a survivor, it was earlier in April when another story took the phone into an icy lake.
Now we just need to upgrade Roger to Windows Phone 8.
Source: Feber.si (translated)
Thanks for the tip Elias and Richard E!
Reader comments
Nokia Lumia 800 survives a three and a half month dive in a lake
I have a lumia 800 .. ! so glad to see this ..
Here is the full story about my phone !
http://nokia.ly/1fdmbcz
i can never understand why iphone lovers come on these forums to rubbish WP?
they are quite clearly happy with their iphone, why waste there time whining?......unless of course.....hhmm
Nokia Lumias = AWESOME!!!
Windows Phone = AWESOME!!!
It's nice to know I can hide my Lumia underwater if my girlfriend or the police decide they want to take it from me. ; )
Nokia Lumia aka Time Capsule (to be retrieved at some distant future date).
wow.
Only few comments to story. Who cares is cnet faster or is site xxx. Every site os good for something.
Awesome story, I heard about it here on WPCentral first because this is my go to site for Windows Phone news.
Still using my Lumia 800 without a case, its still standing tall even after multiple falls to the floor. Love this device.
I lost my 800 off a boat on Lake Windermere. Luckily this enabled me to invoke my phone insurance and upgrade to an 820.. :)
Still my favorite designed phone, especially the n9. my 920 needed the bigger strips of colour.
What kind of sorcery is this?!
Even a 720 is sturdy enough. Met with an accident when the phone fell out of my shirt pocket and brushed the concrete really hard. It had a scratch guard with no casing. Got scratches on the guard but the glass was fine (except got a small hairline crack at the bottom edge).
Then I used a flip case on it when it fell from my hands again and went bumping and rolling down the stairs. But, just the scratches on guard.
Changed the screen guard again and with a silicon cover at the back, it's as good as new even after 6 months of usage.
This is a Lumia commercial waiting to happen......
I think nokia can start a personalised option , which like we can now buy a personalised desktop, so we can get it as per our needs
As Nokia fan, I think Roger Nilsson is chatting 'BS', unless there is a video to back up his claims. Come on, a picture of 2 dirty phones in the linked article, is hardly credible?
Dazzi : Not nice to call me a liar, is this enough or you want more proof ?
http://nokia.ly/1fdmbcz
There is no need to take things to heart mate. My point was the pictures in the article do not prove anything. Furthermore, I would believe it if there was, a video backing up such claims -- I was brought up to question everything I see. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that 2 pictures (I'm referring to the article) of dirty phones, is hardly evidence -- wouldn't you agree?
I will have a look at the link you have provided. But if you've only put random pictures up, then my view stays the same -- sorry if I've come across too blunt mate.
My Lumia 820 spent 5 minutes in my pocket in the rain and completely died as a result. Not detered, I replaced it with a 2nd Lumia 820 and just take more care of it now. I'm really amazed that the 800 survived this ordeal.
After having a few problems with my 920 I decided to factory reset it. After 3 days of spinning cogs and trying everything I could to get it to reboot I had to send it off for repair. I'm now using my Girlfriends old 800 till I get my 920 back. What a great little phone it still is! After syncing my outlook and Facebook accounts all my contacts and set ups are all there! I can now carry on as normal. EE gave me a Galaxy Mini to use as a temp phone but it feels cheap and nasty and you realize how simple and easy Windows OS is to use compared to Android. Please Nokia and Windows, don't forget this great first gen' little phone and give it more features to bring it up to W8 standard or release it again as it's size is a big winner for alot of people. I've fallen in love again with this tough little 800 and have now taken it off my girlfriend( it was her spare anyway and she has a HTC8X) and will now use it more often.
Just like my Nokia 3210! :)
It wasn't code named Sea Ray for nothing it seems
How do you find a phone on the bottom of a lake? I sometimes can't even find it in my own room! Or does "Find my phone" also come with depth locations?
Tough son of a bitch ! Lol
This is why Microsoft buying Nokia is not good for customers. Microsoft is known to not add any value to companies they buy... See what's happening to skype.
Lumia 800 on 3 mobile was glitchy as hell. Random shut downs, thousands of resets, really poor. It may of just been mine. It didn't put me off though, 920 all the way!
That's funny. My old 800 broke so easily. I switched twice, until the 925 came along and also did the need to upgrade. Now, despite some dents in the metal frame, I've had no issue whatsoever with this gorgeous device!
Good idea for an app - Lake Me! With gunge and algae themes. And spin off, Toilet Me, with, er, other themes.
Wow. My white 920 has taken a permanent dive in the Geneva lake on early August. U think its worth renting a diving gear?! :)
Mr. Sam Sabri must give him (roger) a nokia lumia 1020. For free. Lol.
"... and the battery life is two days and so on."
So that's what it takes for great battery life ... 3 months in an icy river no less. Hah. :)
Spiegel.de
Mine Lumia got totally wet on a fire exercise as we started too shoot water at each other anyone familiar with fire hosing knows the power of it ;0).
On my way back home i dried it above my car ventilator. At home it started to work again normally.
Unfortunally a few months later the mini usb broke and they gave me an L820 as replacement.
I really liked the L800 and im looking for a second hand one.
Its such a beautiful phone.
My l 1020 feels fragile compared to it.
This Is why I'll buy a Nokia than a Samsung or iPhone.
haha, genius
Awesomee
I love my L800.
That's Nokia for you .... Very cool
Looks like the 800 got in trouble with the mafia...
Looks like the 800 got in trouble with the mafia...
Yes that's good one model. My 800 survived dropping on the floor in the night club when everyone was jumping. And still work.
Lumia 800 is the next 3310 :D
"Now we need to upgrade Roger to Windows Phone 8." If he's getting 2 day battery life I say stay with WP7.
That bezel.
My L822 is a brute in its own right however its not built like a flagship despite all the abuse I put it through. Love this phone.
Also I dropped my phone from a balcony and was chilling.
Honestly I think the Lumia 800 should be remade optimized for wp8 and with gdr3 matching specs. Hands down the best hardware anywhere.
If this happens would snap this device :)
I'll add my story... My Lumia 920 flew out of my pocket while on a rollercoaster (the maverick at cedar point) and landed on the concrete (no case). I stopped in the next day and picked it up from the park police station/lost and found. It was completely untouched save for son mild scratches on the side. The screen was pristine. The police were flummoxed and showed me the numerous iPhones, galaxy, and other phones which were at the least completely shattered, and at the most in several pieces, even with cases. I have the police report and a witness to corroborate. I think this thing will outlive me. It almost is too powerful, as I usually upgrade when things happen to my phone. I don't think I'll ever be able to get a new phone!
That's awesome, I just can't say the same about it in my experience
I actually read this on reddit last week.
I bought the 920 when it came out. After using it almost a year it fell from a table height on a concrete pavement and the glass broke, which was kind of disappointing. I'm currently living in China so I changed the screen for 1250RMB (205$) at the Nokia care center. After using it less than 3months it slipped from my hand at home hitting the wood flooring and broke again, I didn't fix it this time. I still love Nokia and their products, but I lost trust in the sturdiness of the their devices. Maybe I'm just unlucky. But twice.....
You're unlucky for sure. I dropped my 920 on pavement twice. The housing cover was scratched but everything else is fine
These kind of things are pure luck. I own a Samsung Omnia W (WP7.8). It fell out of my hands onto the floor 3 times on 3 consecutive days (such bad luck) but it still got only few scratches on the back.
Its not just you; both of the screens on my 900's broke after suffering similar short falls on the ground. Love the lumias but my Samsung focus was much less prone to breaking
Wow!
It would be a little more convincing to see the screen actually lit up.
Wait.. Cnet still exists?
But does it have GDR3?
Man. My roommate destroyed two of them just by having them in her apron while working at a Starbucks. What did she do to those things?!?
Then it might appear that some of them are not as well built as others maybe. Needs stricter quality control.
I think he should offer to give the phone to Elop to hold up next to an iPhone that shattered after falling four inches onto carpet - in exchange for a new Lumia 1020!
Go Roger!
(and if that happens, my L900 is going into the toilet for a few days. Anything to get a 1020! :-)
ran over my 920 with my dodge grand caravan. There was tire tracks on the leather case. No damage to the phone. There were some gravel indentions in the leather case.
In regard to the subject, this is a rather amazing story.
Does anyone proofread these posts before submission? I had a hard time understanding a few sentences in this one article, and its happened about three times this week.
Granted, a portion of this is quoted, but there are a few other mistakes as well on the authors' part.
The longer you spend on this site, the more you'll realize that the answer is "No."
Full article has been translated, states this at the end of article.
You can't proofread and edit translated articles for clarity?
"And there you have it ladies and gentleman, your Lumia 800 can survive at the bottom of a lake that any of us."
What?
I ve heard this days ago....
I wish that this was on Verizon
If it was me I'd have jumped in straight after the phone... A few days off work with hypothermia could be an issue though :)
PMSL -- same here mate.
Did he buy a new Lumia or an iPhone befor he found it?
Molly Wood wouldn't be impressed anyway
Nilsson Schmilsson
Lol
Hmm... and after inadvertently putting my Lumina 920 into a Ziploc bag that had a quarter inch of water at the bottom for a couple of minutes, it was declared unrepairable.
Yeah, it's bs, only possible if it was off when he dropped it.
Umm no, I dropped my 920 that was on into the water and its still 100% fine.
It probably has all those deleted games still installed...
Ok guys. I have you all beat. The NSA actually knew about it BEFORE it happened.
Awesome!, it's great he could get his nice Lumia 800 back after what happened to it
Really bad engrish
You can likely blame Google Translate for that
And this is why NOKIA has the love and trust of consumers worldwide. You have to be damn Hercules to destroy one.
Yeah, the three 920s I've had in the past ten months have been rock solid. One bricked itself and another refused to launch apps, but hey--nothing six weeks and a couple dozen phone calls to support couldn't rectify. But yes, physically, they're brutes.
Well...software problems is hardly Nokia's fault, isn't it? ;P
For the second one it was. :P Right out of the box, the only apps that would launch were the ones branded Nokia. System settings, marketplace, anything else wouldn't launch. If it was Acer's crapware screwing up a desktop, I'd blame Acer.
I think i read this news on gsmarena 1-2 weeks ago. But still nice one. Viva lumia
Well, in fact, I did post this on reddit about three days ago, which gave GSMArena the attention to blog about it (and they were second after me).
Here's the reddit post: http://redd.it/1pbi4w
Aaaand GSMArena: http://blog.gsmarena.com/nokia-lumia-800-works-after-being-lost-underwat...
Later on, other sites like Feber and Tecmundo also made an article regarding this.
"survives a three and a half month dive in a lake" ... But not survive the transition to windows phone 8. It´s sad.
loll
Badum Ching!!!!!!!!
Lol
Nokia better give the guy a free WP8.
Agreed
I used to have a Nokia C7-00 (glorious Symbian days) and it fell from a third floor into mud. Craziest thing is I didn't realized about it after 3 or so hours. When I found it I thought it was dead but I cleaned it anyway so I could try the myth. It worked but then died 2 months later because of an electricity issue. I told Nokia about it since I use the phone in my every day life to help me do some things I can't do as a handicapped person, but they never gave me another phone. Not that they should, but they didn't even reply. I guess they were all too busy swallowing Elop's memo hahahahaha Now I have a Lumia 520. It helps a lot but I think I need a high-end device for some tasks. I'm going to save to buy the 1520, although I believe that here in Chile it will cost me twice the price it will be in the States LOL
Indestructible.
Now if they would make a Windows 8 Phone with the dimensions of Lumia 800, it's a almost a perfect size ( 4 inches is perfect) with the specs close to the Lumia 920. That would sell so well, my 920 with a case is sometimes a little too large
Can't agree more
Lets call it nokia Lumia 825 :)
Word!
+1
I've been wanting the same. I doubt we'll ever get one like this, though. For some reason people want huge phones that can double as your TV.
yeah, my father wants a 4 inches screen phone with a great camera too. Like a L925 but reduced to 4" will be awesome.
The closest thing you can get is 8x with 4.3inch screen.
THIS! I looove the look of the 800 - I would literally just gaze at its svelte curves and slick lines.
I would buy a Lumia 825: a Lumia 800 with WP8 guts (S4, 1GB RAM), an RGB-matrix AMOLED (WVGA is fine) and the 920's PureView camera. Maybe a bigger battery too, and more storage :P.
But yeah, that was the first phone that I felt like I MUST HAVE IT because it is just such a beautiful piece of design. And apparently that Nokia-patented waterproof coating they are using on their circuitboards is good for 3+ months in a lake!
Coool. My father in law had his 900 out in snow melting season for 45 days. No problem:)
Nokia , The Mermaid
LOL.
This is awesome. Nokia should make a water proof/indestructible phone and id buy it in a heart beat!!!
Apparently they already did.
+1
Yeah, I'd be all over that one, too! I wish they'd make a super phone that has all the killer features in one. My 1020 is great, but has no keyboard, stylus, traffic nav, or built-in wireless charging.
Regarding built-in wireless charging: I thought the same, but dropped my 1020 onto concrete last night, but the wireless charging case broke the fall and saved the camera hump from damage. Now I'm glad it's in a case rather than built-in.
But if it had wireless charging built in, you could have used whatever case you wanted and still have the benefits of wireless charging.
THIS is the point. We should be able to pick the case that meets our needs, not be stick with one just because it's the only one. Ridiculous.
I handled the Nokia 1020 for the first time. The Microsoft rep was showing his personal one to me in Best Buy and it was lighter than what I expected it to be... Regardless it felt like a solid phone...
I've had mine for two weeks and so far so good. I actually like the hump on the back. It gives me something to grip.
I too like to hump from the back, It does really gives me to grip something.
Yeah! Something to grip from behind is real nice ;) lmao
They've been doing that for 15 years lol
That's nuts!
Come on, guys, step your game up. CNET reported this hours ago ;)
Edit: calm down guys, I was kidding. I clearly put a wink face lol
Maybe, but cnet doesn't have a WP app. So this is first I heard of this.
Did they put something at the end like, "Too bad you can't use Instagram on it like you can on the iPhone 5s or the new iPad Air. Available in stores now."
There is an official instagram-app on it's way. as well as several third party ones already in the store... Not that I understand who would want to ruin good pictures by with instagram, but different fokes, different strokes, I guess... Allthough it might not be so noticable with the iPhones bad camera anyways ;P
Instagram doesn't ruin pictures at all. It's a place dedicated so you can share your pictures for others to view. A filter isn't required.
Yeah, lowering an image's resolution isn't ruining it.. ;)
Isn't that only an issue if you plan on printing the picture? Last I recall, most folks are just viewing the pics. Nothing more
+1 haha
Actually, lowering an image's resolution isn't ruining it. If the resolution stays proportional to the size of the picture, the quality will remain just as great. Just like it is nearly impossible to tell the difference, in terms of quality, from 720p and 1080p on a 4.5" display.
Put the pictures side by side, and you will easily see the differences, which is why I like to use smugmug instead, where people can see my pictures the way I meant them to be.
It's vintage-looking, which some people like.
+1,000,000 lmao
This is hillarious. I'm actually upset that very few understood your joke. :) CNet is bashing on all windows products all the time.
They seem to be very biased towards Apple, which is unprofessional imo.
I hate CNET. they love licking Apple balls.
WPCentral has been slow recentily :(
Slow with what? I though we did pretty dang good for you last week at Nokia World. But that's just me :)
the NW was awesome but has been a while that we dont have a internal WPCentral "video meeting" only talking about WP like in the past and a lot of news are not getting posted in the website fast enough.
Sam, you guys did great!
They did a great work. But we missed the WP monthly's video podcasts...
I think the man was hoping you'd have posted this 3.4 months ago before it was even found :P
+10000000
I think you guys are doing an exceptional job.
What's wrong with you dude, why so hostile, does Cnet allows you to open wpcentral from twitter app? Don't think so. Gleek + wpcentral works together...enjoying that feature.
Ahahah, even other site like gsmarena reported this days ago.
This dude still watch CNET?
Bias people!
My Nokia Blog reported this few days back :)
As one of the authors for MyNokiaBlog, sometimes we are late too...in all fairness. :) It all depends on what the team is doing during that particular span of time.
iCNET reported this? Surprising. Probably included a paragraph that states in the end iPhone is still a better choice because it has more apps.
CNET reported it? That's more amazing and not to mention more "unbelievable" than this story. :)
Good for CNET. Leave your useless negativity there as well. WPCentral guys work hard enough.
Jas, look up Molly Wood on Cnet. She is the best ever! Super unbiased and loves Windows Phones. Pretty sure she was all over this news and how much better her Lumia is than he iPhone. ;)
What's funny is read this story on the windows phone subreddit about a week ago :D
Well ... GSMArena did cover this news few days ago ^^a
I had actually read this a day before in a Brazilian-like WP Central web that I visit.
How many missed texts and app updates?