Nokia rolls out battery fix for Lumia 800 smartphone

Nokia’s much anticipated first Windows Phone release following its Microsoft partnership last year was definitely tarnished by almost immediate complaints regarding the handset's poor battery life. Despite at first trying to sidetrack the issue, the Finnish firm did eventually acknowledge there was a problem and promised an update to resolve it.

Nokia has now released the patch in question, bringing the firmware on the Lumia 800 to version 1600.2483.8106.11500, while also introducing a few enhancements for wireless connectivity.

As is standard Microsoft procedure, the update will be phased out to Lumia 800 owners over the next two weeks -- a move the company insists is required to ensure all users have a smooth, glitch-free update.

It will not be over the air though. The phone will provide a notification when the update is available, but users will need to connect their devices to a PC or Mac via the USB cable, then download the update and install it using Microsoft’s Zune software. Detailed information on how to update your Lumia 800 smartphone can be found in the support section of Nokia’s website.

Disappointingly, early feedback suggests the issue has not been resolved for some users. According to user WPCentras posting on the Nokia website, the battery problems are still there, and a new bug with softkeys and brightness was detected. Another user, buhaha, posted: “it seems like battery troubles are not solved with this update! Lets wait for the next one.” However, some users are indeed seeing improvements in battery life.

Right now the real success of the update is questionable, but as the days pass and more users update their Lumia 800 phones a clearer picture should emerge of whether it resolved the problems users were having.