So, Nokia are nowhere in the high end smartphone business having tried and failed to topple the all conquering iPhone and a slew of Android juggernauts. From the Nokia N8 to the recently released E7, the hardware has been up there with the best of them but the operating system, namely Symbian, has always been lacking. Well, at Nokia World last week, Nokia at long last announced the handset that will sport an OS to match the beautiful hardware; the Windows Phone 7 powered Nokia Lumia 800.

Taking design queues from the Nokia N9 (which sadly didn’t get a UK launch), the Lumia has a seamless one piece body and and 3.7” curved touchscreen. Not just stunning to look at, the one piece design also aids durability giving the Lumia and reliable and solid feel; this is a phone built to last. On to the touchscreen, at 3.7” it’s marginally bigger than the iPhone 4S and features eqaully impressive quality and clarity thanks to the Clear Black AMOLED technology.

On the inside, the Nokia Lumia 800 is running the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS; Windows Phone 7.5 (or Mango) and powered by a scorching 1.4GHz processor. The aforementioned OS brings new features such as multi-tasking and copy and paste whilst the processor ensures said multi-tasking is snappy, fluent and effortless. On to apps and you’ll be pleased to know, as the fastest growing app store of any mobile OS, you should find plenty of great titles to keep you entertained on the move.

Keeping in tune with Nokia’s strong heritage in camera phone technology, the Lumia 800 boasts an 8.0 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, autofocus and a dual-LED flash all coming together to ensure the 800 takes stunning photos. On the video front the Lumia captures in 720p HD and deep integration with your favourite social networks (thanks to Windows Phone 7) means that uploading your pics and movies is a breeze.

Want more? How about Wi-Fi, 16GB internal memory, 512MB RAM, Bluetooth, GPS, SatNav with free turn-by-turn navigation(a first for Windows Phone 7) and acess to a suite of Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel and Outlook. In short, this is the Nokia phone we’ve been crying out for for the past 2 years.

Available to pre-order now, the Nokia Lumia 800 is launching on the 16th of November. Free from £25 per month, pre-order yours now!