Nokia Lumia 710 [Review]

FULL REVIEW

Last month Nokia, launched its new affordable Windows Phone smartphone in India known as the Nokia Lumia 710. This one is priced under 20,000 INR and while the Samsung Omnia W seems like a legit competitor to the device, the Lumia 710 feels far more superior and rich even though it does not have the same design guidelines as its powerful cousin, the Nokia Lumia 800.

Design

The design could have been much better and even though the build quality is great, the Nokia Lumia 710 is still a thicker and a heavier smartphone that the Samsung Omnia W. It has three hardware keys under its screen - Return, Windows and Search. They feel a bit small and it will take some time to get used to the hardware keys.

It has a 3.7-inch WVGA ClearBlack display which provides deep black levels. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and a mic for better audio recording while capturing videos. The speaker is also located at the back of the phone, right towards the bottom. On the top you have the 3.5mm earphone jack, microUSB slot and the power button, while the volume rocker and the camera key is on the right side.

The back of the phone is slightly rubberized, which prevents it from sliding from your palm and provides better grip. It is available in black and white colors with the battery cover available in various other colors.

Hardware Features

The hardware inside the Nokia Lumia 710 includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 processor which is clocked at 1.4 GHz and it is coupled with 512MB of RAM. The 3.7-inch display has a 480 x 800 pixels resolution with 252 ppi pixel density and is protected by Gorilla Glass. The rich black levels give it a good feels but it is not as good as AMOLED displays.

It has 8GB of onboard storage and there is no way to further increase it physically. However, you do get additional storage via Microsoft using SkyDrive. The 5 megapixel camera has LED flash and autofocus capabilities, however the images were not great when it comes to Nokia standards. It also records 720p HD videos at 30fps, the recording quality was quite decent.

Software Features

As we all know the device runs Windows Phone 7.5 Mango which is the latest iteration of Microsoft’ mobile operating system which initially introduced the new Metro UI. It has a simple, easy-to-use interface and looks great with as every tile feels alive. However, unlike Android and a more like iOS the personalization options are very limited all you can do is re-arrange tiles, change theme color and change the lock-screen image.

The video playback was a great experience and listening to my favorite music was fun. Although the same can’t be said for listening music on loudspeakers, even though its quite clear the volume is low. One of the most interesting features is addition of Microsoft’s Zune and it has a really beautiful presentation of your music library.

Something Nokia offers pre-installed with their Windows Phone 7 smartphones are few key apps including, Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps and App Highlights. These are Nokia developed apps for their Windows Phone 7 users. The first one is a navigation app which we loved, next is the Nokia Maps where I don’t think I need to bring in Captain Obvious to explain what it does, but I would like to say I still preferred Google Maps and finally App Highlights is just a little fun way to discover new apps. It also includes Office, timesPoynt and Weather app.

Performance

The only complaint here is the battery life, everything else is great and we did not experience a single time where we wished it had more processing power. The Lumia 710 has a 1300 mAh Li-Ion battery, which runs out of juice before the end of the day on heavy usage and stays up for an entire day on medium usage. The call quality is good even in low reception areas but there is nothing extra ordinary about it either.

Verdict

If you are looking for a new phone and want to enjoy experience then this is a great phone. Microsoft has built a smooth and beautiful mobile OS which Nokia has smartly used to create a phone which won’t burn a big hole in your pocket. Yes, there are other good smartphones available for in the price range, but if you want a fresh experience, are not a heavy app user and want something simple in a decent budget, then this is the smartphone you should be looking at.