Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Nokia Lumia 710 review

Nokia and Microsoft’s partnership is now in full swing following the successful launch of the flagship Nokia Lumia 800, which apparently shifted 1.3 million units in Q4 of 2011. The Nokia Lumia 800 looked great, performed excellently and, thanks to Nokia’s Clear Black display technology, had one of the best displays we’ve seen to-date on a Windows Phone.
All told, the Nokia Lumia 800 - at least, for the time being anyway - is the best Windows Phone-powered device. But will the Lumia 710 change all that, considering it offers Windows Phone Mango and all those bolted on Nokia goodies at a discounted price point?
Design
Looking at the device we’d say that it’s certainly stands a chance. It’s obviously the more budget-oriented of the two devices - there’s no curved display or laser-crafted unibody, for instance, but we think it will still be able to hold its own against the likes of the HTC Radar and the LG Optimus 7.
Like the Lumia 800, the Nokia Lumia 710 takes a microSIM card approach like the Apple iPhone 4S. Accessing the SIM and battery is simple enough on the device - you just pop the plastic back panel off and you’re away.
Interestingly, the back panel comes in a variety of different colours (ours was cyan), which users can collect and customise their phone with. It’s a nice touch and is one we’re sure younger users will appreciate.
Nokia screenshot
The Lumia 710 measures 119x62.4x12.5 mm and weighs in at 125.5g. It feels very lightweight in the hand, probably on account of its plastic chassis, and sports an impressive 3.7-inch ClearBlack (480x800 pixels) display that has a pixel density of 252ppi - which is very impressive for a mid-market phone such as this.
A microUSB, 3.5mm jack and Power/Unlock button run across the top of the device, and there’s volume rocker and camera shutter key running down the right-hand side of the handset. One thing that did irritate us slightly about the 710’s design is that you cannot unlock the handset using its physical navigation keys. Instead you’re forced to use the power/unlock key, which is sometimes difficult to locate.
Display
Thanks to Microsoft’s hardware mantra, the vast majority of Windows Phone devices sport displays with 480x800 pixels, and the Lumia 710 is no exception to this rule. But what makes the Lumia 710 different - like the Lumia 800 before it - is Nokia’s ClearBlack display technology, which tightens everything up significantly, ensuring blacks are black and colours are vivid. It is also supposed to minimise reflections.
Compare the 710’s display with the super LCD present on the HTC Radar and there’s a world of difference. Everything looks more vivid and colours appear to be more true-to-life. We’ve always felt slightly let down by the display quality on Windows Phone handsets, so we’re glad Nokia has come to the table with something impressive.
Of course, the LCD display on the Lumia 710 isn’t quite as impressive as the AMOLED one on the Lumia 800, but it’s still a massive improvement on the average Windows Phone fare.
Hardware
Nokia hasn’t pulled any punches in the hardware department either, fitting the Lumia 710 with a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and a 28mm f/2.4 lens. 
Like all Windows Phone devices before it there’s no support for microSD aboard the Nokia Lumia 710. This means you’ll be stuck with only 8GB of space for your music, media and pictures.
Fortunately there’s Microsoft's cloud storage service, SkyDrive, which gives your 25GB of storage for free, but downloading songs and video from this on the move will eat into your data plan. It’s still a nice touch, though, and just one of the many reasons why more and more people are switching to Windows Phone.
Having said that, if you’re not entirely comfortable using ‘the cloud’ and prefer to keep you music, photos and videos on your device then maybe it’s worth looking at the Lumia 800, which comes with double the storage, at 16GB – although this still isn’t particularly impressive by today’s standards where 32GB is fast-becoming the norm.
Imaging
The Lumia 710 shoots 720p video at 30fps. It’s not the greatest camcorder on the planet but it certainly did okay in our tests. Videos were detailed enough and also looked pretty sharp when ported to the larger display of our PC. It’s a similar story with the camera, which isn’t brilliant by any stretch of the imagination but it’s certainly good enough for general everyday use, especially with the LED flash - just don’t go expecting it to replace your SLR.
The Lumia 710’s imaging capabilities are easily on a par with many of last year’s Windows Phone 7 flagship devices, like the Samsung Omnia 7 and HTC Radar. But this isn’t all that surprising - Nokia knows how to make a decent camera. The Lumia 800’s set-up, with its Carl Zeiss optics, is a big improvement on what’s available here but that’s to be expected.
Operating System
Despite having more freedom than most of Microsoft’s Windows Phone partners, Nokia has yet to do anything that drastic with the operating system and its UI on either the Lumia 800 or the Lumia 700. For all intents and purposes, the experience on the Lumia 710 is the same as it is on the Lumia 800, HTC Titan and Samsung Focus S. That’s what happens when you insist on minimum hardware requirements (take note Android).


But Nokia has still managed to sneak in a few USPs that help separate the Lumia 710 (and the Lumia 800, for that matter) from the rest of the Windows Phone pack. These USPs come in the form of Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and Nokia Music. What these applications do is pretty self-explanatory but they do, when considered together, add significant value and utility to the handset.
Nokia screenshot
Nokia Music allows you to buy and download tracks and albums, which can be stored on your phone or saved to Zune on your PC once your handset is connected. The music collection is pretty extensive and not just made up of the usual run of the mill Radio One dross we were expecting, which is certainly a turn up for the books. During our test we found everything from jazz to metal, to hip-hop to post-rock - all tastes are seemingly catered for.
Nokia screenshot
Nokia Music isn’t going to give iTunes or Microsoft’s Zune any trouble any time soon. But it’s certainly a nice feature to have included on the handset, despite the fact that it’s more expensive that Apple and Microsoft’s counterparts. Lets just hope it doesn’t go the same way as Nokia’s Comes With Music service.
The Lumia 710 also ships with a variety of applications as well, which are as follows: ESPN, eBay, Trip Advisor and Sky News. There are also a few handy apps, like Contacts Transfer, which make things like getting your numbers from one phone to another exceptionally easy.
Conclusion
All in all the Nokia Lumia 710 is an extremely competent smartphone. It looks good, has some very competitive hardware and comes packed with plenty of useful features and applications like Nokia Music, Drive and Maps.
It’s also very well priced at £300, and while we’d definitely recommend the Lumia 800 over it, you will have to pay extra for the difference, which is predominantly cosmetic anyway. Windows Phone 7 is Windows Phone 7 whether its on a £800 phone or a £300 one.
Overall, we seriously rate the Nokia Lumia 710. If you’re looking for a Windows Phone 7 handset but don’t want to pay premium prices this could very well be the phone you’re looking for.


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