Review: Nokia Lumia 710

Nokia and Microsoft were both once giants in the tech industry. But over the past few years, Apple, Google and Samsung have slowly taken a huge chunk of their market, leading the former goliaths in a predicament. The two companies banded together to forge a partnership which they hope will bring them both back to their former glory. The Lumia series of Windows Phone-based handsets is the first step towards making that happen and the Nokia Lumia 710 is the cheapest of the models available. But does it deliver that one-two knockout punch?

What we like:

• Very good screen
• Good build quality
• Snappy performance
• Nokia apps

What we don’t like:

• Horrible camera
• Limited storage
• Limited app store
• Bad multimedia battery life

Best Price: Rs. 15,191 [Infibeam]

LOOKS & FEEL

Growing up in India gives you an intuitive knowledge of what someone means when they say, “This phone feels like a Nokia.” Over the years, there’s a unique image that Nokia has gotten associated with: sturdy, without being bulky; good-looking, without seeming cheap. And the Lumia 710 feels like a Nokia.

Pick up the phone and the weight seems just right. It’s not light enough to be negligible, but it’s heavy enough to strain your arm when talking on it for a long time. The back of the phone has a soft-touch rubber finish which not only gives it a great grip, but also stops it from feeling “plasticky” – a word now commonly used to describe Samsung’s Android devices. The overall first impression is one that will make almost anyone instantly fall in love with the phone – especially if you have been a Nokia fan in the past. But of course, it doesn’t match up to more premium materials like those used in the iPhone or the aluminium back-cases of some of the HTC phones as well as Nokia’s E series of business handsets.

The one area where the phone does feel cheap, though, are the three buttons on the front. Not only are the keys small and hard to press, but they also jut out from the phone a bit too much. At a time when Android phones at half the price come with touch-sensitive controls, it’s unforgivable for Nokia to put physical keys of such a bad design. Everything that the “feel” of the phone accomplishes is marred by this one aspect, which is unfortunately the second most used part after the touchscreen itself. As a consumer, it’s one of the aspects of a modern touch-phone that you take for granted, but Nokia has failed its buyer here. Shame.

SCREEN & INTERFACE

The screen of the Lumia 710 is perhaps its best feature. With all modern touchscreens, there is one major issue – legibility under direct sunlight. Sunlight messes up how well you can see the screen, so manufacturers are doing their hardest to lessen this effect. In its price range, nothing comes close to the Nokia. We pitted it against the Samsung Galaxy Ace, the Sony Xperia Neo V, the Samsung Google Nexus S, the HTC Sensation, the Samsung Galaxy Note and of course, the Apple iPhone. Apart from the last two, the Lumia 710 offered better sunlight legibility than any other phone. And the last two weren’t noticeably better either – it was a marginal call, but the better resolution on the Apple and Samsung phones made them seem a bit clearer than the Nokia.

The resolution of 480×800 pixels seems quite sufficient at the 3.7-inch size of the screen. And it doesn’t feel too small either, even though we are used to Android handsets with larger screen sizes. For example, switching from a 4-inch Nexus S to a 3.5-inch iPhone or Galaxy Ace usually makes us feel a bit constricted, but that wasn’t the case with the Lumia 710. It might seem like we’re scrutinising a bit too much, but those 0.2 inches actually made a noticeable difference.

Some of the credit for this should also go to the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system. The tile-based interface and the font used in the interface manage high legibility even on a small screen. The use of black backgrounds with coloured tiles and white text is quite different from what iOS and Android do, but Microsoft makes it work well. White-on-black usually gets a bit hard on the eyes if you have to read a lot of text, but surprisingly, that wasn’t the case with the Lumia 710.

The operating system works as you would expect, since Nokia hasn’t customised it in any way. Windows Phone 7.5 is quite easy to set up and does make it quite easy to conduct usual activities like calling, text messaging, checking social networks, etc. In fact, the integration of different social networks and messaging in the People Hub is quite a nice addition. And of course, the entire Windows Marketplace is available for you to install any apps and games you like.

Nokia has also included a few of its own apps with the phone. To get navigation in India, the Nokia Maps app asks you to download a large file for your city or state the first time you want to use it, so we would advise you do this over a Wi-Fi connection. The map itself is quite detailed and, at least in the case of Mumbai, rivals Google Maps in its accuracy.

The Nokia Drive app, the built-in turn-by-turn navigation app, also relies on the same maps and works quite well. The one major complaint, though, is that it just wasn’t loud enough in a city with as much noise pollution as Mumbai has. With the window rolled up and the phone kept near you, it does its job, but if the window is rolled down (say, if you are in a cab) or the phone is kept on the passenger’s seat while you drive, it’s not going to be able to speak up above the radio or that guy honking behind you. What’s the point of turn-by-turn directions if you just can’t hear them?

CAMERA & MULTIMEDIA

While the loudspeaker of the phone is a bit weak to work in turn-by-turn navigation in a crowded city, it’s not so bad that you can’t play your favourite song on it and strain to hear. Of course, it’s always advisable that you plug in the earphones packaged in the box, although we weren’t quite impressed with the quality of those. A pair of standard 3.5mm headphones will do the job well and if you absolutely want something from Nokia, then the Nokia Essence noise cancellation in-earphones are recommended.

The music and movie apps work perfectly well and don’t have any major shortcomings. Of course, if you are unhappy with them, you can always just download one of the apps from the Marketplace. All in all, there’s nothing to go ga-ga over the multimedia playback of the Lumia 710, but neither is there anything to really complain about.

The camera, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. When Nokia really wants to put a great camera in a phone, it can blow the competition away, as we have seen with the fantastic Nokia N8. But otherwise, the company just seems to throw a sensor in for the sake of it, which is the case with the Lumia 710.

Almost everything that can go wrong with a camera does go wrong here with the 5-megapixel offering from Nokia. It does a shoddy job in low light despite having an LED flash. The shutter takes too much time, which usually means that any moving object is going to be a smooth blur rather than a distinguishable figure. And like with most cheap sensors, there is a huge difference between the photo you see on your camera and the one you upload and see on your PC, with the latter looking grainier and more saturated. If the camera in your phone is important to you, run far away from the Lumia 710.

PERFORMANCE & BATTERY

A lot is made about the specifications of a phone, especially the processor. While there’s no denying the fact that it does add to performance, it’s not a benchmark to be judged against. When it comes down to it, it’s how the phone behaves in your hand. Apple managed to make the iPhone a smooth experience with hardware that was inferior to some Android smartphones and Microsoft has managed to pull it off with Windows Phone 7 as well.

The Lumia 710 does offer a 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM, but when actually using it, it feels snappier and speedier than Android handsets with the same specs. The transitions are smooth, apps open just as quickly and it never once seemed to slow down even when we had several apps open, including a couple of games. Given the wonderful multi-tasking system in Windows Phone 7.5, this was one of the smoothest mobile experiences in task-switching that we ever had.

And yes, the phone performed well in most of the standard tests. The Lumia 710 uses a MicroSIM card, like the iPhone, and comes with all the usual connectivity options. We had no trouble logging into a Wi-Fi network, downloading content off 3G, making calls or anything else. These are features you take for granted in a smartphone and Nokia has managed to pull them all off without any issues.

The one problem, though, is the limited 8GB memory with no memory card slot. If 8GB is going to be enough for you, great! But our music collection alone goes to well over 6GB so that’s a deal-breaker for us.

The battery, though, is a strange one. On a full charge, we clocked over 8 hours of talk-time on the Nokia Lumia 710, which is quite impressive. But multimedia, gaming and multi-tasking seemed to make the battery groan. On a full charge, video playback was barely 3 hours, while Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja gave us a combined time of a little over 3 hours. In a normal day’s usage, it lasted fine and we had to charge the phone at the end of the day – but that’s because we didn’t watch any videos on it. If you use your phone to watch a lot of videos or play a lot of games, the Lumia 710’s battery might prove to be disappointing – but then again, not like you’re going to fare much better on the Android alternatives in this price range.

CONCLUSION

When it was first launched, the Nokia Lumia 710 was priced at almost Rs. 19,000. At that price, we couldn’t recommend this phone in good faith. But after a price cut saw it come down to around the Rs. 15,500 range, suddenly the handset is a real contender.

As with most phones, whether you should buy it or not really depends on what kind of user you are.

If you are a Nokia loyalist looking to get into the touchscreen world, this is your best entry point – miles better than any of the Symbian-based offerings from the company.

If you are looking for a Windows Phone device, then again, this is your best entry point. The Samsung Omnia W is a worthy contender, but after having played with both phones, we feel the Lumia 710 has a slight edge. And hey, Nokia is India’s most trusted brand, after all.

For gamers, app lovers and multimedia aficionados, we would never advise the Lumia 710. The Windows Marketplace is still far behind Android and iOS, so the choice of apps and games is severely limited. As for multimedia, the Lumia 710 suffers in the battery department and doesn’t do a stellar job of the audio either.

And if you are looking for a camera-phone, please steer clear of the Lumia 710. Among its competitors, it does the worst job of all.

Overall, though, the Lumia 710 is a fine first attempt from Nokia at trying to change its recent bad fortunes. While we contend that Android is a better operating system than Windows Phone, the latter is still no slouch and will let you accomplish all the regular smartphone requirements with ease.

If the review still seems like it hasn’t answered something in particular, check out our Nokia Lumia 710: The FAQ Review, where we address the most common queries about it.

And if you still need more advice, you can always Ask Phone Mantra.