Nokia's first Windows Phone, the Lumia 710
for T-Mobile , is here! Well, at least it is here
in the PCWorld office. The Lumia 710 is
actually hitting T-Mobile stores and online
on January 11 and will cost an affordable
$50 with a new two-year contract. I got a
sneak peek at the European Lumia 710 back
in October and--no surprise--the T-Mobile
version is virtually identical to it. The Lumia
710 isn’t to be confused with the Nokia’s
flagship phone, the Lumia 800, which hasn’t made it to the U.S . yet.
The Lumia 710’s specs won’t blow you away: Nokia is targeting new
smartphone owners with this inexpensive phone. The Lumia 710 comes in black or white and has a 3.7 -inch display as
well as a 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor.
The Lumia 710 certainly doesn’t feel like a premium phone, but it doesn’t feel cheap
either. The phone’s shiny plastic is a fingerprint magnet, but the soft rubberdized
back lets you get a good grip on it. The Lumia 710 isn’t going to win any beauty
pageants, but then again, Nokia does refer to it as a “no nonsense” phone. If you’re
all about looks for your Windows Phone, you might find the slick HTC Radar more
enticing (though it is double the price).
The power button is a bit difficult to press as it is
flush with the bezel. I’m not a big fan of the
navigation keys either, which sit below the display
on a single plastic strip (see photo). It just doesn’t
look very refined and feels awkward and
uncomfortable.
The 3.7 -inch WVGA display uses Nokia’s ClearBlack
technology, which supposedly increases the
display’s visibility in bright sunlight. The sun was
hiding in the San Francisco fog today so I was unable to put this to the test.
Hopefully I’ll get some sunshine tomorrow when I post the full review. Viewing
angles are good, however, while colors look bright without being oversaturated.
The Lumia 710 hooks into T-Mobile ’s 14.4Mbps HSPA+ network rather than the faster
HSPA+ 21 network. In a quick speedtest using the WP7 Speedtest app, I achieved
upload speeds of 1.37 megabits per second (Mbps) and download speeds of
0.5 Mbps.
I’ll be posting a full rated review of the Lumia 710 tomorrow morning so stay tuned for a more in-depth look at its
performance and features.
Rudz
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