Thursday 12 April 2012

Nokia Lumia 710 - First Impression

Introduction
As I have mentioned before, I am always a diehard Nokia fan irrespective of what sort of mobile phone I am using at the moment. This is because I feel that I am always connected to Nokia. No doubt that the Iphone 4s brings about innovation and user friendliness but it needs a soul which I think I can find it in Nokia again especially they have cooperated with Microsoft to introduce their Windows Phone 7 OS to Nokia.

Presently, you could argue that there are not many choices when it comes to a proper Windows Mobile device. I could not agree with you guys anymore but nontheless we need to start using the OS from Nokia's point of view. Naturally I could have waited for the upcoming Nokia Lumia 900 which will be released in the UK next month or I could have chosen the Nokia Lumia 800 at this moment since Nokia has provided a few updates to the firmware itself and got rid of some bugs in the OS. Apart from this, I could have chosen a HTC device which powers the Windows Phone 7 but I have decided to stick to my plan in getting a Nokia Lumia 710. The main reason why I come to that conclusion was mainly due to the price decrease of the Lumia 710 from £289 down to £139 which you could get your hands from Carphonewarehouse at this moment. I have checked with Phones4u and they are still selling it at £199.

The Feel
I quite like the plastic surface and bottom of the Lumia 710 and I feel that it is very light compared to the Iphone 4. Apart from that, I feel that it can easily slip into my back pocket and slip out again easily. I would recommend users to make a purchase for a rubber phone cover for the Lumia 710 so that you will have more grip on the device. If I were to compare the Lumia 710 with the Lumia 800, it wil be obvious to note that the Lumia 800 feels much better but you need to take into account that the Lumia 800 cost twice the amount of the Lumia 710 so there is no comparison at all. For the price of £139, I believe that it is worth every penny, isn't it?

Hardware
Well, if you are a surfer, you will notice that the Lumia 710 is powered by a single core 1.4Ghz cpu from Qualcomm. I wonder why would Nokia not use a dualcore cpu instead. After doing some research, I have come to a conclusion that Nokia would not need to use a dualcore cpu as Windows Phone 7.5 will not be able to utilise multicore cpu anyway so they can save some money in purchasing single core cpu for their mobile device. However, all these will change when the next generation of the Windows Phone OS arrive as it will support multicore and external memory card reader, unlike the present Windows Phone devices which does not come with an external memory slot. It does not really matter to me but I would hope that manufacturers should allocate more memory into their devices by default as it will be accessible on a faster pace than using an external memory card.

If you look at the Lumia 710, it does not support external memory card and users will have to stick to its palty 8GB memory. This is quite sad as the storage will easily used up in no time so consumers will have to be smart in managing the storage space on the Lumia 710. I think most probably I will fully utilise the 8GB for maps instead. Oh wait...

I have forgotten about the 5MP autofocus digital camera on the Lumia 710! It is a powered by a non Carl Zeiss optics and comes with a LED flash. There is not much to talk about apart from the fact that the picture quality is certainly much better than the Iphone 4 and I am so used to the way how would someone take a picture on a Nokia device as compared to the Iphone range. The only 5MP from the back will allow a user to take 720p video (or HD video) up to 30fps which is not too bad. However, if you guys want to use a mobile phone to take good pictures and high quality videos, I would suggest waiting for the Nokia Pureview 808 which consist of a 41MP digital camera powered by Carl Zeiss optics.

Overall, I am impressed with the performance of the Lumia 710's picture quality and video quality. I will post some pictures and videos later.

Apart from that, I do find bluetooth and the usual 2012 specification of a modern smartphone to be quite equipped on the Lumia 710 with the exception of not including NFC but it is understandable. However, I am not too sure about that as the Nokia Lumia 610 NFC comes with build in NFC so I don't understand why would Nokia not include NFC technology on the Lumia 710.

I am also impressed with the 3.7" with Nokia's Clear Black Display coated with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass. I have to admit that the display work wonders under direct sunlight as compared to the Iphone 4. Kudos to Nokia!

I have no issues with the buttons on the phone and same goes to the touchscreen as it is quite responsive. I am slightly concern with the 1300mAh battery as it will last a full day with 3G usage and standby the whole day but it is much better than the Iphone 4's 1432mAh as it would not last one full day and I have to recharge the Iphone twice a day.

OS
I do not have much of a problem with Windows Phone 7 apart from the fact that it is using more battery since it is 'live tiles'. It takes some time for a person who comes from Symbian, Android or the iOS to get used to it. It will be easier for someone who is using the Nokia N9 to get used to the OS as compared to an Android user.

Early impression/Criticisms
I am quite happy to use the Nokia Lumia 710 as my backup phone. In fact, I feel that Nokia should have installed a Carl Zeiss optics on the Lumia 710 but nontheless, I believe that the price is justified. I do not have any problems with the phone as the volume on the speaker is loud. The only concern which I have is the SAR for the Lumia 710 as it is rated at 1.3. Oh well, it is still far below the threshold of 2.0 anyway.

Another problem with the Windows Phone 7 OS is that there are not many applications which you could actually download, so unlike the Android and on the iOS platform. Worst of all, there is no Skype unless you are referring to Skype beta! Well, it is not really relevant taking into account there is no front camera on the Lumia 710. What a shame. Above all, there is no true multitasking on the Windows Phone 7.5! This is so backwards as compared to the Symbian OS!

Update:
14/04/2012 - Apparently the Lumia 710 is suffering from a death grip!!! I am so shocked that Nokia has succumbed to it! The death grip is present if you hold onto the bottom part of the phone. You will see that the signal level will drop and it will increase again if you were to hold on to the side of the phone instead. This is not happening to Nokia! I am so shocked! I think I need to buy myself a protective cover for the Lumia 710 to resolve this problem. By the way, I have updated the Lumia 710 to WP 7.5 so there is no issue of not updating the software on the Lumia 710. I hope that Nokia will find a fix for this!





5 comments:

Romkin said...

i have been using nokia lumia 800 and the battery is horrible, so back to iPhone 4 :)

Joshua Lopez said...

Nokia Is History! Welcome Samsung Galaxy Note & Galaxy Nexus!

And that telco provider of yours? Tell them to go to hell because my text messages to you since early December until today is not reaching you. It shows message delivered but you are not receiving them and boy i'm deeply frustrated and angry. Words can't describe how angry i am with this!!!

ぜるもう said...

Relax gentleman.
@Joshua: I have tried to call you two days ago a few times but no reply from you. In addition to this, I have also sent some text messages to you but I have yet to receive any message from you.

ぜるもう said...

I have to say that I am pretty upset with Microsoft for not enabling multitasking support on their MP 7.5 running on Tango. This is so rediculous!

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