Nokia Lumia 710 deals & review

Only the second Windows 7 phone to be launched by Nokia, the Lumia might not be as fancy as its big brother the Lumia 800, but with its reduced price you’re definitely getting better value for your money with the Lumia 710. It’s speedy and lightweight, as well as looking seriously fashionable. If you’re looking for a budget smartphone on pay-as-you-go then the Lumia 710 is a decent choice of phone due to the fact it looks and feels more expensive than most budget handsets.

The most disappointing aspect of the Lumia 710 is the fact it looks and feels a lot cheaper than the 800. At just 125g, the Lumia 710 is a good bit lighter than its brother, which is usually a good thing, but in the case of the 710 it almost feels too light – practically like you’re playing with a toy phone. The interchangeable back covers are fun and obviously aimed at teens. That being said these covers can feel a tad flimsy at times so be careful when you’re removing them. Thankfully, the Lumia 710’s screen is far from flimsy as it’s made from Gorilla Glass, which is reportedly bomb proof.

Being a Windows 7 phone you need to take into account that this handset is never going to have as many apps as Android or Apple, but Windows are slowly improving this by the day so it shouldn’t be taken as much of a negative. What apps it does have already are rather useful, including Xbox Live, Facebook, Twitter and People – an app that transforms your social networks into one handy timeline. Camera-wise the Lumia 710 comes with a 5MP camera, which granted isn’t the best specs compared to the new iPhone, but for a budget smartphone is more than enough. And with a hefty 8MB of storage you’ll have more than enough room to save all your photographs.

One of the Nokia Lumia 710’s major selling points is its performance. Unlike some budget handsets, this phone come packed with some serious power. The phone comes with a 1.4GHz processor, which is more than enough to keep things ticking over nicely.

With its large 3.7inch LCD screen, you’ll fine browsing the net a breeze; this is a screen that is bigger than the Apple iPhone 4s after all. It might not be the AMOLED screen of the Lumia 800, but it’s still an impressive effort that makes navigation simple

If you like the idea of the Lumia 710 but want more features then the Lumia 800 is the obvious choice. There’s also the newer Lumia 900 to consider, which packs in even more.

The Nokia Lumia 710 is being billed as a mid-range phone from the Finnish telecoms giant, modelled on the more advanced Lumia 800 handset. As such, the 710’s display looks ostensibly identical, except for being LCD rather than AMOLED. The screen is a ClearBlack display, which means it should be able to handle direct sunlight with little or no glare, and offers competitive response times and viewing angles.

Equally as pleasing to hold as the Lumia 800, the 710 is more of a lifestyle phone, with greater scope for customisation. The phone will be available in either black or white, and the rear battery cover can be removed. This means batteries can be swapped, and the handset’s colour can be customised with up to five interchangeable multi-coloured back panels, to match the colour scheme of clothes or accessories. The Lumia 710 also features physical hardware buttons for Home, Back and Search commands, which reduce the chance of accidental button pressing. Speaking of phone operation, the Lumia 710 works on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, the slick and simplistic OS that all but the most recalcitrant of technophobes should be able to use with ease.

The specs are competitive if unspectacular: it may not feature the latest dual-core processors, but the Lumia’s 1.4 GHz single-core processor is still speedy. The 5 megapixel camera offers decent quality pictures that can be easily shared at the touch of a button. The Lumia 710 will feature 8GB of on-board storage and the same 25 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage as that afforded the 800 model. At first glance, built-in storage space might seem to be at a premium, but that should only be the case if you don’t take advantage of the media features and streamed content on offer.

For example, photos can be uploaded directly to Facebook and other social media platforms by merely tapping the on-screen display. The Nokia Music feature saves room on songs by giving access to MixRadio, which offers a no-registration, subscription-free selection of playlists that are chosen to suit your location. These playlists can easily be stored by dragging and pinning, or you can create and share your own, a welcome advance on traditional FM radio.

Another new feature shared by the Lumia handsets is Nokia Drive, which is Nokia’s functional and quick turn-by-turn navigation system that works via GPS. The hardware locks onto your position and pulls in mapping data almost instantaneously, allowing for simple and speedy navigation. Combined with Nokia Maps and Microsoft’s Bing Maps app, you’ll always know what’s going on around you, and how to get to your destination via the quickest route.

Finally, the ESPN Sports Hub allows users to pin a league or team to their start page as a “live tile”, giving quick access to the sports news of your choice - ideal for the busy sports fan.

This phone is clearly aimed at the entry-level segment of the market, making an ideal first phone for young people, older people or those who haven’t embraced the smartphone revolution yet. With the Lumia 800 considered “competitively-priced”, the Lumia 710 may steal further territory in the “affordable phone” market. With an easy OS, useful features, customisable body and reasonable price, the Lumia 710 may well give the iPhone some competition amongst the demographic of those who are not technology-obsessed, but want a smartphone that is simple, attractive and functional.