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Nokia Lumia 710 Review

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	Review: January 2012
	Phone rating: In a nutshell: The Nokia Lumia 710 is a competitively-priced Windows smartphone. Unlike most budget smart phones, this one doesn't cut too many corners when it comes to hardware, so you get a top-performing smartphone for a fraction of the price. It's a solid performer that can beat most mid-range phones hands down. Available in Black, Black/Blue or White. Tweet

Well, Nokia have certainly turned a corner in 2011/2012. They've been right down to the bottom, but with Windows Phone smartphones they seem to be heading back up again. The first Windows phone from Nokia - the Lumia 800 - was a good phone, but rather pricey, but the new Lumia 710 offers nearly everything that the 800 does, but at a significantly lower price point.

The 710 is approximately the same size as the Lumia 800, but with rounded corners, and is significantly lighter. The touch sensitive buttons below the screen are replaced with a single physical button, split into three. The 710 doesn't have the same high-end feel as the 800, but it does have the advantage of changeable covers, and is available in Black, Blue or White. You can change the home screen colours to match.

Surprisingly, even though it costs noticeably less than the 800, the 710 has nearly the same features. As a result it compares extremely well with other phones in this price category. Take the screen for instance. Not only is it physically big at 3.7 inches, but it's impressively sharp too. Nokia's ClearBlack LCD technology gives good contrast and colour definition, and with 480 x 800 pixels, the display is pin-sharp. Heavy duty Gorilla Glass provides plenty of protection too. If you hold the Lumia 710 next to the Lumia 800, you'll notice that the AMOLED screen of the 800 is superior, but equally if you hold the Lumia 710 next to the iPhone 4S, you'll notice that the iPhone screen is smaller. Bottom line - for the money, it's a great screen.

The 710 is turbo charged inside, with a very fast 1.4GHz processor and 512MB of RAM for crunching through demanding apps. A dedicated GPU is used to accelerate graphics. There's 8GB of built-in memory available, but no microSD card slot, which is the same as other Windows phones.

If, like most people, you've not used Windows Phone before, you'll find it a fun and easy operating system to use. Version 7.5 (Mango) is quite refined and runs extremely smoothly on the Lumia, thanks to that super-fast processor. The Mango user interface is very graphical, being based on a tile design. Tiles can be simple buttons that link to another screen, or they can be active elements with a life of their own, busily displaying the time, missed calls, messages waiting to be read, and so on. Touch a tile and a cool graphical transition takes you to the relevant screen showing more information. It's fun, it's fast and we like it. It's definitely a refreshing change from the lumbering Symbian-powered Nokias of old.

Mango works very well with messaging of all kinds, including text, MMS, chat and email. It's up for social networking too, with careful integration of facebook, twitter and linkedin into the communications heart of the phone. Apps aren't as extensive as Android and iPhone apps, but there are plenty of useful apps built in, including MS Office readers, Nokia Maps, Bing Maps, and a growing collection of third-party apps available for download.

Like other Mango phones, the media experience is good. Audio quality is excellent, and the Zune software lets you manage your music on your PC and phone. Alternatively, Nokia Music gives you access to your music organised by Artist, Album, Genre, Playlist, etc. And also to Mix Radio, which streams music to your phone over Wi-Fi. Mix Radio lets you choose a genre, then you can listen to playlists streamed to your phone over the internet. There's a normal FM stereo radio as well. The 3.5mm headphone jack lets you plug in any standard headphones.

There's a good quality camera, but this is perhaps the one area where pennies have been saved compared with the camera on the Lumia 800. Still, with a 5 megapixel sensor and a large f2.4 aperture, the camera can take high quality pictures in good light. An LED flash is available for night time, but here the picture quality starts to deteriorate. It does snap pictures very quickly, mind you. Video quality is very good, with HD resolution recording.

The web browser is Internet Explorer 9. It runs very well, making use of the excellent hardware on the Lumia, and it supports modern standards like HTML5 and CSS3. It doesn't support Flash, but neither do Apple phones, and poor old Flash is destined for phasing out in the future.

Connectivity is excellent too, with all bases covered: Wi-Fi, 3G HSDPA, Bluetooth and USB. Assisted GPS is built into the phone, with a digital compass included, using Nokia Maps for navigation.

There's a slightly smaller battery in the 710 compared with the 800. We'd have liked a larger one to be honest, but the battery will see you through the day. As with so many modern smartphones, you may find that your phone is plugged into the charger every night.

We're mightily impressed with the Lumia 710. Nokia have managed to retain nearly the same spec as the more expensive 800, but have reduced the price noticeably. At this price point, competitors include the HTC Radar, Samsung Galaxy Ace and HTC Wildfire S. We think that the Nokia can easily hold its own against these phones. In fact, it's a better phone than the Android phones at this price. Spend more on the Lumia 800 and you'll benefit from a better camera, more memory, an AMOLED display and a more premium feel to the handset.

Features of the Nokia Lumia 710 include:

• Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, f2.4 aperture, 4x digital zoom
• Video camera: HD quality 720p resolution, 30 frames/second, 3x digital zoom
• Display: ClearBlack capacitive touchscreen, 480 x 800 pixels (3.7 inches), Corning Gorilla Glass
• Media player
• Stereo FM radio
• aGPS with Bing Maps, Nokia Maps and digital compass
• MP3, AAC & WMA ringtones
• Integrated hands-free speaker
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, chat, email (support for attachments)
• Java games with hardware graphics acceleration
• Flight mode
• Memory: 8GB plus 512MB RAM
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, micro USB 2.0, 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug
• Data: WAP, EGPRS class B, WCDMA/HSPA (14.4 Mbps download, 5.76 Mbps upload)
• Internet: Bing, Internet Explorer 9 web browser with HTML5 support, facebook, twitter, linkedin
• Processor: 1400 MHz Qualcomm MSM8255
• Triband GSM plus 3G WCDMA 900/1900/2100
• Size: 119 x 62 x 12.5 mm
• Weight: 126g
• 1300mAh battery
• Talktime: 6.9 - 7.6 hours
• Battery standby: 400 hours

Nokia Lumia 710 User Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 22 reviews:

Reviewed by nicholas from uk on 2nd Dec 2012
One of the best smarthphones out there. Very reliable and windows phone is very intuitive and easy to learn. Also nokia drive, is similar to tomtom but easier to use. Loads of special nokia applications that you get for free. For the price is 5 stars for me. Works all the time and it's extremely fast. Battery like all smarthphones goes down if you use frequently.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by mickeyd from scotland on 27th Oct 2012
good phone but don't like zune. Hey u can get it today free at carphone warehouse on 24 mth contract 250 ms unlim text and 500MB data for £7.50 per month. Beat that !!!! no way
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by John R from UK on 26th Sep 2012
I got this phone back in March and overall it has been 'OK'. My main gripes are that the texting font is very small to read as is the peoples numbers 'phonebook'. The windows app's are very limited compared to Android. The zune is not easy to move music/picture files to and from. The camera is point and shoot, to change these settings is awkward. As with everybody else the battery is TERRIBLE. just over 24 hours and goes off. I do not understand why flash player cannot work, BIG miss!! I think that unless newer software comes out to improve it I will be moving back to Sony phones.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Gary from uk on 4th Sep 2012
Battery life is nowhere as long lasting as stated.Whilst I understand the reason for restricting customisation,Nokia/Microsoft shoud make it easier to do certain things.I like to make my own ringtones and it is very difficult to do on the Nokia 710.On the Sony I have you just chose a song and pick turn into ringtone-job done.
This phone has not lived up to my expectations and I do not like the microsoft OS.
Also Zune player is not very user friendly or comprehenisive
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by jon from uk on 31st Aug 2012
I just got this phone from Carphone warehouse and in well chuffed with it I had Samsung galaxy mini before and when using both side by side the 710 is well faster. The only downside is the number of apps compared to android but windows system has all major apps and more on way bottom line is this phone is 5s
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Tony from uk on 31st Aug 2012
There are 2 main things wrong with this phone
1 Battery life(useless)
2 Operating system
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Kevin from uk on 21st Aug 2012
This phone is rubbish.After 3 days discovered a fault on it(will not let me change ringtones),can't get a gps connection and therefore can't use the sat nav.
The Zune player is rubbish.
WILL NEVER BUY A WINDOWS PHONE AGAIN OR RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE
Rating: Reply

Reply by Nathan from uk on 24th Aug 2012
To change ringtones go to settings and then ringtones. To get more ringtones download an app. The fact that the gps doesn't lock means there is something wrong with the hardware. I suggest you take it back and get a replacement. The GPS lockator is the fastest I have seen in any other mobile, android or iphone. Your problems point to a faulty hardware.

Reviewed by king from uk on 10th Aug 2012
I got this phone for £100 from carphone warehouse and i guess this is the best cheapest smartphone out there at the moment however I have to charge it twice in a day but that's probably because my 3g, email, fb and other apps are 247 on and refreshing continuously. This is worth getting it!!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by peter from uk on 12th Jul 2012
The best mobile money can buy at this price, totally awesome. Nothing else beats it at this price range.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by graeme from England on 11th Jun 2012
129 pounds from car phone warehouse sim only from tesco what are you all waiting for this phone is a steal
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Stuart from UK on 7th Jun 2012
Waste of space and money, windows is far too restrictive and the market place is rubbish. Going back to Android asap especially now ICS is out there. Do not bother with this phone you have been warned
Rating: Reply

Reply by robin from uk on 9th Jun 2012
I don't quite understand your 1 star. Windows phone and Iphone are restrictive for a reason. It's called malware and viruses. Have you heard of any viruses in Windows phone? For android, plenty. Windows phone is the fastest mobile you can buy open a website, take the most expensive Android, and scroll down, the android lags. The 710 definitely not.

Reply by dawn from uk on 13th Jul 2012
Numpty. This phone is fantastic value for money. Try Zune music subscription. Gr8. I had a play with the 800, lol, the 710 has a far better screen. 800 is well jaggy. The only negatives would be camera. But! This phone is v cheap, so not really a fair criticism. tbh. Wait for w8. these phones will be amazing.

Reviewed by Dan from UK on 6th Jun 2012
Just bought this phone for my wife to replace her trusty Tocco Lite which has finally given up the ghost. The phone is fantastic, excellent display and fast operation. She uses the phone for facebook and internet browsing as well as music and she is over the moon. At £90 from Carphone Warehouse on o2 it is an absolute bargain and miles better than anything else at the price point.The only downside, as mentioned by others, is having to use the zune software. You would think that a windows phone would sunc easily with windows os on a pc, maybe that will come with windows 8. Recommended.
Rating: Reply

Reply by rich from england on 9th Jul 2012
when did you buy it at this price? I cant find it on their website?

Reply by Rab from England on 24th Jul 2012
Quite true, managed to get this handset for £90 last month. Now that the Lumia 610 is out Carphonewarehouse no longer stock the 710 which is the same price but far superior. In fact I'd go as far as recommending it over the 800 but only if you manage to source a handset. All in all a very welcome change to the usual Android phones out there which as you say, do indeed suffer virus issues and malware.

Reply by G-man from UK on 25th Aug 2012
if you upgrade a pay as you go mobile phone from car phone warehouse its usually 10 quid cheaper

Reviewed by clare from UK on 1st May 2012
Really great little phone, I didn't want to pay more than £20 per month for my first foray into the smartphone world. Having narrowed my choice down to this and the Samsung Galaxy Ace, this just seemed a simpler and more visually appealing display and handset. As I say have never had a smartphone before I was worried about how I would cope with not having buttons, but I have to say as is typical of Nokia, it is a straightforward interface which takes very little getting used to. It suffers none of the lag I have noticed when trialling HTC & Samsung mid range smartphones and is very responsive and easy to navigate. The fact that I have not needed to refer to the instructions yet speaks volumes about its ease of use. I have a horrible habit of dropping phones, this has a gorilla glass screen and a lovely tactile back which seems to stop it slipping. Only minor niggle is battery life isn't great.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Paddy from UK on 3rd Apr 2012
I had one of these for a few days but have returned it for a refund. This is no reflection on the handset, which I thought was excellent value for money (£150 PAYG from Vodafone shop) - superb screen, nice solid feel. It was partly because there was what seems to be a known fault (unable to send or receive MMS messages) but mainly because I hated the Windows Phone OS.

Horses for courses I guess - some people seem to love it, but if you are at all techie it is severely restricted. It is very limited in how much you can personalise it. Although the tiles work OK there is no way of grouping them, you just end up with an ever growing list of them to scroll through as you add apps to the phone (and the range of apps available is pitifully limited compared to Android or Apple). It is not possible to create profiles of settings for different environments. Indeed, there is only a single volume setting which applies to ringtones, alerts and audio, so if you have the volume set to loud so that you can hear the ringtone while the handset is in your pocket and start listening to the MP3 player you find that it is playing at a deafening volume!

Another big minus as far as I am concerned is that there is no direct data access with Windows Phone. You have to use Zune (the Nokia equivalent of iTunes) to transfer anything to or from the phone but this only lets you transfer music, video or photos. If you want to get a PDF file onto it, for example, you can only do it via SkyDrive. There is a registry hack you can apply to your PC to make the phone appear in Windows Explorer but you can still only copy music, video or photos that way. Personally I hated Zune but as I said earlier, it's horses for courses - some people seem to love because it suits their way of working.

All in all it's a brilliant phone for the money if you can get on with Windows Phone, but it's not for me, hence only 3 stars. Oh, and top marks to Vodafone for refunding my money without a quibble.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by James from Ireland on 20th Mar 2012
Absolutely love it. Have it three days now and can't fault it. Battery life seems OK too ( fingers crossed ). I took it off charge @ 7.30 pm on Sunday evening and it is still showing 43% left by 9.30 am Tuesday morning. And this is with a reasonable amount of usage, i.e. calls, texts and a fair bit of internet. One gripe : Can the clock be set to 12 hour format ? I hate the 24 hour format but can't find anything in the settings. But that's only minor, otherwise delighted with the phone.
Rating: Reply

Reply by me from uk on 24th Mar 2012
You can turn off 24 hour clock in settings, date+time...

Reply by James from Ireland on 27th Mar 2012
Thanks for the reply but it doesn't give me that option.

Reply by dawn from uk on 29th Mar 2012
Sorry, bit stumped. We must have different firmware running, which might explain your enviable battery life. When I tap on 'date+time' the first item at the top of the screen is '24hr clock, with a box next to it, that you can tap to turn on or off. You might be able to update with Zune but, if your battery life is that good, I would leave as is.

Reply by James from Ireland on 18th Apr 2012
Yeah, sounds like something is slighly different right enough. When I tap on 'date+time', my only option is 'Set automatically'. If I take this option it throws me into flight mode and when I turn the option off I have to enter my PIN Number to carry on using the phone.

Reviewed by Poly from us on 9th Mar 2012
This phone is quite durable as well. A few days ago, I had my phone in my pocket in my shirt. It fell out and fell about four to five feet and fell on the concrete facescreen down. The screen did not even crack or chip! The landing was hard enough for the back cover to separate from the phone, revealing the batter. However it did get a miniscule scratch. The scratch is relatively tiny, and is only visible when the screen is cleaned with a microfiber cleaning cloth while in lock. When the phone is in use, or fingerprints or smudges on the screen are present, the scratch is not visible at all. Pretty sturdy phone!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by steven from australia on 8th Mar 2012
2 words
love it
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by dawn from uk on 26th Feb 2012
What a bargain. Bought my 710 payg, £199. Wanted to test drive windows mobile. I'm liking both the handset and the OS, much more than I expected. The phone is solid and comfortable to use. No creaks or squeaks and has a decent screen. The OS is fast, streamlined and fun. Battery life seems pretty decent, one to two days, depending on usage. Windows has a fantastic virtual keyboard, the auto correct is spookily good...
I have an android and a blackberry phone, windows is just as good as these.
For the price, this phone is a steal. Just waiting for a high end 4 inch windows handset, before i renew my contract.
Get it, I think you'll be impressed.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Malc from uk on 25th Feb 2012
Thought i was pretty good with phones but this is the first one ive had to get the manual out to see how to do this and that,mostly to find it cant be done.Thonk anyone moving from android to these windows phones are going to be dissapointed with its limitations.
Rating: Reply

Reply by dave from london on 28th Feb 2012
Arguably Windows phone is the easiest to you, I am not saying this, all professionlal reviewers are saying. Can you tell us something that windows phone can't do a real example? From my experience it can do everything and much faster than any other phone. What it doesn't do, is freeze like android handsets. It's an amazing phone, especially considering the price.

Reply by UncleDekka from Scotland on 2nd Mar 2012
Genuine question Malc, what exactly are these limitations ? That's a fortnight I've had my 710 now and have yet to think "I wish it could do x,y or z". Battery life still more than sufficient. Free SatNav has been brilliant. The only thing I'm not sold on is the camera. It's fine outside in bright light. Under the flash though it is pretty dreadful.

Reviewed by UncleDekka from Scotland on 18th Feb 2012
Well after managing to finally knacker my trusty Nokia N8 by being too impatient to wait for Symbian Belle (a great O/S by the way) I decided to plump for the Lumia 710 - at least until Nokia's N8 successor is released - and I have to say, on the evidence so far I have made a good choice.

Fast fluid O/S. More than enough decent apps. Camera is perfectly adequate for a phone, and no real sign yet that the battery life is going to be quite as bad as I have seen suggested elsewhere.

The only thing I don't really like is having to transfer everything through the cumbersome Zune software, and it's also a shame we Windows Phone owners can't have our own custom message tones. However, to take a point off for that would be unduly harsh.

I'm a Symbian lover at heart, but this phone will do nicely for now.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by jan from UK on 12th Feb 2012
love my 710 but cant find a way to make the display larger so have to wear my reading glasses for texting etc, very annoying! are there any apps for this?
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by peter from london on 10th Feb 2012
Best £20 per month smartphone in the market right now at this price range. It may even go down to £15. No Android can come close to this, cause Android is not very effecient and needs a higher hardware spec to run well so can't sell for £20. Only other windows phones can come close to this. Nokia drive, like a proper tomtom for free, nokia free music, 70,000 apps and growing and it's a steal for half the price of an iphone. And it can hold its ground against any other smarthphone. Consumers must love the competition right now. If can pay more then get the Lumia 800 or maybe the Samsung s2 which is supposed to be as good but for a middle budget either this or the htc radar, there is no other competition.
Rating: Reply

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