Following the debut of the Lumia 800 in 2011, Nokia has plans to bring the Windows 7.5 OS to lower priced smartphones in order to compete with mid-range Android smartphones. What Mobile headed to Nokia HQ this morning to get the low-down on the Lumia 710.
So, how is the Lumia 710 different to the flagship Lumia 800? The first thing you notice is the design, markedly different to the N9 casing that Nokia used for the Lumia 800. The screen doesn’t have the wow factor that the Lumia 800 offers but, head to head, it’s hard to see the performance differences between the two smartphones. The rear of the phone can be replaced with 6 optional covers, arriving in standard Nokia colours and – unlike the Lumia 800 – the BP-3L battery is now removable.
The hardware cuts focus around the camera and internal storage in comparison to the Lumia 800. The camera is now 5 megapixels instead of 8 megapixels and the internal storage is 8GB instead of 16GB. The storage is likely to be your biggest consideration if you’re weighing up the Lumia 710 against the Lumia 800 as Windows 7.5 doesn’t allow any additional storage and, naturally, there isn’t a MicroSD card socket on the Lumia 710.
The screen is a 3.7inch model which uses ClearBlack tech and has a 800 x 480 resolution. The processor is impressive given the mid-range market which Nokia is aiming for – it’s a single core 1.4 Ghz chip with 512MB of RAM. During our initial test, it feels faster than the Windows 7.5 based HTC Radar and appears to match the Lumia 800 for pure speed.
Nokia Music and Nokia Drive apps are installed as standard and while Spotify is superior to Nokia Music, the Nokia Music app does offer free music streams and a decent subscription free service if you don’t want to pay £10 per month for Spotify.
The Nokia Lumia 710 UK release date is set for 1st February and pricing is expected to be around £220, with several networks primed to offer the phone free on £20 per month contracts.
