Nokia Lumia 710: As The "Cheap" Version Of The Phone Everyone Really Wants

And so begins Nokia's long journey back into the U.S. smartphone market. The Nokia Lumia 710 represents hope, not only for Windows Phone, but for Nokia as well. Nokia has a long history of dominating the cell phone market. For most of us, the first cell phone we remember seeing was probably a Nokia. However, the Finnish company hasn't done so well in the American market in recent years. Sure, things are still going fine overseas, but they would like to stake a claim in the U.S. market. For Nokia, the Lumia 710 is a good start at reasserting itself in the U.S. and regaining the trust of U.S. carriers.

Design & Features

The Lumia 710 may be known as the "cheap" version of the phone everyone really wants, the Lumia 800, but once you get the phone in your hands, you can tell that Nokia didn't cut many corners when it came to hardware and design. The phone feels solid and modern. The rounded sides and curved back give it an ergonomic feel that sets it apart from other phones in this price-range. I have to admit that I was surprised by how good the phone looked in person after ragging on it looking too cheap in photos.

Measuring 4.68-inches tall, 2.45-inches wide, and .5-inches thick, the Lumia 710 is a smallish device but it fits comfortably in the hand. The 3.7-inch display with ClearBlack technology looks spectacular. Not only are dark colors displayed closer to their true shade, but text and graphics overall are crisp and clear. A resolution of 480x800 doesn't sound very impressive in today's world of HD displays, but given the phone's 3.7-inch display, the pixel density of 252 pixels per inch (about the same as the DROID RAZR) is enough for a very clear picture.

Unlike most Windows Phone handsets, the Lumia 710's navigation buttons are physical buttons instead of capacitive touch buttons. These are, of course, placed below the display in the typical order of Back, Start, and Search. The volume rocker buttons are on the right spine of the phone while the microUSB port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and Power/Screen lock button are all on the top. I must admit that the top is an awkward place to have the microUSB port but it didn't cause too many problems once I got used to it. As per most Windows Phone handsets, there is no microSD card slot. The phone has 8GB of internal memory and 512 MB of RAM.

Usability & Performance

The Lumia 710 ships with Windows Phone 7.5, also known as Mango. Since Microsoft does not allow for any manufacturer overlays or "skins", you'll get the same experience with the 710 as you will with other Windows Phone handsets. There are live tiles (kind of like widgets); XBOX Live integration; the Zune Marketplace for music and more; direct integration of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn as well as any services or accounts through Google, Yahoo, and more; Bing Maps and Search; Microsoft Office; and the Marketplace with roughly 60,000 apps available. Nokia has been allowed to include a few custom apps like Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive. The choice between Nokia Maps and Bing Maps is yours but having Nokia Drive for turn-by-turn navigation is very handy as Windows Phone's navigation system isn't quite fully developed in this area.

Windows Phone is simple and minimalistic. Those who are used to Android and its unlimited customization options will need time to get used to Windows Phone and its virtually uncustomizable interface. For those who enjoy meticulous design, simplicity, and continuity, Windows Phone is perfect. Despite featuring XBOX Live integration, I wouldn't say it's for entertainment and gaming, though most popular titles can be found in the marketplace. Regardless of how simplistic it looks, the OS is very capable and a viable alternative to iOS or Android.

I've had very few problems with the performance of the Lumia 710. It is powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 processor and, while this processor may pale in comparison to the dual-core processor available in other phones, Windows Phone runs smoothly with a single-core processor. I do notice that some apps take longer to load than is comfortable. Overall, pinch-to-zoom is seamless and transitions are smooth and quick. Using the app WP Bench, the Lumia 710 scored a 90.18. As a reference, the highest score currently recorded using this benchmark is 101.27.

Pictures taken with the Lumia 710's 5-megapixel camera were average but I expected better given Nokia's history of terrific phone cameras. Granted, the 710 does not feature Nokia's Carl Zeiss lens so that probably had something to do with it. Pictures were clear but the lighting seemed to be off. Even images captured in daylight lacked the color brilliance that could be seen in real life. Instead, they looked faded, and some even had a greenish tint. The camera does have an autofocus along with a single LED flash. It captures video in 720p HD resolution. Video and audio quality were exceptional with excellent clarity and detail.

The Lumia 710 is a 4G device and uses T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. While testing it in the Dallas area, average download speeds have been about 2-3 Mbps with a high of 4 Mbps. Average upload speeds have been about 100 Kbps with a high of 600 Kbps. T-Mobile's advertised speeds for the Lumia 710 are 14.4 Mbps, but those are theoretical speeds and you'll probably never get anywhere near them. Keep in mind that data speeds will vary greatly depending on coverage in your area.

I've been pleased with the Lumia 710's battery life. I was worried that the 1300 mAh battery might be too small, but Windows Phone is a pretty battery-efficient OS so I had no problems getting through a full day with even heavy use. With normal or light use, I may have been able to get through two days, but I generally ended up charging it either at night or halfway through the second day. Nokia's advertised battery times are 7 hours of talk time and 16 days of standby time.

Conclusion

So, let's be honest. When it comes to Windows Phone handsets from Nokia, the device everyone really wants is the Lumia 800 or even the 900. It was kind of a letdown for T-Mobile customers when they heard that the Lumia 710 was their only option. However, after testing out the phone, I can say that there's really nothing to be disappointed about. The build quality is excellent, the display is crisp and rich, and Windows Phone is as smooth and elegant as ever. If you're on T-Mobile and in the market for a Windows Phone handset, the Lumia 710 is definitely a viable option.

HTC Titan X310e: Amazing Specifications Laid Out In An Easy To Use

The HTC Titan X310e is an odd one. HTC promoted their large screened HD7 as an entertainment device, complete with kickstand to let you enjoy it’s large screen wherever, whenever. With the Titan, HTC have decided to make the screen bigger – even better for enjoying movies and videos, and even chucked in HTC Watch, a video rental service – but they’ve decided to kick out the kick stand. Not a great idea.

The HTC Titan is like nothing we have seen before with 4.7″ of pure Windows Phone 7 Mango-ness. We have managed to get our hands on this “hero” phone for the Windows Phone line and the first thing we thought of before Mango was the readers. We wanted to let the readers know our impression of HTCs forthcoming (some countries already have it) device and if this would make a good development device. We definitely put the HTC Titan through its paces and you can find the results after the break.

Hardware

We are so impressed with this sexy and sleek device we are unsure of where to begin. We should probably start at the beginning of the amazing 4.7″ scratch resistant screen which has soft buttons for home, back and Bing search. Most would think that the size of the screen would deter from the experience but we found that the very slim form factor (W2.78″ x H5.18″ x D0.39″) lent itself very well to the size of the device, thus making the screen size just right. Although sporting a 480×800 display resolution we found the tiles to be slightly bigger than expected. This resolution is best for developers testing their applications on the 4.7″ screen as any minor flaws or unexpected behaviors will be brought to light. Coming standard now with all Windows Phone 7.5 Mango phones are both the Gyroscope and Digital Compass. These are still important devices for developers as they make location based apps and games possible and enhance the users experience. When starting up the phone we also noticed how much more snappy it was to attend to our speed crazed needs. We found that the Second Gen 1.5GHz Scorpion SoC processor or also known as a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (MSM8255T) really did the trick. With the 512Mb of ram also included in the device and paired with a beastly CPU, multitasking became a breeze as we flipped through our 10 email accounts, posted to Twitter/Facebook/Google+ and LinkedIn and listened to some music without ever missing a beat. The hardware on this device is bar setting and other phones should aspire to match and improve upon these specifications.

Software

We found that the software like all of Microsoft products, is to be desired. The interface is made that much better when combined with the HTC Titan‘s 4.7″ screen and its 480×800 display resolution. Things like not being able to read text on Windows Phone is a thing of the past as well as trying to find the right characters to test in your applications to see if it will crash. We loved SkyDrive integration with our office documents and it came in extremely useful more times than we could count. Having messenger integrated right into the text messages was also very handy as we could chat via Facebook and when the person went mobile we just switched to text, keeping all of our messages from Facebook and text in the same window. There are countless times when we have been driving and need to search for a place, and lets face it talking to your phone and having it do the things you tell it verbally to do is pretty AWESOME. The best thing we found so far was the Voice to text commands, hands down. HTC has also made the Titan as well as all of its new Windows Phones unique with Locations installed right off the bat.

Camera

This is an exciting time for Windows Phones as the specifications for the Mango devices are to also now include a front facing camera. This is quite a leap forward, especially with the Microsoft/Skype acquisition earlier this year. Now many manufacturers would go ahead and pop a VGA camera in the front to satisfy specs but we enjoy a company who is willing to go that extra bit further. HTC really shines in this aspect with a 1.3MP front facing camera instead of a stock VGA for the HTC Titan. Now for the rear facing camera which is also impressive. The rear facing camera is an 8MP and other than the newly announced Nokia Lumia 800 and the HTC Mozart is the only 8MP camera hosting a Windows Phone OS on it. This is quite a leap forward considering the trend in increased AR (Augmented Reality) apps being developed. The 8MP camera is also capable of 720p video which is still surprisingly good considering the contention that has gone one between 720p and 1080p video display and whether it makes a difference in the long run. With the clarity and vibrant colors coming from the shots taken on this amazing camera it will make those 5MP camera seem like yesterdays news. Check out some of the shots we took to display how awesome the pictures turned out below:

Connectivity

This is usually an issue for all of us at Binary Wasteland as we value our call quality in both not having a call dropped and the clarity of the call. Well, we will say that we are impressed. When browsing the settings menu we found the “Attentive Phone” menu that gives users the quality phone services that HTC includes in all of their smartphones. With options like “Ring louder when in pocket or bag” or “Flip for speaker” which will turn the speakerphone on when the phone is turned face down on a table there is no question that these features should be standard on all phones, not just HTC devices.
Battery Life

Battery life on the HTC Titan is in a word; Amazing. As a developer we can not think of how many times we have taken our location based apps into the field to be tested and have the battery drain like it was going out of style. Even though the Titan houses just a 1600 mAh battery it challenges the Blackberry for battery life. With a standby of 15 days and a talk time of 11.83 hours this phone definitly deserves the name it has been given. We managed to get through the whole day, starting at 5:00am and taking us all the way to 8:00pm later that day with all ten of our email accounts, Twitter/Facebook/Google+, and checking into everywhere we went with FourSquare going on.

Conclusion

When you have a 4.7″ screen, coupled with a Second Gen 1.5GHz processor and topping the whole package off with an 8MP camera we are not sure what a developer wouldn’t love. Having a chance to use the device, walking around with it in our pants for a day is a real eye opener, in the sense that having a big screen doesn’t have to mean bulky as HTC has proven. This is truly a developers phone, packed with the latest and greatest in hardware specifications, making testing applications on the device easier than trying to find Narnia. Below is a list of all of the amazing specifications laid out in an easy to read list. With the specifications of a real Titan it is tough to compete with a device like this. Until the next review, Happy Hacking!

High-end Nokia 808 PureView Smartphone Is A Breakthrough

At the Nokia press conference held earlier this morning at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Nokia introduced a new series of phones, including the high-end Nokia 808 PureView smartphone. This is the first smartphone to feature Nokia PureView imaging technologies, that provides a breakthrough in photography. The Nokia 808 PureView incorporates high-end digital camera features never seen before in a smartphone. The 41 megapixel image sensor and Carl Zeiss lens captures photos with an impressive detail and turns them into vivid and bright 5 megapixel photos and Full HD videos. In short, the camera condenses 7 pixels into one perfect pixel for incredible detail rich photos.

Nokia 808 PureView: Build

The Nokia 808 PureView sports a rubberised finish and is available in a choice of colours, making it look more like a rugged handset, rather than a range-topper.

The rubber finish adds a nice bit of grip, and while the phones fits reasonably comfortably in the hand, it's quite chunky, particularly at the thickest point, where the camera lens protrudes slightly. It's certainly not a slimline phone, so if you're looking for a svelte model, then this probably isn't the phone for you.

Nokia 808 PureView: Camera

The big draw here is the 41MP camera. This sort of megapixel count hasn't been seen on a phone before, and is usually limited to medium format pro cameras. The Carl Zeiss lens is teamed with Nokia's pixel over-sampling technology, which has been designed to produce sharp pictures, even in low light conditions, along with the ability to save the images in compact file sizes for easy sharing.

A high megapixel count doesn't necessarily equal good picture quality, so it remains to be seen whether this will be a huge improvement on the N8, but we certainly look forward to testing it our for ourselves.

Nokia 808 PureView: Features

As well as the camera, the Nokia 808 PureView also offers Dolby headphone technology, along with Nokia Rich Recording Mic tech for catpuring sound with as little inteference as possible. We weren't able to test either of these features on the busy, loud Nokia stand at MWC but we'll certainly be putting the phone through its paces when we can get our hands on a full review, sample.

Nokia 808 PureView: Screen

The Nokia 808 PureView sports a 4-inch screen. As the phone is being sold on its impressive camera, you might've expected to see a slightly larger screen on which to compose your shots, as well as a resolution higher than the 360x640 that's on offer. Having said that, images are clear and hues are bright and punchy so we can't complain too much.

Nokia 808 PureView: Performance

The single-core 1.3GHz processor is decidely mid-range, but the UI appeared to operate relatively swiftly, although we found that the camera took a couple of seconds to boot up -not a great start for a handset that's being sold on the basis of a strong camera performance.

Nokia 808 PureView: Verdict

Packing a preposterously high megapixel count of 41 on its camera, the Nokia 808 PureView is certainly an interesting phone to lead the Symbian range.

The impressive camera tech means that the phone isn't the slimmest around, with a chassis that looks more like a rugged, waterproof phone but we certainly look forward to testing out this handset in more detail...