Is this the right track?

It is the first Nokia phone with a touchscreen display - with a huge display. Running on new version of Symbian OS, the Nokia 7710 has a megapixel camera and extensive multimedia features. We have made a very detailed review.

Benefits
large and high resolution display
excellent for browsing the Internet
quality sound
great for playing video
quality organizer functions
good pictures

Drawbacks
overall slow system
stability problems
yellow cast on the display
slow searching in the phonebook
it is not always possible to use it without the stylus
bad ergonomics in some cases

Nokia 7710 communicator review wasn't a piece of cake for me. Although I was using the mobile a lot for several days, I was doubtful until the end. Nokia 7710 is brand new type of mobile device and I have to admit we were "fighting" from time to time. On the other hand, I read reactions of the first users, who are basically exhilarated, so I cannot take just my feelings for the evaluation.

Nokia 7710 is a multimedia widescreen smartphone. There is no keypad, just a wide touchscreen display with pen input. This phone is meant for people who I dare to call "pioneers". With Nokia 7710 they stand right on the start of a platform that can be successful or a flop - that is what makes it so exciting. Nokia 7710 will entertain them; they can play with it, boast with it and have a good feeling of "being the first".

It is the first smartphone based on Symbian Series 90. It was supposed to be Nokia 7700 initially, but its development was stopped and here they come with a smaller and lighter successor.

More like a game console
For common work, Nokia 7710 is held flatways, like Nokia N-Gage. Only for telephony, it is held as a normal mobile phone. Comparing to mobile phones it is a very big device, 128 x 70 x 19 mm, but compared to smartphones it is about the average. The same stands for the weight of 180 g; it is elephantine for a mobile phone and about normal for a smartphone.

We have a bright variant of the smartphone available. I haven't found on Nokia web page how many color variants will be available but I have seen some pictures of dark versions. Covers are not replaceable; it is possible to remove just a back shell that is covering a battery. I do not have underlying remarks to the construction of the phone but some reproaches are coming on from the users of the smartphone, considering facing of the covers. I can say that a tested piece is O.K. in this respect.

Nokia 7710 is a block with slightly rounded side edges. The display is not placed symmetrically but it is moved a bit right; the left border is bigger than the right one. Holding the phone with both hands the right thumb touches straight the cursor key with confirmation button.

Yellow cast on the display
The display of the phone is really huge, we haven't seen bigger at any Nokia yet and I don't even remember any other phone or a smartphone, which can compete with the 7710's display. The display sizes are 80 x 50 mm, 90 mm diagonally and it feature resolution 640 x 320 pixels. Moreover it is extremely crisp, with 5120 pixels on 1 square cm. Of course it is active and displays 65K colors.

The illumination is not really regular - the display is noticeably darker in the corners and in the right part. Considerable imperfection is the strong yellow cast. It is not so visible on our pictures, because the camera was set on auto white balance, but actually the yellowish display stroked my eye straight after I switched it on for the first time. The graphics and pictures representation is otherwise perfect.

As it goes with devices like that, a large display gets dirty very easily. Just touch it to your face during a call or touch it by a finger when you are too lazy to take out the pen. Nokia knows well why they included a rag in the standard package.

Confusing keys
Part of the control keys is placed on the side edge. These are keys for calls control (green and red earphone) and a voice recorder key. All keys have also other functions, e.g. call register opening or voice dial activation. Next, still on the side edge, you can find a key that releases the back cover. Removing the cover is quite tricky, the other three keys need to be pressed properly.

Then there is just a main switch button placed on the right side. It is jointed with control of ringing profiles. On the left bottom there we can find a Pop-Port system connector. Here I have one remark for the construction. The connector is protected by a metal case, which is in contact with a plastic cover. If you press it, the plastic slides on metal edge and you can hear an unpleasant sound.

A toy for the rich

Nokia 7280 is the king among all stylish phones. The little oblong black brick provokes a mixture between astonishment and curiosity never mind the fact that handling its functions is confusing. Its equipment does not fall behind though either: feel free to enjoy a huge address book, 50MB of memory, MP3 ringtones, a camera, a radio, Bluetooth…

When Nokia 7280 appeared on the first published pictures, we could not believe our eyes. Is that meant to be a mobile phone? After having experienced stylish creatures as Xelibri we eventually believed. Nevertheless the rich equipment announced earlier turned out to be quite surprising for design freak phones of the type have not proved to be rich in functions.

Nokia apparently decided, however, to offer its customers originality and elegance combined with maximum functionality. That is how three exceptional models: 7260, 7270 and 7280 were brought to life. The first one is a mobile phone constructed in a classic way, but dressed in an extravagant coat with underlined marginal. It is the cheapest of the group but nevertheless disposing of very sophisticated equipment. Speaking of qualities, the clamshell 7270 has even more to show off. With it the manufacturers have dared experiment more. The outer covers are made of metal additionally protected by leather covering. The inner part of the phone has also been planned untraditionally - it is black with colorful lines. The 7280 model is the top of the ice-cream within the mentioned class of phones in the sense of both functions and design.

Key benefits
Design
High quality active display
More than 50 MB of memory, 1000 entries in the address book
Bluetooth
40-voice and MP3/AAC sound of ringing
Embedded VGA camera
Embedded radio
GPRS class 10 and EDGE

Key drawbacks
Lengthy method of character input
Squeaky construction
Small display hardly visible in direct sunlight

Leaf Shaped Nokia...

Nokia 7260 Specifications
General
2G Network
GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced
3Q, 2004
Status
Discontinued
Size
Dimensions
105 x 45 x 18 mm, 72 cc
Weight
92 g
Display
Type
TFT, 65K colors
Size
128 x 128 pixels, 1.6 inches

- 5-way navigation joystick- Downloadable themes
Sound
Alert types
Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic ringtones
Speakerphone
No
Memory
Phonebook
500 x 10 fields, Photo call
Call records
10 dialed, 10 received, 10 missed calls
Card slot
No
Data
GPRS
Yes
HSCSD
Yes, 43.2 kbps
EDGE
No
3G
No
WLAN
No
Bluetooth
No
Infrared port
Yes
USB
Yes, Pop-Port
Camera
Primary
VGA, 640x480 pixels
Video
Yes
Secondary
No
Features
Messaging
SMS, MMS, EMail, Instant Messaging
Browser
WAP 2.0/xHTML
Radio
Stereo FM radio
Games
2 - Glamour Pinball and Backgammon + downloadable
Colors

GPS
No
Java
Yes

- Voice memo/dial- T9- Organizer- Presence enhanced contacts
Battery

Standard, Li-Ion 760 mAh (BL-5B)
Stand-by
Up to 350 h
Talk time
Up to 3 h

The first N-Gage...

Specifications
General
2G Network
GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced
4Q, 2003
Status
Discontinued
Size
Dimensions
134 x 70 x 20 mm, 139 cc
Weight
137 g
Display
Type
TFT, 4096 colors
Size
176 x 208 pixels, 2.1 inches, 35 x 41 mm

- Five-way directional controller
Sound
Alert types
Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, monophonic, WAV, MP3 ringtones, composer
Speakerphone
Yes

- Stereo line-in- Hi-fi stereo headset
Memory
Phonebook
Practically unlimited entries, 8 fields, Photocall
Call records
Detailed, max 30 days
Internal
3.4 MB
Card slot
MMC, buy memory

- Shared memory for images, contact data, calendar, messages, add-on applications- 20 voice dial numbers
Data
GPRS
Class 6 (3+1/2+2 slots), 24 - 36 kbps
HSCSD
Yes, 43.2 kbps
EDGE
No
3G
No
WLAN
No
Bluetooth
Yes, v1.1
Infrared port
No
USB
Yes, slave USB 1.1. port
Camera

No
Features
OS
Symbian OS v6.1, Series 60 v1.0 UI
CPU
32-bit ARM 920T 104 MHz processor
Messaging
SMS, MMS, Email
Browser
WAP 2.0/xHTML, iMode
Radio
Stereo FM radio
Clock
Yes
Alarm
Yes
Games
Tons, single and multiplayer + Java downloadable
Colors

GPS
No
Java
Yes

- MP3/AAC player- T9- SyncML- Voice dial
Battery

Standard, Li-Ion 850 mAh (BL-5C)
Stand-by
Up to 200 h
Talk time
Up to 4 h

A small stereo jukebox - Motorola E398

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Motorola E398 freely follows all company's previous V-models but the construction is classic and besides other functions it comes up with a revolutionary feature: it has two speakers and can play MP3 loud and in stereo. Its control is identical to those of V600, V500 or V80 models. Therefore we won't deal with functions that are common for all models and we'll focus more on design and the aspects that differs E398 from its colleagues.


Blue-silver classic
With its dimensions of 108 x 46 x 21 mm Motorola E398 belongs to mid big handsets. The construction is classic, with a keypad on the front. The front side is dominated by the active colour display, which sizes respectively are 30 x 37 mm. It features resolution of 176 x 220 pixels and displays 65k colours. This top class display offers very good brightness and contrast and is well readable even in outdoor light.

The display window is placed quite deep under protective glass framed by silver-grey border. The border is bent to an arc on the upper part and you can find a round metal silver Motorola company sign on the top of the arc. The lower part of the front side consists of control handset elements - a numeric keypad, joystick and function keys separated from the display by a blue partition.

Under these four keys you can find a slightly bent silver strip with two oval chrome keys used to make and receive calls (in classic configuration). There is a small five-directional joystick - in chrome as well - placed between them. A recessed hollow is designed around the joystick to make the joystick usage easier and effortless. The hollow stretches a bit up to both middle keys and down to the "2" key.

The remaining space on the front side is taken by the numeric keypad organized in a standard square matrix form with twelve keys. The whole grid is slightly bent down, which gives it some kind of dynamic and boost appearance. The white illuminated keypad shines enough in the dark.

Everything is set on the side
The phone is trimmed by a silver stripe almost all around. On its both sides, approximately on the display level, there are two symmetrically situated speakers, protected with ribbing. The colour LEDs are hidden under the speakers and blink in some situations. As symmetrically as the speakers, a silver Motorola logo is imprinted on both phone sides into the silver trim. It represents a nice complement and is really not obtruding the overall appearance of the mobile.

The first megapixel ~ NOKIA 7610

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Nokia 7610 is the first Nokia camera phone with a megapixel resolution. It looks cool, has a bunch of memory and unexpectedly many applications in the basic set. Read our extensive review with a plentiful picture gallery.

Nokia has designed the most important features of its smartphones on the Series 60 platform, hence the ground for the new mobile is equal to the Nokia 7650, the first model for example. In contrast to Nokia 6600, which we consider as the predecessor, Nokia 7610 brings us many pleasant changes. On the other hand some of the expectations haven't been met.