In a world dominated by Android and iOS, not to mention Windows Mobile which still plays in the little league, Nokia tries to revive Symbian. For many of us this may look futile, but with Nokia 700, the Finns try to surprise the audience in a pleasant way: the phone features a cool design, an excellent super AMOLED screen, a 1 GHz CPU backed by 512MB of RAM that runs like a charm on that ultra efficient operating system (I mean the Symbian, which is very resource friendly, the best OS actually in terms of efficiency), a compact body and a flawless build quality. Long story short, here we go:
Key features
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Penta-band 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
• Slim 9.7mm body
• 3.2" 16M-color nHD ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen (220 ppi); Gorilla glass
• 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash; geo-tagging, face detection, smart zoom in video
• 720p video @ 30fps recording, stereo sound
• Symbian Belle OS
• 1GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• 2GB of inbuilt storage, microSD expandable
• Active noise cancellation via a dedicated mic
• DivX, XviD, H.264 video support
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• microUSB port with USB On-the-go support
• Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
• GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation; Digital compass
• Flash Lite support in the web browser
• Smart dialing and voice commands
• NFC support
• Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
• TV-out functionality (SD)
Full specs here.
For a smartphone, Nokia 700 is a super mini, it has 110 x 50.7 x 9.7 mm and 96g, it comes in a standard Nokia package, the box contains the charger with the 2 mm plug, a micro USB cable(the phone charges through USB too) and the headset. The phone comes with 2 GB internal memory but no additional micro SD in the retail box.
In terms of design, Nokia 700 brags with a green heart, being made with eco friendly materials, most of them recycled, elf made paint, you know, the usual delirious mumbo jumbo eco lingo.
The phone is very solid, built like a tank, the typical Nokia quality, the body is thin and it features a blend of metal and plastic, very well put together. The back is mostly made of metal while the front is Gorilla Glass. Nokia 700 will be available in Silver/White, Coral Red, Peacock Blue and Purple.
The Nokia 700 has a 3.2" nHD (360x640) ClearBlack AMOLED display, with perfect viewing angles and excellent colors, wit a 229 ppi pixel density and 504 nits of brightness. Above the display there are the usual proximity/ambient light sensors and the earpiece, below we find three hardware buttons: he Call keys and a centrally-placed Menu button.
On the top we find the 2 mm charger plug, the micro USB port and the 3.5 mm audio jack, a nice addition for audiophiles.
On the mixed plastic/ brushed metal back panel we find the 5 megapixels fixed focus camera with LED flash and a second microphone for active noise cancelation. Under the back panel it lays the 1080mAh Li-Ion battery (quoted at 465h/450h standby and 7:10h/4:30h talk time (2G and 3G). Music playback is said to go as long as 47h) and the micro SD card slot.
The phone has a premium feel, due to the stellar display and excellent design and build quality, it rivals some high end devices that cost a lot more.
The new fast, fluid and beautiful Symbian Belle is the soul of this new smartphone from the Finish manufacturer, the alternative to Windows Phone, the OS runs very quick and without glitches, comes with a pretty nice interface, it’s very responsive and smooth to operate. Symbian also offers unlimited phonebook capacity and excellent management of contacts. It is also social network integrated, with Facebook and Twitter, you can see the latest status update right from the contact info.
Telephony is issue-free, in typical Nokia tradition, the signal reception is very good, also in voice sound quality, the device features voice dialing and smart dialing, a pretty nice touch.
The messaging department is complete, Nokia 700 relies on a shared editor for all the types of messages. Also emailing is well taken care of, multiple email accounts and various security protocols are supported, so you can bet almost any mail service will run trouble-free on your Nokia 700.
For music enthusiasts, the music player is trouble free, as usual in Symbian OS powered devices, it features Cover Flow interface, the player can also be minimized to play in the background, it comes with equalizer presets, Loudness and stereo widening. As for output sound quality, the phone does pretty well too.
The video player on Nokia 700 manages MP4, AVI, WMV, even MKV) and videos were silky smooth up to and including 720p resolution, it is actually impressive due to the exceptionally bright screen with native 16:9 aspect.
You also get a built in FM radio, with a simple and useful interface, it has RDS support and features automatic scanning for an alternative frequency.
The Nokia 700 has a 5MP fixed-focus camera for a maximum image resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, with a single LED flash, in terms of still pictures it’s a mediocre camera, a weak spot of the device in my opinion, Nokia could do much better on this beautiful smartphone.
The video camera captures 720p videos @ 30fps in stereo sound courtesy of the dedicated second microphone, it produces out of focus videos and with little to no detail, that is not a surprise either, it’s the same problem as with the still pictures.
The connectivity department puts a smile on my face, you get quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and five-band 3G with HSDPA (14.4Mbps) and HSUPA (5.76Mbps). Wherever there's a GSM network you'd get voice calls and data, blazing fast data actually if the networks support it.
Then for local connectivity, you get Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 (no HS profile though). There's USB with On-The-Go support for wired connectivity. The 3.5mm audio jack doubles as a composite TV-out. On top of that, Nokia 700 comes with NFC support too, this makes pairing as simple as you could possibly imagine and voila, no more PIN codes.
The browser is pretty good, it supports Flash, is very fast, loads pages quickly and web browsing is a pleasant experience on that beautiful screen.
The organizer is great, Symbian has a solid record in business related apps, Nokia 700 comes with QuickOffice installed and a PDF reader.
A very nice touch is the fact that Nokia 700 comes with free voice-guided navigation for life, due to its GPS receiver and Nokia Maps app.
Final words, Nokia did a swell job with the good old Symbian, the smartphone looks and feels great, it comes with lots of apps, it has a flawless build quality, except for the camera and maybe, the screen size, we have a winner here, a real alternative to a droid.
For a monthly contract deal on a Nokia 700, please visit here.
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