Nokia Lumia 710 Review: Windows Phone 7 On A Budget

By Andrew Ku
published

Nokia's Lumia 710 is designed to make Windows Phone 7 accessible to the masses. How does it fare under our test suite? You might be surprised. We're starting down the path of smartphone testing with a different take and a few exclusive benchmarks as well.

Camera Quality: Autofocus Makes Things Better

Outdoors, Daytime, No Autofocus

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The 710's camera presents us with mixed results. From the outset, pictures come out with too little exposure, and the results looks more dull than what we've seen from mainstream tablets like Motorola's Xoom Family Edition.

What we really like, however, is the autofocus feature. If you depress the shutter key slightly, the 710 adjusts its focus like a point-and-shoot camera. The results are pretty darned good, too. Just anticipate that it takes one or two seconds for the feature to work its magic before you try using it to capture a quick snapshot.

Outdoors, Daytime, Autofocus

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Outdoors, Daytime, Autofocus, Max Zoom

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At distance, pictures still turn out grainy, even with the autofocus. This is a natural artifact of digital zoom, though (as opposed to optical zoom, which employs optics to bring the subject closer).

Outdoors, Daytime, Autofocus, Macro

Fortunately, macro shots turn out surprisingly good.

Outdoors, Nightime, Autofocus

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At night, lens flare becomes an issue if you're shooting bright lights. As expected from a budget-oriented camera, you don't get a super-fast shutter. And, in the picture to the far-right, you see the result as a blur when a car drives into the frame.

Outdoors, Nightime, Macro

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No Flash

Macro shots continue looking good at night paired with autofocus. The flash isn't that strong, though, and the camera doesn't compensate for lighting particularly well. So, it ends up looking like you're using a flashlight to illuminate your subject.

Indoors

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Autofocus

While well-lit pictures come out well enough, if you're using the flash, vignetting becomes more prominent.

Andrew Ku
25 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DjEaZy
    ... M$ owns skype and partially nokia... but there is no frontfacing camera to do videocalls?
    Reply
  • joytech22
    DjEaZy... M$ owns skype and partially nokia... but there is no frontfacing camera to do videocalls?
    Not quite sure how many people even use the feature.
    Out of everybody you see when you go out, count the amount of people video calling compared to making a regular call.
    Reply
  • alikum
    DjEaZy... M$ owns skype and partially nokia... but there is no frontfacing camera to do videocalls?Not for the first Lumia line. They were on tight schedule. Other WP phones have it, check out HTC Titan and Radar.
    Reply
  • zybch
    DjEaZy... M$ owns skype and partially nokia... but there is no frontfacing camera to do videocalls?MS hasn't had time to do much with skype yet, the sale hasn't been long approved despite being announced a long time ago).
    The mid-year WP7 update, Tango, will reportedly add skype functionality.
    As for actually using skype, I have had android phones and tablets with it but I have never bothered to use it. My HTC Titan has a nice front facing camera, but I'd have rather they took it out and cut the cost by $20 for all the use its going to get.
    Reply
  • clay9477
    Editor please take note of Title Pg 8 :.
    Instead of "Nokie" it should be "Nokia".
    Reply
  • ksampanna
    "We asked the Tom's Hardware audience for some of their favorites on Facebook and received a pretty tepid response"

    that was the problem ...
    Reply
  • feeddagoat
    I was very impressed with the Lumia 800. Nice screeen, different from everythign else (Yes same as N9 but it was very nicely made and a phone you could get in cyan without looking like a complete tool) Only thing put me off it was lack of HDMI out, frontfacing camera and better apps selection on android. My last phone was a blackberry and it had 2 key things android doesn't
    1. Universal mail box
    2. Browser doesn't close if I switch apps

    My question is simple, how well does the Lumia 710 handle switching between tasks? Does it manage it as well as blackberry and is the mail box universal?

    Personally frontfacing cam, and HDMI out and that phones a winner for me. Add a keyboard and I'll worship it lol.
    Reply
  • theuniquegamer
    I have been using it for last 2 months and i am satisfied with the performance. This is the best wp7 (mango) bang for buck.
    Reply
  • southernshark
    joytech22Not quite sure how many people even use the feature.Out of everybody you see when you go out, count the amount of people video calling compared to making a regular call.

    Depends on where you are at buddy boy. If you live in the USA, then you are probably right (although I have skyped to an Ipod in the US). But move yourself outside of the country, where 95 percent of the worlds population lives. Now you want to call someone from country to country... on a cell phone... its expensive. Or I can go to a free Wifi spot and use Skype absolutely free.

    I know its cool to think that every product on earth will only be used in middle class America, but that may not be such a great view point if you are actually in business (even though it is the same viewpoint that caused the USA to fail).
    Reply
  • grillz9909
    WP7-based phones have three non-touchscreen keys: Back, Home, and Search.

    Just nit-picking here, but the samsung focus has touchscreen keys for the back, home, and search. Just saying.
    Reply