MS and Nokia got this one right--best phone I've used February 6, 2012

Reviewer:  Andrew J. Riemer "Andrew James Riemer"  (Winsted, MN United States) -

Earlier Windows phones were not well received. When I read the early reviews on this one, I was intrigued enough to consider it. After seeing a coworker with one, I decided to give it a shot. T-Mobile had a great deal that made this one too good to pass up, even if I had to go back and get a different phone in six months. Since receiving it, I've had no disappointments. In fact, it has exceeded my expectations in almost every way!

Prior to the Nokia Lumia 710, I had been a long time BlackBerry user, as well as a user of a couple of different Android phones (a T-Mobile Comet and a Samsung Galaxy S). In addition, as a support tech, I've had to handle and configure many different devices over the years, including Apple's revered iPhone. What can I say? Microsoft and Nokia got it right. This is--hands down--the best smartphone I've ever used!

A BlackBerry was my companion for many years. It had long passed the exciting phase, but was a dependible little tool. When I first moved to an Android phone after my BlackBerry, I was astounded by the abundance of features and the ease of use. I never imagined I would feel the same way when I switched to a Windows phone, but that really is the case. The leap from Android to this Windows 7.5 phone felt just like leaving my BlackBerry behind for Android!

The controls are easy to use and intuitive. The touch response is absolutely fantastic. While flipping through a long list, a single touch stops the list, but does not automatically open the item beneath my finer (something that did happen quite frequently under Android). That prevents a lot of unintentionally opened contacts and apps. The only tactile experience similar to it is on an iPhone, but I think the Nokia Lumia 710 even one-ups them there. I can't fully express how easy it is to handle and navigte--it's a real pleasure.

A REAL BENEFIT: IT KNOWS OFFICE
-------------------------------
One advantage Microsoft has off the bat with its Windows 7.5 mobile OS is how well it works with Microsoft Office. Compatibility with Word, Powerpoint, and Excel are there from day one. For anyone working in a MS environment, that's a big plus--no third party apps or conversion issues.

WHAT ABOUT THE WINDOWS MARKETPLACE?
-----------------------------------
The place where both Apple and Android have had an upper hand has been in their app stores. I wondered if Microsoft's Marketplace would have enough of a selection to meet my immediate needs. Thus far, I've been very pleased with the depth of the Microsoft Marketplace. Barcode scanner app (RedLaser)? Check. QR code generator? Check. Specialty apps, created for my hobbies? Check! The Marketplace also connects with XBox Live, for access to many games. My wife was excited to find a trial of Angry Birds on her phone. Thus far, my only disappointment in the Marketplace is that there's no official Scrabble app--one of my favorites.

HAND FEEL
---------
If you're familiar with a standard BlackBerry (e.g., Curve), then this will sum it up for you: it's as wide as a BlackBerry about a quarter taller. It has a nice hand feel--enough heft to feel substantive, but not enough to make it seem heavy. If you're looking for an ultra-trim, svelte phone, this is not the one for you, but it fits both my large hands, and my wife's smaller hands very well.

NAVIGATION AND CUSTOMIZATION
----------------------------
Navigation on this phone is easy. In fact, it was so easy that my six year old daughter was able to pick up and use the phone on her own after seeing me download a coloring app for her. No other instruction was required!

The home page contains tiles (think "shortcuts") for various apps, each pinned in place. Each page holds four rows, and by default the phone came with two pages of tiles. Just flick (up/down) to move between pages. By holding a finger on an app, it unpins, allowing you to move it elsewhere on the list. Within a few moments, I had all the tiles I wanted on the first page, and arranged just the way I wanted them.

Moving between pages relies on flicks. A really nice feature for when you have multiple programs open is to hold the left navigation button (the "back" button) down for about a second and a half. It shrinks the active app to a smaller size and then lets you flick through any open apps, greatly easing navigation. It's a great feature.

The customization options for background and colors are, sadly, limited. You may choose either a light (white) or dark (black) background, and your tiles may be one of eleven colors, each of which stands in stark contrast to either background. Personally, I like a dark background with largely dark tiles, since it takes less energy to keep a screen dark than it does to make it light (translating to longer battery life). There are instructions online intended to let you specify your own preferred color(s) by modifying the HEX value for the color in a configuration file, but I've not had a chance to try that yet. If they would let users pick their tiles' background colors from a custom pallet, I'd be even happier.

BATTERY LIFE
------------
Battery life has been decent for a smartphone. If not using any data, and just standing by, it will go days and days without a charge. With periodic data use (e.g., checking email, FB status) and a few calls throughout the day, I might be able to go a day and a half. If doing a lot of browsing, or watching movies/video, you'll be charging nightly. The phone has a battery saver option that is not enabled by default. I recommend turning it on right away (it lets the phone shut down unnecessary services to conserve power). And, as is true with any smartphone, leave the WiFi and Bluetooth services off unless you are actively using them.

CONS
----
Very few, and all minor:
- limited ability to customize tile colors
- batter saver is not on by default
- people will keep asking if it is any good, and then will want to try it
- The data/charging cord connects at the top of the handset, rather than the bottom. That makes it harder to use the phone to make a call while it is on a charging cable. That configuration is annoying, but affects me less than 1% of the time I'm using it, so its tolerable.
- as an early adopter, I had a hard time finding accessories when it was first released (likely true for many other smartphones, though)

SUMMARY
-------
Overall, it's the best mobile phone I've ever used. Microsoft really got things right in Windows 7.5 mobile, and with their partnership with Nokia. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better smartphone experience.

Great phone for the price January 20, 2012

Reviewer:  tfisher 

I came from a relatively good android phone to this phone, due mostly to curiosity of WP7 and the anger with my high spec phone freezing and lagging and apps force closing at the wrong time. I may not be a "power user", but I do use my phone for quite a bit of task and was very pleased with this phones performance in those task. To put it simply, it just works. No lagging, freezing, or apps failing to initialize. Might be the best phone I have used because of that and it only cost me a little on upgrade. If you do video calling, or want unlimited customization this is not for you. Perfect for entry to mid range level buyers.

Great first time Smartphone, decent Nokia phone, well priced, NOKIA APPS ARE AMAZING March 31, 2012

Reviewer:  Jacob Roggero "flumpage"  (Lakewood, Colorado United States) -

My previous phone was an LG android phone. I was so excited to get an Android and be able to customize everything on the phone. That is most certainly where Android shines as the phones are conceivably able to do whatever we can come up with. Since that is what windows has been on the PC it is strange that their phones are much more of a closed system. Some of the complaints listed about the phone and OS's shortcomings are accurate so buyer beware. These include, customization of phone, sharing files and using as external storage, front facing camera, lack of apps, not very business centered, not as powerful as previous Nokia smart phones.

For a more balanced view however you should consider a few things. Windows phone 7.5 is a new system and hasn't been around long enough to be fully relevant for the business world. However, some of the complaints like lack of file sharing or inability to sync with outlook are not entirely true. If you store files on your skydrive (MS gives 25 gigs free storage) then you can access PDF files and all office files and edit those files on the phone as well (office files, not PDF). Onenote is constantly syncing and any notes created on the computer are accessible on the phone.

It is true that this phone is not as advanced as some previous high end Nokia phones and doesn't even have a great camera. However this isn't a high end phone. I bought mine brand new for $220 on ebay.

The truth is this phone is very solid. The design is beautiful and it honestly looks and feels much better than any pictures do it justice. Even demoing it in the store wasn't as nice as getting a new one out of the box. The phone is very light and has a decent battery life.

Nokia is solid in general and I like the build of the phone. The OS is wonderful. Yes it is more restrictive than android but it is much faster and seamless. My android was amazing for the first few months, then it was constantly freezing, different apps would conflict with each other, it would randomly shut off... This OS is much easier to use and is very quick.
I would highly recommend this to seniors or first time smart phone users. The windows phone software simplifies everything and makes the phone what it should have been all along... a tool for communication, rather than most phones today (iphone) which make it a portal for everything non phone-call related and basically people carry their entire computers with them in their pocket. Finally after years MS realized we don't need to carry a computer in our pockets. The phone integrates everything. Threads pull chats and texts into one stream. Set up is very easy, especially if you use Google or hotmail or facebook. It imports everything and integrates overlapping contacts automatically. Out of the box it took me 5 minutes to have all my accounts imported with all my contacts set up.

Xbox integration is awesome and easy to use. There is no flash as internet explorer is all about HTML 5. Having said that the browser is pretty quick and major video streaming sites like youtube and netflix work perfectly.

All in all for being the "cheaper" Nokia windows phone it is pretty much awesome. I would have purchased the lumia 900 but I prefer T-mobile and this phone hasn't disappointed at all.

Cons:
No font facing camera
Still not as many apps as IOS or Android (but it's growing and the quality of apps appears to be better)
No expandable memory (though free cloud integration and file sharing with microsoft skydrive 25 gigs)
finger print prone
some lack of customization of the OS that would be helpful
no Wifi calling (T-mobile told me there was Wifi calling, but I am pretty sure this phone doesn't offer it)
4G is not as fast as LTE
5 mp camera

Pros:
OS is beautiful and very quick
Xbox integration is awesome and totally useful for things like streaming video (phone acts like a remote control)
Facebook and live integration into all the contacts works seamlessly
Office integration is pretty cool (PowerPoint as flashcards is great for studying)
Gorilla glass is very scratch resistant
Nokia build seems solid
call quality
t-mobile's unlimited data
Bing integration is pretty cool, including ability to recognize text with the camera, (books, cds, movies) looks them up and even can translate them (for example a foreign menu). Also provides really useful information of the surrounding areas (movies, restaurants, events) with reviews and directions. The great thing is that you don't jump from one app to another. Everything just naturally extends to the next thing.
Zune integration: some people have said this is a negative, having to use the zune software. That just isn't true. Zune is much better than itunes and uses less system resources. Not to mention it has always been more creative and visually appealing instead of the spread-sheet style that itunes often has used. Zune integration is an amazing music and video player and looks breathtaking on the phone itself. If you have a zune pass you can download and play unlimited music. Otherwise this is just as established as the itunes store. You can buy apps, music, movies and tv shows, podcasts, games.... It has everything and you can sync your phone wirelessly. For those unfamiliar you with using this software or windows phones, you can set things to automatically download and save to your computer and be removed from the phone, this includes pictures, videos, and music. When I connect my phone, without doing anything at all the computer downloads all the HD video's I've taken and then deletes them from the phone, copies all my pictures and leaves them on my phone, and then switches out a new playlist of about 100 songs. All seamless, all without deciding what to save and what to put on.

All in all definitely worth considering. If you buy the phone outright you can still get an unlimited plan with T-mobile for only $50 a month... which is a total deal.

**********July 2012 Update*****************

After having the phone for a while now I have a few additional words.
1. The battery life isn't that great when using this phone a lot, but on the plus side it charges really fast
2. Nokia just added "Internet Sharing" to this phone to turn it into a mobile Hotspot, honestly this is amazing! I am using this more and more, and with just the flip of a switch my computer can use my 4G without any additional tethering plan.
3. Nokia continues to issue updates and the camera features are pretty awesome
4. The app marketplace has grown a lot
5. still missing true multi-tasking, (if I am not in the skype app, people can't call me through skype, even if I just opened the app)
6. overall a great phone for the money

************* September 2012 Update *****************

This will be the last update I think before the next version of Windows 7.8 is released for these phones.
These are all pros, the phone continues to work flawlessly, body has held together with minimal scratches or marks. The largest reason I still love this phone and will probably get another Nokia? They continue to put time and effort into making these phones better than other windows phones.
Apps that Nokia offers that are either exclusive to their lumia phones or in some cases now made available for other windows phones (such as their amazing Nokia maps)
1. Nokia Camera Extras (includes editing pictures, new software updates for different lighting and styles, panorama pictures, self timer, group shot...)
2. Nokia Contacts Transfer
3. Creative Studio
4. Nokia ESPN app (and now separate ESNP Fantasy Football app)
5. Nokia Maps
6. Nokia City Lens (which lets you hold your camera up and Nokia shows you shops and reviews and such of the surrounding area)
7. Nokia Drive (free GPS turn by turn navigation)
8. Nokia Music (which was just turned on this week for US customers, free music streaming and downloads without any subscription and no advertisements or commercials, only available on Nokia phones)
9. Nokia Trailers
10.Nokia Play to (which allows you to send pictures or videos to other devices such as blu ray players or tv's or cell phones)

The list goes on, and the point is Nokia is always updating and improving the experience on their phones. All of the above apps and more are free and make the experience on this phone better. I can say this phone is better today then when I purchased it almost a year ago.

Love it February 27, 2012

Reviewer:  LuWeGeeeeeee  (Minnapolis, MN USA) -

This is my first smartphone ever. The last phone I had for almost 4 years and it was a regular brick style phone. I read all the great reviews regarding this phone and decided to jump on it. The lumia 710 and the htc radar both had good reviews, but this one was cheaper and the faster processor.
Can't believe I didn't do this sooner. The phone is awesome. I really like how it almost automatically syncs facebook, google, and the phone contacts' information together and creates a card for each, and I can access each one's photos and history and facebook updates.
It really is a great phone that works great out of the box and was easy to use. I was surprised actually at the lack of "endless settings" typical on most phones. The only downside is the lack of Flash support, but it is a dying format that uses a lot of battery life. Sites like youtube and netflix offer better formats that this phone will take. Only problem I've run into is hulu. But, the marketplace has an app for a browser that will play flash if needed.
In conclusion, Great phone! If you are like me and had trouble syncing google calendars if you have multiple google calendars, just google it and you'll come across a way to customize sync options to include them all!

A great smart phone from the best phone company Nokia February 12, 2012

Reviewer:  timothy 

I have been a life-long Nokia phone fan since I got my first conventional Nokia phone back in 1993. However, it will not be a bias review about Nokia Lumia.

Compared with other smart-phone I've ever tried such as Samsung Exhibit II 4G, Samsung Galaxy S, iPhone 4S..the iPhone outpaced all others.

Phone feature. All are of equal quality. The Lumia stands out thanks to it stable signal reception. In my area, T-Mobile signal is not that good that non of my previous smartphone that I've ever tried works.

Web surfing. Whenever you try the Lumia 710 with 1.4Ghz and Window 7, you will forget other smartphones with Andriod or Apple OS.

Compability. Windows, Andriod & Apple OS....by the order from greatest to worst. Everyong should agree with this.

Camera. You can easily catch your special moments or events in crystal clear photo thanks to its 5MP camera.

Storage. I wish iPhone and Nokia have slots for mini SD scard to increase storage capacitty.

Battery...same for all.

Hope this review help smartphone shopper.

Solid option in the Windows Phone league, but a step back from other Nokia smartphones January 19, 2012

Reviewer:  tortop 

I have been a power user of Nokia phones before with their propriety smartphone OS (Symbian), and that is how my expectations were set. On my old (Nokia) phone, I could share my Internet connection, use it as a VoIP end-point for long-distance calls, do video conferencing with family, and enjoyed a killer maps software. Nokia has a lot of catching up to do to get feature parity on this new Windows Phone platform. Their maps software on Windows (titled "Nokia Drive") is a crippled, buggy version of what they had before. Turn-by-turn directions only work if you exactly follow them (recalculating route only works 2-3 out of 10 times), it often freezes and it does not have walking directions (driving only). There is no Internet sharing, no front-facing camera, and a strong dependency on Microsoft Zune software that is really designed for a music player. (Nokia's Ovi not available for this phone.) It does not support copying files to the phone directly (without going through the Zune software). A large amount space on the 8GB storage is blocked and may not be used for media you copy from your computer (it can only be used for files you download over the internet directly to your the phone). Files other than media (such as a PDF of DOC) cannot be copied from the computer to the phone with the built-in software. (You need to use special add-on software or first upload to your files to a file-sharing site such as Dropbox, and then copy to your phone.) Then there is the little things, like the lack of a speed dial feature or a memory card slot. Bluetooth works well for audio, but no other Bluetooth services are available out-of-the box that Nokia has on its other phones such as file transfers or internet sharing. The ambient noise canceling feature Nokia has on some of its other high-end phones is also notably absent. (That nice Nokia feature needs a second microphone facing outward, which this phone does not have.)

At contract renewal, T-Mobile resets your pricing. That means, you cannot continue the package you had. I have been a long-time T-Mobile customer and had some packages that were cheaper than their current pricing. To take advantage of the subsidized phone offer, I had to switch to inferior or more expensive versions of my existing services. I am now paying $30/mo. for the a limited data service (vs. $20/mo for unlimited I had before). I also had to pay $10/mo for unlimited text messages because they no longer offered the $5/mo package for 500 messages I had before.

In terms of pros, the phone is one of the better ones in the Windows Phone lineup. It is lighter weight than most. It has a slick look and feel. It is more affordable compared to some of the other smartphones in the market. Unless you are a power user, the phone is relatively easy to use and works fine out of the box. The sound quality is fine (minus noise canceling), including speakerphone. Nokia has Windows Phone as a big bet, so I trust they will push some software updates in the future to make their maps software work better and to enable internet sharing (a.k.a. WiFi tethering). I also hope that with Microsoft acquisition of Skype, it will one day become available on these phones.

Great smartphone, great OS, not so great battery February 12, 2012

Reviewer:  Traveling Tech Guy  (CA, US) -

Hardware:
--------
The Lumia 710 is a great device. It's 3.7" display means it still fits in your pocket. It is sturdily built (as are most Nokias) and feels good in your hand.

The screen is highly visible in direct sunlight, due to its deep black background and the sharp colors.

The camera on this device is OK, but nothing to write home about. One feature I like is your ability to use the camera even when the hone is locked, so you won't miss anything while unlocking it.

The lack of microSD card support is becoming more noticed as I add music to the phone. Don't let the 8GB number mislead you - a chunk of it is taken by the OS and apps. Assume no more than 4GB wil be available for media files.

About the only thing I did not like about the Lumia was the battery life. At only 1300mAh, the battery needs to be charged at least daily. More often, it'll run out before the end of day. Try listening to music, or using the GPS and you'll face a shorter use time. I hope there's an OS upgrade coming that can improve battery life, or that Nokia issues a better battery.

Software:
-------
Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) OS is snappy and beats my Android and iOS devices in a speed test at almost any function.
Navigation is simple, and almost any piece of data can be promoted to the home screen and live there as a tile (example: a contact you need to call, or a web page you want to look at later). Several applications have active tiles that provide the data you need without having to actually start the app.

If you're an Xbox player, you have access to your account, achievements, games, friends and even your avatar makes an appearance.

I also like the People hub, that collects all your contacts (email accounts, phone contacts, SIM card contacts, LinkedIn etc.) and allows communicating with them as individuals or groups (IM or text message - you can't call a group - yet).

The free Nokia GPS apps (Maps and Drive) work as well as they did on Symbian. I read somewhere that a public transportation version is coming soon.

In terms of apps, the Marketplace is still light, but I found versions of the main apps I use on other devices (EverNote, Twitter, eBay etc.) and more are coming.

One glaring function that's missing is internet tethering. There are rumors it might be included in a future update, but for me, that's a feature no smartphone should be without from day one. Although, the feature might have been left out to mitigate the battery problem.

Finally, another thing I started liking and using more is the search option. Triggered by clicking the right physical button, Bing search provides great voice recognition and a cool music identification feature that works! No need for the likes of Shazam anymore.

Bottom line:
----------
Despite its battery issue, I like this phone and I'm currently using it as my main device. Once you get used to WP7 and its active tiles, it's hard to go back to Android and its widgets. I'm looking forward to the next evolution of this platform.

REALLY NICE Phone. Great Features. Free Navigation. A Lot Packed Into This Phone. March 4, 2012

Reviewer:  Carrie  (Midwest) -

UPDATE:
Overall Impression: I have used this phone for a little over 1 year, and still think that it is a nice, easy to use phone. It is going strong with daily phone/internet use. I can tell that the battery does not last as long as when it was new, but that is typical for all cell phones, including smartphones. My phone pictures sync with Skydrive without having to do anything extra. I added Nokia Music when it became available - there is a lot that is free.

Durability: My spouse is particularly hard on phones (one lasted less than 24 hrs). He has had this Lumia 710 for just over a year too. He cracked the screen about 4 months ago when he dropped it on concrete, but it is only a hairline crack, and it didn't stop functionality. Yesterday, he dropped his phone into a puddle of water. He purchased rice at the grocery store & put his phone into the rice bag. After a few hours, his phone worked without any signs that it had taken a bath. About 2 months ago, I accidentally dropped the phone into my kitchen sink & the phone was immersed for a few seconds. I quickly took the back off & took the sim card out & used my blow dryer on it (& Q Tips). I let it sit overnight & the next morning my phone came to life (!). It has not shown any signs of distress from the dunking.

What I wish for the phone: Decent WiFi calling. There is Tango, but it will not go on to support Windows 8. Viber is support to all calling in the near future (they say). Users still have to be subscribers (free app), so it isn't as open as I'd like. My preference would be to be able to call any phone - cell or landline - without the end user needing to be a Viber subscriber.

Also, for the person who emailed me a months ago - there is now a free Nokia Collections application (Counters) that will track your monthly usage (calls, messaging & data use).

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
*** I have been a Windows Phone user since December 2010 (Dell Venue Pro). I am more of a smartphone business user in that I have multiple email addresses pinned to my Start Page & I use the Microsoft Office suite products on my phone. ***

LUMIA 710 PHONE:
The Lumia 710 is a very nice Smartphone that has most of the bells & whistles of much higher priced Smartphones. It is easy to set up and use right out of the box. With Nokia's addition of its free navigation app, Nokia Drive, the Lumia 710 is definitely a phone to seriously consider.

Nokia & the media are touting the Lumia 710 as an entry smartphone because it has a 5mg camera & 8GB of memory. It also is all plastic and fairly plain (the black phone is all black & the white phone has a white face with a black back). However, if you purchase this phone between 1/11/12 - 3/31/12, with proper paperwork, Nokia will send you a free color back in white, cyan, fuchsia or yellow - a sure way to perk it up.

Otherwise, the Lumia 710 has all of the bells & whistles of the much more expensive smartphones.

FRONT PAGE TILES:
Windows Phones do not have static front pages; they have large, easy to read, customizable Start Page Tiles (you can choose your Tile color & choose which Tile you want to Pin (place) on your Start Page). The Start page Tiles link to anything you want: your (labeled) email addresses (can have multiples), applications, web pages, contacts - anything you want just by touching the Tile.

Common Start Page Tiles:
1) T-Mobile Phone (your call history);
2) People (phone book that also links to your Facebook Contacts)
3) Calendar (future appointments show up on your Calendar Start Page Tile as reminders - like Outlook reminders)
4) Messaging (entire conversation history is visible)
5) Email(s) (create a separate Tile for each email address & you'll see how many unread emails in your in-box on your Start Page)
6) Pictures (photos taken with the phone, albums in your Facebook, & loaded pictures from your computer)
7) Nokia Drive (free turn by turn voice navigation)
8) Camera
9) Xbox Live (downloaded game apps)
10) Calculator
11) Internet search engine (IE or Google or Your Choice) - can use Voice Command for searching
12) Me (direct link to your Facebook Page)

SECOND PAGE:
With a swipe from right to left, you can see all of your programs & applications in alphabetical order, so you can pin & de-pin to your Start Page whenever you want.

APPLICATIONS:
People knock Windows Phones because (at this time) they only have 65,000 applications available to users. However, A LOT of the applications are FREE. To download any application, go to Marketplace (use the Marketplace Tile). The Marketplace apps are divided into the following categories:
a) Nokia Collection
b) Entertainment
c) Music + Video
d) Tools + Productivity
e) Lifestyle
f) Kids + Family
g) News + Weather
h) Travel + Navigation
i) Health + Fitness
j) Photo
K) Games
L) Social
M) Sports
N) Personal Finance
O) Business
P) Books + Reference
Q) Education
R) Government + Politics

Click on a category & that category is further divided by:
a) Top
b) Free
c) New

At the end of February, Microsoft announced that they have a SKYPE beta version available now & that a full version will be released in April.

Free Nokia Only Apps (find in Nokia Collection): Creative Studio photo app - apply a series of filters & effects before you shoot your photo; Nokia Play To (Beta): show photos & videos that are stored on your phone to your TV & music stored on your phone to your home stereo system (via WiFi). Nokia has also indicated that by 2ndQ they will have a feature that will let you interact with the Weather Channel app (lifestyle alerts).

VOICE COMMANDS:
Hold down the start button & you can tell your phone what you want it to do (ie, "call xxx" & the phone will call the number in your people list, "text xxx" & the phone will go to messaging & tell you to say your message, "what is the weather today" will get you a local weather forecast). The only thing that you cannot do by voice command is to put something into your calendar.

BLUETOOTH: I have paired this phone with a [[ASIN:B005YZZJDY Jabra JOURNEY Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone - Retail Packaging - Black]]. It syncs quickly & is a breeze to use.

SKYDRIVE:
Skydrive is Microsoft's cloud service. You can store, access, and share files, photos, and Microsoft Office documents for free online (up to 25GB for free). You cannot put your music on Skydrive, but you can pin your Amazon Cloud page to your Start Page & that would give you one-touch access to your Amazon Cloud music.

ZUNE:
Zune is Microsoft's online store that offers music, podcasts, TV shows, movies, music videos, movie trailers and mobile applications. However, you can put your own music onto your phone & you do not need to use Zune marketplace. As an alternate music source, you can also link the phone to your Amazon Cloud music (see above).

CAMERA:
The camera is 5mg & takes decent pictures in indoor light. All pictures taken with your phone are stored in Camera Roll. Once you take your picture, you swipe down to see the picture & then you can choose to Share (Skydrive, Email, Facebook, Text), use as Wallpaper, Delete, Add to Favorites or Auto-Fix.

OTHER FEATURES:
Curved Back, size & weight make the phone easy to carry and easy to slip into your pocket.
Call quality: Very good both as speaker, up to your ear & via a headset.
Screen Size: The 3.7 screen size is good, but I am spoiled by the DVP's larger screen size.
Font Size: Windows uses nice, large type font for most of the applications - email, calendar, and calculator. The Messaging font is smaller, but the recipient names are large.
Screen: The Lumia's ClearBlack Display is a little easier to read than an AMOLED screen in direct sunlight, but in indoor situations, the AMOLED screen provided a richer, brighter screen. It is very hard to see an AMOLED screen in direct sunlight.
Phone's Toggle Bar: The toggle bar is user friendly and works better than touch buttons because you don't accidentally "touch" & exit out of what you were doing.

All in all, the Lumia 710 is a great phone. It is 4G (HSPA+) and a little faster than my 3G DVP. In a single speed test, it was also slightly faster loading Weather Channel than a co-worker's iphone 4GS.

Play with this phone and you will find that there is a lot to love about it.

EXCELLENT NOKIA CUSTOMER SERVICE: I had to call Nokia Customer Service & found the CS agent to be friendly & knowledgeable. She called back when she said that she would, and, when I needed to call back a week later, but lost the direct number, the Nokia CS that answered the phone was able to connect me with the person that I had dealt with earlier.

Love the phone and savings that come with it February 17, 2012

Reviewer:  Baggu 

My iPhone 3GS crapped after upgrading to iOS4 and I had to buy new phone. I was waiting for iPhone 5 which was never released. So after few more months of wait I finally stopped my AT&T plan which costed me $87 per month, sold my iPhone 3gs 16GB to for $200. Got this phone for $350, switched to T-Mobile monthly web plan for $35. I am saving > $50 per month and I am out of crappy AT&T network.
By not buying iPhone 4S I saved myself (1200 - 350 (Lumia 710) + 200 (New iPhone with contract)) = $1050

That's the saving part, but what am I missing by not buying iphone?
1. Lunatic talks with Siri
2. Nice looks
3. Better hardware specs

And what am I getting?
1. Must better speeds, data is at least 3-4 faster, AT&T had well known bandwidth issues, the reason why it was buying T-Mobile.
2. True multitasking OS, though the hardware of this phone is not of as high specs as iPhone 4S, this works much better than iPhone. iOS was never meant for multitasking, and it took years for it to have multitasking, something which Symbian and Windows CE used to do generations before iOS.
3. Build quality. You won't have to attach the phone with tapes if it falls from table to a hard floor.
4. The only Apps that are missing in windows marketplace are the junk apps which had no sales in iphone and their owners didn't wanted to waste time in porting to WP7.

Battery Life??? We don't need no stinking Battery Life! January 31, 2012

Reviewer:  Robert J. Kierski  (Farmington, MN USA) -

I have to preface this review with... This is my first "SmartPhone." I am stepping "up" from a Samsung Highlight which, at the time I got it, seemed rather smart to me.

There are a lot of things that I like about this phone:

1) You can pin "Live" tiles to the home screen. This gives you the ability to see general information like the current temperature, the number of voice mail, the number of new email, etc. Very handy if you just want to see those kinds of things.

2) The image quality on the screen is awesome. I have watched several episodes of HDTV on this... while I'm not about to give up my 55" screen, and surround sound, this is certainly handy for when you're waiting in the Dr's office for a root canal.

3) CPU performance is great. I haven't noticed any significant pauses. It easily trans-codes 1080p video into it's native format without too much jitter, or delay. Everything seems to respond very smoothly.

4) The size and styling are very nice. Rounded corners are certainly easier on my pockets. It doesn't feel big. When I take it out... I don't feel like I'm holding a brick.

Now for the bad. Let me preface this by saying, I'm writing this review on 1-31-2012. I expect that some of these issues will be resolved. I will certainly post updates if/when they are.

1) Battery life. This is my first truly smart phone, so I don't have an experience with anything else to compare it with. But... I can't make it through the day without having to charge it. I've turned off all the extra bells and whistles and even told it to stop background tasks... but I still have to charge it after about 8 hours... without so much as making a phone call on it. I don't know what is draining the battery so quickly....

2) The Nokia web site has a bunch of apps that are "Nokia tested and approved." But, the Nokia web site hasn't been updated to recognize this phone. So... even though there are nice apps on their web site... I can't down load any of them.

3) Fewer apps. I had an Android tablet. There were a butt load of free apps for doing all sorts of stupid stuff... I can't seem to find those apps for the Windows Phone... not free ones anyway. Don't get me wrong... I can still do all sorts of stupid things with this phone.... just not the stupid stuff I used to do with my Android tablet.

4) The headphone audio is rather lame. I hooked the headphones to my car stereo aux-in. My iPod will produce jar rattling volume when configured this way. Playing the same mp3's via the phone's headphones, I have to crank the car's volume to max just to overcome the road noise. This might just be an issue with the car... I haven't looked into it much.

5) No Flash Player. COME ON!!! How are you supposed to watch YouTube without Flash. Okay... there is a YouTube app... and you can watch YouTube via the app, or via IE... but only if the video has an MP4 equivalent. And why are most music videos restricted from playing on phones? Or is it just my phone?

6) No bitgravity streaming. My laptop says that bitgravity is streaming in MP4, and I've played MP4's on this phone. So why does the phone say "Can't play this format" when I attempt to stream TWiT Live from bitgravity?

7) Some Podcasts confuse this phone. I watched an episode of Techzilla from Revision3, but when I first selected the episode, and it appeared to finish downloading, the phone said "Can't play this file." But when I hit the back button, there it was, already playing... But I have to say... it looked very nice!!!

8) No expansion slot. This should have actually been closer to the top. It was the first thing I asked the sales guy, so it's probably a big. The phone has 8G, and so far... you get 25G of SkyDrive when you activate your Windows Live account. But you can't upgrade the phone to say... 16G, or 32G simply by dropping in a new chip. Yes... you can upgrade your SkyDrive by paying an additional montly fee...

Overall, I'm very impressed with this phone. It certainly does more than I need it to. Unfortunately, I'm not writing this review on the phone, as it would be quite painful to type so much on the on-screen keyboard on the phone.

UPDATE (2-13-2012): I've had the phone for a couple of weeks now. I've found more things that I like and don't like about it.

I've been able to work out the issues with the various podcasts that I watch and listen to. It's quite impressive that I can watch/listen to these podcasts no matter where I am now. The audio and video quality is very impressive.

The lack of expansion slot has become an issue. I got within 500M of the phone being full and suddenly the phone started acting up. It would "think" about things much too long and appear to freeze up. As soon as I eliminated a few pictures and songs and got more free space back, the phone started acting normal again. I can't say for sure what it was trying to do... maybe it was trying to optimize space to reclaim some... I havn't done much experimenting to see if I can get it to act funny again. With micro-SD cards as cheap as they are... it would be nice to be able to add a few GB of space.

I'm not finding much value in the SkyDrive. The only thing you can put on the SkyDrive is your photos and Office Doc's. If you take video, you have to email it or sync it to zune on your desktop. You can't even play music that you've uploaded to your SkyDrive.

With all of the Cloud storage that's available these days, it doesn't seem that any of them have a good solution for this phone. You can add pictures... and that's it. I suppose if you're using your phone to take pictures, it would be great.

The camera quality isn't so great. I don't expect my phone's camera to take the same quality pictures as my camera's camera... so I'm not disappointed that the quality isn't all that great. If you need a quick picture, and don't really care about the quality... I'm sure this would be fine. I'd certainly suggest using it to take pictures of your rental car before and after the accident.

UPDATE (3-27-2012): I forgot to mention this in my previous update... I contacted NOKIA customer support. After a few rounds of email exchanges and apparent language issues, I was told that the NOKIA app store is not for the Lumia 710. It's only for their other phones. It would have been nice if they'd mentioned this somewhere on the web site or in the documentation. At the end of the day, I'm not sure the NOKIA web site has any value for me.

I discovered that I was using the camera wrong... or in a way so as to cause blurry pictures. If you want a quick shot, you press the camera button. Unfortunately, if you have a protective cover on the phone, it requires you to press the camera button with enough force that it also causes the phone to shake.... causing the resulting picture to be blurry. However, if you're patient... you just tap on the screen (in the area of the subject), wait a second or two, and the phone produces a fairly nice picture. I was at a family event recently and took about 100 pictures with my phone. If the subjects are mostly still, in good light, the pictures turned out fairly nice. I haven't had any printed, so I can't say if they're print worthy.

I have found this phone to be very reliable. I had a period some time ago when I thought my phone was running low on memory and therefore acting flaky. I haven't had anything like that since... and I've been taking a lot of pictures with it.

The SkyDrive has turned out to be very nice. It's really easy to save your photos to the SkyDrive where it's backed up and safe. You don't have to worry about dropping your phone and having it loose those valuable pics.

I don't check for new aps often... I don't have to have the latest and greatest games and utilities. But I have noticed that more and more of the apps I want are in the app store.

I've been watching YouTube video's in 3D. I don't know if the phone intends it this way... but one of the formats supported by YouTube for 3D is "Side-by-Side." If you've ever had one of those Magic Eye's posters, you'll be able to do Side-by-Side 3D on YouTube. It's truly amazing. The size of the image on the phone's screen is ideal for doing Side-by-Side 3D. I suggest the GoPro 3D video.

Most of the time that I've got my phone out... surfing the web... or what ever, I'm in a WiFi zone. So I haven't really used my 4G much. I have noticed though that when I do use 4G, it's much faster than most WIFI hot spots.

I've upgraded my star rating of this product. My initial 4-Star rating was because of the poor battery life. I still have issue with only being able to use the phone for 1 day before having to charge it... but it hasn't been a big problem. I now have a USB charger in my car, office, and home so if I do use the phone a lot, I can plug it in for a quick charge anywhere. And... I've got some of the features (GPS) turned off except when I really want it. So it doesn't draw as much power. So... I've upgraded my rating to 5 stars.

My favortie phone ever! April 10, 2012

Reviewer:  Stephanie Welling  (Los Angeles, CA) -

I love everything about this phone. It is snappier than my past Androids because it doesn't have layers of uneeded junk otherwise it would need a dual core processor. It is just cooler than my past Blackberries. I love the clean and simpel user interface. The live tiles are excellent too. If you turn on Battery Saver it will last all day. I signed up for a Zune pass too and the sound is great on the phone for playing music. I have access to unlimited music and podcasts with the Pass. There are enough apps for me too. The only negative is the speaker phone. It needs improvement. Also, people don't realize all of the voice command stuff it does.

Nokia Lumia 710 June 24, 2012

Reviewer:  incutech 

So I`ve had my Windows 7 phone for about 3 months now. It's a Nokia Lumia 710 and I love it. It's put together very well. I spilled a whole cup of water on the poor thing. (No, not for the sake of this review but on accident) When I grabbed it up dried it off and opened it up, it only had one tiny drop of water next to the camera lens. No big deal....I mean about 10 oz of water here....spilled all over. So it's a very tightly put together, sleek, slim little phone.

I have been thinking of 3 things I dislike about this phone just so it seems fair. It was difficult but if there were things I disliked it would be

1) The keypad for texting is a little difficult for me. I'm always mistyping but it has auto-complete with the ability to add your own words so it's not that bad.
2) The camera is not all that fantastic but I have found apps that help. Fantasia is free and it's very useful. Also Sophie Cam is very close to Instagram and makes great shares.
3) The 8G max storage......suuuuucks. End of story.

So now for the great stuff. These are in no particular order.

1) The marketplace. TONS of free apps! SO many choices and VERY good selection. SO HAPPY with it. I wanted a IPOD for a long time but this phone is does exactly what it does and more.
2) You can stream music from numerous apps to get around the limited storage space problem.
3) The conversation texting is always a plus. Easy delete too, just hold and confirm....gone. Just realized today that I don't have the ability to send multiple recipients texts but I never do and there is an app for that if I needed to.
4) XBOX LIVE.....so Angry Birds, Plants VS Zombies, ETC.....available!!
5) The ability to connect with all your social web stuffs. There are apps for Four Square too.
6) Live tiles are really cool. They update with The Weather Channel, Facebook, news apps and any other app that has the ability. Constant slide show of pics too ;~)
7) Easy glide touch feature. Absolutely no lagging. Pan, zoom, and scroll....whatever...no lag.
8) The buttons on front are not hard to push. It's just a well put together phone.
9) Never a possibility of launching anything from your pocket. You have to slide screen up to do anything. LOVE IT! NO MORE "BUTT DIALING"!
10) Voice search and texting.
11) Zune is cool. I have heard frustrating things about it but for me it's easier than WMP or ITunes. You plug your phone into your comp and tell it what to transfer and it does. For the pictures it keeps them in Zune AND makes a folder on your comp for printing, sharing, or whatever. Once you install it on your comp, you will have the ability to rip music with it and transfer it to your phone if you wanted to. Me, I live MixTapes, a free app. Try it.
12) You can pin your favorite contact to your start screen. You can pic almost anything to your start screen!
13) MAPS. Free GPS basically.
14) Local Scout tells you all the restaurants, stores and gas stations, and entertainment going-ons that are near you.
15) The calendar is useful. It reminds you on your start screen for what you have programmed it for.
16) Battery holds well if your throw it on the charger every night.

I have no idea why everyone wants an Iphone......this phone is a great boredom buster, info finder, and knowledge booster. To me it seems to do everything an Iphone does. It is very useful and I have not regretted my decision once. I do not like the variance on my service T-mobile offers me but the phone is wonderful!!! If I ever lose it or wash it, I'm getting the same phone....maybe I'll try an 800 or 900 next time though ;~)

Awesome User Interface April 30, 2012

Reviewer:  robgrza "robgrza"  (IL USA) -

The Woz is right. Windows Phone has the best user face in the smartphone space. I have an HTC G1(the first Android), an iPhone 3Gs and a Galaxy S(modded to Ice Cream Sandwich). Microsoft nailed the user interface in Mango(Windows Phone 7.5).

Affordable, high quality 4G Smartphone With Awesome OS April 11, 2012

Reviewer:  Eugene R. Mccormick  (Cleveland) -

I was given the opportunity to review the Nokia Lumia 710, the first Nokia-powered Windows Phone 7.5 that will be available in the United States on January 11th on the T-Mobile network, and have been using it for the past week. While the phone is being pitched as an entry-level smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 710 has a more mid-range feel to it and is definitely a step-up from your average first-time smartphone. Don't let the $50 with a new 2-year contract price fool you - this is one great phone and the bargain price makes the deal even sweeter.

Upon removing the Lumia 710 from it's packaging, what first struck me was how nice the phone felt in my hand. The size is nearly perfect - not too big, and not too small - and it feels nice and sturdy. True, it doesn't sport the classy aluminum casing that HTC has been wowing me with lately, but I gotta say that it seems much more capable of handling the accidental bumps and drops than Samsung designed mobile phones I've recently had my hands on (the plastic on those feels so cheap, and when I remove the back cover to replace a SIM card or something, I'm afraid I might break it if I pull too hard on the back cover). The Nokia Lumia 710 is solid, and it has already survived a couple accidental drops with nary a scratch or nick anywhere on its body.

The 3.7-inch ClearBlack LCD screen is more than sufficient. True, I love a 4-inch or larger screen best, but just as was the case with the HTC Radar, another Windows Phone 7.5 I recently reviewed, using a smaller sized screen on this device than I'm typically used to really wasn't a huge adjustment at all.

The also phone sports a 1.4Ghz Snapdragon processor with 512MB of RAM, and a pretty good 5-megapixel rear camera capable of 720p video capture. I've not experienced any lags in using the phone; the OS is snappy and reactive, and the photos I've taken have turned out relatively well.

To date, my experience with Windows Phone 7.5 devices has been limited to HTC devices - the HTC HD7 and the HTC Radar. Both of those had similar navigation buttons and feels, but were different sizes. The HTC HD7 was the high-end beast of a phone, while the HTC Radar is the more modest, mid-range model. As the Nokia Lumia 710 is a Windows Phone by a different manufacturer, there are some subtle differences that I noticed. Some of the features of the Nokia phone I liked a lot, including the navigation buttons along the bottom of the screen that let you operate your phone. I found that the navigation buttons on the HTC Windows phones were ultra sensitive, and I often accidentally hit them as they sat in my pocket, or even held in my hand. The nav buttons on the Nokia require you to actually push on them to evoke an action. I like that. One thing I did not like, however, was the camera button. While you can snap a picture by touching the screen, the Lumia 710 also has a dedicated camera button. I've found that I have to press a little harder than I'd like, and that it is awkwardly located, making for a few situations in which I didn't get to capture the photo I desired.

Another downside of the Lumia 710 is the lack of expandable SD storage, but this is an issue with all Windows Phones. Microsoft just simply doesn't allow you to swap out SD cards with their phones. You are stuck with the storage built-in, and in this case its 8GB of internal storage. If you're a music junkie, you know just how quickly you can fill up 8GBs.

Another feature of the Nokia Lumia 710 that I have really enjoyed is Nokia Drive, the company's GPS navigation feature. It's superior to the Maps program HTC Windows phone features, and has turn-by-turn navigation (unlike the Maps program navigation). It's come in handy in the past few days as I do not have a separate GPS device and rely solely on my phone for navigation assistance.

[[ASIN:B006U0XDZ8 Nokia Lumia 710 4G Windows Phone, White (T-Mobile)]][[ASIN:B007P5NHJO Nokia Lumia 900 4G Windows Phone, Black (AT&T)]][[ASIN:B0061QDXPG HTC Radar 4G Windows Phone (T-Mobile)]][[ASIN:B004GV6N3M HTC HD7 Windows Cellphone Unlocked]]Microsoft has a really great product in Windows Phone 7. As a former Apple-turned-Android-addict, I was initially hesitant to make the switch to a Microsoft product, but once I finally took the leap of faith and dove right in, I didn't regret it. Now you'd have to pry my Windows Phone 7.5 from my cold, dead hands.

So who would I recommend this phone for? If you want a smartphone, but don't want to spend the big bucks to get a high-end model, this would be a perfect solution. You just can't get much better than $50 with a 2-year-agreement. If you're growing tired of the stale operating systems of Apple an Android, the amazing Metro Design of Windows Phone 7.5 will undoubtedly blow you away and make you wonder how you lived without it before.

As a T-Mobile subscriber, I personally am holding out for a higher-spec Windows Phone 7.5, something along the lines of the Nokia Lumia 710 that AT&T launched this week because of the larger screen size and more storage space. If neither of those is an issue for you, then you may find the Lumia 710 to be a suitable mobile phone solution.

Love Love Love this phone! March 19, 2012

Reviewer:  Shes_Amaznn 

Ive had this phone for a couple of months now and I really like it! I know most ppl are used to Androids and Iphones, but this particular Windows phone is very easy use. Windows Marketplace is where you can find all your apps and because Windows is fairly new, obviously there aren't as many apps compared to the App Store & Android Market but there's plenty to choose from. Depending on how much you use the phone and what you use it for, the battery life can die down quickly & thats the only reason I rated 4 stars, but its like that for all phones nowadays. Other than that, its a really cool phone! The web browser is smooth and moves quickly, the camera nice and it has a flash. They also have an Instgram sister app called Instacam...i use it almost everyday!

The best phone you are not using (yet) March 15, 2012

Reviewer:  ScOObydoo  (USA) -

Reviewing a Windows Phone is a tough thing to do - especially if you are already an iOS or Android user, but if you give it some time, you'll learn to appreciate some of the amazing innovation put into this device. Lets start with the basics; the hardware:

The Nokia Lumia 710 hardware

The Lumia 710 is the "low end" phone from the new Nokia lineup of Windows Phone devices. It marks their departure from Meego and Symbian S60 as their sole mobile OS options. The hardware is as can be expected from Nokia, top notch. Build quality is fantastic, battery life is amazing and the dark black screen is simply brilliant on a phone this cheap. With a sim-free price under $300, this is one of the most affordable options out there for a quality smartphone. The 710 comes with quad band GSM/EDGE and tri-band 3G with support for the T-Mobile AWS frequencies. The screen is around the same size as the iPhone, but feels small if you come from one of the larger Windows Phones (or an Android device like the Galaxy Nexus).

On the side are volume and power and on the front is a long button with three functions. I would have preferred capacitive buttons, but you can't get it all at this price.

The camera is merely "acceptable" at 5MP with auto focus, but the camera app is solid and quick.

There is no MicroSD card slot, so you need to settle for 8GB of storage. Also, be aware that this uses MicroSIM technology, so you'll need to buy a new sim or cut it with a sim card cutter.

Windows Phone OS

As the title says, this is the best OS you are not using yet. I am a massive Android fan, and I don't feel like it is better (for my needs), but when i showed it to my mother in law, she LOVED it, and this is the first time she's "loved" a mobile phone. Operation is simple - and there is just the right amount of options. Other options feel limited like the color choices or backgrounds. The phone lacks a lot of the customizations found on Android.

Out of the box, the phone comes with a lot of the apps you need - like Netflix and TMobile TV. Other apps come from the marketplace, which is very easy to navigate. There is probably a 50/50 mix of paid and free apps, but all apps let you trial for free.

One of the highlights of this device though is the free Nokia Drive app - a full function offline map navigation package. In many cases, it has actually replaced my Garmin on shorter rides. Offline maps means you don't need a data connection, and Nokia offers FREE access to their entire map database.

All in all, this is in my opinion the number three OS On the market - it'll beat Blackberry in any head to head. You owe it to yourself to try this out!

Great quality, small, light and easy to use March 11, 2012

Reviewer:  D. Gallot  (Seattle, WA) -

Having lost my HD7 which I really liked, I wanted to keep a Windows Phone - which I really like - but for the least out-of-pocket money possible. The Lumia 710 was a choice by default, and... well I am glad I was not tempted by higher price models: it is very light for a smartphone, has a great screen with very good contrast, the processor gives it plenty of horsepower, Wi-Fi has good coveratge in my house, adn it has hard buttons which is rare to find on a WP, yet priceless when you have a toddler (who tend to sprend their hands on the capacitive buttons and all bets are off at that point). Overall, it feels better made and actually faster than my previous HD7. I am really glad I went for this phone and the price makes it even sweeter. Oh these things are phones aren't they? It is actually a great phone with great call clarity on-ear or on speakerphone.

Compact powerful device March 10, 2012

Reviewer:  G. Clark "tech geek"  (Los Angeles, CA) -

Just got this phone from the t-mobile store, trading my Samsung Omnia 7. I chose this phone for the lighter weight, smaller size, and the 4G capabilities. As you'll see on other reviews the screen quality is the ONLY drawback to this phone, but only if you're coming from a phone with a super AMOLED screen, which most people aren't.

If you carry your phone everywhere like I do and you need something that won't slow you down, this phone is for you. Is it the highest end phone on the market? Of course not. Are you going to have a blast playing around with it while surfing the web at blazing speeds? You bet.

I'm a registered tech geek and I give my thumbs up to this mighty giant.

awesome February 9, 2012

Reviewer:  R. Jalal 

Better than iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S2. Very smooth, and quick. The call quality is second to none. Camera is good, this is a great phone. Battery life is good also.

A quality introductory smart phone for those who love simple. February 26, 2012

Reviewer:  THATCH "RST"  (OHIO) -

I'd reviewed the phone once already, but decided after a little more time that the core conclusions could really be simmered down and simplified. So here you have: review 2.0!

If you are looking for an introductory smart phone, the basic options below the $199 range are Android, Windows Phone 7, and Blackberry. Each of those is really good at something. This phone is Windows Phone 7, and I feel like it's marked feature is simplicity.

Someone who has never used a smart phone can use this with very little training and have a very functional device with a very high quality screen, fast processor and good camera and a very affordable price. If you're already paying for a feature phone with some limited internet capabilities, there is a good chance you could upgrade to this and still have the same monthly bill.

The phone itself is designed well, fits in the palm very nicely (better than iPhone I'd argue), and while a little thicker than some expensive alternatives, is quite light and feels good. The screen is very high quality, the buttons are limited and self explanatory, and the battery life is solid.

Setting up the phone was very easy-- simply sign in with an email address and start setting up your email, downloading apps, and configuring your photo sharing, social networks and the like. It is a 4G phone, which is an extra bonus for an entry level phone.

I also have the Nokia Lumia 800 which is a big brother to this phone. It's thinner, heavier, and made of metal. And it also costs double this phone and essentially has the same functionality.

If you're in the market for an entry level phone and you don't want blackberry or Android, this is a very nice phone that I think most people will be very satisfied with.