December 30, 2011 at 10:31Nokia 700 review
Hello, Habr!
Today we would like to introduce you our new smartphone - Nokia 700 . First of all, I want to note that this device is the smallest smartphone on the market. But, despite its miniature size, the Nokia 700 has a high-quality “iron” component, which, coupled with the Nokia Belle system (and this is the first official smartphone with this OS in Russia), gives high-performance devices. However, first things first! :)
The slim body is equipped with a 3.2-inch touch screen, a rear camera and an external speaker located on the bottom of the smartphone.
The screen, made using AMOLED ClearBlack technology, shows a juicy and bright picture even in the sun. The display has a resolution of 640x360 pixels, which, with a diagonal of 3.2 inches, shows an excellent density of dots per inch - 229 - so that simple mathematics also confirm the image quality (and you can’t argue against science, as they say). The display is protected by glass created using Gorilla Glass technology.
The speaker is made in the form of a ledge and looks pretty interesting. From a practical point of view, this means that no matter what position the smartphone is in, the sound from the speakers will not overlap - and this affects almost all mobile phones. Above the speakers, there are three hardware keys: for accepting and rejecting a call, and another for calling up the navigation menu. The case thickness is 9.7 millimeters, and the entire smartphone weighs only 92 grams. It's funny to switch to the Nokia 700 to understand that in a jeans pocket it is simply invisible.
The back cover of the smartphone, which hides the battery and the slots for SIM and MicroSD cards, is made of shabby anodized aluminum: this surface leaves a pleasant tactile feel. On the back cover is a 5-megapixel with LED flash, a little recessed into the body - so as not to scratch the surface.
On the right side of the case are quite thin volume control keys, a smartphone lock key, as well as a key for quick activation of the camera. The lock key has a nice feature: if you hold it down for three to four seconds, the LED flash is activated, thus acting as a flashlight. :)
On top of the case are a micro-USB port, a standard 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones, as well as a connector for a charger (while the smartphone also charges perfectly from micro-USB).
Of course, the operating system is one of the most important parts of the smartphone. The Nokia Belle, installed on the Nokia 700 smartphone, is the successor to Symbian Anna. However, instead of the next Symbian ^ 3 update, due to a number of fundamental changes, Nokia Belle is sometimes perceived as a completely new OS.
If you were previously familiar with smartphones on Symbian Anna, by launching the Nokia 700 you will first notice the difference in widgets - they have changed in Nokia Belle. Having listened to user comments and following the general development of technologies, the number of widgets in the new OS was increased, and their sizes ceased to be fixed. Thanks to the various sizes of widgets, it has become much easier to customize desktops to fit your needs, increasing the bar for smartphone usability. The number of desktops has doubled compared to Symbian Anna - up to six. And now for each desktop you can set your own background.
Switching between desktops is as smooth as possible. Multitasking also works flawlessly - all thanks to a good optimization of the Nokia Belle OS and a gigahertz processor.
The main screen has a drop-down menu that appears when you slide down from the status line (this is the same panel with the clock and signal reception level). This menu provides access to the most important communication functions of the phone, such as managing WiFi and Bluetooth connections, as well as notifications of missed calls and unread messages.
The email client in Nokia Belle has predefined settings for accounts on Gmail, Yandex, Mail.ru, Rambler and a number of other email services that are less common in Russia. In the client settings, it is possible for each account to configure the schedule and frequency of downloading letters. That is, mail can be configured so that it does not bother you at night or on weekends - not all of us are workaholics.
At the beginning of next year, Nokia Belle will be available package of business applications from Microsoft. It will include the Lync collective messenger for quick meeting organization, OneNote electronic notes, a client for accessing SharePoint files called Document Connection and PowerPoint Broadcaster, an application for viewing presentations stored on a PC. After some time, the exclusive Word, Excel, and Powerpoint applications will be released exclusively for Belle.
As with all Nokia smartphones with GPS, this model has free pedestrian and car navigation. Traditionally, all maps can be loaded into the device’s memory, so navigation can also work offline. But if you want to receive up-to-date information about traffic jams on the roads and plan a route taking them into account (this functionality is currently only available in Moscow), Internet access is still required.
Nokia Navigator has inherited the functions of a full-fledged car navigator. It has step-by-step voice prompts, you can customize the map view, choosing between a top view, 3D, satellite. The maps are overlaid with public transport lines and metro maps.
The smartphone uses A-GPS, so the current location is determined very quickly. For more accurate positioning, a built-in compass is used.
Due to a change in the OS concept in Nokia Belle, the camera interface has been significantly updated. The buttons for activating the flash and selecting modes were made on the screen, so Nokia 700 owners do not have to open an additional menu to activate these functions.
Due to the small size of the smartphone, the camera uses a conventional 5 MP module without autofocus, made using EDOF technology. Such a camera is ideally suited for video recording: Nokia 700 shoots HD movies with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels and a frequency of 30 fps of excellent quality, while using image stabilization. Such videos are not ashamed to watch not only on the smartphone itself, but also on the computer. The sound of the video is also at its best: thanks to the hardware noise canceler, the sound track of the captured videos does not turn into incoherent noise even in very noisy places.
The Nokia 700 has a music player and video player that has transformed since Symbian Anna, as well as an FM radio with support for RDS stations.
The music player’s interface has changed in accordance with Nokia Belle guides, so the buttons “repeat tracks” and “play tracks randomly” were added to the two standard buttons “back” and “menu”. The player can show large album covers, sorts tracks by name, artist, album. There is a horizontal option for displaying covers - all this is already familiar.
The radio at the first start scans the FM band. Of course, you can register names for found radio stations. There is no way to add your favorite radio stations to your favorites, but you can move the necessary stations to the top of the list.
To control the music player and FM radio, there are built-in widgets that can be brought to the main screen.
As mentioned above, the Nokia 700 already has a traditional Wi-Fi module for all smartphones that supports b / g / n standards, and you can manage connections through the drop-down menu in the status bar at the top of the screen.
The Nokia 700 uses Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR, which provides a higher data transfer rate if the receiving device supports the same technology - and most modern devices, fortunately, support it.
The smartphone is equipped with micro-USB 2.0 Full Speed, when connected to other devices, you can choose one of several modes of use: PC Suite, Image Print, Media Player, USB Flash drive. When connected to a computer in USB Flash drive mode, both the internal memory of the device with a capacity of 2 GB and a microSD card connected to the phone will be available. Using the USB adapter for micro-USB to the Nokia 700, you can connect other USB devices: flash drives and even hard drives formatted in FAT32.
The RAM capacity of the Nokia 700 is 512 MB.
The Nokia 700 smartphone has a built-in NFC chip, which is supported at the operating system level. Despite the fact that this technology has just begun to gain momentum, now you can send photos, videos and contacts via NFC from one smartphone to another. In addition, Nokia has a number of accessories with NFC support: these are headsets and an external Nokia Play 360 speaker with very high-quality sound. Thanks to new technology, these accessories pair with the Nokia 700 in just a fifth of a second, far ahead of Bluetooth pairing.
Due to its miniature and attractiveness caused by the non-standard design of the device, the Nokia 700 seems to be a female smartphone (perhaps because a smartphone in a red case was used for the review). However, the more you work with him, the more you realize that this is still a pretty serious device that meets a number of user requests - it’s just very stylish.
Such a smartphone, of course, is unlikely to suit geeks, if only because of the small display. But a lot of people who need a phone mainly for calls and for performing other typical functions, this smartphone will delight with new discoveries every day: the little Nokia 700 has gathered a lot of different features thanks to the Nokia Belle OS.
Today we would like to introduce you our new smartphone - Nokia 700 . First of all, I want to note that this device is the smallest smartphone on the market. But, despite its miniature size, the Nokia 700 has a high-quality “iron” component, which, coupled with the Nokia Belle system (and this is the first official smartphone with this OS in Russia), gives high-performance devices. However, first things first! :)
Device design
The slim body is equipped with a 3.2-inch touch screen, a rear camera and an external speaker located on the bottom of the smartphone.
The screen, made using AMOLED ClearBlack technology, shows a juicy and bright picture even in the sun. The display has a resolution of 640x360 pixels, which, with a diagonal of 3.2 inches, shows an excellent density of dots per inch - 229 - so that simple mathematics also confirm the image quality (and you can’t argue against science, as they say). The display is protected by glass created using Gorilla Glass technology.
The speaker is made in the form of a ledge and looks pretty interesting. From a practical point of view, this means that no matter what position the smartphone is in, the sound from the speakers will not overlap - and this affects almost all mobile phones. Above the speakers, there are three hardware keys: for accepting and rejecting a call, and another for calling up the navigation menu. The case thickness is 9.7 millimeters, and the entire smartphone weighs only 92 grams. It's funny to switch to the Nokia 700 to understand that in a jeans pocket it is simply invisible.
The back cover of the smartphone, which hides the battery and the slots for SIM and MicroSD cards, is made of shabby anodized aluminum: this surface leaves a pleasant tactile feel. On the back cover is a 5-megapixel with LED flash, a little recessed into the body - so as not to scratch the surface.
On the right side of the case are quite thin volume control keys, a smartphone lock key, as well as a key for quick activation of the camera. The lock key has a nice feature: if you hold it down for three to four seconds, the LED flash is activated, thus acting as a flashlight. :)
On top of the case are a micro-USB port, a standard 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones, as well as a connector for a charger (while the smartphone also charges perfectly from micro-USB).
Nokia Belle
Of course, the operating system is one of the most important parts of the smartphone. The Nokia Belle, installed on the Nokia 700 smartphone, is the successor to Symbian Anna. However, instead of the next Symbian ^ 3 update, due to a number of fundamental changes, Nokia Belle is sometimes perceived as a completely new OS.
If you were previously familiar with smartphones on Symbian Anna, by launching the Nokia 700 you will first notice the difference in widgets - they have changed in Nokia Belle. Having listened to user comments and following the general development of technologies, the number of widgets in the new OS was increased, and their sizes ceased to be fixed. Thanks to the various sizes of widgets, it has become much easier to customize desktops to fit your needs, increasing the bar for smartphone usability. The number of desktops has doubled compared to Symbian Anna - up to six. And now for each desktop you can set your own background.
Switching between desktops is as smooth as possible. Multitasking also works flawlessly - all thanks to a good optimization of the Nokia Belle OS and a gigahertz processor.
The main screen has a drop-down menu that appears when you slide down from the status line (this is the same panel with the clock and signal reception level). This menu provides access to the most important communication functions of the phone, such as managing WiFi and Bluetooth connections, as well as notifications of missed calls and unread messages.
Mail client
The email client in Nokia Belle has predefined settings for accounts on Gmail, Yandex, Mail.ru, Rambler and a number of other email services that are less common in Russia. In the client settings, it is possible for each account to configure the schedule and frequency of downloading letters. That is, mail can be configured so that it does not bother you at night or on weekends - not all of us are workaholics.
Microsoft Office
At the beginning of next year, Nokia Belle will be available package of business applications from Microsoft. It will include the Lync collective messenger for quick meeting organization, OneNote electronic notes, a client for accessing SharePoint files called Document Connection and PowerPoint Broadcaster, an application for viewing presentations stored on a PC. After some time, the exclusive Word, Excel, and Powerpoint applications will be released exclusively for Belle.
Navigation
As with all Nokia smartphones with GPS, this model has free pedestrian and car navigation. Traditionally, all maps can be loaded into the device’s memory, so navigation can also work offline. But if you want to receive up-to-date information about traffic jams on the roads and plan a route taking them into account (this functionality is currently only available in Moscow), Internet access is still required.
Nokia Navigator has inherited the functions of a full-fledged car navigator. It has step-by-step voice prompts, you can customize the map view, choosing between a top view, 3D, satellite. The maps are overlaid with public transport lines and metro maps.
The smartphone uses A-GPS, so the current location is determined very quickly. For more accurate positioning, a built-in compass is used.
Camera
Due to a change in the OS concept in Nokia Belle, the camera interface has been significantly updated. The buttons for activating the flash and selecting modes were made on the screen, so Nokia 700 owners do not have to open an additional menu to activate these functions.
Due to the small size of the smartphone, the camera uses a conventional 5 MP module without autofocus, made using EDOF technology. Such a camera is ideally suited for video recording: Nokia 700 shoots HD movies with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels and a frequency of 30 fps of excellent quality, while using image stabilization. Such videos are not ashamed to watch not only on the smartphone itself, but also on the computer. The sound of the video is also at its best: thanks to the hardware noise canceler, the sound track of the captured videos does not turn into incoherent noise even in very noisy places.
Multimedia
The Nokia 700 has a music player and video player that has transformed since Symbian Anna, as well as an FM radio with support for RDS stations.
The music player’s interface has changed in accordance with Nokia Belle guides, so the buttons “repeat tracks” and “play tracks randomly” were added to the two standard buttons “back” and “menu”. The player can show large album covers, sorts tracks by name, artist, album. There is a horizontal option for displaying covers - all this is already familiar.
The radio at the first start scans the FM band. Of course, you can register names for found radio stations. There is no way to add your favorite radio stations to your favorites, but you can move the necessary stations to the top of the list.
To control the music player and FM radio, there are built-in widgets that can be brought to the main screen.
Other communications and memory
As mentioned above, the Nokia 700 already has a traditional Wi-Fi module for all smartphones that supports b / g / n standards, and you can manage connections through the drop-down menu in the status bar at the top of the screen.
The Nokia 700 uses Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR, which provides a higher data transfer rate if the receiving device supports the same technology - and most modern devices, fortunately, support it.
The smartphone is equipped with micro-USB 2.0 Full Speed, when connected to other devices, you can choose one of several modes of use: PC Suite, Image Print, Media Player, USB Flash drive. When connected to a computer in USB Flash drive mode, both the internal memory of the device with a capacity of 2 GB and a microSD card connected to the phone will be available. Using the USB adapter for micro-USB to the Nokia 700, you can connect other USB devices: flash drives and even hard drives formatted in FAT32.
The RAM capacity of the Nokia 700 is 512 MB.
NFC Support
The Nokia 700 smartphone has a built-in NFC chip, which is supported at the operating system level. Despite the fact that this technology has just begun to gain momentum, now you can send photos, videos and contacts via NFC from one smartphone to another. In addition, Nokia has a number of accessories with NFC support: these are headsets and an external Nokia Play 360 speaker with very high-quality sound. Thanks to new technology, these accessories pair with the Nokia 700 in just a fifth of a second, far ahead of Bluetooth pairing.
Conclusion
Due to its miniature and attractiveness caused by the non-standard design of the device, the Nokia 700 seems to be a female smartphone (perhaps because a smartphone in a red case was used for the review). However, the more you work with him, the more you realize that this is still a pretty serious device that meets a number of user requests - it’s just very stylish.
Such a smartphone, of course, is unlikely to suit geeks, if only because of the small display. But a lot of people who need a phone mainly for calls and for performing other typical functions, this smartphone will delight with new discoveries every day: the little Nokia 700 has gathered a lot of different features thanks to the Nokia Belle OS.