Nokia 2710 Navigation Edition Review
Posted on 03. Jan, 2010 by admin in Phones
Source: (blog.rightmobilephone.co.uk)
Nokia have been having a bit of a hard time recently. For many years the undisputed kings of mobile, in recent months bloggers and tech press have been having a bit of a dig at Nokia, criticising their seeming lack of innovation as the iPhone and Android devices steal the limelight, leaving Nokia handsets looking rather old and tired when compared to the new breed. But Nokia do have some core strengths that shouldn’t be ignored, and one of those strengths is they have a happy knack of producing low cost, well featured, easy to use devices that just sell. Mobile is a global market, and in the developing nations Nokia are working hard producing handsets that bring technology to the masses for an affordable price.
One such device that fits this description is the Nokia 2710 Navigation Edition. Due to market in either late Q1 or early Q2 2010, the 2710 is designed to bring GPS features in a low cost handset, offering access to a wide audience the excellent Nokia Maps service. Nokia Maps is one of those offerings that really helps differentiate Nokia from rival manufacturers, easy to use and affordable to own.
The first thing you notice when looking at the 2710 is that, for a navigation device, the screen is rather small, at just 2.2 inches. But the 2710 is not designed to replace an in car SatNav device, but to rather compliment any existing setup, and ideally be used for quick and easy navigation and location in urban areas. The 2710 comes with a full lifetime license for the Nokia Maps service, so once the handset has been purchased, there are no other ongoing costs other than line rental and calls. The device is slim, and will easily fit into a shirt pocket, weighing as it does just 87g, and measuring 111 x 46 x 14mm.
A standard candybar design handset, the Nokia 2710 looks like a lot of recent Nokia handsets, with two soft option menu keys directly under the display, under which there are the send/end keys, which surround the traditional 5 way navigation key. The one difference to most other devices is the inclusion of a shortcut key that means with one press you are instantly online with maps, ready to navigate. The 2710 runs on S40, the OS that powers a large majority of Nokia’s mid range, non smartphone devices, an OS that is a bit light on eye candy but is simple to navigate and pretty reliable and stable.
Although Maps is the major feature on the 2710, there is a little more to the device than just this. Onboard we find a standard 2.0 Megapixel camera, with video record option, plus a media player with support for multiple formats for both video and music playback. Internal memory on the phone is set to 64MB, but this can be expanded with the option of a MicroSD memory card, with the 2710 able to handle memory cards up to 16GB in size. A 3.5mm audio output jack is included on the phone, and the music features on the phone are complimented by the addition of a stereo FM radio.
In keeping with the low cost aim of the 2710, connectivity options are rather limited. A quad band GSM handset, the phone offers data transfer via GPRS or EDGE, there is no 3G nor WiFi. With this in mind, any navigation usage will be best served if maps are downloaded to the device via a PC in advance, rather than relying on streaming the maps when out and about. Bluetooth 2.0 is included on the phone, for easy connection wirelessly to a PC, alternatively there is support for Micro USB data cable.
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All round the Nokia 2710 is a rather ordinary device, save for the full maps inclusion. Yet what it does offer it does well, and although the small screen can appear a bit washed out, the navigation on the handset works well. Nokia may have had a bit of bad press recently, but they still know how to churn out handsets that will sell, and whilst the all singing all dancing handsets may grab the headlines it is the ordinary run of the mill devices that will sell in numbers. It is catering for emerging markets with well featured handsets that has stood Nokia in good stead in recent year, and despite a hard year, they are still the number one phone manufacturer in the world, and by some margin.
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Nokia 2710 Navigation Edition Review
