Nokia recently hosted a little preview of their upcoming phones – the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800. Both running Windows Phone 7, it was quite a refreshing experience to be using a Nokia on a totally new platform (which by itself provides a very unique experience).

Nokia Lumia 800
Available in 3 colours – Cyan, Magenta and Black, the Lumia 800 features an 3.7inch AMOLED Clearback curved display. Running on a 1.4 GHz processor, 512MB programme memory and 16GB internal user memory, I had a really good impression of its performance and responsiveness. (But let me declare that I’ve been on an Android and BlackBerry devices for most of the past 2.5 years so you know where I’m coming from) It will also come with 25GB of SkyDrive storage.

Design
Measuring at 116.5mm x 61.2mm x 12.1mm and weighing 142g, it feels quite solid in the hands. Although some say that it feels somewhat ‘heavy’, I think I have a preference for devices with a solid feel because it makes me feel more assured that it’s not going to snap so easily if I put it my pocket.

Performance
I really love how responsive the screen is — It’s so fluid and the colours on the screen are so vibrant. I’m not sure if this is because of the hardware or because of Windows Phone 7, but it’s impressive anyway.

Connectivity
WLAN 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS, micro-USB connector and charging, 3.5mm AHJ connector, Accelerometer, Proximity, Magnetometer, ALS

Battery Life
The Lumia 800 has a 1450mAh battery that’s expected to give you a talktime of up to 13hrs (GSM) or 9.5hrs (WCDMA). Standby time is up to 265hrs/335hrs(GSM/WCDMA). If you’re the sort who plays lots of music on the phone, the Lumia 800 will give you a playback time of up to 55hrs.

Camera
It has a 8MP auto-focus Carl Zeiss with an LED Flash.

Pricing & Availability
The Nokia Lumia 800 will be available by year end. No dates or pricing have been released yet.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Nokia Lumia 710
The most unique feature about this phone is probably that it allows for exchangeable back covers – black or white front(fixed) with black/white/cyan/fuchsia/yellow back covers. Designed for instant social and image sharing

Design
The Lumia 710 measures 119mm x 62.4mm x 12.5mm and feels more plastic (it’s made out of a polycarbonate shell), but it feels very light. With the option to change the back cover to various colours, it’s really nice if you’re the sort who wants to have a different look for your phone everytime you head out.

Performance
Equipped with the same 1.4GHz processor as the Lumia 800, it too is very responsive.

Connectivity
WLAN 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS, micro-USB connector and charging, 3.5mm AHJ connector

Battery Life
It has a 1300mAh battery which gives a talktime of up to 6.9hrs(GSM)/7.6hrs(WCDMA), standby time of up to 400hrs or music playback of up to 38hrs.

Camera
A rear facing 5MP auto-focus camera with an LED Flash.

Pricing & Availability
The Nokia Lumia 710 will also be available by year end. No dates or pricing have been released yet.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Nokia Specific Apps/Services
Both the Lumia 710 and 800 will come with The Nokia Music Store(where users can preview songs and purchase music), Nokia Drive(a full turn by turn navigation system) and Nokia Maps(where users can check for directions as well as find out what places you can go to within the area.

Ridzuan Ashim
Starting and maintaining Ridz.sg aside, Ridzuan is Co-Founder of Senseless Labs – A software solutions company currently focused on building mobile-based Marketing and CRM solutions. He has been dabbling in both web and mobile development since 2003. His interests include how technology can be used to improve the human condition, poverty alleviation through sustainable development, education and microfinancing.