The Nokia 701 is the new business device from Nokia coming with the Symbian Belle. Earlier it was known as the Nokia Helen. Its design is very similar to that of the Nokia C7-00, but the specs of the device and the software are very different. I must firstly note that it’s working on the latest OS from Symbian, which strongly differs from the previous generation of smartphones. In addition to this, the Nokia 701 comes to be one of the first devices from Nokia using the latest version of codenaming.
The specs of the Nokia 701 include:
Network: GSM / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Operating system : Symbian Belle
CPU Speed : 1GHz
Screen : 3.5 inch, 640 x 360 pixel, LCD ClearBlack
Camera : 8 megapixels, LED backlit, fixed focus, HD video smka
Memory : 8 GB internal memory, expandable through memory card Micro SD
Connectivity : Wi-Fi b / g / n, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS, NFC, compass
Battery : 1300 mAh, BL-5K,
Size : 117.3 x 56, 8 x 11 mm
Weight: 131 gram
Operating system : Symbian Belle
CPU Speed : 1GHz
Screen : 3.5 inch, 640 x 360 pixel, LCD ClearBlack
Camera : 8 megapixels, LED backlit, fixed focus, HD video smka
Memory : 8 GB internal memory, expandable through memory card Micro SD
Connectivity : Wi-Fi b / g / n, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS, NFC, compass
Battery : 1300 mAh, BL-5K,
Size : 117.3 x 56, 8 x 11 mm
Weight: 131 gram
Unboxing
The Nokia 701 comes in a box with only a few accessories, which is the typical package for most of the latest Nokia devices. The box includes handsets, typical charger (no wireless charging accessories unfortunately) and USB cable. The rest of the accessories need to be purchased separately. The simplicity of the box is also reasoned by the fact that the device will come at somewhat higher price and thus there’s no need to add more accessories, which will raise the price of the box even more.
Design
The device is quite thin. It’s not among those less than 10mm devices, but still 11mm is not a big deal. The Nokia 701 is partially made of elastic plastic. This means it’s not that heavy. The only component, where the device is made of metal is the back part. The battery is covered with a special detachable metal piece, which makes it comfortable in touch and easy in changing the battery.
The edges of the handset are pretty rounded. This gives the handset a somewhat childish appearance, though I would say round edges are great anyway.
The smartphone is the “greenest” handset in the company’s portfolio. The device is made of “green” materials, as well as plastic and metal, which can be decomposed by microorganisms. This is a good step towards attracting customers who prefer “green” lifestyle.
The device comes in 4 different colors: Steel Dark, Silver Light, Amethyst Violet and White.
Display
“The brightest display in the world today.” This is how the representatives of the company introduce the handset to public. And they’re not mistaken because the display of the new phone comes with an innovative technology. It’s built on the IPS ClearBlack technology, which provides the best display experience among the high-end devices. The resolution of the display is not that large, reaching 360 x 640 pixels with a diagonal of 3.5 inches, this is good enough for the smartphones of this class. The display of the Nokia 701 is larger than the display of the devices of the same series, that is the Nokia 600 and the Nokia 700. It’s also protected by Gorilla Glass technology.
Hardware
Just like other smartphones based on Symbian Belle, the Nokia 701 runs on a 1 GHz single-core processor, has Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, chipset, GPS, 3,5-mm jack, Micro USB connector (USB2.0), accelerometer, ambient light sensors and proximity. The built-in memory of the device is 8 GB; in addition there is a slot for microSD memory card up to 32GB. The main improvement in the hardware is the GPU. Its performance has been increased four-fold compared with the previous generation of Symbian phones.
Camera
The camera of the Nokia 701 is simply great. It’s an 8 megapixel one, which is the latest trend among the high-end devices of its class. The camera allows to shoot pictures with a resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. The video capturing capabilities allow to shoot videos in HD format (720p). The camera comes with Dual LED flash but unfortunately autofocus is missing. Nevertheless, for a camera like this the lack of the autofocus cannot be regarded as a disadvantage.
The handset is also using a front VGA camera designed for video chatting.
Battery
The device comes with a 1300 mAh battery. At first glance it’s too weak for such a smartphone. But as the company says, it provides 17 hours of talk time and 71 hours of music playback, which is not bad. At any moment the battery of the handset can be replaced.
Software
The device comes with the possibility to support multiple homescreens coming with their individual wallpapers. The choice of the widgets is not that large, but obviously the basic widgets have gone through interesting changes and you can always get more of them from Ovi Store.
The handset comes with the latest version of Nokia Maps. The application will allow to have free-offline worldwide voice navigation, including such territories as the U.S.
The device comes with the same virtual keyboard option, which is basic for all Symbian Anna devices. This is something great, as the keyboard is quite large and allows to have a great typing experience. In addition to it, there’s a predictive text input feature, which helps avoid making too many typing errors.
The rest of the interesting apps and features of the Nokia 701 include NFC support, SNS Integration, Photo editor and organizer.
Symbian Belle
At the moment the Nokia 701 is running Symbian Belle. But the manufacturer got this version of the Symbian OS to the handset as an update as originally the smartphone used Symbian Anna. Now we have the last version of the Symbian operating system. It has gone through a list of improvements compared with Symbian Anna. A set of applications for Symbian Belle will include a number of programs from Microsoft, including Microsoft PowerPoint Broadcast, Microsoft Lync 2010 Mobile, Microsoft OneNote and Microsoft Document Connection.
Symbian Belle adds contextual navigational buttons, which used to be the prerogative of MeeGo- Harmattan. It includes typical back, search and context buttons, which are being modernized by the page you are in adding something like attachment button while writing an email.
Pros
- Bright display
- Small dimensions
- Symbian Belle OS
Cons
- Fixed-camera not supporting macro shots
- Default browser has some bugs
Conclusion
The specs of the smartphone are also amazing. It has a great 8 megapixel camera (it’s the best option and will be the best until the time Nokia releases a 12 megapixel camera), noise cancellation option, Nokia Maps and Symbian Belle. Let’s say this is currently one of the best options available on the market.
