फोन्स.कॉम » Cell Phones » Review of the Nokia 2710 Navigation Edition

This 87g unit is a lightweight and stands at 111.2 x 45.7 x 13.7mm. It's got more extra peripherals than most phones. The Nokia 2710 comes with its own suction-cup car holder and car charger, on top of the usual 3.5mm headphones, compact charger (no charging support), and USB-to-microUSB cable.

Nokia 2710 has 3 color covers: black, silver and white silver. The phone is all plastic, which makes it handy and catches no fingerprints. The strong screen and keypad backlights are a refreshing take, as most modern smartphones have poor sunlight legibility. This one is good indoors and out.

The top part of the unit is lined with 2 holes, for the headphones and charger. The lanyard eyelet is on the top corner. The left panel has the miscroUSB port and card slot, which can handle up to 16GB microSD cards. The right side has the lonesome camera key.

The screen is quite small for a navigator. It measures 2.2" and with no accelerometer, everything is on portrait mode, including maps. Below the screen are two soft slit keys, underneath them are the Call and End keys, and the D-pad in the middle. Right next to the D-pad is rectangular key with a plus sign Maps button. Below is the standard keypad with 12 buttons.

The 2MP camera and loudspeaker can be found at the back side of Nokia 2710. The no frills camera bares no flash, but it looks sleek with a bordered metallic strip around it, extending to both ends of the back panel. The Li-Ion 1020 mAh battery, along with the SIM card slot underneath it, can be found upon removal of the battery cover. This design is reminiscent of the old Nokia models, long before the touchscreens and smartphones.

Nokia 2710 Navi runs on an S40 6th edition UI. The homescreen or standby screen can utilize pre-installed wallpapers for some background decor. User interface settings consist of rearrangement of the icons into smaller sizes, or aligning them in rows. For all the simplicity, it's perfect for a no fuss phone focused on its best feature, navigation.

The phonebook can pack 2000 contacts, and it makes use of its navigating functions. Contacts' addresses can be determined via Ovi Maps. Users can save favourite locations, which can be exported or sent through MMS.

One cool feature of the Nokia 2710 is that there's no need to exit the navigation app when the user makes a call or SMS. The lack of a document viewer may pose as a problem for some. This reduces multi-tasking opportunities for the phone. The basics are pretty much covered, like the clock, and the organizer cluster of the calculator, alarm clock, notes, stopwatch, and converter, among others.

Nokia 2710 can send SMS, MMS, and emails. The email client supports SSL and works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols. Though a conservative type of 12-button keypad is the only option for messaging, it will definitely click well for trained single or double-thumb texters, still popular across all demographics.

No one should expect much from a 2MP camera phone. The shots are suitable only for some reference photos or if there's no decent camera around. It's not good for budding amateur photographers. The phone gallery presents a simple browsing process. A grid of the most recent 12 photos can be viewed one at a time, with an option for portrait or landscape viewing.

The music player is fully functional, with all the basic needs to play your tunes. Song browsing is set according to artist, album, and genre. The downside is that there are no hardware volume keys. To adjust the volume, the user must be in the music player app and alter it there. The radio serves frequency-detected FM stations. RDS support is onboard. Users can select available stations in the area and save them.

Forget about the video player. It can only manage 3GP and MP4 formats. The small screen makes it difficult to enjoy watching any streaming. On the bright side, the browser of choice for the Nokia 2710 is the Opera Mini 4.2. It packs an image compressor which speeds up the time on loading and saves data charges.

Limited games are pre-installed on the Nokia 2710, but these are far less boring than the usual game packages. The Rally 3D, Sudoku and Block'd games are quite unique and entertaining enough to pass the time.

The special Ovi Store is integrated in the phone. Users can choose a selected app or category, with designated prices and ratings. These apps range from entertainment, to games, to video content, among others. Ovi Share allows user to share own images, videos or audio files.

Nokia 2710 Navi can connect through Bluetooth, and offers quad-band GSM/EDGE connection. The star element of the phone remains to be the built-in GPS receiver navigation. An added attribute is the digital compass which allows map auto-rotation. It needs to be calibrated first, which involves turning the phone around until it finds its bearings. Although the compass needs to pass through this process, over and over, each time it's used, it's still cool and unique, and can be useful too.

Loud and crisp sound and signal reception give props to Nokia 2710. No problems with calls and audio clarity. The loudspeaker proves to be decent. However, try not to lay it down face up, as the loudspeaker at the back will give a bit of a muffled sound.

The unit's vibration (if set to vibrate) is also strong. Audio, in terms of playing music, is just right when using the headphones.

Battery life is efficient. After a full charge, it remains full even after 2 days of use.

The cost for the Nokia 2710 Navi Edition is priced fairly. It's certainly much cheaper than getting a full-pledged SatNav for your car. For the same cost, more advanced and high-ended phones are priced at the same range, but the Navi sells a diverse concept other than the usual camera phone or web surfing phone. It's a telephony and navigator, which gives it special credit. Especially, if only to try, the digital compass.