Nokia X7 mobile review

One of a pair of Symbian smartphones, the Nokia X7 (along with the Nokia E6) are the first such devices to be announced since Nokia told the world that they would start to shift to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform in future.
The entertainment focussed Nokia X7 is certainly an interesting device, and if you’re a Nokia fan it’s almost definitely something that you will want to get your hands on. But, if you’re shopping around for a general smartphone then the X7 might not be your first choice.

There are couple of striking things about the design – firstly the unit has an unusual tapering at the top and bottom that perhaps not everyone will like, but it does mean that it isn’t a boring slab design at least. The second is the large 4″ touchscreen display, similar to the one on the Nokia E7. In fact, the X7 can pretty much be regarded as a keyboardless E7 when it comes to overall hardware specifications.

It looks like a high-end device, but compared to the competition it really isn’t. That 4″ AMOLED display looks impressive, but the resolution is only 360 x 640 pixels, well short of the 480 x 800 pixel type panels that similarly sized rivals have. And although we are not 100% certain, we think that this shares the same 680 MHz ARM11 CPU found in the E7.. and despite the highly efficient Symbian OS, this isn’t really a patch on the 1GHz+ (and sometimes dual-core) processors found elsewhere.

It’s a heavy device at 146 grams, but then there is a high quantity of steel in the case design plus a Gorilla Glass window on the screen to protect it from damage. It’s not too big though, measuring 120 x 63 x 12mm and inside is a fair sized 1200 mAh battery quoted as giving 4.5 hours talktime on 3G and 18 days standby.

The X7 is a 3.5G device with download speeds of up to 10.2 Mbps on HSDPA and 2.0 Mbps uploads on HSUPA. It supports all major 3G bands, plus quad-band GSM and 802.11b, g and n WiFi.

On the back is an 8 megapixel camera capable of 720p video capture at 25 fps. There’s an FM radio, GPS plus an updated version of Ovi Maps, a microSD slot (an 8GB card is supplied in the standard sales package) and Bluetooth. There’s a connectivity cable and stereo wired headset in the box too.

The software has been given a significant upgrade, with a new version of Symbian called “Anna” which will also become available on the N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 handsets. This is a more polished OS than before, with more features to support social networking and collaboration tools. The X7 also comes with Asphalt 5 HD and Galaxy on Fire HD pre-installed, plus a load of other applications available from the Ovi store.
Priced at €380 before tax and subsidy, the Nokia X7 comes in at the same price point as the HTC Desire S. The Nokia has a better camera, larger screen and a more interesting case design, but the HTC has a much higher resolution panel, a faster processor and the advantage of the huge number of applications available in the Android Market. We suspect that given a choice between these two phones, most potential customers would choose the HTC.
Nokia say that the X7 should be available during Q2 2011 in dark steel and light steel colour schemes.