Review: Nokia Lumia 710 for T-Mobile USA
Screen
The Lumia 710's display measures 3.7 inches and includes the standard 480 x 800 pixels of all Windows Phones. It uses Nokia's ClearBlack technology and looks really, really good. I'm particularly impressed by the high contrast ratio, which lets blacks look really black and whites look really white. Colors also appear bright and warm. As for resolution, the pixel count and screen size make for a really sharp display that is free of individually-visible pixels.
Signal
The Lumia 710 uses T-Mobile USA's 2G EDGE and 3G/4G HSPA+ (at 14.4 Mbps) networks. During my signal tests, the 710 routinely held onto three or four bars of coverage no matter where I took it. It passed the NJ vault test (my local supermarket), though it did lose coverage in my basement, which happens with T-Mobile phones from time to time. The Lumia 710 was able to make calls as long as the signal indicator showed at least one bar, but if it dropped to zero bars (but still showed a network connection) it couldn't make calls. The 710 didn't drop any calls during my review period. Data speeds were mostly good, though not as fast as T-Mobile's HSPA+ 21 and HSPA+ 42 devices.
Sound
Nokia' reputation as a maker of fine phones remains intact. The Nokia Lumia 710 is an outstanding voice phone. I haven't heard calls this clear in ages. There was absolutely zero background noise, and voices sounded bright and clean through the earpiece. My only complaint is that the earpiece isn't quite as loud as it should be. It's good, but just short of great with respect to volume. The speakerphone is loud enough, but loses some of the clarity. It's also prone to a bit of distortion if you turn it all the way up. Even with the distortion, however, the Lumia 710's speakerphone sounds very good. The ringtones and alerts were loud enough to rouse me from my deepest slumber when I forgot to silence the 710 at night. They'll be loud enough to wake you from the dead, too. The vibrate alert is acceptable.
Battery
The Lumia 710's battery performed as well as any other smartphone battery, if not somewhat better than much of the competition. With email, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all tugging at the internet, and the Wi-Fi and GPS radios active, the 710 blasted through 36 hours of battery life easily, and often held onto a charge for 48 hours. You can probably get away with charging it every other night, but you ought to keep an eye on the battery meter the second day.
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