Nokia 701 preview: First look

Introduction

The Nokia 701 is the torch bearer in a generation shift for Symbian. Belle is a bold stylistic step forward and the Nokia 701 is the first in a trio of phones that will introduce it to the world. The Nokia R&D team left nothing to chance with this one - proven design, a brilliant screen and a 1GHz processor.

Nokia 701 official photos

The 701 is based on the C7. The styling must be a Nokia favorite as they reused it in the gold-plated Oro too. As long as it's the same solid and fairly slim, alloy body we're not complaining.

The Nokia 701 enjoys solid hardware upgrade too. A 1GHz CPU coupled with 512MB RAM is much more than what the lightweight Symbian OS is used to and the 1,000 nit display outshines competing screens.

Not everything has changed though, here's the overview.

Nokia 701 at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar
• Dimensions: 115.5 x 59 x 10.5 mm, 87 cc; 133 g
• Display: 3.5" 16M-color nHD ClearBlack TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen; 1,000 nits of brightness
• Memory: 8GB of storage, 1GB ROM, microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
• OS: Symbian Belle OS
• CPU: 1GHz processor; 512 MB RAM
• Camera: 8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash, geotagging
• Video recording: 720p video recording @ 30fps (stereo sound)
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, microUSB port with USB on-the-go, 3.5mm audio jack, GPS receiver with A-GPS
• Misc: NFC support, accelerometer, Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM radio transmitter, proximity sensor, TV-Out (SD)
• Battery: 1300 mAh Li-Ion battery; up to 17 hours talk time (!!) and up to 3 days of music playback

The next generation ClearBlack display is based on the IPS LCD technology and promises amazing brightness and 160-degree viewing angles. It's also protected by the popular Gorilla Glass, so you don't have to worry about scratches ruining your viewing experience.

NFC will be a major part of the Nokia experience (they have plans to start enabling it on all their devices) and that, of course, includes the 701. It's a great addition to the connectivity set, which is brimming with features already.

Nokia 701 in our office

Now, get your old maps ready. Our usual hardware tour begins and we've got the feeling we'll be playing "spot the differences" all the way through.