Nokia Lumia 610 review

Introduction

According to recent estimates Nokia’s smartphone sales could really use a boost. The Finns are putting most of their hopes on the WP flagship Lumia 900 and the Symbian 808 PureView cameraphone, but the one we’re about to review might come in quite handy too.

The Nokia Lumia 610 is a simple phone with a simple goal: make the Windows Phone experience even more accessible. This basic smartphone is priced to not gather dust on the shelves and you can guess the features aren’t exactly top notch. But this is where the Lumia 610 is perhaps more fortunate than its expensive siblings. It must be harder for the likes of the Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 to get away with some of the platform’s limitations.

Nokia Lumia 610 Specification

The Lumia 610 looks a lot like the 710 on the outside, but has less-capable hardware inside. Now, that means even tighter limits on what the phone can do but it’s an entry-level smartphone after all. Focusing on what you get rather than on what’s missing is the right attitude in this price range. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do in the following lists.

Main disadvantages

• Some apps are incompatible due to low RAM
• No Flash or Silverlight support in browser
• No USB mass storage (Zune-only file management and sync)
• No video calls and no front-facing camera
• No memory card slot
• microSIM card slot
• No native DivX/XviD support, videos have to be Zune-transcoded
• No HD recording or playback, due to hardware limitations
• Will probably be stuck on this Windows Phone version for good

The long list of cons might ring a lot of bells and, if you are familiar with the Windows Phone OS you already know most of them are platform-wide limitations. On the other hand, familiarity with the OS most probably takes you off the list of potential Lumia 610 targets. It’s rather a beginner’s smartphone, one that will introduce you to WP7 if you’re ready to move on from feature phones.

Gallery

Users with no smartphone experience are less likely to be concerned about the amount of RAM. In fact, people with some experience with older Symbian will see nothing wrong with 256MB. What it actually means is there’s no HD video recording and playback. Some apps, like Skype and Angry Birds will not run due to insufficient memory, but you should be getting the same solid set of features for the most part.

What the Lumia 610 offers is a low-cost Windows Phone experience. It seems perfectly suited for emerging markets, where Nokia should have built a strong customer base of potential first-time smartphone users by now. Carriers on the old continent will most certainly be interested in the Lumia 610

Conclusion

Making Windows Phone more accessible was one of the goals Nokia set out to achieve when the deal with Microsoft was sealed. Well, it took the Finns only five months after the release of their first Microsoft-powered smartphones, to come up with the Lumia 610, which is ready to challenge the Windows Phone definition of affordable.

Considering that the Nokia Lumia 610 is a first attempt, and essentially a conscious downgrade, the end result is pretty solid. The smartphone behaves way smoother than its spec sheet suggests. Sure, heavy apps like Nokia Drive take a while to load but the overall speed and response are good. Surprisingly good, to be fair.

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