Nokia Astound and Nokia E7 Smartphone Reviews

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In this cell phone review, we crack open the Nokia Astound and Nokia E7 mobile devices to see what makes them tick.

The Nokia Astound is a good looking and somewhat underperforming smartphone for T-Mobile users.  While not perfect, the Astound is affordable, at $79.99 after rebates and a two-year contract with T-Mobile.

The Astound ships running on the Symbian 3.1 platform.  Symbian 3.1 offers three home screens that can be customized to fit your smartphone's organizational needs.  Another of the platform's highlights is its implementation of single tap functionality throughout its user interface.  This offers some needed uniformity through the interface and adds to the platform's overall user-friendliness.   Other than that, Symbian is pretty basic, and it probably will not impress users with perks or performance found in other mobile operating systems such as Android, iOS, or Windows Phone.

The Astound's basic features include a speakerphone, conference calling, an alarm clock, calculator, calendar, voice recorder, and other organizational tools.  The phone book can store as many contacts as will fit in the phone's memory.  You can enter in various bits of data on each contact, such as their address, email, and more.  Unfortunately, unless you use outside services, you won't get to import contacts from email services and social networking sites.  That's a shame, since many smartphones now feature such contact management.  International travelers will be pleased by the phone's quad-band world roaming capability.

Advanced features of the Nokia Astound begin with stereo Bluetooth, which allows you to use the smartphone with stereo headsets, hands-free car kits, and more.  Voice dialing is also supported.  There's integrated GPS that can be used for turn-by-turn directions and to access local information through Ovi Maps.  You can connect to the internet via T-Mobile's 3G network, or you can use Wi-Fi to access nearby wireless networks.  You can make calls over Wi-Fi, and you can also use the Astound as a Wi-Fi hotspot for other devices.  Voice dialing is another feature supported by the smartphone.

Messaging options on the Astound are solid and should please almost every class of smartphone user.  Text and multimedia messaging is boosted by threaded chat view, which allows users to see chat history in a streamlined fashion.  Instant messaging is available, as is social networking access.  For email, you get POP3 and IMAP support.  Work email can be accessed as well via Exchange or Lotus, and there's a mobile Office suite that gives you a ZIP manager and a PDF reader to handle attachments.

Moving into the Astound's entertainment features, we find plenty for audio fans thanks to a music player and FM radio.  The music player supports various formats.  Video fun can be had through the YouTube app, as well as others.  You can also play games and enjoy other apps on the Astound by visiting the Ovi Store and perusing its full catalog of titles.  The camera features on the Astound are definitely its highlight.  The 8-megapixel camera offers zoom, dual-LED camera flash, face detection, and more.  Besides snapping quality photos, the camera can also shoot video in 720p.  You also get a front-facing camera for video chatting.

Although the astound may be affordable, it definitely looks like a premium phone.  Its metallic color scheme with shiny chrome accents looks solid, and the phone also feels like solid, especially when taking its stainless-steel battery cover into consideration.  Despite its tank-like qualities, the Astound is very sleek, measuring 4.6 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick.  

As with most touch-screen phones, the Nokia Astound's design is dominated by its 3.5-inch AMOLED display.  The display has a 640 x 360 resolution and supplies bright and colorful graphics.  The touch-screen is responsive, and its full keyboard is a plus for messaging fans.  The Astound's minimalist design is a plus, as it has just three physical buttons beneath its display for Talk, End, and the menu.

It seems as if the only thing holding back the Nokia Astound is its operating system, which won't offer you the best interface or performance around.  Still, the phone itself has an impressive design and a nice set of features that should attract users that are not necessarily tied to the idea of an iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone. 

Next: Nokia E7 Smartphone Review >>
 

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