14 DAY TRIAL // One of the latest mid-budget clamshells coming from Nokia, 3710 fold seems to be the direct successor to an older model launched at the end of 2008, the Nokia 3610 fold. Even though both handsets have the same form factor, the latest model looks much more appealing and has received some improved technical features compared with its predecessor.
Nokia 3710 fold has also been reshaped in terms of design and looks very slick and chic. Thanks to its very large keypad and the simplicity of the device, it might be one of the few good-looking mobile phones targeting impaired or older people, even though Nokia hasn't officially stated this. If you are looking for a standard clamshell at a very decent price, I guess Nokia 3710 fold can be an option. We will see below if this option is either good or bad.
Announced in June 2009, Nokia 3710 fold was made available on the market in December 2009 and can be bought for about USD200 without any subscription. Users can choose one of the three available colors: Pink, Plum and Black.
DesignNokia 3710 fold has few things in common with its 3610 fold predecessor in terms of design. As I have already stated above, Nokia 3710 fold looks very stylish and chic, and it seems to be one of those sleek clamshells that attract users that are more interested in looks than in performance. Measuring 89 x 47 x 15.2 mm and weighing 94g (including battery), the clamshell is no larger than a standard business card, when it's not folded. Even if it's a medium-budget phone, Nokia used good-quality plastic at manufacture. The rubber-like material that covers the entire back hood of the phone and surrounds the secondary display in the front part of the phone feels very nice to the touch and helps users get a better grip of the phone.
Another positive aspect about the plastic is the fact that it doesn't attract fingerprints at all and you will have a clean phone at all times. As you can see from the pictures, the secondary display has also been covered by a protective plastic, which has a different color. On the left side of the phone, one can notice a standard microUSB port, as well as a small charging port. The right side of the clamshell features a 2.5mm jack port and a dual volume key, which can also be used to zoom in/out when using the camera. The 3.2 MP camera has been placed on the upper part of the back side of the mobile phone together with a small LED flash. As the phone benefits from the UMTS technology, users will also be able to make video calls thanks to the secondary camera found at the base of the main display. As opposed to its small size when it's closed, as soon as I unfolded the clamshell, I thought it was huge. Comparing the numbers (89mm when closed and 108mm when open), I realized the huge difference, which also shows when you actually have to use the phone. The keypad has very large buttons with much space in between, a fact that made me think about the real target of the phone. The backlighting is even on all of the keypad and pretty intense, so users will have no trouble making calls when they're in darker areas. I have also found the built quality of the clamshell solid enough. The clamshell mechanism doesn't show any sign of weaknesses. Overall, Nokia 3710 fold looks pretty good for a medium-budget handset, but lacks on the ergonomics side when users need to unfold it. Display and CameraNokia 3710 fold benefits from a 2.2-inch TFT display that supports 16M colors and a 240x320-pixel resolution. The secondary TFT display placed on the front part of the device is monochrome, supports a 128x128-pixel resolution and measures 1.36 inches. As the device is a mid-budget phone, the size of the screen doesn't bother too much, but if we think of the possible target (older and impaired people), it may look a little bit small. The colors, contrast, as well as the quality of the image displayed are pretty standard for a Nokia phone, which means they are very good. Add to that the perfect sunlight eligibility and you get an excellent display that can meet any user’s expectations.
The 3.2-megapixel camera embedded in the Nokia 3710 fold has LED flash and an enhanced fixed focus. Unfortunately, the trade-off made but the manufacturer, the enhanced fixed focus over autofocus, doesn't seem to cut it at all. In terms of picture quality, the camera underperforms pretty much with every photo, regardless of the light conditions. The clamshell also lacks a dedicated camera button, but the big D-pad on the keypad can be a very good shutter. The camera interface is standard with the usual features: Effects, White balance, Landscape, Self-timer. The maximum resolution that can be used for pictures is of 1,536x2,048 pixels, while clips can be recorded with a maximum resolution of 320x240 pixels and can be saved in .3gp format. Overall, I cannot rate the performance of the camera too much, for, as you can see from the samples below, this is quite low. Menu and SoftwareNokia 3710 fold runs on an S40 6th Edition interface, which is the latest user interface coming from Nokia. One of the most user-friendly interfaces on the market, the S40 seems unchanged on the surface, and offers the user an excellent experience. Still, there are some tweaks and reshapes, which are taking this experience to a new level. The icons of the menus have been changed, but the 3D animation has been taken off.
The firmware includes the Flash Lite player, but it's only at version 2, as it hasn't been updated to the latest one, 3. Also, MMS has been updated to version 1.3 and message support has been improved to accept 600KB attachments. There is better support for WMA and WMV codecs, the most important improvement embedded in the S40 6th Edition interface of the new web browser. It now includes the Web-kit-based browser that was ported from the Symbian smartphones. The handset has some useful applications, such as Search, Alarm clock, Calendar, To-do list, Notes, Calculator, Countdown timer, World Clock and Stopwatch. The menu is fully customizable and you can designate any MP3, MIDI or AAC file as a ringtone. The phonebook can store up to 2,000 contacts, and each can be filled with up to five different phone numbers. The fonts can be customized, but only those displayed when opening the Contacts, Web browser and messaging sections. Also, some Java games come preinstalled – Bounce Tales, Brain Champ, Seasweeper and Snake III. The phone is compatible with Java MIDP 2.1 applications, but there is a limit to the size of any application that you might want to install on it, and that's the usual 1MB. This might be the case with most Java-compatible applications. CommunicationNokia 3710 fold is fully compatible with GPRS and EDGE Class 32, as well as the 3G networks. Benchmarks revealed that the device underperformed when it came to data-transfer speeds (EDGE 144 Kbit/s download and 79 Kbit/s upload; 3G only 108 Kbit/s download and 263 Kbit/s upload), but that may greatly vary depending on the location and carrier.
The phone also features Bluetooth 2.1 and microUSB 2.0. Synchronization with the PC is possible through the proprietary microUSB port, but charging is also possible through the USB cable. The phone also includes a built-in GPS receiver, together with the free navigation feature and Ovi Maps.In terms of messaging, the gadget accepts standard text messages, MMS 1.3 (600 KB attachments), as well as emails. The message client works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols, and supports more than one email account.
The quad-band (GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network-compatible clamshell has a good GSM signal reception, but fails on the 3G side. The sound is average in quality at both ends, and pretty loud. The vibration alert is average, which means you won't miss too many phone calls if you keep it on the Silent profile.Processor and Memory
The clamshell is powered by an ARM11 family processor running at speeds of up to 369 MHz. While not the fastest phone on the market, Nokia 3710 fold features the same CPU that is usually embedded in some of the best Nokia smartphones. The handset will not lag even when running a music player or radio in the background.
The 3710 fold embeds 70 MB of user free internal memory, which can be expanded to up to 8GB, as it has a microSD card slot. The memory is hot-swappable, but you must pull out the back cover to be able to access the microSD card slot. The sales package also contains a 1GB microSD memory card. MultimediaAs Nokia 3710 fold is not a music phone and does not target those looking for this kind of handsets, I wasn't expecting too many multimedia features, so I wasn't too much disappointed. It only features a 2.5mm jack port together with some poorly wired stereo headset (WH-101). But, with the help of a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter, you will be able to enjoy a better sound by putting in better headphones.
The clamshell has a cool, integrated MP3 player, compatible with MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA formats. The interface of the MP3 player looks decent and benefits from a few basic settings such as the Equalizer, Stereo widening, Shuffle and Repeat. The Equalizer can be customized, or you can use the predefined settings: Normal, Pop, Rock, Jazz and Classical. The lack of music-dedicated external keys can be replaced by a Bluetooth headset, as the phone supports the A2DP profile. The small loudspeaker on the back sounds average in intensity, but it clearly lacks any sort of bass. There's also an FM radio with the RDS function that can replace the music player. BatteryThe 860 mAh Li-Ion (BL-4S) battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 288 hours (288 hours on 3G) in standby and of about four hours (three hours on 3G) in talk-time mode. Also, Nokia stated that the battery had also a 24-hour autonomy when used only as an MP3 player. Unfortunately, after one week of testing it, I was disappointed by the battery autonomy, as I needed to recharge the phone after two days even if I didn't use it too much. Basically, if a soft user needs to charge it once every two-three days, this means a very low battery autonomy.
ImpressionsEven if it has some flaws and negative points in design or performance, I still think Nokia 3710 fold can be a good choice should the Finnish manufacturer decides to bring in some software updates. As a phone targeting impaired or older people, it might be one of the best choices, but, for others, perhaps this would not be enough, taking into consideration the small screen, low battery autonomy as well as the underperforming camera.
The Good
The Bad
Sales Package
Nokia 3710 fold handset; Nokia High Efficiency Charger AC-8; 860 mAh Nokia Battery BL-4S; Nokia Stereo Headset WH-101; 1GB microSD card.
