Nokia's Supernova series continues to grow each year with various handsets usually targeting people looking for a stylish mid-budget mobile phone. The series already features five models, but other Supernovas are in the making, which will probably be seen on the market this year. While not the latest launched, Nokia 7210 can be considered one of the highlights of the series because of its design and price. If you're not used to see slim Nokia handsets, then you'll be surprised to check out Nokia 7210 Supernova.
Announced in June 2008, Nokia 7310 Supernova was made available on the market in September the same year. The handset can be acquired for no more than US$150, without any plan. Prices may vary by location and carrier, so chances are high that you'll be able to get it for under US$150. The phone is available in a wide range of colors: Bubble Gum Pink, Vivid Blue, Graphite, Passionate Purple.
Design
Nokia 7210 Supernova is one of the nice surprises coming from the Finnish handset manufacturer, in terms of design. If you're looking for a cheap, stylish and slim mobile phone, then this is one of the Nokia's I would recommend. I held in my hand the Bubble Gum Pink, but the pink color was only applied on the stripe that frames the devices and on the keys. The white/pink combination looks extremely cool for a girl. Still, there are other nice color combinations for you to decide upon. The phone is made of plastic, very well polished, nice to the touch, with no sense of cheapness. Even if it's not one of those under 10mm thickness handsets, its measures (106 x 45 x 10.6mm) make it one of the slimmest phones made by Nokia.
Display and Camera
Nokia 7210 Supernova features a very small 2 inch TFT display, supporting 262k color and 240x320 pixel resolution. Besides its small size, I had trouble trying to distinguish something on the screen when outdoors in strong light. Sadly, the quality of the image displayed is well under the standards that Nokia usually offers to its customers. Browsing on such a small screen, almost unreadable under the sunlight, is another big issue of the handset.
Menu and Software
Nokia 7310 Supernova classic runs on a S40 5th Edition interface with Feature Pack 1, which is the latest user-interface coming from Nokia. If you have owned a Nokia handset before and it didn't have a Symbian OS, then this candy-bar will probably feel the same. One of the most user-friendly interfaces on the market, the S40 seems unchanged on the surface, and offers the Nokia 7310 Supernova user an excellent experience. The phone's firmware include Flash 3.0, animated menus, submenus and icons.
The handset also includes 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 ringtone. Nokia's integrated browser has trouble in opening websites with rich image content, so I suggest using Opera Mini.
Also, some Java games come preinstalled – Bubble Bash, Seasweeper, Sudoku 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 the phone, and that's the usual 1MB. This might be the case for most Java compatible applications, but I noticed that I could run some files that were around 1.5MB in size. Nevertheless, not all Java applications will work on this mid-end device, so you might want to try that out for yourselves.
Communications
Nokia 7210 Supernova is fully compatible with GPRS and EDGE Class 32, but as benchmarks revealed, the device attained average scores in terms of data transfer speed (EDGE only 114 Kbit/s download and 57 Kbit/s upload), but that may greatly vary depending on the location and carrier.
Processor and Memory
Nokia 7210 Supernova isn't compatible with JBenchmark Pro, so I was forced to use the obsolete JBenchmark 1.0, 2.0, 3D and HD. Even if current devices are over-optimized against many of these old tests, I say that the results are pretty relevant if compared with other devices in its range.
Nokia 7210 Supernova is most likely powered by an ARM9 family processor running at speeds of up to 220 MHz. While not the fastest phone on the market, Nokia 7210 Supernova won't lag more than its class competitors when browsing through the menus.
The Nokia 7210 Supernova bar phone embeds 30MB user free internal memory, which can be expanded as the phone features a microSD slot card. The memory is hot-swappable, but you must pull out the back cover to notice the microSD slot card.
Multimedia
I was surprised to discover a new Stereo headset for this Supernova model – WH-501, manufactured in Vietnam. The wired earpieces are white and sound pretty good. Unfortunately, there's no 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter included in the sales package, so you won't be able to change the headphones.
Battery
The 860 mAh Li-Ion (BL-4CT) battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 250 hours in standby and about two hours in talk time mode. If you're a heavy phone-talker, I don't recommend this phone at all. It will need daily or two-day charging for sure. This phone is only for soft usage. Sadly, the low talk time of the device will surely prevent many potential buyers from getting one.
Impressions
At first glance, I was thrilled by the 7210 Supernova look, but after using it for a while, I found out that its design is the only thing above average. Nokia 7210 Supernova is a phone made to target youngsters with a low-budget, looking for a trendy phone. If you're not one of these, then this handset is not for you.
The Good
The Bad
Sales package
Nokia 7210 Supernova handset 860mAh Li-Ion Nokia Battery BL-4CT Nokia Compact Charger AC-3 Nokia Stereo Headset WH-501 User Guide.