Nokia 7610 Supernova review

When the Finnish giant Nokia announced the Supernova range back in June, it claimed it wanted to “let consumers express their personal styles on a number of levels ranging from stylish designs, to personalisation through vibrantly hued exchangeable covers.”

The vibrantly hued exchangeable covers we received with our review 7610 Supernova – courtesy of Virgin Mobile - were of the red and ‘steel’ blue variety. The blue one was already attached and trying to get it off to sort out the SIM and change the cover was like trying to steal candy from the giant sized baby in Honey I Blew up the Kids. Much like the film, it was also quite painful to watch.

After reading the instructions printed on the box itself and in the handbook and despite prodding and poking the casing for the best part of half an hour we were still none the wiser. At one point, the phone’s innards nearly came off with the back casing. Thankfully, after finding the tool no reviewer should be without – a biro – we managed to get the casing off without breaking anything.

Once we’d overcome the casing debacle, attention was turned to the rest of the phone’s aesthetics. At just 99g with dimensions of 48x15x98mm, this slider handset is pretty compact and lightweight.

The 2-inch QVGA screen (320x240 pixel resolution and supporting up to 16.7 million colours) is ample and we found the mirrored screen (which becomes a normal screen when in use) a bit quirky although highly prone to greasy finger marks. We can imagine it’ll have the magpie effect for those who apply lipstick several times an hour, however.

Alas, the keypad is cumbersome to text due to the fact that the keys (particularly on the right-hand side) kept dipping into the recess. Textaholics beware: This keypad is likely to make you very angry.

Nokia also reckons that the new range evokes “the allure of the latest statement handbags or must-have sunglasses.” We’re not sure where you buy your handbags or sunglasses but we’d advise you to call in Trinny and Susannah for a bit of a makeover ASAP.

We’ve reviewed quite a few high-end handsets in recent months so, unfortunately, we’re looking at this handset with higher expectations than perhaps we should. Having said that, the 7610 isn’t overtly marketed as a budget handset (it's free on even the lowest monthly price plans) which means we’re within our rights to be slightly disappointed.

On the bright side, and to be fair, there’s nothing really we fervently disliked about the 7610 Supernova’s features.

The 3.2-megapixel camera isn’t going to win any awards – especially with bigger megapixel boys currently on the block – but it’s not bad either and boasts a dual LED flash, auto focus and 8x digital zoom. Our only real gripe camera-wise is the fact that the screen's a tad misleading prior to taking pictures, making our subject appear a bit dull and grainy. Thankfully, the final photos are clear and fairly good quality given the stats. Video recording is a simple process and there aren't any complaints in terms of quality.
  
The dedicated music player key on the right of the handset is a useful addition from a non-music centric handset and the bundled headphones – although not the coolest-looking buds on the market - deliver top notch quality sound even at a fairly low level of volume.

The rest of the UI (the phone is running 5th gen S40) was pretty easy to use and navigate if a little basic compared to other handsets on the market. That said, browsing the web is fairly pain free thanks to EDGE and we think the bundled ‘Collections’ folder of applications like a clothes/shoe size converter and Flickr shortcut button are likely to prove big hits amongst the so-called YouTube generation who like to shop, upload pictures and spend time of Facebook et al.

The whole theme colouriser malarkey (which involves taking a picture of something and peppering themes with similar tones) was a bit niche for us but we can see it being a massive hit with the tweens.

All in all, what Nokia has tried to achieve with the 7610 Supernova is a great idea, well presented in theory but unfortunately a little bit poorly delivered in reality. If this were a classroom, the mobile maker would currently be in detention preparing for exam re-sits.