Nokia X7
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Momentous events are occurring at Finnish mobile veteran Nokia. The company is moving away from Symbian and jumping into bed with Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, leading many fans to dream about a period of glorious resurgence for the once-dominant firm.

However, the first Nokia Windows Phone handsets aren't with us yet, and the need to keep investors happy means that new devices must be pushed onto the market.

The Nokia X7 is one of those 'stop-gap' phones, offering a gorgeous design that hides some serious shortcomings beneath.

The positives

But let's focus on the good stuff first – the X7 is quite a looker. It's almost like a phone from the future, but a future that was conceived back in the early '80s.

The sharp, angular corners are at odds with the rounded edges we're used to seeing on modern phones, but it's a welcome change. Someone clearly had fun designing this phone.

Another high point is the bright and colourful 4-inch AMOLED screen. While it's not quite as striking as the Super-AMOLED Plus variant on the Samsung Galaxy S II, it remains a massive improvement over LCD displays.

Viewing angles are also impressive, and only the resolution lets it down – 360x640 pixels is a bit stingy in this day and age, especially on what's being positioned as a premium phone.

Snap happy

Nokia has a habit of placing fearsome cameras on its handsets, and the X7 is no exception. You've got eight megapixels to play with here, as well as 720p video recording capability. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of auto-focus, which makes close-up macro shots problematic.

Although it's just a few months away from the scrapheap, Symbian clings to life in the form of Anna, the touchscreen-focused iteration of the OS that comes loaded on the Nokia X7.

Its designers have clearly been taking inspiration from iOS and Android, and the finger-friendly menu system does at least make it slightly intuitive.

Sadly, the process of moving around the X7's menu system is painful, thanks to the weak nature of the 680MHz CPU. For a phone of this type, anything below 1GHz really isn't worth bothering with and we're puzzled as to why Nokia didn't boost the spec a little in this area.

Needs more power

You'll spend a lot of time looking at the 'loading' icon when using the X7, and when it comes to games the performance is even more disappointing. With more and more mobile releases relying on complex 3D graphics, a phone with such a lowly processor is going to be left at the back of the grid.

The few games we tried weren't unplayable by any means, but it's obvious that the X7 isn't going to capture the imagination of pocket gamers in the way the iPhone has. Nokia's Ovi Store is still lagging way behind the App Store and Android Market when it comes to developer support, too.

We also have to take issue with the X7's MicroSD and SIM card slots. Because of the way the phone's body has been designed, these two components are housed in pop-out metal trays on the side of the phone, and not in the battery compartment as you might expect.

This is because the X7 doesn't have a battery compartment - the battery is non-removable and is locked behind the stainless steel back plate.

Opening the trays is frustratingly awkward, and getting them back in again feels like an exercise in trial and error. It's the one area where the phone's design lets it down badly.

Conclusion

You get the unshakable feeling that Nokia's heart wasn't totally in the X7 when it was designing and conceiving it. The Symbian Anna OS is nice enough, but the feeble CPU curtails the ambition and potential of the handset. We'd also like to have seen a higher-resolution display, too.

Nokia fans may find something to love, and those of you who appreciate unusual design will like the futuristic aesthetics, but everyone else is advised to steer well clear.

If you're looking to purchase a Nokia handset then you're best off waiting for the first Windows Phone devices to appear.

Nokia X7

It looks the part and the AMOLED screen is a nice touch, but the Nokia X7 is lacking in almost every other department. It's underpowered and lumbered with an OS that is about to become redundant – not exactly our idea of a flagship phone
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Damien  McFerran
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.