Nokia Lumia 710: Good smartphone for first-timers?

T-Mobile

T-Mobile's Nokia Lumia 710

By Athima Chansanchai

Touted as a gateway to smartphones for first-timers, T-Mobile's budget-conscious 4G Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Phone?stands on its own island apart from the continuing Android/iOS skirmishes. This phone is less focused on specs and speeds, pitched instead as a way for people who have been skittish of those platforms to finally move beyond voice calling with mobile sharing and other smartphone fun.

But even the 710 might be too challenging for?those who have never used a touchscreen phone.

I'm an Android user. When I got my first Droid, it didn't take me much time to acclimate myself. I make it a point not to open the owner's manual or even quick guide unless I absolutely have to, and for the most part, those have remained untouched.

And as someone who has grown up with Mac desktops and laptops, I have no doubt it would be even easier to pick up an iPhone and find my way around without asking for directions (however pleasant Siri could be).

But for first-time users to pick up and run with a Windows Phone? On this Lumia, the first Nokia Windows Phone to debut in the U.S. as of Jan. 11, navigation is the foundation of the device's problems, but it is also cumbersome to share (pics, comments, etc.) with it, which is one of the biggest selling points of jumping on the smartphone bandwagon. It was like a maze, the first time I started dabbling with this Windows Phone, and I was the little mouse that only found the cheese after many, many wrong turns and dead ends.

Let's take, for instance, pictures. Even trying to figure out how to take shots with the 5-megapixel camera took more effort than it should have, as was finding the menu button (little tiny dots on the upper right hand of the screen). Sharing was one of the options that came up in the menu, but then the only destination choices were texts, Hotmail or SkyDrive (the cloud system devised by Windows Phone maker Microsoft). No Facebook, no Twitter, no Picasa, no Flickr. And I paid for the Facebook app, but it didn't recognize my password until I went to the mobile site and logged in there. Once in, it looked like the mobile version on my Android, with the new Timeline showing.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)?

The biggest differentiation between Windows Phone and Android/iOS are the presence of the tiles on the homepage that users are supposed to tailor to their most frequently used apps and features. I can see how that would appeal to newbies who don't want to wade through page after page of apps. (Not that the Marketplace has anywhere near the hundreds of thousands of apps on Android Market or the Apple App Store.) But scrolling down that page soon becomes tiresome, and defeats the shortcut it was meant to be, especially as you start to accumulate more favorites. Having the vertical scrolling may work for some, but the horizontal multi-pages on Android make more sense to me.

T-Mobile

It is nice to be able to "pin" whatever you want and move them to that homepage. Theoretically, you're supposed to use the "People Hub" tile the most, and I can definitely see the appeal of that, because it would be nice having one place where you can connect via text, mobile or social media with friends and family. But to start grouping and sending notes like on that Samsung Focus Flash dressing room commercial? It just isn't that easy.

But what else would a first-timer want to do with a smartphone? Watching videos is actually a treat on this, with crisp clarity and colors that pop. Having a streaming account on Netflix allowed me to watch a few minutes of "Serenity" and not only miss Joss Whedon, but also marvel at how such a little screen can be such a welcome distraction, especially with Wi-Fi.

It is also convenient?? and reassuring?? to have physical buttons to go back a page, go home and perform a search. The GPS is also a very clean experience that got me where I needed to go with minimal confusion, and for those who want to work on Microsoft Office documents on the go, you can, with the built-in Office app.?

As appealing as the $50 price tag (with new 2-year T-Mobile contract) is?? and 58 percent of those who took a recent informal msnbc.com poll told us it was a great enough deal that they'd try it?? it may make owners wish they'd spent more.?

Or, wish that T-Mobile had at least given them the option of using the Nokia Lumia 800, released last month in Europe. Nokia's research reveals that model is the highest-rated device in the company's history, and we can see why.

Nokia

The 800 is much sleeker and more solid in the hand than the cheaper, more disposable-feeling 710. (That said, we dropped the 710 accidentally and it sustained not even a scratch, so it might score some points for durability.) In general, the 800 was just a more pleasant experience. Colors seemed sharper, more vibrant, and the feel of it in the hand, though heavier than the 710, was comfortable. But these are physical differences.?

When it comes to the intent to make this an entry point for smartphone novices, the same problems remain. But, if you're willing to slog through and customize the homepage so that it works in your favor, maybe this Windows Phone will work for you. Keep it simple, and it just may be the right fit for you, as it allows you to not sink in a sea of apps ??unless you decide to put them all on your homepage.

More Windows Phone and T-Mobile stories on msnbc.com:

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Source: http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/05/9965382-nokia-lumia-710-good-smartphone-for-first-timers

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