Posted by axxxr
Nokia Symbian Series 60 platform is the must-have mentioned smartphone platform. The series models like 6600, 3650 and even N-Gage become the smartphone market leaders. In order to keep the trend, Nokia announced 7610, again based on Series 60 platform and adding 1 mega pixel camera, in March 2004. The phone is available in June. The hig- resolution camera is the main selling point. However, if you don¡¦t care about it, the new phone may disappoint you in other aspects.
Fun with 1 Mega Pixel Camera
Let¡¦s look at the screen and the camera first. Nokia 7610 comes with a TFT 65k color display which is the same as the one in Nokia 6600. The physical sizes are identical. The screens are in 176 x 208 pixels too. We made a comparison about the brightness two phones. Both of them gave the same level of light and the color saturation. In short, the screen from two phones are both in high quality.
At the back, a 1 mega pixel camera is embedded. Unlike the Sony Ericsson S700. It only gives up to 1152 x 864 pixels pictures, slightly smaller then 1280 x 960 pixels from Sony Ericsson S700. Because of the expected large size of picture, a interesting statement can be found from Nokia website introduction. The phone can reduce the size of the picture automatically to suit the 100kb limit in MMS sending. In the same 1152 x 864 pixel level, Nokia 7610 has 3 picture qualities for you to choose. The largest size per picture is around 240kb, while the smallest size around 70kb which is suitable for a MMS content. The picture quality is quite good, better than the Nokia 6600 does. This 1 mega pixel camera supports 4x digital zoom. However, you cannot expect a very clear 4x zoomed picture. Besides still pictures, Nokia 7610 can support to take up to 10 minutes per one movie clip, in 128 x 96 or 174 x 144 pixels resolution. Through the Realone player, users can view streaming video in ¡§real format.¡¨
There are many preloaded software related to photo or movie in 7610. The international edition 7610 comes with "movie director". The users can edit the short video clip, add or delete the sound, or even change the video images. Hong Kong edition comes with more software made by local or Taiwan manufacturers. The "Mobile Video Player" is tool to play a video clip in any starting time; The "CameraXPro" supports up to 8x digitial zoom and more color effects; "MultiShot" is a tool for the users to take a up to 6 multi shots in VGA mode or 3 in 1M pixel quality.
Series 60 platform: legend continues
Two years ago, Nokia announced first Series 60 multimedia phone. After several products, it is believed that the market accepts the design very much. Many mobile phone manufacturers also follow the suits. For this Nokia 7610, the operating system and the user interface are more or less the same as the previous 6600. Both of them uses Symbian OS 7s and Series 60 version 2 as the platform. We could find little modification on the menu icons while the core operation method is still the same.
In order to test the processing speed, we played a video clip in 2 phones. We found that the delay from 7610 is slightly better than 6600.(note: the video clip itself is a low compression one and not suitable for 6600 playing while good in other smartphone like SE P900 or Motorola A835.) The menu speed for two phones are slightly the same.
In the English version Nokia 7610, a new "Lifeblog" software is included in the phones. It uses as a digital blogging diary. Users can add image, video and message in the memo or diary. Users can choose upload the own blog to PC and share the contents via email. Nokia claimed "blogging" isonly popular in the western world, so it will not appear in the Greater China version. For the Chinese users, a great new is that Nokia 7610 include 3 language packs, traditional and simplified Chinese and English user interface in one phone. Other language pack combination is vary to each country. However, when you switch the language pack, the phone has to reboot onece first.
Also, the Real Player for 7610 supports AAC / MP3 music files playback. Users can set the favorite playlist. However, no stereo output is supported. The package only include a mono ear phone too. Other ring tone formats include MP3, WAV, True tone and 48 chords polyphonic MIDI.
Good Bye IrDA, say Hello to RSMMC
The outlook of Nokia 7610 is the compilation of leaf like 7600 and bulky 6600. The straighter shape make it more professional than previous 6600. Nokia uses the style packs concept to help 7610 change the image. More covers with keymats and wrist straps with matching wallpapers and screensavers would be sold separately. The original color of 7610 includes black mixed red and white mixed sliver, mystery style. Hardware concerned, Nokia 7610 surprisingly rules out the IrDA port. Nokia explained that it is meaningless to transfer large size of file like 1 mega pixel picture via slow speed IrDA. A USB cable is a compensation accessory in the package for data transfer. Also users can use bluetooth as another method. Another strange point is that Nokia 7610 does not support EDGE and remains the slow speed 40.3kbps GPRS connection. The 7610 is not small enough,. However, Nokia tried to use the brand new RSMMC card for storage. RS menas reduced size. The package will include a adaptor and a 64MB card for easy transfer files using old card reader.
Nokia 7610 camera demo photos
Posted by BobaFett
great design... would be really interested, who and why create such weird look at nokia? maybe they want have everything: perfect modern stylish design and next to it lots of features. but u cannot have evrything at the same time...
Posted by bonito99
functionality-wise: sounds good!
But aesthetics...hmmm... I'm staying with
Posted by Ayush
Problem with se is that it does not have mid range symbian products :-(
Posted by *Jojo*
Ohhh boy, it just reminds me of the good old '1 week' when I had my Nokia 7610 back then
I really shoud not have sold the unit and bought a brand new SE K700i fone model 
If I can just turn back the hands of time mates 
!
Posted by methylated_spirit
@bobafett: why cant you have everything at the same time? Its just that they havent got it right yet, give them time and i'm sure they will develip a cracking looking phone with stunning features.