Cellular

Like all MSM8255 devices, the Lumia 710 uses Qualcomm’s onboard combination GSM/EDGE/WCDMA HSPA+ baseband for cellular connectivity. That means HSDPA category 10 on the downlink and HSUPA category 6 on the uplink. Of course, the fact that these HSDPA/HSUPA categories are nothing special at all right now for WCDMA means nothing to T-Mobile, who gladly replaces the “3G” indicator with “4G”.

Nokia Lumia 710 - Network Support
GSM/EDGE Support 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
RM-803 (Europe) WCDMA Support 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz (I, II, VIII)
RM-809 (T-Mobile USA) WCDMA Support 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 MHz (I, II, IV, V)
Baseband Hardware QCT MDM8255 w/QTR8615
HSPA+ Categories HSDPA 14.4 (Cat.10) / HSUPA 5.76 (Cat.6)

The other noteworthy thing is that the Lumia 710 is also subdivided into two different revisions which carry different WCDMA bands - we were sampled the RM-809 which includes T-Mobile AWS (1700/2100) support. What’s interesting about the RM-809 is that the device also has support for PCS 1900 and Cellular 850, which which means it would work on AT&T, though our device wasn’t unlocked and thus we weren’t able to try. The FCC approval is in place, however. The other Lumia 710 is geared for international support with bands 1, 2, and 8.

I had no issues at all with the Lumia 710 on cellular - connectivity is excellent. Unfortunately I couldn’t get Field Test on the 710 working to read out dBm and check for deathgrip (for some reason it loads indefinitely), however I didn’t see anything odd in my time with the device. In addition I ran speedtests and saw throughput on par with what I expect out of T-Mobile’s HSPA+, though none of the speedtest applications on WP7 allow me to export data and make a nice histogram or two.

WiFi

WLAN connectivity on the Lumia 710 is the standard fare for almost all smartphones these days - 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz) single stream. On 20 MHz WLAN channels, that means a physical rate of 72 Mbps, which is precisely what I saw the Lumia 710 authenticate as. I wasn’t able to completely verify, but it seems like a safe bet that BCM4329 is lurking inside. In addition, range signal performance are spot on with where they should be, I saw no issues in my testing.

In our throughput test I saw speeds that almost matched the Lumia 800 (which isn’t surprising at all).

WiFi Performance

 

Speakerphone

I spoke a lot about how the Lumia 800’s speakerphone was way too quiet. If the Lumia 800 is one side of the spectrum, the 710 is on the complete other side, as its speakerphone is eardrum-shatteringly loud. In our sound datalogger test, the Lumia 710 placed literally at the top of the ranks for volume, so if you absolutely need speakerphone volume the 710 is an excellent pick. Earpiece volume is also subjectively top notch.

In the call quality department I did the usual thing and recorded samples from the 710 on line in, placed a few calls, and tested noise rejection. The 710, like all WCDMA devices, sounds great to me, though GSM call quality is a bit reduced.

Nokia Lumia 710 - Call Sample T-Mobile by AnandTech

The Lumia 710 does do noise rejection, which has worked its way down from the $200 “superphone” category all the way to the $50 category over the last year or so. The device does common mode noise rejection and some fancy DSP to isolate and cancel noise, and though I’m not sure what IP is in place here (possibly Qualcomm’s Fluence since I don’t see a discrete solution on the board) it does a good job in our test.

Nokia Lumia 710 - Noise Cancellation Sample by AnandTech

GPS

The Lumia 710 unsurprisingly uses the GPS/GLONASS (GNSS) system onboard MSM8255 and accompanied by QTR8615 which we’ve seen numerous times before. Though WP7 doesn’t have API access to NMEA data so we can see SNR from individual satellites, the Lumia 710 does seem to get a GPS lock speedily enough even in some tough environments. In both the maps application and Nokia Drive I had no issues getting a GPS lock in under 5 seconds and keeping the lock for the duration of navigation.

Display Analysis Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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  • deputc26 - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    nexus
  • Brian Klug - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    Anand and I are both working on it, and will have it done end of this week :)

    It shall be epic!

    -Brian
  • bplewis24 - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    Thanks, looking forward to it.
  • deputc26 - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    Awesome, I don't buy phones 'til I see the AT review. It's amazing to me that no other mobile sites are trying to catch up with the quality of AT reviews.
  • a5cent - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    So true. What others call a review rarely goes beyond a verbose version of the spec sheet (particularly when it involves andriod devices). I also appreciate that Brian takes battery life and display quality seriously... the two most important aspects of any smartphone, provided your purchase isn't just about getting a shiny new status symbol.
  • tipoo - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    Same. AT seems to catch little bugs more often than any other site too.
  • niva - Friday, January 6, 2012 - link

    I'm real glad of this Lumia 710 review, if my original Samsung Galaxy dies this will probably be the phone I get. Ideally I want to wait for the 2nd generation Nokia phones. The 710 seems better rounded and with less compromises than the 800 to me though. The only real benefit to the 800 is the external design from what I can tell, better screen?
  • jjj - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    That's so... last year!
    I want Krait.
  • TareX - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    Thank you. I came here just to remind you about the Galaxy Nexus review. I went ahead and bought one last week anyway. I love it. Insane display. The only things that upset me are:
    1) The low, low, low volume (both speakers, and voice)
    2) The phone lags with most live wallpapers (except for Photo Beam)...
  • Vepsa - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link

    I want to see you guys give away a nice big pile of Galaxy Nexuses (Nexii?), preferably with one going to me :)

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