Nokia X7

Nokia's X7 looks great. But does it end up actuality too abundant of a compromise?

The Nokia X7 affliction to be a flagship smartphone – it has a all-inclusive screen, it runs a revamped touchscreen OS and it looks rather nice too.OK, it isn't 3D able like the LG Optimus 3D or the accessible HTC Evo 3D, but it has an 8MP camera, cool video playback and, at aboriginal glance, affluence of accumulator capacity. The Nokia X7 runs Symbian Anna, a revamped adaptation of Symbian ^3. Now, as Nokia is about to get all balmy and cosy with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Mango, do we affliction that ^3 may accept been bigger from the rather black baseline it set in handsets including the Nokia N8 and E7?

Well yes, we do actually. The X7 is in the wild, and it's alone fair that we are absorbed in how able-bodied it performs.

We've nabbed a atom of video with the X7, so see how it fares in real-life use:

The X7 isn't a bargain or account handset by any admeasurement of means. Our analysis sample came from Three, area it costs £380 on Pay As You Go and from £30 per ages on affairs as we write, so it'll set you aback a appealing penny. For that money you will apprehend a exceptional product.

Base specs are good. There's an 8MP camera, 8GB of accumulator address of a microSD agenda (expandable to 32GB), GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA to bang things off.

And you get a fair allotment of affection in the looks administration too. The anatomy has a rather adorable design, with angled corners that attending as admitting they abode speakers in the sides. Well, two of them do. The added two? Able-bodied they're present for symmetry's sake, we suppose.

The top and basal edges are collapsed as is accepted for a handset, and the top bend houses the on/off switch, a 3.5mm angle adapter and microUSB port.

The continued edges are added arced and are fabricated from metal that wraps annular into the backplate. This is one of the factors that helps the Nokia X7 counterbalance a somewhat abundant 146g. While stylistically it looks good, the backplate does advance to a brace of shortcomings.

First off, you can't get at the battery, which is bound abroad abaft that backplate. Added important from an accustomed perspective, the ancillary buttons are catchy to admission because they're set on a ambit that runs abroad from your fingers.

The aggregate rocker on the appropriate is hardly added difficult than accepted to rock; additional the camera button, additionally on the right, is difficult to use.

On the larboard is the SIM slot, the awning of which we begin absurd to remove, and a microSD agenda aperture which we were able to get at.

The microSD agenda itself sits in a little holder that ancestor out of the chassis. You accelerate the agenda out of the holder if you demand to hotswap. It's a faff and we'd accept abundant adopted a simple hinged awning with a accepted slotting mechanism. Turning to the front, the 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen dominates. Under it there's a lozenge-shaped concrete button that opens the apps menu. We like the minimalist approach.

The ample awning agency a ample handset – at 119.7mm x 72.8mm x 119mm you'll accept agitation extensive appropriate beyond it if your easily are small. As a allotment the Nokia X7 is a solid-feeling, interesting-looking smartphone with a metal backplate that helps it absorb a athletic anatomy that should booty affluence of knocks.