Nokia Astound Review

Introduction:

Say what you might think whenever you hear the word “Nokia” uttered stateside, but don’t think for a second that the Finnish company is incapable of producing a worthy handset for the US. Interestingly enough, it’s yet again T-Mobile taking the plunge in grasping another Nokia handset – which is still something that’s rarely absorbed by most US carriers. Undeniably something that’s not a high-end smartphone contender, the $79.99 on-contract Nokia Astound packs some new enhancements over its European variant, the Nokia C7, which just might position itself as an alternative mid-range solution.

The package contains:

• Nokia Astound
• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Stereo Headset
• Start Guide
• Terms & Conditions

Design:

Although it shares an identical design to the Nokia C7, the only minor difference to it is the recognizable T-Mobile branding placed on its lower lip. The elongated looking handset employs a chrome trim bezel, tough plastic shell, and a stainless steel back cover which all combine harmoniously to produce one instantly eye catching handset. For something positioned to be a mid-range device, we find its solid construction to tastefully complement its shiny luster – which annoyingly attracts plenty of fingerprints. Nevertheless, it’s perfectly sized for the hand and is well balanced – albeit, there is a little bit of weight (4.59 oz) to it. Considering that the Nokia Nuron was the last touchscreen Nokia handset to grace T-Mobile, the Astound easily erases that handset from our memories with its favorably great looks.



You can compare the Nokia Astound with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Supplementing its shiny looking exterior is none other than its well-sized 3.5” AMOLED capacitive touchscreen which utilizes the all too familiar resolution of 360 x 640 pixels with 16.7 million color support. Obviously, it still exhibits some crisp looking details, but our eyes fix more on its juicier looking colors – which is the strength of most AMOLED panels. Sure it’s glossy and attracts debris, but a quick swipe with a cloth easily removes any of those nasty baddies. Viewing angles are acceptable, however, an occasional hand cover is required when using it outdoors under the sun.


Luckily, the Astound manages to retain the 0.3-megapixel VGA front-facing camera found with the C7 – and of course, it brings along all the joys of video chat and taking self-portraits. Meanwhile, the dedicated send, end, and menu buttons are all located beneath the display, and even though they might look flush, they still exhibit a moderate response when pressed.


On the right edge of the phone, we find the volume rocker, dedicated shutter key, lock/unlock switch, and a button that’s preset to activate the handset’s voice recognition service. Again, most of the buttons appear recessed, but thankfully our fingers are still able to distinguish them. The left side is completely clean, but the top side lays claim to the microUSB port, 3.5mm headset jack, and the undeniably flush dedicated power button – the latter of which is somewhat unrecognizable to the touch.


Staring at us with a gravitating pull, we find its sizable 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash in the rear, both of which are surrounded by the handset’s speaker grills. Finally, removing the stainless steel back cover presents us access to its SIM card slot, battery, and microSD card slot. Sadly, it seems that you need to completely remove the battery in order to gain access to its microSD card slot.