The Symbian Belle-infused Nokia 700 certainly looks impressive, but thanks to the new naming convention it can't be slotted them into a defined product range as before. So we thought we'd line it up against the Nokia C7 to give you a better sense of what it has to offer.
Nokia 700: 10 things you need to know
We were treated to the grand unveiling of the Nokia 700 last month, along with Symbian Belle itself too, of course. Under the previous naming system we'd be able to look at the letter at the start and know instantly where its strengths lay, but Nokia has changed the system specifically because smartphones are becoming such good all-rounders these days it's difficult to pigeon-hole them.
All is not lost, however, as we've long felt that the Nokia C7 is a pretty strong all-rounder in its own right. So let's compare the Nokia C7 to the Nokia 700 in some key areas to give you a better feel of just what the newcomer has to offer.
Size and weight
Nokia C7: 117.3 x 56.8 x 10.5 mm, 130g
Nokia 700: 110 x 50.7 x 9.7 mm, 97g
If the Nokia C7's compactness is a big plus point for you, you'll definitely appreciate the Nokia 700 – Nokia's “smallest ever smartphone”. Fair enough, some of that is to do with the smaller screen, but at under 10mm thick and sub-100g it truly is pocket-friendly.
Display
Nokia C7: 3.5-inch AMOLED, 360 x 640 resolution
Nokia 700: 3.2-inch AMOLED ClearBlack, 360 x 640 resolution
As mentioned above, the Nokia 700 has a slightly smaller screen than the Nokia C7, but only slightly, and with the same resolution on offer, plus Nokia's ClearBlack technology for better all-round screen visibility, you're well compensated.
Power
Nokia C7: 680MHz ARM 11 processor
Nokia 700: 1GHz processor
It's not quite as simple as comparing numbers here and saying the Nokia 700 is nearly 50 per cent more powerful than the Nokia C7. But at this stage it is probably a safe bet to say it's more powerful to some degree.
Camera
Nokia C7: 8-megapixel EDoF fixed focus, dual LED flash, face detection, geotagging; 720p video at 25fps
Nokia 700: 5-megapixel EDoF fixed focus, dual LED flash, geotagging, 720p video at 30fps
The camera is probably the only single area where the existing Nokia C7 clearly has an edge, and that's purely based on hardware specs. Symbian Belle may spring a few surprises on the software side.
Storage
Nokia C7: 8GB internal; up to 32GB via microSD card
Nokia 700: 2GB internal; up to 32GB via microSD card
As a bigger physical piece of hardware it's not too much of a surprise to see the Nokia C7 edge this one. In general, we're seeing a slow but steady evolution away from on-device storage anyway.
Operating system
Nokia C7: Symbian Anna
Nokia 700: Symbian Belle
This isn't entirely fair to the Nokia C7 as it too will be getting Symbian Belle via an update in due course, but that will be after the Nokia 700 launches with it on board, and especially with this being the second software jump for the Nokia C7, there may be the odd Symbian Belle feature not able to be realised because of hardware restrictions.
Battery life
Nokia C7: 1200mAh Li-Ion; up to 9h 30min talktime; up to 648 hours standby
Nokia 700: 1080mAh Li-Ion; up to 7h 10min talktime; up to 465 hours standby
The Nokia C7 is bigger, which explains the larger power cell. And a larger power cell generally means better battery life, so it's no surprise to see the Nokia C7 come out on top.
Both the Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 have drawn comparisons to the Nokia C7 in some quarters, and while from a physical point of view the Nokia 700 is more of a distant cousin than a blood brother, in terms of the rest of the spec they're certainly not world's apart. The joker in the pack is clearly Symbian Belle, which we still have only a rough outline of at present. But from what we've seen so far the Nokia 700 won't have any reason to feel out of place among Nokia's more talented handsets.
What do you make of the Nokia 700 compared to a known quantity like the Nokia C7? Give us your impression in the Comments below.