Nokia's latest round of handset releases has brought us the Nokia 701, which heads up a trio of new faces running the freshly baked Symbian Belle operating system. Let's take a closer look at how the new arrival measures up against a well-known handset from the current crop, the Nokia C7. 

Nokia 701: 10 things you need to know

We're still waiting to get our hands on Symbian Belle for a serious play, but everything we've seen so far has got us plenty excited.

If Symbian Anna represented a solid step forward from Symbian^3, then Symbian Belle is a huge leap, dishing up exciting new features like resizable widgets, an all-new pull-down status bar, and a doubling up to give you six homescreens to personalise to your heart's desire.

Probably the best news of all, though, is that all these great new features – and everything else Symbian Belle has to offer – will be arriving via an update for all Symbian Anna handsets, even those like the Nokia C7 that have only just themselves been updated from Symbian^3.

But Symbian Belle will also be running on three new handsets out of the box, so let's take a closer look at how the top-end Nokia 701 compares to the known quantity of the Nokia C7 in a few key areas.

Dimensions
Nokia C7 – 117.3 x 56.8 x 10.5mm, 130g
Nokia 701 – 117.2 x 56.8 x 11mm, 131g
We've already commented in the NokNok office that the Nokia C7 is clearly in the Nokia 701's design DNA, and looking at the two side-by-side it's easy to see a family resemblance. But it's only when you see the amazing similarity in their dimensions and weight that you realise that it's not so much a resemblance – these two are physically all but identical.

Display
Nokia C7 – 3.5-inches, 360 x 640, AMOLED
Nokia 701 – 3.5-inches, 360 x 640, Nokia ClearBlack display
Given their similar physical attributes, it's no surprise that the screen size is a match, and there's nothing to complain about in the 360 x 640 resolution, though we are disappointed to see the Nokia 701 doesn't come equipped with an AMOLED panel like the Nokia C7.

Processor
Nokia C7 – 680MHz, with 256MB RAM
Nokia 701 – 1GHz, with 512MB RAM
We'll be interested to see how the Nokia 701's 1GHz processor performs in a head-to-head with the Nokia C7 – the headline speed is lower but the Nokia C7 has a standalone GPU, which will reduce the shortfall. But there's no question that doubling the RAM is a point in the newcomer's favour.

Camera
Nokia C7 – 8-megapixel, fixed focus, dual-LED flash
Nokia 701 – 8-megapixel, fixed focus, dual-LED flash
On paper these two appear to come with the same camera exactly, though the Nokia 701 is listed as offering 30fps video shooting at 720p versus the Nokia C7's 25fps, but the Symbian Belle update itself may rectify that.

Storage
Nokia C7 – 8GB plus microSD card capacity up to 32GB
Nokia 701 – 8GB plus microSD card capacity up to 32GB
Again, these two are perfectly matched. Of the three new Symbian Belle handsets the Nokia 701 is the only one to feature 8GB of storage on board (instead of 2GB), so this gives it a distinctive edge over its stablemates, even if it is simply matching the Nokia C7.

Verdict

We had the Nokia 701 pegged as similar to the Nokia C7 from the start, but it's only in putting the two side by side that it becomes clear just how similar they actually are. It gives us a strong feel for just what we have to look forward to, but also delivers a timely reminder that with Symbian Belle on board, the Nokia C7 is going to have plenty of appeal on its own.

What do you think? Which of these two gets your nod – does the Nokia 701 have the right formula or can the Nokia C7 really hold its own with nothing more than a software update? Give us your thoughts in the Comments.