MANILA< Philippines — In this age of household and personal electronics, technology develops at an exponential pace with each breakthrough.

Today’s gadget using a killer app, may be passé and the platform using it may already a museum relic within a year.  The same goes for mobiles, as units get more functionality and capabilities and morph into smartphones.

In the leading pack in the leap towards the next generation smartphones is the Nokia 701---a phone that can do anything except tuck you to bed and with almost everything in it, except the kitchen stove.

The Nokia 701 has its surface area liberally covered by its 3.5-inch capacitive touch-screen.The rest of its body is clad in steel finish and there are only three buttons are present in the phone---two call buttons and the menu.

On the top side of the phone are a number of sockets for the USB, charger, and 3.5mm headphones. The right side features the camera button, three music buttons, and the unlock slide.

The clean, uncluttered design of the 701 is not new to Nokia, yet it still is a tried and tested build with all the buttons accessible to the user without testing the limits of his or her dexterity. The only downside however is the unlock slider, which sometimes unlocks itself inside the user’s pockets.

As much as the Nokia 701 is a stylish phone, it packs a powerful 1 GHz processor--- an advantage that makes sure that all applications run at top-speed. In the maps configuration, the unit has enough processing oomph to deliver location information almost in real time.

It has a natural 8GB storage which could then be supplemented with the addition of a 32 GB microSD memory card. Nokia also takes pride in the 701’s screen as it is, if not one, of the clearest and brightest displays found in a phone. For apps, phone is packaged with the latest Nokia Belle OS. The Symbian Belle is an update to the already versatile Symbian Anna with added functionality and convenience.

The revamp includes the visual retouch of the home screens as Belle provides more flexibility in controlling and customizing the user’s homescreen.

It grants the user control over the size of some widgets or icons, better accessibility to the phone’s functions, and of course, it comes withNFC technology. Simply said, the Nokia 701 is one stable platform to see the beauty that is Belle.

As said from the previous paragraph, the Nokia 701 can utilize the Near Field Communication or otherwise known as the NFC. So what does NFC do? Simply tapping an NFC enabled device such as speakers, headsets, and even phones would generate a connection between you and the tapped device. It’s a pretty nifty trick as it offers no frills, just chills to the user as no tedious settings and connections are to be prepped. Wireless and hassle-free, that’s what NFC is all about.

Usability-wise, the 701 does its job. It works as a pocket office workhorse and also a viable entertainment device at the same time.

The phone has all the bare necessities for office works with programs readily available to open and edit documents, spreadsheets, and the likes.

Amongst all these things, the 701 also has an 8MP camera capable of shooting HD footages. It also comes with applications for video and photo editing, zip manager, and of course the Nokia Ovi Apps and Store.

It also has the Nokia Maps which makes the 701 a good GPS buddy.Nokia Maps frequently updates itself of the location of the user. For sure, having the 701 at your side, you wouldn’t have problems in getting lost or in finding places and the likes.

Specifications

GENERAL: 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100

Size: Dimensions 117.2 x 56.8 x 11 mm, 64 cc

Weight: 131 g

Display Type LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

Size 360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches

- Nokia ClearBlack display

- Multi-touch input method

- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate

- Proximity for auto turn-off

SOUND Alert types Vibration, MP3 ringtones

3.5mm jack

Memory: Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall

Call records Detailed, max 30 days

Internal 8 GB storage

Card slot microSD, up to 32GB

WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, EDR

USB v2.0 microUSB

CAMERA: Primary 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, fixed focus, dual-LED flash

Features  Geo-tagging

Video  720p@30fps

Editor's note: Powered by a single core 1 GHz ARM 11 processor and operated by the new Symbian Belle, the Nokia 701 employs 512 MB RAM and 1 GB of ROM for good performance. The Nokia 701 have a lot of applications and the best feature of this phone is the one which allows you to have a fully customized and personalized main screen or the home screen.