Nokia's fiiiinally making its way across the pond with its line of Windows Phones, and T-Mobile's first up, getting the Lumia 710 on January 11. We're mighty envious of Nokia's gorgeous Lumia 800, but we've been waiting so long that its econoclass little brother is a sort of welcome sight, too.
The Lumia 710, which will be $50, isn't aimed at being a luxurious little iPhone contender the way the Lumia 800 is. It's a budget phone for a budget crowd, but Nokia's hoping it can build out the Windows Phone base a bit before its high end phones turn up. It's risky, since hitting the ground with just an economy phone means risking a "cheap option" reputation, but it's probably better than not poking its head in until even later in the year. Probably.
The 710's got mostly Windows Phone standardish specs—512 RAM, 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor, etc.—and Nokia's ClearBlack AMOLED screen (though side-by-side, it's not as clear or responsive as the 800's). It's also got a 3.7-inch screen and a physical bar/button for the back, home, and search buttons that feels a bit clunkish.
The other notable about the launch is it's the first time we'll be seeing Nokia's proprietary ESPN app, which if it's as good as the Nokia Drive and Maps apps, might spell the onset of decent apps on Windows Phone (God, if only). [T-Mobile]