Unboxing the Nokia 7705 (Twist)
What? Another CDMA phone from Nokia? Madness!
Behold the Nokia 7705 (Twist), a feature phone with a QWERTY keyboard and an ultra cool swivel form factor that’s exclusive to the US market (Verizon).
Like the Nokia 6790 (Surge), it’s primarily a messaging device. Contrary to the Surge, it’s not running Symbian, which is FoF (*)…
Sure, there’s 3G (EVDO), a 3 megapixel camera (with auto-focus, flash, and QVGA video recording), GPS, and a 2.4″ QVGA display.
But unfortunately, WiFi is missing, the audio connector is of the 2.5 mm variety, the battery is only 860 mAh, and there’s no Java support, which is again FoF (*).
(*) Full of Fail.
Oh well – enjoy my pictures and video :)
tnkgrl Mobile: Tech that Matters 
I was intrigued by the design when I first heard about it, but it looks like it quickly fades once you look at the specs and turn it on?!
The square design and ring are unique, would like to see this unlocked and running Symbian…
mp/m
My thoughts exactly! The form factor is ultra cool, but this needs to be an unlocked GSM phone with 3G, WiFi, a larger capacity battery, and Symbian…
Reason there’s no Java support: Verizon wants to maitain their closed application environment – that means sell their own apps – that’s based on Qualcomm’s BREW framework, which is a FAIL in itself.
Unacceptable.
Wi-Fi? Heh, that was a joke, right?
This is a Verizon dumbphone. It wouldn’t know what to do with Wi-Fi, even if they unleashed Series 40 (and, this is Verizon, so, you can bet that will never happen again).
No, it’s not a joke. This device is good enough to be running Symbian and including WiFi…
Remember, I mostly review unlocked smartphones, and as I mentioned in the comments above, the hardware is alright, except for the low capacity battery.
The software is a complete disaster. Verizon (and Nokia, for letting it happen) killed this phone before it was even released!
Well, yeah, welcome to Verizon dumbphones. I actually asked a Verizon executive why they did that. They basically were unaware that savvy consumers even cared in significant numbers about manufacturer platforms.
That “disaster” is what just about every non-smartphone on Verizon ships with. And yes, it is a disaster.
Symbian and other platforms have been shunned by Verizon for years. Nokia made an S60 phone for CDMA and both Sprint and Verizon told them to go away. Unfortunately, now Symbian is off in la-la land and Nokia is focused on the low-end of the CDMA world.
“Symbian and other platforms have been shunned by Verizon for years.”
Explain Windows Mobile and BlackBerry on Verizon, then.
BlackBerry was chosen for the same reason we have a BREW UI and no manufacturer UIs… corporate customers showed Verizon that having one singular platform helped them, and their monopoly.
Once you get grandma and grandpa off of that anchient Nokia 5160, Verizon can lock them into their BREW UI. Even a tech-savvy 13 year old is going to recognize that grandma isn’t going to want to learn a new UI. Verizon sees BREW UI as a way to lock in aging customers, and cater to corporate fleets.
Windows Mobile was pressured by Microsoft. Microsoft subsidized their way in.
Remember, until now, Symbian was Nokia-only, Windows Mobile is a platform. Microsoft could throw money at HTC, Samsung, and many others to “just get something on Verizon.”
Look at the trouble Palm has had over the years carrying Verizon devices, and they’re typically a CDMA-centric company, preferring Sprint long before GSM releases (Treo, Pre, etc). It took the 700wx to change that… oh, wait, a Windows Mobile phone.
700wx -> 700w. The 700wx was launched after Verizon’s exclusivity ended.
“Until now, Symbian was Nokia-only”.
That’s not true. Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson (and others) have been Symbian licencees for many years, and have all released Symbian devices in that time.
I was referring to the United States. Only LG has produced a CDMA Symbian phone (aside from Nokia). And they too have not been able to find a buyer in the United States.
I should add that, in my discussions with LG, they never intended to enter the Symbian market in the US, which is why I didn’t note them originally.
Nokia did want Symbian on US CDMA, but they were the only company interested in doing it over here.
Adding that, on top of no other Symbian partner selling S60 in the United States, it just wasn’t going to happen.
While Sony Ericsson did sell UIQ in the United States, UIQ never supported CDMA. Only S60, via a Feature Pack addition.
Re: Symbian, CDMA, and the US market… You’re absolutely right. I was talking about GSM, and the world market, though!
I don’t really care about CDMA – it’s on the way out.
Corporate culture matters here. Verizon may have started its dislike for Symbian because of proprietary CDMA limitations… but those veins run deep.
For example, Verizon and AT&T may embrace “open” LTE, but then use proprietary SIM cards. Verizon has said that’s more likely than not, actually.
They’ve learned from their different paths to embrace the same tagline of “open, but not your kind of open”.
So, even though Verizon is headed to LTE, they may still chose to opt for single platforms, and Symbian will be left exactly where it is in the USA… selling single-unit, unbranded handsets that 99% of consumers aren’t interested in (due to either price or target audience issues).
I don’t see Symbian lasting if that’s the case. AT&T embracing it as their dumbphone platform is probably its best bet for life support in North America long-term.
Re: LTE, I can see Verizon screwing with the standard, but I don’t think AT&T will. Time will tell :)
In the meantime, I’ll keep my primary account with T-Mobile, secondary accounts with AT&T (for the selection of unlocked 3G-compatible devices), and enjoy the GSM openness!
I’m not sure about Sprint and WiMax, but I’m not spending money on CDMA…
gotta love FOF!
it almost looks like a copy of the Windows Mobile UI but then made worse, I didn’t realize that was even possible….