Nokia Prism 7900 mobile phone - First Look review

All looks and no performance? We take a closer look

6 September 2007 9:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

At times Nokia is all about pushing the boundaries of what it can get a phone to do, and at other times it's all about offering users something that looks good. So what's the newly launched Prism? We take a closer look.

After a debut in China, Nokia has launched the fashion phone "Prism" collection in Europe, Pocket-lint was allows to get a closer look ahead of the launch later this year.

Made up of two handsets, the 7900 (reviewed here) and the 7500, this collection is the latest in a long time of quirky design-led offerings from the Finns.

The main focus of the phone is the diamond-cut design, featuring sharp angled lines, geometric patterns and graphic light-refracting colours.

Up close and personal and the phone reminds us of the Rubik's cube puzzle that followed the cube; the Rubik's Magic Puzzle, although you can't fold this one into a myriad of different shapes.

The Nokia 7900 Prism comes in liquorice-black and has an anodized aluminium backcover, which is coin-stamped and laser-etched in the same pattern.

On the front the phone boasts an very clear and crisp OLED main display that supports up to 16 million colours and displays light-focused screensaver graphics.

Similar to the Sony Ericsson S500 the 7900 Prism features a "living wallpaper", which changes throughout the day according to time as well as battery and signal strength, so that each screen is unique, however unlike the S500 the phone doesn't feature glowing lights around the edges, instead opting for a swappable bit of plastic when you want to change the handset's appearance.

Style aside, the phone has dual-band 3G technology and quad-band GSM capability. You also get a 2-megapixel camera, 1GB of internal memory and the handset runs the Symbian 40 operating system.

The interface is easy to use and any previous Nokia user will be right at home.

First Impressions

The Nokia Prism 7900 is a phone that is just that, but has a swish design to impress when you pull it out of your pocket.

It doesn't push the boundaries of technology, but for a phone, the solid build and good looks will appeal when it launches later in the year.

Review Recap

Made by: Nokia
Price as reviewed: £price dependent on contract
The good: Design, digital camera, easy to use operating system, design doesn't get in the way of the phones features
The bad: Nothing ground breaking, blue strip around the edge doesn't glow or anything
First Impressions: The Nokia Prism 7900 is a phone that is just that, but has a swish design to impress when you pull it out of your pocket