Smart officially launches the Nokia Lumia 710

Smart pulled out all the stops when it came to the launch of the Nokia Lumia 710 here in the Philippines. They booked Republiq, the restaurant outside it, and the activity center in the middle for one huge party! They even brought in an international DJ to spin for the evening’s festivities. Celebrities also dropped by including Smart’s endorser, Rhian Ramos (who also served as host for the press conference).

We made a quick video which pretty much will show you the highlights prior to everyone getting drunk and partying (lol). Check it out below:

Recap

The evening-long festivities kicked off with a press conference featuring various top executives from Smart and Nokia. From Nokia Philippines we saw Darmesh Goshalia (President) and Mike Smith (Product Manager). Smart had Gio Bacarez (Head of Broadband, Data Services) and Noel Lorenzana (Head of Wireless Consumer Division). We also spotted Nikka Abes, Nokia’s Corporate Communications Manager and Smart’s Louie Ang.

After the speeches of the executives, members of the media were given a demo of the Nokia Lumia 710. Smart then thrilled everyone when they raffled away 10 units of the Lumia 710. Sadly we didn’t win, haha! 😛

After the press conference there was a bit of free time since the party would actually start a bit later. They had a short program though in between which was hosted by DJ’s Andi 9 and Gino at the activity center which was just across the restaurant where the press conference was held. After that DJ Mars Miranda took to the turntables to spin some tracks for the crowd.

After what seemed like 1-2 hours the doors to Republiq opened and people started streaming in. Open bar, great music, and lovely people. Win.

Meet the complete Nokia Lumia family

Nikka Abes, Nokia Philippines Corp Communications Manager, was kind enough to collect different models of Lumias from her colleagues so we can finally meet the entire Lumia family! Out of the four phones we’ve already played around with three. We’ve reviewed the Lumia 800, unboxed the Lumia 710, and did a hands-on with the Lumia 900. Finally saw the Lumia 610 up close for the first time. Walked away pretty impressed as well (more on this in a succeeding blog entry).

The main star of the evening though was the Nokia Lumia 710. With a beautiful 3.7-inch screen, a powerful 1.4GHz processor, and an optimized Windows Phone 7.5 Operating System, you can be sure that you’re getting the full Windows Phone experience in a stylishly designed handset. The 710 is exclusive to Smart and you can get it via their Limited Edition Data Plan 1000 (500 text messages, 500 minutes of Smart-Smart calls, 1GB data) with a monthly amortization fee of Php450 per month. That brings the monthly service fee to Php1,450 (2 year contract).

The Nokia Lumia 710 is now available in Smart Stores.

PS: The Nokia Lumia 900 and Lumia 610 are expected to hit the market in May
PPS: More pictures to follow from the camera of our writer, Colin Chan, in a few hours