These days, I never leave home without my smartphone.  A few years ago, I would have considered my mobile phone a mere luxury, great for making convenient calls to my husband while at the grocery store or for making sure I have a backup alarm to the hotel's wakeup call.

A mobile phone has quickly become for most people, like a personal assistant.  A place where you can schedule appointments, check the score of the basketball game, find the cheapest tank of gas in your area, keep track of to-do lists, connect with friends via social networking sites, snap a quick pic of something funny on your way to work, and oh yeah...still make phone calls.

I've been a T-Mobile customer for quite a while and have been happy with their service in my area, so when my current cell phone dropped ANOTHER call, I knew it was time for a phone change.  Thankfully, the folks at Nokia came to my rescue with the new Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Smartphone.  Keep reading to learn more!

With America’s first 4G Nokia Windows Phone - the Nokia Lumia 710 - you can search the web, check email, and keep up with family and friends on a phone that's as simple as it is smart.  The Nokia Lumia 710 with Windows automatically streamlines the people, places and things in your life that matter most, so you can experience the everyday without ever missing a thing.

It elegantly wraps your entire social life up in a single device, where all of your friends and their activities exist in one live stream and you can connect, comment and retweet without ever opening a separate app.

I was impressed with the Nokia Lumia 710 right from the start, for it has a host of wonderful features.  Just look at a few of the ways this little guy can make your life much easier:

• Blazing fast 4G speeds on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network for up to 3 times faster than standard 3G networks, while allowing simultaneous voice and data capabilities (compatible with 3G networks where 4G is unavailable).
• Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g/n) for accessing home and corporate networks as well as hotspots while on the go.
• Onboard GPS for navigation and location services.
• Nokia Drive for turn-by-turn directions.
• Bluetooth connectivity (version 2.1) includes profiles for communication headset, hands-free car kits, and the A2DP audio streaming Bluetooth profiles.
• 1.4 GHz Qualcomm single-core processor speeds up everything--from playing games to watching shows to opening files from work.
• 3.7-inch capacitive ClearBlack touchscreen (480 x 800 pixels) with durable Corning Gorilla Glass.
• MicroUSB port
• HTML 5 web browser for accessing real web sites.
• Text (SMS) and picture/video (MMS) messaging
• Access to popular instant messaging services
• Personal and work e-mail (supports Microsoft Exchange corporate e-mail)
• 5-megapixel rear camera with auto-focus, 4x digital zoom, and LED flash.
• HD 720p video recording with anti-shake feature.
• Music player compatible with MP3, WMA Professional 9 and 10, and AAC
• Video player compatible with MPEG4, WMV 9, AVI, H.264, and H.263
• FM radio
• 8 GB internal memory (no memory expansion)
• 512 MB of RAM

Because the Nokia Lumia 710 is powered by Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, you can also look forward to experiencing the following features:

Multitasking. Now you can keep your place in a game while reading e-mail or listen to music apps while texting. Many apps can run in the background, so you don't need to shut one down to use another--plus you can switch between open apps in a flash.

Improved Live Tiles. The Live Tiles on Start dish up more (and quicker) updates on your apps, and they're also a whole lot of fun--the Pictures Tile animates with a slideshow of your favorite snapshots and Group Tiles flash your friends' latest updates.

Threads. Start with a text, and finish in Facebook or Messenger chat (or vice versa). The whole conversation stays in one thread, and all it takes to switch back and forth is a tap.

Send a text with your voice. With Speech, you can text, search the web, and lots more, totally hands- (and sometimes eyes-) free. Your phone can even read you an incoming text, and then you can use Speech to dictate and send your reply.

Local Scout. Powered by Bing, Local Scout teams up search and mapping to show you nearby restaurants, shopping, and activities in a single tap.

Driving directions. Your Windows Phone can get you where you're going by showing you on the map or giving you directions from where you are.

More social networks. Twitter and LinkedIn are now built into Windows Phone, so practically everything you do on your social networks is a tap away. Windows 7.5 also includes new ways to filter all those new contacts and their social updates.

Persistent camera settings. Now if you change camera settings--for instance, photo resolution, brightness, or another option your phone manufacturer might have included--you can save them for the next time you use the camera.

History view. Contact cards now show the history of your recent calls, e-mails, texts, and chats with the person. Just tap in the list to return the call or go to the thread.

Visual voice-mail. See your voice-mails in a list, then listen to them on your phone.

Sync with SkyDrive. You can sync your Office docs between SkyDrive and your phone, so you can edit them on your phone now, then edit some more on your computer later.

The Nokia Lumia 710 is MUCH easier to use than my current cell phone.  I love how they've created a true social networking hub within my phone so that I no longer have to go back and forth between Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Now, I can communicate with my friends and family in a quick, easy and logical way in much less time without missing a beat.

The 5-megapixel camera was also much more user-friendly than on my other cell phone and I loved how it would save the settings I picked out for it without having to redo them every time I went back to that function to take another picture.  I fell in love with this feature while at the park with my daughter.

I could easily program the camera settings, snap a few pics, answer a phone call or check my email and then go right back to the camera again for more pics.  It was much faster and convenient with the Nokia Lumia 710.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time taking clear pictures with the camera though.  The shutter button is located on the side, and no matter how many times I tried, my pictures always seemed blurry.  I even used two hands to try and stabilize the camera, but I took WAY more bad pics than good ones.  This was a definite downside of the Lumia for me.

The Nokia Lumia 710 is blazing fast though with a highly responsive touchscreen.  I was immediately impressed with how easily I could scroll, stop and select options using the Lumia.  The only thing I've ever used with a screen this quick, accurate and responsive is the Apple iPhone.

The Nokia also offered crystal clear sound on every phone call I made and I have yet to experience a dropped call, even when using it in the exact same places I would get dropped calls on my previous cell phone.

I also had to try and get used to the fact that the Lumia is a Windows-based phone.  I've been using an Android phone for so long and have always used Google too, so getting used to Bing and a Windows Live account is proving a little challenging.  It's not the phone's fault...I'm just discovering that I am a tad set in my ways.

I have a few apps that I used regularly which aren't in the Windows Marketplace, but one app my daughter can't seem to get enough of is the exclusive Sesame Workshop!  The large 3.7 inch ClearBlack screen means that she can see all of her favorite characters MUCH better and the screen is super easy to interact with too.

There are so many wonderful features, with so very few drawbacks, that I think once I give myself a little learning curve to adjust to the new Windows platform, the Nokia Lumia 710 will be the best smartphone I've ever had!