Not so long ago, when mobiles were simpler devices, swappable covers were the way to customise your phone, and Nokia's range of Xpress-On cover handsets dominated the trend for face-change, show-your-personality mobiles.

Now Nokia is attempting to revive the fashion for instant mobile makeovers, by introducing a new wave of Xpress-On-sporting handsets.

The Nokia 7310 Supernova is one of a trio of fascia-changing Supernova-tagged phones to hit stores, promising a bit of personalisation and style for younger mobile buyers.

Basic spec

The Nokia 7310 Supernova's specifications are less spectacular than its name might suggest. It has a fairly standard set of Nokia lower-tier features under those exchangeable covers. Illustrating this, there's no 3G (let alone Wi-Fi) for high-speed browsing and downloads; instead it relies on GPRS/EDGE slower speed data connectivity.

The 7310 Supernova does, though, have some essentials for its target audience - including a 2-megapixel camera, multi-format music and video players, an FM radio built in and expandable MicroSD card memory.

It also has a crop of web-based applications, including an Opera Mini browser and Yahoo! Go, pre-loaded, and supports email and instant messaging.

Customisable covers

With style and personalisation at the top of the agenda, the 7310 Supernova arrives with two covers in-box. The phone comes ready-dressed in either Steel Blue or White covers, depending on which network it's bought from.

The extra supplied covers are in either 'candy pink' or 'wasabi green', each having its own distinctive design trim. Additional covers can be bought from Nokia, with a DIY design-it-yourself option for more personalisation. These clip on easily enough, and are quick to exchange.

The out of the box covers have an eye-catching mirrored display section, covering the whole of the 2-inch 16 million-colour QVGA screen when it's sleeping.

This design theme is carried into a shiny chrome-effect keypad, though the plasticky look and feel of it gives it a cheap rather than classy appearance.

Nonetheless, the keypad itself is fine and springy enough for rapid texting. The controls – based around a navigation D-pad and a conventional set of softkeys – are also straightforward and good to tap. Having a typical Nokia Series 40 user interface, the 7310 is easy to operate and get to grips with. And there are plenty of function shortcuts on its Active Standby screen and navigation pad.

Simple design

The 7310 is a shade under 12mm thin (measurements are 106.5(h) x 45.4(w) x 11.95(d)mm) and weighs a pocket-friendly 83g. It's an uncluttered design with only a volume rocker key on the sides.

A microUSB socket on the top sits next to a earphone socket. Unfortunately, this is a 2.5mm rather than standard headphone 3.5mm jack, so you'll need an adapter if you want to use your own earphones rather than the boxed headset.

This socket can also be used with an optional TV-Out cable, for playing music or video on a TV set, but Nokia doesn't put one in the box.

Expandable memory

Naturally, the music player is a feature that's going to have some appeal to its target audience.

The phone has just 32MB of internal memory, but storage can be upped by slotting in a MicroSD card under the cover – cards up to 4GB are supported. None is supplied, but MicroSDs are a cheap and essential upgrade if you want to listen to more than a handful of tracks.