Review Touchscreen phones are where both manufacturers and punters are spending now, and all other categories are seeing rapid declines in market share. But if the most important applications you use involve phone calls and messaging, all of the new, whizzy devices fall short. None do voice particularly well, or messaging comprehensively. Few will make it through a demanding day.
The E6: Nokia’s white knight?
Nokia thinks there’s a part of the market here that is poorly catered for, and has revisited one of its former glories for inspiration, the E71, the monoblock Qwerty phone introduced in 2008. I doubt if anyone felt an emotion resembling affection for their E71, but it’s was dependable, it made its rivals seem clunky and immature, and it’s deservedly popular. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The E72 is the latest in Nokia’s line of Qwerty handsets, beefing up the popular E71 with a slightly sleeker look, improved software and some interface tweaks. It’s very slim – only just over 1cm thick, 58.3mm wide, and 114 tall, weighing 128g. The 2.36in screen is only QVGA, though arguably on a unit this size, a higher resolution wouldn’t make much difference.
Fast talker: Nokia’s E72
Below the screen are two soft keys, call and end buttons, plus four dedicated buttons. The home/menu key can’t be reassigned, but the others can, with one function for a short push, and one for a long one. By default, for example, pressing the calendar button briefly shows the calendar, while a long press creates a new entry.
Between these is the Navikey, a standard looking four-way navpad. However, it’s not entirely standard, as it has an optical sensor as well. So, you can scroll through menus and lists by wiping a finger or thumb over it, which makes for much faster navigation – although some third party apps did seem to be a little confused by it at times. On the whole, it works well, and is a good improvement. Read the rest of this entry »
Review While many mobile makers in the smartphone game have been concentrating their designer firepower on touchscreen devices, the Nokia N86 8MP rolls in as a successor to Nokia’s previous generation of Symbian S60 3E-packing heavyweights rather than as another touchphone contender.
Nokia’s N86 8MP: the N-series ancestry is immediately apparent
Making its mark as Nokia’s first 8Mp cameraphone – and its first with a mechanical shutter – the N86 8MP combines design and functionality elements from both the N85 and N96, two of Nokia’s most fully featured S60 devices. Imaging may be its focal point, but the N86 8MP also offers Wi-Fi to complement its HSDPA 3G data connectivity, A-GPS satellite navigation, 8GB of on-board storage, an FM transmitter plus a full spread of multimedia features and support for Nokia’s suite of online Ovi services.
There’s no mistaking that N-series family connection in the bodywork and front panel layout. The N86 8MP’s two-way slider design, which incorporates a numberpad and a media player control set as first seen on the N95, is chunky, measuring 103.4 x 51.4 x 16.5-18.5mm. It weighs a pocket-sagging 149g and feels very substantial in the hand.
Scratch-resistant hardened glass covers the front panel and the display, a 2.6in, 16.7m-colour 320 x 240 OLED screen that’s strikingly bright and clear. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The Nokia E55 is actually one of a pair of very similar handsets simultaneously released by Nokia. Its brother is the E52, which is pretty much the same, except that it has a standard numeric keypad rather than the E55′s SureType-style Qwerty keypad with two letters assigned to each key. That aside, both phones come with Wi-Fi, HSDPA 3G, a 3.2Mp Camera, aGPS, FM radio and an outsize battery.
Slim pickings: Nokia’s E55 Symbian smartphone
Nokia is claiming that the E55 is the world’s thinnest smart phone, which, much like world-class sprinting, is a contest that is increasingly based on very small margins. For the record, Nokia is quoting it as 9.9mm thin, which cuts a mighty 0.1mm off the 10mm E71. No, we couldn’t tell the difference when we held them next to each other, but do let us know if you think it’s significant.
It’s a neat looking device, with chrome-look trim around its plastic frontage and a metallic backplate. Incidentally, this feels a little flimsy, and even came off in our pocket once. The 2.4in screen offers 320×240 resolution and 16 million colours. It’s bright and sharp, as you might expect, and not bad in sunlight either. Read the rest of this entry »
