Phonello » Symbian S60

Nokia N96

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:53:24 +0000

The Nokia N96 is this company’s multimedia flagship smartphone. As its name suggests, it is the successor to the Nokia N95, and uses the same dual-slider design and includes many of the same features: Symbian S60, 3G, Wi-Fi, etc.

This is not a model that will probably catch the eyes of many in the U.S. these days. It doesn’t look as if there is much with it, but the N96 is a sleekly designed smartphone that offer some pleasant surprises… and some not so pleasant.

Design and Hardware

The N96 is an evolution of the dual-slider design Nokia released with the N95 two years ago. However, compared to the initial N95, the N96 is not as thick, though it’s wider. The slider is more taut, and there are fewer gaps in the build.

This model has a 2.8-inch, QVGA screen. While not a touchscreen, it does offer striking color and a great balance between indoors viewing and outdoors needs.

The screen and buttons area can slide up to reveal the 12-key numeric keypad, or slide down to reveal the multimedia keys, which can double as game controllers with some N-Gage games.

Looking around the outside of this smartphone, the top has a 3.5 mm headset/TV-Out jack, and power and key-lock buttons. The left side is pretty bare with just the covered microSD card slot. The right side, on the other hand is fairly busy with stereo speakers on the top and bottom. the volume up/down buttons under the top speaker, and the camera button above the bottom speaker.

The rear of the N96 houses the Carl Zeiss and dual LED flash-equipped, 5 megapixel digital camera. The single-piece back panel covers the 950 mAh battery.

The bottom of the N96 has the microUSB connector and the Nokia charging port.

Other hardware features include:

16 GB of built-in internal memory
microSDHC card slot supporting up to 16 GB microSDHC cards
VGA video camera for video calling in supported markets
Quad-band GSM, regional support for UMTS/HSDPA (the model I have supports European 3G, though there is a North American 3G supported version)
Accelerometer
Built-in GPS
Wi-Fi 802.11b
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
DVB-H digital TV tuner

Overall, the N96 contains more refined hardware features than its predecessor, and pushes the idea of a top-of-the-line smartphone into more of a multimedia computer. The only downsides are a smaller battery than some other recent Nokia devices and some hardware that’s unsupported in the U.S., such as the digital TV feature.

As a Phone

With all of this hardware in one’s pocket, it’s almost impossible to believe that the N96 doesn’t suffer any as a phone. This is largely because while the operating system is new, Symbian S60 Feature Pack 2 (version 3.2), the user interface mostly remains the same from Nokia mobiles of old.

Some of the new tricks picked up with Feature Pack 2 include better power management (hence the smaller battery) and better wireless management options. However, the normal Nokia phone UI still remains intact.

Features such as Call Log, Contacts, and switching profiles are easily accessible via hard buttons.

Voice quality is of the usually high Nokia standard. Accessing phone functions such as additional calls, speakerphone, and muting calls is handled easily when in a call. There’s not much to be learned in terms of how to use it because the user interface is so familiar to many users.

At the same time, this familiarity doesn’t seem to fit well with the device. The UI shows its age, no matter what themes are chosen.

The Active Standby screen houses seven shortcut icons, a calendar, search, and Share on Ovi widgets, and the Wi-Fi discovery utility.

Battery life for phone calls is tolerable. You can expect to get through 3 hours of calls pretty easily. However, at this stage of the software’s development, some on-screen interactions such as bringing up SMS messages seems to take longer than the 332 MHz processor would indicate.

Thankfully, a few firmware updates since I’ve received the N96 has made for some snappier performance for day-to-day usage. That being said, it would have done Nokia well to do more with the user interface and phone aspects.

Connectivity and Multimedia

Where usually I’d take the time to talk about PIM and multimedia separately, the N96 makes no such distinction. Its focus is on multimedia, though it offers the normal suite of organization tools that Nokia’s mobiles are known for.

As noted by Kevin in our preview of this device, the N96 is much more a multimedia computer with a phone attached. Looking at the what comes with the device, Wi-Fi, GPS, 16 GB of space, etc., there’s a lot to take advantage of.

Starting with the wireless connectivity options, there’s Wi-Fi. Using the new Destinations feature in Feature Pack 2, Wi-Fi becomes this automatic switching connectivity option. And while the Nokia SIP has been removed from Feature Pack 2, there’s still a number of VoIP clients that can step up and utilize the Wi-Fi connectivity for more communicative tasks.

Then there’s the very stable and versatile Bluetooth implementation. From dial-up-networking, to A2DP, to file transfers, things are pretty slick and easy to setup. The 2.0 implementation is as solid as any other Nokia devices. My Motorola Bluetooth headphones pair easily, and the sound is a bit clearer than what I get from the N95.

And let’s not forget about the cellular wireless aspect of things. The version that I have is the European model, and therefore the 3G (900/1900 MHz) are not usable here in the US. That being stated, EDGE speeds are a bit faster than what I’ve seen with other EDGE-only mobile devices. And as I mentioned earlier, there’s a U.S. version of this device; I just don’t have it.

The GPS is built in, and applications such as Nokia Maps 2.0 can easily take advantage of it. Lock times are fast outdoors when stationary, averaging about 10-30 secs for a lock. The GPS also takes advantage of A-GPS which makes locking to the satellites faster.

That 16 GB of built-in internal space comes in handy for storing maps. You can download tons of maps to that space, in addition to whatever else you can fit there. And unlike the N95 8 GB model, you actually get to take advantage of the USB 2.0 speeds offered by Feature Pack 2 and the micro USB connector. The microSDHC slot can take up to 16 GB memory cards and transfer at the same speeds as well, making the Nokia PC Suite software look really good for installing applications and multimedia.

Unfortunately, this is where the usable or efficient multimedia ends. The Music Player has not been changed from the previous Symbian OS version. Its really too difficult to add album art still. N-Gage is pretty cool, as are the included games with it. Some of the games are good with portrait or landscape, but the use of the multimedia buttons is iffy due to their stiffness.

Thankfully, the camera doesn’t disappoint. The 5 megapixel, Carl Zeiss-equipped camera has good color balance and quick shutter speed. The integration with the GPS for geo-tagging is pretty slick (when there is a GPS connection). Share on Ovi and Flickr also integrate well with the camera abilities. Given the amount of space on the camera though, it would seem like the N96 should be even more of a multimedia workstation.

The dual LED aspect to the camera seems to work best for video recording, as it gives a better and whiter light to those situations. Night pictures are not that bad, though not as good as the Xenon light that one gets with Nokia’s N82.

The main issue with the N96 has to do with the kernel of its marketing. While it is a very good multimedia device, the digital TV and video aspects are not as exploited as they could be. Sure, part of this has to do with the lack of DVB-H support in the U.S., the difficulty of viewing some sites like Hulu, and a general feeling that the N96 is too early for its time, but the multimedia focus just loses ground to the more polished mobiles out there right now.

That being said, there are some mobile video services that do fit the N96, and they bring to light just the capacity that Nokia probably had in mind when it came to the N96′s video abilities. One service that I tried was the Amazon Video on Demand (VOD) service. With this, you download a video to your PC with Amazon’s Unbox player, and then transfer it to your smartphone. With the video-accelerated graphics of the N96, playback was generally smooth. The only downsides were the inability to directly download videos over a Wi-Fi connection, and the loading speed of the Video Center application once more than a few videos were loaded on to the N96.

Conclusion

Much like the N95 that came out two years ago, the Nokia N96 presents a lot more than what many people will ever want in a mobile device. And at the same time, it represents where mobile devices are going. More than just a simple communications device, it’s a multimedia station and a digital landmark. The N96 just does a lot, and for many people, it might be too much.

It doesn’t help that many of its abilities need polish. From the questionable battery life, to the unpolished user interface, and several performance issues from earlier firmware versions, the N96 more stuttered than stormed out of the gate. As an $800 device, one could expect more, one should expect more.

It’s feature packed, very future proof, and frankly just amazing. However, the N96 leaves you wanting more than what it currently gives. Given Nokia’s history with other models, it might mean that the N96 is a diamond just waiting to be unearthed.

Nokia E71x (AT&T)

Tue, 12 May 2009 06:13:12 +0000

At $149.99 with a two-year contract, the Nokia E71x is AT&T’s best smartphone deal right now. A variant on the Editors’ Choice–winning unlocked E71, this handset is strikingly slim, classy-looking phone with excellent e-mail and Web support—all at half the price of competing handsets. AT&T subscribers looking for a phone that can act as a mobile office can’t go wrong with this Nokia.

The talented and attractive E71 is one of the phones I carry with me most often. It’s super-slim (only 0.4 inch thick) and incredibly slick, with a stainless-steel back and small, domed keys. The phone’s voice performance is superb; it feels fast; and it runs thousands of Symbian programs. It also syncs easily with your PC. AT&T’s version uses the same hardware (except that it’s black, whereas the E71 is silver), but makes some firmware and software changes, which I’ll focus on in this review. For more details, check out the E71 review.

The E71x sports a newer version of the Symbian Series 60 OS, with AT&T-customized firmware. It adds a few useful options, like a menu item that lets you see what programs are running, and really speeds up downloads—I got around 1 Mbps down and 120 Kbps up, both using the E71x as a modem for a Windows PC and through its own browser. Also, AT&T has stripped out some of Nokia’s software and added its own. The E71x loses Nokia’s podcasting client, Active Notes, download catalog, on-device search app, Adobe Flash support for the Web browser, and file manager. I tried downloading the podcasting client separately, but AT&T blocks it. That’s odd, because AT&T didn’t block any of the non-Nokia third-party programs I tried, like Google Maps. AT&T also won’t say whether it will support Nokia’s upcoming Ovi Store, which would be like Apple’s App Store for Nokia smartphones.

I’ve come to terms with the phone’s so-so music and video players, although its 2.5mm headset jack prevents the use of standard music headphones. With my E71, I’ve been using the Plantronics MHS-213 earbuds ($20 to $40 street), the best pair I could find with a 2.5mm jack, and I’ve had no problem listening to music or watching 320-by-240-pixel, MPEG-4 videos.

Productivity is where this handset shines. The e-mail options are Nokia’s Mail for Exchange and AT&T’s XpressMail, by Seven. Mail for Exchange is a terrific Exchange client with push mail and live syncing of messages, calendars, and contact books. I’ve been using it for months. It runs down batteries pretty quickly when you keep it in push mode, but if you set it to sync every 15 minutes the battery will last several days. Seven XpressMail handles AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, MobileMe, Yahoo, and any POP or IMAP account. Unfortunately, both e-mail programs are text only, but they handle all sorts of attachments. You can also load Google’s own, superior Gmail client if you want.

Nokia Maps is out, and AT&T’s TeleNav GPS is in. It’s not as pretty as Maps, but on my tests, it locked on to my location much more quickly, offering audible driving directions. Sadly, there’s no pedestrian mode. But if you don’t like TeleNav GPS, feel free to use Google Maps. That’s one of the joys of the E71x: For almost every built-in function, there are two or three downloadable alternatives.

The bundle of entertainment apps that AT&T has included are a mixed bag. Cellular Video, AT&T’s streaming video service, plays smoothly but is extremely blocky, ugly, and compressed-looking. MobiTV, which costs extra but works much better, provides sometimes smooth, sometimes mildly jerky streaming TV channels over AT&T’s network. But the mSpot Music Sync program is pretty great: It streams music from your Internet-connected PC (although the tracks might skip, depending on your network connection). AT&T has also gotten rid of the FM radio; I have no idea why. And there’s one toxic application: AT&T’s location-based WHERE service, which opts you in to a $2.99-per-month subscription as soon as you click on its icon.

AT&T has the strongest smartphone lineup of all the major U.S. carriers right now, and the E71x has three tough competitors: the BlackBerry Curve, the BlackBerry Bold, and the Apple iPhone. All are more expensive than the E71x. The iPhone is a better entertainment device than the E71x, and it’s still our Editor’s Choice because of its amazing App Store. But it doesn’t have a physical keyboard, which is a deal breaker for some, and the E71x is a better voice phone. If you’re not on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, there are plenty of reasons to get the E71x over the Bold, starting with the better Web browser and Exchange support—the only (big) downside is that missing 3.5mm headphone jack, which compromises the E71x’s abilities as a music player. Still, the Nokia E71x is one of the absolute best smartphones anywhere. If you aren’t enraptured by the iPhone or tied to BlackBerry, the E71x is a top-notch choice on AT&T.

Benchmark Test Results
Continuous talk time: 4 hours 28 minutes

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Fri, 08 May 2009 12:46:32 +0000

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has quickly become a very popular Symbian S60-based mobile device for the Finnish company. In its first few months on the market, there have been over 2 million of these devices sold.

And while one can point to the similarity of the 5800XM to other famous touchscreen models such as the iPhone, Instinct, and Prada; none of these devices have demonstrated the sheer capability, or market friendliness that Nokia’s offering has. Maybe that is why, despite some glaring weaknesses, that its found a solid place in this reviewer’s pocket.

Build and Design
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a simple tablet-based touchscreen mobile. Composed completely of plastic, it doesn’t have the feel of a very expensive device, but it takes a beating and keeps going better than most.

Compared to the LG Incite I reviewed not too long ago, this Nokia device much less the fingerprint magnet on the sides and rear. And the buttons that it does have (call, menu, and end on the front; power on the top; and, volume +/- and screen lock on the right) keep your hands in the right place and away from the screen.

The screen looks great… indoors. At 640 by 360 pixels, it’s hard to find a device this small (3.2in screen, 111mm long by 51mm wide) that has this many pixels packed onto its surface. This means that photos, text, and web pages just look outstanding

Outdoors, the display washes out almost completely in the sun. This is something that I’m not used to with Nokia devices at all.

The screen is plastic, and gives a good deal when pressing it. Though this is a good deal less concerting than the Incite in that the haptic feedback feels more “buttony” and natural.

Truthfully though, its not a busy device. The buttons while finger-friendly in feel, seem just a bit hard to reach all around. And the placement of the SIM and microSDHC slots on the let side seem great at first, but are a fingernail’s nightmare to get open at times.

Nevertheless, its weight is excellent (109g), and it feels like any other well-weighted candybar mobile when placed next to your head on in a pocket. Plus, the long/thin nature of the design is very pocket friendly. I’ve not felt this good about ditching the idea of a case since owning a Sony Ericsson T616.

Touchscreen Input: While the 5800XM is not Nokia’s first touchscreen product, it is the first one that utilizes the Symbian S60 operating system. A new version, S60v5, opens up the ability for the OS to utilize a touchscreen interface. With the 5800XM, this is a mixed bag.

On one end, it’s great to touch. The S60 OS has long been panned for being too menu-driven, and having a touchscreen does help the effort. Some of the changes made to the UI include making scroll-bars larger, adding larger contact points for menu items, and even some redesigned elements. However it seems partly done.

On the 5800XM you get to touch, but its UI is not at all similar to the iPhone or even the T-Mobile G1. There are still too many steps to do things such as cut-and-paste, or move files from one folder to another. In addition, much of the default software is simply the same version that it is on the non-touchscreen Symbian S60 devices, without any optimization.

The 5800XM does have some good points here though. There are 4 input methods: numeric keypad, mini-full QWERTY, full screen QWERTY, and single-character handwriting (stylus is included). All of these are suitable options, though I found that the numeric keypad best in portrait, and the full screen QWERTY best when holding the device in a landscape fashion or web browsing.

Sensors: The 5800XM also is a Symbian S60 pioneer in terms of using several sensors to automate actions. Similar to many other Nokia devices, the 5800XM has an ambient light sensor and an accelerometer. It adds a proximity sensor (so that you don’t activate the touchscreen when on a call), and a developer-accessible API to these sensors so that applications can take advantage of them.

For example, an included racing game allows you to control the steering by simply turning the device. Also, you can snooze alarms and reject calls by just turning over the device. It seems pretty simple, but these sensors and the behaviors are a really powerful means of getting more out of a device without having to touch a button.

Performance
While the 5800XM is not a high-end device, it does come with several features which used to be reserved for high-end products. The 369 MHz processor is buffered by a 1320 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, GPS (with A-GPS), Bluetooth 2.0, a 3.5 mm a/v jack, and mounds of software.

It’s not positioned as a conventional or enterprise smartphone, however; it’s a music and multimedia themed one. And given its smartphone roots, it pulls off this aspect of use reasonably well.

Music and Multimedia: Let me first say, this device has some of the best speakers that I’ve ever heard on a mobile device. And definitely the loudest. Music, alarms, voice calls, whatever – these are some really great speakers and easily makes the 5800XM an alarm clock replacement.

Beyond that, the Music Player, Podcast, and Web Browser are pretty much the same as other Symbian S60 devices, with some enhancements. The web browser specifically seems to benefit well from the touchscreen application. From the tap-to-zoom (in and out), to a finger-friendly quick-menu, to the Flash Lite 3 support, it’s about as advanced as mobile browsers get.

On the optical media side, the 3.2 megapixel digital camera proves to be the only real let-down. Sure, the dual-LED, VGA video capture, digital zoom, and finger-friendly menus are great, but it’s the final product that’s a significant disapointment. Even with a few major firmware releases under its belt, the 5800XM is a really poor camera. Photos not only come out grainy and noisy, but they are over-sharpened and underexposed. This is not at all the best mobile to choose for a camera solution.

Nevertheless, if you do manage to get some photos that are of suitable quality, you have a great-sized screen to see them on.

Side note: Nokia’s BetaLabs introduced a touchscreen-friendly photo browser that really should have been the default media display application for this device. Besides loading images faster, it has this excellent finger-fun navigation that looks like a tilting photo wall. Clicking on a picture enlarges it quickly. Photos go landscape or portrait without delay, and there’s a tap-and-magnify setting where you can zoom into parts of an image as if you had a magnifying glass. The 5800XM looks like it was made for this application.

Productivity: It’s not all about entertainment though. The 5800XM also comes with the usual Nokia PIM suite: Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, and Notes. The email interface has been tweaked for better finger-performance, and is a touch (sorry) better than on non-touchscreen Nokia devices.

Nokia Maps is the default mapping application, and its placement here has been really well done. It actually is a better finger-designed application than much of the rest of the software, and whether using Wi-Fi or cellular wireless, downloading maps and getting a GPS fix is fast and easy. About the only thing missing is a Google Latitude-like feature of being able to see those who’ve shared their location with you.

Compared to some other Nokia devices, the 5800XM has a slightly better homescreen arrangement. There are three to choose from: Basic, Shortcuts Bar, and Contacts bar. Basic shows nothing at all, and the Shortcuts Bar version shows the day’s calendar, new emails, and 4 applications, but the Contacts bar is the most interesting.

You can set up to four contacts and then you see an individualized contact log of that contact — including SMS, calls, and can even set up to 2 web feeds for that person. You can not only see how often you messaged them, but also what was their last tweet or blog post. The only bad mark that I can give is that it would be better if the Shortcuts bar and Contacts bar screens were merged. It would be a better utilization of the screen-space then.

Being that it’s a Nokia, the phone aspects are very solid. Speaker and microphone are very clear. The speakerphone, as stated before, loud and clear at all volume levels. Pairing Bluetooth devices is easy, and call management is made easier with the Contacts bar for your frequent contacts.

Specifications:

Symbian OS v9.4, S60 5th Edition
360 x 640 touchscreen with haptic feedback
111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm
Quad-band GSM , WCDMA 2100/850 or 2100/900 (depending on region)
3.2 Megapixel camera (f/2.8, video recording at 640 x 480, 30fps)
128 MB memory
microSDHC
Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, Bluetooth Stereo Audio
802.11b/g (WEP, WPA, and WPA2 (AES/TKIP))
Micro-USB at USB 2.0
GPS w/A-GPS
Accelerometer
Proximity and ambient light sensors
3.5mm stereo headset jack w/TV-Out

Conclusion
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is slated as the first in a series of touchscreen devices from Nokia. As a first effort it’s both encouraging and a disappointment. Encouraging because the hardware and some of the software just fit very well. The Contacts Bar homescreen, excellent battery life, and multimedia facilities put just about every other smartphone on its heels.

Nevertheless, inconsistencies in the interface, too many input options, and not enough optimized software set the 5800XM back where it really should be ahead. It needs just a little more polish all around.

That all being said, it goes into and out of my pocket a lot. I really like it, despite the issues noted. And at less than $400 for an unlocked version (Cincinnati Bell is the only U.S. carrier offering it; at $150 with a 2 year contract), it’s really hard to find a better value that’s not Apple’s iPhone.

For those looking for a device that has a bit more punch than pretty much any other mid-range touchscreen offering, and aren’t opposed to purchasing unlocked devices, the 5800XM is hard to beat.

Pros:

Good battery life
Loud speakers
Reading text from the screen

Cons:

Inconsistent UI
Default software not completely optimized
So-so video performance

Nokia N97

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:37:09 +0000

An Overview of the Nokia N97
The Nokia N97 will be powered by Symbian S60 5th edition (S60v5), a new touch-enabled version of the operating system this company puts on its high-end models. It will be based on a 434 MHz processor and 128 MB of RAM.

This device is going to include a 3.5-inch, 640-by-360-pixel display that can be moved aside to revel its landscape-oriented keyboard. This will cause the screen to pivot up, making this phone look a bit like a small laptop.

The N97 will have no less than 32 GB of built-in storage, and that can be supplemented by up to 16 GB more on a microSD card.

Versions for Europe and N. America
This Nokia phone will have quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), and 3G (3.6 Mbps HSDPA) in frequencies appropriate for the region of release. In Europe, it will have 900/1900/2100 MHz, and in N. America it will have 850/1900/2100 MHz

Both versions will also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR.

Additional Details
The Nokia N97 will include a 5.0 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Dual-LED flash. Tis will be capable of recording still images and video at 640 by 480 pixels and 30 fps.

It will sport a number of built-in sensors: a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, digital compass, and ambient light sernsor.

Stereo and TV-Out will be handled by a 3.5 mm jack, and dual stereo speakers will also appear.

This model’s web browser is going to be based on the WebKit rendering engine and include Flash Lite 3.0.

Full support for the Nokia Music Store, N-Gage, Nokia Maps, and Nokia Messaging will be included.

Nokia says the 1500 mAh battery will be good for up to 9.5 hours of talk time or 4.5 hours of video playback.

Nokia E63

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:27:33 +0000

When Nokia introduced the very thin and powerful Nokia E71 QWERTY smartphone, it probably had no clue that this would be such a popular model. So much so that they could keep it at a higher price point and release a sibling model, the E63, with a lower price and slightly reduced feature set.

The interesting thing is that the Nokia E63 doesn’t really feel like a cheaper device when you are using it. It’s that good.

Nevertheless, the soft-touch paint of the rear, and wide profile are pleasing in the hand. The E63 brought back memories of the Treo 680 that I used to own as it felt simply “hand-friendly.”

Keyboard: The QWERTY keyboard is the same that is used on the E71 — domed keys that offer great feedback and travel. Comapred though to the E71, the spacebar is smaller and there’s an extra two keys for common symbols.

I’ve recently picked up a Palm Treo 750 in order to get an idea of that keyboard versus the E63 and both are similar in terms of key feedback and size. However, the curve noted on the Treo 750 makes it easier to get to some of the buttons on the bottom without feeling like your thumbs are doings some exercises.

Compared to the BlackBerry Curve, the E63 feels the same in hand, but the keys have a longer travel to them. The dome shape on the E63′s keys do help here, but you will probably get up to speed faster on the BlackBerry.

Performance
The E63 runs on the Symbian S60 Feature Pack 1 (v3.1) operating system. Having been utilized in Nokia devices for the better part of two years, the Feature Pack 1 implementation on the E63 is about as good as things get.

Device stability is the best I’ve ever seen — not one crash. Also, despite the menu-driven aspect of the Symbian S60 user interface, the E63 is very snappy in getting from one screen to another.

Much like the E71 and other recent E-series devices from Nokia, the E63 has a modified home screen — called Active Standby — which not only offers a view of the day’s activities, but also has some “speech bubbles” which denote new SMS, MMS, and voice mail messages. This screen also features a type-and-dial feature, similar to that of BlackBerrys and Treos, where you start dialing and the device immediately begins to search your contacts for the nearest match.

The browser was another area of snappy performance. Nokia’s S60 Browser — a Webkit-based browser — has seen some tweaks for this device and renders websites quickly. One of the things you will notice is that unlike Apple’s Safari Mobile browser (also Webkit-based), you will get the mini-map look only after the page has loaded, not as the default landing. Nevertheless, using keyboard shortcuts, navigating pages that have Flash, complex JavaScript, and more, is pretty much a breeze whether using a 3G or Wi-Fi connection.

Productivity: Being a Nokia E-series device, this device concentrates more on work than play. Software such as Mail for Exchange works seemlessly with the device to offer push-email and PIM syncing. QuickOffice, Active Notes, a built-in Dictionary, Measurements/Financial Converter, VPN wizard, and support for VoIP systems all make this device very much a work horse.

What I found most interesting is that with all of these features going in one way or another, the device rarely faltered. Battery life was absoutely astounding — lasting a 4-hour flight with music and gaming and having the energy afterwards to make calls and check email over 3G. One should expect something solid out of a 1500 mAh battery, but that was unexpected.

Beyond the software that is on the E63 by default, the Download! application led me to several more applications. Download! will eventually give way to the Ovi Store, opening the possiblity for even more software to come to this and other Nokia devices.

Camera: The E63′s 2.0 MPx camera, while great with the auto-focus and flash, doesn’t really add much, as most of the pics are noisy and overly sharpened.

Specifications

Symbian S60 Feature Pack 1 (v3.1)
Display: 2.36-inch 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA)
Wireless:
Quad-band EGSM 850/900/1800/1900
WCDMA 850/1900 (E63-2 model)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate
110 MB internal dynamic memory
microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 8 GB
Micro-USB connector
3.5 mm standard AV connector
BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Po standard battery
Camera:
2.0 MPx with auto-focus and digital zoom
video at 320 x 240 (QVGA) at 15 fps

CONCLUSION

The Nokia E63 is really a mobile for the masses. The low cost and ease of use are probably more game-changing than Nokia might have realized. This is easily a great device choice for those who are looking for an unlocked device with the power of BlackBerrys and Treos, but needing something different all the same.

Nevertheless, it’s a work device before its an entertainment one. The camera is barely adequate, and the lack of volume buttons seems like a good idea, until the device rings and its a touch too loud (good speaker though).

Again though, these shortcomings aren’t a bad thing for $280 (unlocked, unbranded). This would easily be a sub-$100 smartphone if offered by a carrier. Because it doesn’t come through one, it’s best looked at as either a second phone, or something to purchase if you are already happy with your smartphone plan and are just looking for something a bit newer and very stable.

Pros

Low Cost
Stable software
Solid keyboard
Outstanding battery life

Cons

Lackluster camera
Confusing user interface
No internal GPS