Jul 27, 2010 09:56 PM
5657 Views
I wanted to upgrade from my N73. I considered only Nokia and Blackberry as I wanted a business phone this time around. My main requirements were QWERTY keypad, GPS and design. I looked at Nokia touchscreens like 5800 5230, 5233, X6 and business phones like E71, E72 and E52 and Blackberry Bold, Tour and Curve 8520.
After reading a lot of reviews on the net and talking to my friends, I decided that touchscreens were not for me. I am not very careful with my cell and I have young children at home. I was advised against touchscreens and they are delicate and once you damage a touchscreen, its replacement is almost as much as the price of a new phone. Second factor which swayed my decision in favor of the traditional key pads was that typing mails is not very convenient on the touchscreen - at least for me.
The second decision I faced was Nokia or Blackberry. While Blackberry is the leader in the business phone space, my experience with some 10 Noki as before was the clincher for me. I have heard great experiences people have with Blackberries and how easy it is to set up mail on corporate accounts with them. My friends also recommended the Blackberry OS software in the phones, which is said to be superior to Nokia's Symbian based OS in terms of ease of use and user friendliness.
However, feature to feature Blackberries are priced at least 5 to 8 K more than the Nokia phones. Plus, blackberry service costs extra on networks while Nokia messaging is offered free for lifetime.SimilarlyGPS/map support is chargeable on Blackberry while free on Nokia. So as a package, Nokia has considerably sweetened the deal over the Blackberry.
So I went and bought myself a new Nokia E72. I preferred it over the e71 due to a faster processor and better camera. Price difference was also some 3K which was not much. I chose the black model over the golden one due to personal choice. Even the golden colour is good looking.
After over a month of use, I can summarize my experience on the following points.
Pluses1. Nice robust design, feels solid in the hand with steel edging and battery cover.2. Familar user interface. For anyone who has used Nokia, the learning curve is pretty easy. Most things are where you expect them to be. Navigation is predictable and intuitive. It doesn't hang whatever you may throw at it. Though it is too familiar now and looks dated when compared to others like HTC, Blackberry and is decidedly poor when compared to Apple.3. Great camera. Picture processing is fast specially when I compare it to my N73.4. setting up email is very easy. just input the userid and passwd, and the wizard does the rest. Email interface is also familar with resemblance to PC based clients like Outlook.5. Wifi connectivity is fast and easy. Accessing the net is childsplay with shortcuts to facebook, youtube and myspace built in. There is a feature which lets you access Internet radio. Its really entertaining, you can access virtually thousands of online radio channels from around the world. Particularly useful if you are interested in international music which most Indian FM channels dont play.6. GPS service is quick. Most of the time, the GPS signal is picked up within 1-2 minutes and positioning is fairly accurate. Map support and navigation is really amazing. I never expected the local maps and navigation to be this accurate. You can fix the phone on the car dash board or windscreen with the included car holder to serve as a regular GPS navigator.7. There is an included 8 GB memory card which you can use to store music, photos, maps and documents. Most office documents are editable on the phone. I have not tried it though. Nokie offers Ovi music service through the Ovi music store to compete with Apple's Itunes. Itunes is older so has a more comprehensive collecttion. Specially the podcasts feature is a differentiator.8. Basic PC sync setup and use is easy with either the free Nokia PC suite or Ovi suite (Loaded on the memory card). PC connectivity either through the USB or bluetooth is a breeze.9. Screen is bright and displays both pictures and text well. It holds itself well in sunlight also.10. Sound quality in both calls and while playing music is super. 3.5 mm audio jack is convenient to attach your own headset. The included headset is also nice with good all round frequency response. Loudspeaker is at the back. Quality is good but the volume is low.11. Call and standby time is very good. I can run the phone without charging for three days with a constant data connection and 20 to 25 calls per day. The included battery is huge.
Minuses1. Build though solid is your run off the mill standard. Nothing flashy. Blackberries are better looking.2. The OS does the job but appears dated when you compare it to other devices.3. Screen resolution could have been better for the price.e.g Powerpoint files display is too small for use the device as a prompter in a presentation. Similarly, GPS maps are not viewable when the phone is on the windscreen or dashboard of the car.4. PC sync though easy to setup becomes frustrating if you are doing complicated things like syncing huge amounts of data/music or updating maps. Advice: use USB for such tasks. Bluetooth is very slow.5. Quality of the included leather pouch and screenguard is bad. The inner lining of the pouch and the screen guard came off within 15 days of light use.6. Keys are placed too close for comfortable fast typing. Here too Blackberry score. they have better keypads.7. Vibrator and loudspeaker are weak. You can easily miss calls in a noisy environment.8. Internet browser is barebones.
Recommendation: Highly recommended if you are comfortable with a slightly less flashy business handset. Robust build and design, strong feature set with Nokia reliability and minor minuses make this a winner. All in all a value for money deal by a good margin.
Alternatives: In this price range - none. If you are ready to up your budget by 10K, I would recommend the blackberry bold 2. But you dont get much extra in terms of features apart from perhaps a better experience and better image. Or I would recommend to go the little extra to buy the Apple iphone - not for anything else but the ultimate sexy design and cult status.
