The E51 is sleek, built for style and productivity...a rare combination that means popularity with true merit. So I'm quite puzzled that this phone isn't being pushed as much as the N95.It's got the right dimensions, not too heavy in the shirt pocket, feels good in my hand, the keypad has excellent touch and layout with 1-press keys for Calendar, Contacts, Email, Bluetooth (on/off) and Silent/General mode.
It's real cool that the 1-press keys for Calendar, Contacts and Email have different modes.
Short press starts the app (Calendar, Contacts, Email).
Long press starts a new record within the app (new calendar entry, new contact, new message).
I've re-assigned the 1-press key for Email to start the Messaging app, and long press starts the CryptoGraf Messaging app to encrypt my messages.
There's WLAN internet access with a proper browser. The camera, with just 2 MegaPixels, is good enough for my needs.
The screen is crystal clear and good for viewing video and images. BTW, I thought it gets scratched quite easily, but that's just the plastic screen protector. I removed the screen protector and the screen stays scratch free even after I put the phone in my trouser pocket along with my keys.
Another feature that makes the upgrade from E50 to this E51 a great idea...there's a font setting for adjusting the menu font sizes to Large, Medium, Small.
Voice call quality is quite good. The speakers are also quite good but they're awkwardly located on the back.
The volume controls on the side of the phone are not easy to use...it's quite confusing that the 'cursor key' acts as a volume control for the media player, but the voice call volume control is on the side of the phone.
The CPU is very fast at 350MHz, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Mini USB 2.0, 2.5 mm A/V connector. The BP-6MT 1050mAh battery gives me great talk time and standy time even with liberal use of bluetooth and WLAN.
Pros (in order of importance):
+ Excelent feature vs. price ratio. You'll be hard pressed to find another mobile device offering the same feature set, smartphone capabilities, and strong community following, for the same price. This is arguably the best bang for your buck smartphone on the market right now. After researching for quite a while before purchasing, this was a big deal-maker for me.
+ Slim, stylish, classic candybar design and quality construction. The phone feels sturdy and the noticeable weight provides confidence it's not going to break if you happen to drop it accidentally (I can personally attest to this).
+ High-quality screen. Sure, it's a bit on the small size compared to other Nokia offerings, but the QVGA resolution and 16M color display more than make up for it. You'll have a hard time watching full-length movies on it because of the size, but the pictures really look great and the UI is a pleasure to look at, especially with your choice of 3rd-party themes.
+ Excelent performance. Plenty of CPU power and RAM to run several resource intensive games and application, at the same time.
+ Symbian OS 9.2. This is a tried and tested smartphone OS. You just can't beat the huge application library available on the platform. Coupled with the performance bit above, the OS just flies through anything you run. Very responsive and stable.
Now, onto to the negatives.
Cons (in order of annoyance):
Weak battery. If you plan on using any of the features aside plain voice calls, get used to carrying the charger with you at all times. The battery is seriously underpowered, and a few hours worth of WiFi (for VoIP calls and light web browsing) on a full charge will last you--at most--24 hours. And don't even think about turning on Bluetooth for your wireless headset, since it will drain a full charged battery in about 5 hours--no joke. This is really a shame and it's one of the most frustrating aspects of the phone.
Application certificate: mandatory. The S60 3rd Edition Symbian OS makes a requisite that all installed applications must be signed with a proper certificate. This reduces the amount of software you can install on the phone by a large amount, since most freeware or small apps you might run into are usually unsigned. The only way I have found to remove this "feature" is to effectively hack your phone, with the risk of corrupting your system. Thankfully, all went well and I'm able to install all I want now, but this security measure is simply too restrictive for the end user. If you want to take advantage of the best aspect Symbian has going for it, get ready to perform this procedure.
Bugs in the current firmware. Although Nokia regularly updates the firmware of most of its lineup, it has recently set all their efforts on their flagship N series devices. The latest E51 firmware (200.34.36) was released on April 24, 2008, and has some major issues with the SIP client and browser, yet no update is in near sight.
=== Added on 2008-12-26 ===
I forgot to mention the very annoying case of the side buttons (volume, mute, power, PTT). They're EXTREMELY hard to press. You literally have to hold the phone firmly with one hand, while you push forcefully on a button with your other hand. It also helps if you have long nails to dig into the buttons. Not sure why Nokia decided to have them so difficult to press.
======
The following are not so much of an annoyance, as me nitpicking. The only feature missing from the phone that's not a gimmick (touchscreen, accelerometer, etc.) and would come in handy, especially in business oriented devices like the E series, is A-GPS. But since this would certainly drive the price way up, I think it compensates quite well despite not having this feature. The other feature gripes, like no flash or autofocus on camera, would really be pushing it, since this is not a camera phone, but it's still worth mentioning. One other small thing, is that the phone gets considerably warm during prolonged usage (15min+), be it WiFi, voice calls, video playback, etc. You can still hold it in your hand just fine, but I got worried the first time I noticed it. It's no big deal, really, once you get used to it.
In summary, the one thing that soures up the experience of using this phone is the battery. For that fact, I'll have to give it 4/5 stars, but I'm completely satisfied with my purchase, and will surely consider another Nokia smartphone in the future.Most of the cameras today are aimed either for kids (like the chocolate), fashion conscious adults (the big hit razr), or business people (the bulky blackberry or treo).
What if i want a phone that is sleek but also loaded with all the important business tools? well the E51 was a Godsend.
This sleek phone comes with high speed 3G internet and WiFi connection. Gone are the days paying $15 to connect to the internet at airports and hotels. Simply use the mini usb cable or download a symbian based modem application and you can use your phone as your modem.
The camera is decent (2mb) and since micro sd cards are so cheap nowadays (i bought a 4gb Kingston one at Amazon for $14) you can use this phone also as a portable mp3 player (stereo ear phones included).
The best part of all though; it runs on Symbian. Download Opera mini and Google Maps (with a neat 'show current location function) and you have the capability to browse html pages and use the phone as a water down gps device.You are either going to love this phone or hate this phone. I love mine. But I am going to write this review with an eye towards scaring away people who will hate this phone.
This phone's feature set is balanced differently than most other phones in its price class. Other phones in this price class emphasize megapixels, music, video, and fashion. This phone emphasizes productivity and connectivity. If you want productivity and connectivity, here is your phone. If not, there are plenty of others to choose from here on Amazon and elsewhere.
Let's start with what this phone does well -
This phone remotely synchronizes with Microsoft Exchange. If your company uses Exchange, you will have one phone book, one appointment calendar, and one e-mail inbox equally available on your computer and your phone. Updates in either place show up in the other. The Nokia implementation even handles contacts that have a company name but no first-name or last-name fields. My Motorola RARZ2 V8 failed this test.
The phone has Wi-Fi. I didn't know how much I would use Wi-Fi on my phone until I had it.
The phone can display word, excel, and PDF documents. It runs Google Maps very well, but without a GPS chip, you can only locate your position within about 900 to 5000 meters.
The phone has a real message waiting light. Why is this feature disappearing from modern phones?
The phone supports high speed 3.5G data on two bands. This is a lot for a European phone, especially one that came to market last year. Sadly, high speed data service is pretty much nonexistent here in the United States, and much of what does exist is on a band this phone can't handle. But will you get EDGE data (and voice) nearly everywhere in the United States and abroad. Indeed, reception in fringe areas is significantly better than my wife's Nokia 6086. I have connected to ATT's HSPDA network in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Madison, and Minneapolis. I can't connect in Chicago because the network runs on an incompatible frequency there (1900Mhz).
Battery life is outstanding, especially for a thin phone.
Now lets move on to this phone's weak points -
The camera is only 2 megapixels. And it is fixed focus at that. And it doesn't work well in the dark. And there is only one of them [most phones capable of sending video have two one facing outward and one facing you]. The camera is good enough for me, but I would never put shots from it in the family album.
The music player doesn't display album art. No flashy light show either. And you are limited to the built-in speaker or a 2.5mm audio jack (I think it helps 'em keep the phone thin forget about it and use A2DP if you want headphones). I must admit, however, that I really miss gapless playback. Music loads into the phone very slowly on account of the older 1.5 megabyte per second USB limit.
The phone will record video. I have not been able to record video at Nokia's claimed quality (15 fps QVGA). I think I have been lied to. I think Nokia means either 15 FPS or QVGA, but not both at the same time.
The phone will play video, even from YouTube, but not at high bitrates.
Be prepared for plenty of British spelling in the menus and applications.
This phone's idea of fashion is understated basic black. I like it, but then again I am this phones target audience.I had been following the E50 & E51 phones and I am quite happy with this phone. A smart phone has to be a good phone first. This one come pretty close. Small form factor, does not feel heavy in pocket, decent battery life, quad band, speaker phone, 3G, and wifi. I love the small light that blinks to let you know of a missed call.
Cons:
1) Speaker volume is low, compared to other Nokias I have had.
2) If you are a heavy user of the Wifi you might find the screen size small
3) Does not charge by USB cable.
I thought hard about buying the E51 or the iPhone. I think the iPhone wins overall, but I will never buy it so long as Apple arm-twists me into signing a contract with AT&T or any one phone company.
No comments:
Post a Comment