I've been a loyal Nokia user since the 8860. They have just always been fun, straight forward and easy to use phones. The only thing Nokia lacks here in the USA is the customization options that the rest of the world enjoys on a daily basis. Most phones are locked down by carriers and rebranded with their own applications here in the US. This unlocked GSM capable Nokia makes that a thing of the past. Don't want to pay AT&T for an internet fee and a GPS navigation fee? Done. Want to delete whatever programs you wish from the phone? Done. Want to download apps that directly compete and are better than the ones AT&T or T-Mobile force you to use? Done.Calls come through loud and clear on AT&T's network. I have full 3G coverage and have yet to drop a call. When using the internet away from a WiFi network, you get access to AT&T's speedy 3.5G network. 3.5G comes in very handy when using the free GPS turn by turn navigation. Yes, outside the US Nokia has been doing this for ages. It's the greedy US carriers that have blocked it all these years. Not anymore with an unlocked phone from Nokia, although you still need a data plan from your carrier. Battery life is great too, but that's expected from Nokia.
Messaging works great with easy access to received and sent texts, and the keyboard makes for speedy typing. Plus several of the keys have very handy shortcuts to commonly used features such as bluetooth, emoticons (smileys) , and a flashlight.
WiFi is a breeze to use. You can view networks in range and even set priority levels for which ones you prefer to use. The screen is a little small to be your go to surfing device, but it's more than competent for checking email, posting on facebook, and looking up sports scores.
The device also comes with a mobile version of Microsoft Office document reader. This is extremely handy for the mobile professional.
One other great thing about this unlocked phone is that you can listen to FM or internet radio. I have missed this feature since AT&T began locking their phones down around the time of the Cingular branded Nokia 6230 (my still going strong backup phone). Pair this with a 3.5mm headphone jack and the more than capable music player, and you have yourself a nice little music phone.
The only complaint I have with this phone is the cheaper TFT screen Nokia used to keep the cost down. This does cause the screen to become washed out in direct sunlight, but only from one side. It's weird, if you tilt the phone to the left, the screen stays bright, but when you tilt the phone to the right, the screen becomes washed out. With that said, I live in Denver where we get over 300 days of sun every year. I have yet to be in a situation where I could not read the screen. If its too dark you can simply change your theme to a brighter, more colorful one to help with visibility.
Pros:
Rock solid construction
3G and 3.5G coverage
WiFi
FREE GPS TURN BY TURN NAVIGATION FOR LIFE
QWERTY keyboard with shortcuts
Flashlight
Install and delete apps
Fully customizable themes
Battery Life
Cons:
Micro-SD card is under the battery
S-60 Symbian has a higher learning curve
Screen not up to par with current smart phones
Now for the review: the phone is solid; not plasticy or flimsy. Guiding your way around the phone is easy and adventurous. Accessing wifi, bluetooth, email, and SMS are very user friendly. One user complained about the volume button, but I actually prefer that it is somewhat difficult to adjust. I don't want it to change it every time I put it in my pocket. In my opinion, the Keyboard is just the same if not better than the Blackberry. I did not choose the Iphone 4 or mac products because I don't want to be sucked into the mac world. I do have a life away from my phone. It is all the screen I need. If you want a bigger screen, buy a laptop.
Pros:
User friendly interface
Battery life is great
Keyboard totally rocks
MS office compatible
Camera with flash
clear screen.
Cons:
Now my wife wants oneThe reason I keep buying NOKIAS is b/c of the value you get with the money you spend. This case is no different. This is my 4th NOKIA, with the E71 being the last one I owned. At first, I was thinking about getting an N8, but opted for this instead. According to PHONEARENA.COM, its got the same hardware inside...256 MB Ram and 680 MHZ Processor. Though, I must admit that is a really good looking phone. Tempting as it may have been, I haven't had stellar experiences with a NOKIA that is not E-Series. And the fact that the battery isn't removable didn't quite help in my decision.
I bought this one at Newegg as it was cheaper than Amazon at the time. If you need a budget phone with capabilities of high end phones, this phone is for you. If however, you have high expectations, thinking this a "Blackberry" killer, skip it.
Likes:
>FREE Lifetime Navigation(spoken turn by turn directions) with FREE MAP UPDATES. You could use this offline, with no internet access as the maps are already preloaded on the Micro SD Memory card. You can update this using OVI MAPS Software.
>Call Quality. After a month of use, so far no call drops and everyone sounds crisp and clear.
>Response is pretty darn good in comparison to all other Nokias I've owned. Meaning programs load faster and run smoother.
Dislikes:
>VOLUME BUTTON! YOU WILL HATE THIS! WORST BUTTON ON ANYTHING I'VE EVER USED. This is especially irritating if you plan to use this to play your tunes, which I used to do with N97, 5800, E71. You need a lot of pressure to turn the volume up or down. If you plan on keeping it at a constant volume, this is not a problem. But it is for me.
>Browser...Stay away from their browser, use OPERA MOBILE 10 instead. I've had the browser freeze on me a couple of times.
>Looks. Coming from an E71 it's a downgrade.First off, I would like to say that when my iPhone broke, I still had a couple of months before I could get a new phone so I decided on something that looked usable and cheap until I could upgrade to the next iPhone. Boy was I wrong. In my opinion, this is the best phone I have ever owned; and is much better from the iPhone and other competitors.
PROS:
The Ovi Software Suite: Ovi has an amazing array of software that may not be as extensive as the Android or iPhone Marketplaces, but it has all of the necessary applications that are realistic to use in real life scenarios. The sheer amount of default apps it comes with should suffice for most users including the most useful application: Ovi Maps. Ovi Maps is an amazing software that is simply so useful. I never need a GPS again because it has a free one that is simply integrated right into my system. Its free, no need of a data plan, and its updated.
The Look & Feel: This phone is one damn sexy phone. Many of my friends have asked me what kind of phone this is because it is simply such a good looking phone. It has a nice aluminum backing on it that gives it a shine and a high build quality feel. It also uses metal in a lot of the front such as for the call begin/end buttons and the hotkey buttons along with their directional buttons. It gives it a high quality feel that when you touch it you know that you're using a high quality device.
The Keyboard & Texting: The feel of the keys is amazing. They are slightly raised and bulbous so that it gives you a good feel for each key. The key placement is honestly the best I have ever used on a full keyboard phone, with the space bar being extremely large and placed right in the middle for easy access. The keys are incredibly well placed and after 1 month of use I was able to text accurately and quickly without even looking at the phone because each key was so distinct in feel. I usually was not a fan of the full keyboard (hence why I had a touch screen iPhone before) but this device changed my opinion on it. The texting recognition is very good on this phone and you can easily and quickly fix mistakes with an ever changing and ever updating custom dictionary of commonly used and misspelled words that you type. Its very convenient and very easy to use.
Calling: Calling on this phone there is simply no downsides, which is impressive in this day and age. Frequently people forget to mention how important calling other people is because of all the new features phones have. On this device, there is consistent, high quality, and easy to use calling. It has great contact management and makes calling on a phone a good feature instead of a downside like it is on the iPhone. I wish more modern phones did calling as well as the Nokia E5 did because it simply does it the right way, nothing stellar or revolutionary, simply the way calling was meant to be done. And on that note, the speakers on this device, are VERY LOUD. So most of the time I would not recommend keeping the speakers all the way up, because when you get a text or call the whole room will turn.
Battery Life: This thing is a beast. I send an average of 50 Text messages a day and am constantly checking my phone and doing something on it, and I can get 2 days of battery life. It has a power saving mode that REALLY saves power. This thing is a beast when it comes to battery. Didn't charge it all yesterday and at the time I writing this review only 60% power left. Hell yeah.
Other/Miscellaneous: Great Camera (5 MP) I have been complimented on how clear the pictures on my phone come out. Its no Camera replacement, but its not a hindrance to this phone. Awesome Flashlight. By holding down the space bar, the LED used for pictures becomes a flashlight, and it is very bright and very useful. Wifi. Wifi is available on this phone, so you don't even need a data plan because Wifi hotspots are everywhere now. I used to think having a data plan was necessary, but this phone really changed my mind and now my pocket is much heavier because of it. Awesome Profile switching. You can flip between modes on this phone like no tomorrow. There are millions of different sound customizations that you can toggle through so quickly. Its great to be able to switch from outdoor mode to silent mode to pager mode to normal mode in the press of a button. The Amount of features. Although I don't use them, it has the ability to print from the phone, view documents, edit documents, and all this crazy stuff. I have tested it and it works awesome, its nice to know that you can create a powerpoint on your phone and email it to your teacher and then print out your paper from your phone. Also it has flash and java on this phone for youtube and stuff like that. That is pretty sweet.
CONS:
Video Recording: If you want to record video on your phone, don't do it on this one. The actual video comes out great. BUT you cannot hear ANYTHING. Everything is completely mute and you cannot hear anyone speaking. This is very inconvenient when you simply want to record something, but you simply can't. I really don't record many things on my phone, but now I know I cannot so I simply don't...
The Screen: Although this device is great, the screen is kind of crappy. It really isn't that bright, and you have to increase the brightness all the way if you want to view it outside. It also makes images look pixelated and bad because it really doesn't have that great of a resolution. But its useable.
The Web Browser: Crashes all the time, really crappy, horrible UI, and its just junk. Download Opera to your phone. 'nuff said.
Overall, this phone is amazing. It is $200 of the best money I've ever spent. I prefer this to all phones out there on the market now including my previous iPhone 3G. Sure there are some downsides, but I really don't care. The upsides of this phone are too numerous to count. It is simply the greatest phone for the value and for the features. I would have payed $400 for this phone. When you have this phone, you have a GPS, an internet device, a camera, a music player, and a phone. This is the only device I'll ever need in my pocket. Thank you for reading, and I, once more, HIGHLY recommend this phone.I was hesitatig about buying this product since there some reviews stating that this phone is below E72. Well, it is in absolute numbers since it does not come with secondary camera, which I've never used in E71 and E72, however, the SO is clearly more stable and runs faster, designed also to incorporate facebook and twiter among other social networks apps natively.
Also, the assisted GPS computes your position faster than E72. I can say this because I did a simple benchmark between them. E5 took less than 10 secs, E72 more than 3 minutes.
The keyboard, although similar in size and key distribution, is more comfortable, I guess it is due to an improved key shape and they are slighly wider, which is very noticeable when writing.
The camera is 5MP, I guess is the same. I have to say that comparing only pixels in cámeras is like comparing food only with calories or cars with hp. There are more things to evaluate.
The construction.... well, I don't know why people complain a lot about plastic construction since it's very similar to that of the E72, all plastic but the battery cover, made of stainless steel, which gives a nice feeling. Ok, it is not fron a casting as the E71 but that doesn't mean it has a weak built, it feels rock solid and less suceptible to be damaged since it weights less and then less energy is needed to be absorbed, thus less prone to be damaged.
In general conclusion it's a great phone, with less features like the secondary camera, which I never use, but it costs less and IT HAS improvements learned from the very unstable E72.
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