The Nokia E72 Software Review: A Leap Forward ~ SCRATCH e-PAD!

The Nokia E72 took a huge leap forward in hardware compared to the E71, but did the software made the same?

The phone has a Symbian 9.3, Series 60 version 3.2, Feature Pack 2 User Interface (UI) with a device software version 022.007, a UI that have come to an age, more mature and stable packed with lots of improvements from the earlier versions. Perhaps the most visible difference is its fastness, the phone is by far the fastest in response time among Nokia phones with the same UI as it almost respond in an instant to all applications would that be browsing, images, music or web. Opening applications was smooth; downloading image gallery was fast, processing image takes a second, etc. The phones stability equates no hangs, no bugged down, less freeze, just continues operation all throughout.

The 250MB of Phone Memory is a welcome addition, this would mean more applications can be downloaded and installed on the phone memory creating a faster application response compared to those that are save in the memory card. The problem though is the phones 120MB RAM, it’s not enough to cover its capacity specially in multitasking, often than not few warnings of Memory Full comes up while running Nokia Messaging, Gravity, Music Player, Web Browser and youTube client at the same time, but at least it can multitasks unlike other phones. It would be better if Nokia will double the RAM capacity of their phones.

Homescreen:

The Homescreen of the E72 is very typical, it has almost the same set up with that of the other Nokia S60 devices except that it was arrange differently to make use of its wider screen adding more application shortcuts. It has also the Switch icon that allows users to automatically change modes from Personal to Business (v.v.) and same as the other phones, the homescreen can be customized freely to user’s preference. But then again, eMail update slots was limited to two accounts only, it would have been better if Nokia would provide more slots, it’s a given fact that people nowadays maintain more than one eMail account. Homescreen includes a Chat icon which opens an application that would allow users to access IM accounts from most of the well known providers, an integral part of business communication nowadays.

Calendar and Contacts

In business, Calendar equates Schedule, Schedule equates Time and Time is Gold, Nokia calendar delivers no less than the best set up in the mobilephone world therefore Gold is within reached among E72 users. Adding up events, schedules, reminders among others is just one click away. Users also have every possible connectivity needed to sync PC files and information’s to the phone. Dividing the calendar screen to half giving way to daily activity list is a welcome upgrade, this eliminates the tapping of the date to show its content. Contacts was rather a charm, you can add every possible data into it. Searching for contacts is now even easier with the addition of Vlingo application that can search contacts among other application using a voice prompt. Multiscanner application is another important tool integrated to the E72, it allows easy and fast saving of business cards and text files.

Web and Email

One of the main selling point of E-Series devices was it’s incredible Email set up, users can enjoy push email service using a more stable version of Nokia Messaging or Mail for Exchange compatible with every possible Email providers. It is currently one of the best Messaging set up for mobilephones. The web browser sports a Wap 2.0 over HTML, another typical feature but the web page implementation of this phone was greatly improved, though it doesn’t have a full web page implementation due to its limited screen, it browse and upload web page faster to level everything up. The phone is embedded with Flash Lite 3, making youTube video play flawlessly.

Optical Navi Key

The Optical Navi key is something new for Nokia and being considered as one of the phones selling point which is intended for faster navigation but it doesn’t really help much except on the Camera set up where it will be use to activate the autofocus but other than that, it doesn’t offer a faster navigation at all. What it offers is a new and savvy way of navigating that instead of clicking the DPad button you just need to swipe your thumb through, a good effort though from Nokia to offer something different.

Music and Radio

Music Player is the best on its class, as mentioned, the device plays top of the line music with crisp and clear sound using a headphone. Loudness and Stereo Widening works perfectly well and the Bass Booster is rocking its way. Stereo Speakers though was a letdown, it’s not as loud as what expected it to be and even comes out distorted on high volume, Nokia N82 sounds even better and louder than the phone. Music Player supports MP3, WMA, WAV and AAC+ files.

Music Menu is typical inheriting an N-Series set up which means, same interface, same Music Library except the Album art which came out smaller than the usual amidst its wide screen space, it would have been better if it’s been utilize fully. Music Store was integrated as well, another welcome addition.

The Radio was also typical among Nokia phones, it has RDS and Visual radio but not as lively as S60v5 visually and as a norm, can only be played with a headset inserted. I cannot get the point why Nokia cannot find a way to play Radio without the headset when Loudspeaker is freely accessible. Users cannot even do automatic browsing and saving of stations without internet connection, something that can be done flawlessly on a 5530 XpressMusic.

Video Playback

The Video player didn’t change much rather, it has the same interface and same set up like the rest of the Nokia S60 phones. It relies entirely on the Real Player which plays WMV, RV, 3GPP, MP4 files flawlessly in the full screen mode. The phone is compatible with DivX and Xvid files but users have to install the application software. Nokia should make this application pre-installed since it’s a free software anyway.

Camera and Photo

One of the biggest upgrade of E72 was its Camera capability, it has a 5MP with 2592 by 1944 pixel, autofocus and LED flash, the first in the E-Series line up. Though not Carl Zeiss, it produces good images in well lit areas. Among the add-on includes the Panorama Mode on the camera menu and an option to add tags on the photo. Direct link to Share Online is still visible as well as an option to print directly to a kiosk. Dim and Night shoots on the other hand is below average having only a single LED Flash. Images come out cloudy and blurred with lots of background noise. Video capability of the E72 supports VGA with15 frames per minute same to that of the E75, it’s below average quality compared to that of N82 but it’s watchable on the phones video player.

Photo and Video Browser on the other hand wasn’t change, same set up to that of the earlier Symbian phones where both photo and video were combined to a single browser. I would have loved to see the Photo Browser from Beta Labs to be integrated here.

Sample Images

See Video Sample Here

Games

Nokia’s initial success in the mobilephone market was solely achieve by integrating games and entertainment to their mobilephones and E72 is no different from its ancestors, it’s game capable and has two preinstalled, the Block Cascade Fusion and Top Hits Solitaire but there were tons of additional free games that can be downloaded on Ovi Store. It is also java supported so you can upload and install Java games all you want. The phone have no N-Gage client pre installed, an obvious omission from Nokia since their closing the service to gave way to Ovi Store but there is an N-Gage installer than can be downloaded in the web if you wish to install one.

Conclusion

The E72 has a lot of first on its belt, the very first E-Series to have an N-Series media capability, the very first E-Series to optimize a Navi Key, the first to carry a 5 MP camera and the very first who have succeed in integrating all this best feature without losing its sense of iniquity and that is why the phone can be called the best of its class at the moment. It has the best built quality, the best design and form factor, the best QWERTY, the best business feature and connectivity at a very competitive price. If you try to look upon an E72 and compare it to other brands, you’ll find out that the phone tops everything out in most angles and feature yet it’s more affordable than its closest competitor (Blackberry)… it’s all value, all worth for every penny spent no fuss!