All Suited For Business: The Nokia E7 Software First Half Take On ~ SCRATCH e-PAD!

As the Nokia E7 hardware flew off the radar due to its impressive overall features, appeal and usability, my impression on the the software is a mixed bag, some powerful and unparalleled areas in the mobilephone market, some moderate points to recon and some weak points to improved.

Rehashed and Reconfigured

The Nokia E7 carries the PR 1.1 with software version 014.002 of Symbian^3, the very latest and most improved.

Rehashed in a way that the phone works in its fastest, most sensitive and most stable. I have use the Nokia N8 before and had witness slowdown of its system in certain points or hangs when it reach certain multitasking level but on Nokia E7, everything works in wonders. It is the most sensitive because the phone reacts to touch almost instantly and sometimes in a negative way that it opens application or do something that its not suppose do.

Reconfigured because the Nokia E7 had been added with commands, features and applications that were carefully studied to suite it up as the Ultimate Business Device in the market and they were very successful on this. The phone has the right combination and tools to arm business people and propel them to succeed in every endeavor they want. Yes this is the strongest area of the phone and I think the very reason why Mr. Stephen Elop put his mark on it. The phone that will inspire him to do whats right and succeed in the competitive world of mobilephone market.

Memory and Arsenal

The device was equipped with a huge internal memory, 16GB of Mass memory for users huge collection of Documents, E-books, Music and Movies, 256MB of temporary memory storage or RAM for application usage and 1GB of ROM for storage of permanent memory which the phone very much needs with its full application business portfolio. This is welcome improvement of the device for heavy users since they will be worry free in installing tons of application on the phone with its 1GB ROM, they can open as many web browser or application as possible with its 256MB RAM.

Homescreen and Wraps

Deep black, vivid and vast as the phone carries a huge 4 inch AMOLED technology screen with the ingenious Clear Black Display (CBD). The phone just beams out a very colorful and striking screen that is beautiful to gaze. The phone has an active widget with three customizable Homescreen that users can side swipe intuitively. Active would mean that widgets and icons would continuously work on the background and if your not careful enough, you might end up paying a huge sum for network data connection. Don't fret out though, part of the tweaks made with Nokia E7 was the addition of a homescreen option to switch widgets to offline mode, you will be worry free as it cut down any widget or icon connection to the internet.

User can add as many widgets as they prefer as long as it doesn’t goes beyond the allotted spots. Among the best improvement includes the eMail update slot which became unlimited, user can now add on as many accounts they want to the screen, again as long as it doesn't go beyond the allotted spot. Widgets and icons are customizable, can be added or remove with prolong tap, can be drag to position of preference but cannot re-sized unlike other operating systems. Missing also are the 3D effects on widgets, not very much important on day to day usage but its an eye candy.

Wallpaper wrap is fully customizable with an easy option access to the phones gallery but its not live unlike the Android. Again not very much important on day to day usage but its fun to experience it every ones in awhile. Expecting this features on future updates, cross my finger.

Moderate points to track my impression up.

Navigation and Walk through

The phones carries a menu, sub-menu navigation system where applications and features are segregated into icons and folders and I like it more than ever. Its pleasing to see organization and order as small as a phones menu amidst a chaotic world. Other operating system removes folders and segregation on the menu and throw everything in a single glance, well they fail to see the beauty of the universe as they are made, systematic and harmonious rather than a huge bulk of colorful canard.

Walk through is engaging, Symbian^3 had greatly improved on the sleekness and savvyness factor specially on the flick scroll which had become more smoother and fluid, nothing much of a difference with the rest.

Another moderate points!

Calendar, Contacts and Business

Reliably familiar as the Nokia E7 inherits the outstanding calendar and contact mechanism of its predecessor minus the confusing double taps. Nokia calendar delivers no less than the best set up in the mobilephone world and made even better for touch with the single click and prolonged tap mechanism added only minus the eye candy and colorful effects of the other system. User can now add or delete events, schedules, reminders among others fast with just few clicks. Users also have every possible connectivity needed to sync PC files and information’s to the phone.

Contacts was as always reliable, you can add every possible data into it. Searching for contacts had never been easier with the improved fast swipe scrolling gesture and the predictive input mechanism. Other visible improvement in the Contacts is the integration of Social Network app which will automatically connect contacts information to networking sites as well as the ability to import information’s such as images.

Then the best feature of the phone comes in full force to recon, unlimited and secure business connectivity to a world of fierce competition and success resembled. The MS Outlook synchronization, a feature that allows sharing of personal information from e-mail application, calendar, task manager, contact manager, note taking, journal and web browsing to the phone. Business-wise, it can work with Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SharePoint Server for multiple users in an organization, such as shared mailboxes and calendars, Exchange public folders, SharePoint lists and meeting schedules. I do find this very helpful on my part since I get to enjoy easy sync to all important details from my MS Outlook. Set-up is as easy as connecting the phone to an Ovi Suited PC and everything will be properly guided.

Strongest point as iterated earlier.

Communication, Messaging and Email

On the frontline is the Microsoft Communicator Mobile, a well connected and unyielding instant messaging application that is able to connect directly to Microsoft® Office Communications Server behind an enterprise firewall giving business companies a powerful ans safe tool to communicate further to its staffs in a faster and easier way. Well I have not tried this feature personally because I don't live in a high business profile world but its the main feature of the phone that was created and mastered by Microsoft and Nokia.

Messaging area has been leveled up as messages can now be directly viewed in conversations set up. This would give the keep the users track on status of the conversation giving a better interactive experience overall. The old inbox set up can still be access on the messaging menu folder.

The phone’s Email set up have now been continuously improved. Users get to enjoy push email service using a more stable version of Nokia Messaging compatible with every possible Email providers. Gone were the days where configuring the eMail is a pain, what users need to do is supply the address and password and it’s ready to go. An email widget will automatically be created on the homescreen showing your recent receive emails if set on online mode. Syncing email with server client works great, add some facelift and some eye candy transitions and its ready for the prime.

Then theirs the BM Lotus Notes Traveler and Mail for Exchange, booth push email service that can also be easily set up. Who wouldn't missed a single business email with all this features in toe.

Then theirs the Office suite which provides a mobile access and use of Word, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations which has by the way a graphic-rich interface. The office suite has bugs though, not the phones fault but Quickofficeas one of my 3 paragraph long article go lost because the application exited without save prompt, it was devastating!

Adding to the phones prowess in this arena is the outstanding QWERTY keyboard with full software implementation, communication via messages, email is glorious to do. Not even the best virtual QWERTY keyboard comes close with the real mechanical one in writing serious stuffs. Encoding is very fast and smooth that you'll never notice lags or pause in between. Its a serious element of connectivity!

Strong points to consider.

Web and Social

The web browser sports a WAP 2.0 over HTML with RSS feed, a typical Nokia browser with proper web page implementation. There was an improvement in the speed of page download as well as addition of full web page implementation and pinch to zoom but it’s a bit clunky to use with no text reflow among other goodies that can be found on the competition. I got a big problem with the web browser when use in Blogger.com, it doesn't work well in editing mode or in uploading pictures. Must have something to do with the phones processor, it becomes slow and unresponsive. This area needs a huge improvement!

Socially, the phone is very capable, that if you install Gravity application on it or the QT base Facebook beta app called Kasvopus to cover your social connectivity needs. This application were way better to use compared to the phones preinstalled Nokia social app. With the combination of the mechanical QWERTY, the phone is a potent social engine.

Overall it’s another step higher to the previous to level everything up. The phone is embedded with Flash Lite 4, making youTube video play flawlessly on the page.

Serious Business then, Fun next and my review Summary! Stay tuned!