New Toy – Nokia E70

For those who know me, I don’t get impressed easily when it comes to new “toys”. But this is one of the best phones I have ever owned. It’s close to perfect. Here’s my review of it.

I just got my Nokia E70. Was looking at the N80 (buggy and no keyboard) and E61 (no camera). This phone is the closest phone to perfect IMO. It has bluetooth and wi-fi and has 75MB of memory. The phone supports up to 6 different connections simultaneously. I can: * be on the phone, using my bluetooth headset * send and receive SMS/MMS * browse the internet using wi-fi * send and receive email via wi-fi

Couldn’t find 2 other things to do to make sure it was 6 but I’m impressed. My overpriced Treo 650 can’t even do that. The phone uses Symbian S60 3rd edition. The email supports POP and IMAP and Blackberry. Browsing the internet on wi-fi is as fast as the phone can handle – supports both Wap and HTML pages.

With the wi-fi, not only can you browse the internet, if you have a Vonage or VOIP account, you can obtain SIP settings and use VOIP on the phone. Perfect so that you don’t have to use up all your anytime minutes

There’s also a setting that when someone calls, it will say the person’s name – if it’s in your contacts list.

Those with 3rd Gen TLs, it’s compatible but no signal or battery meter. As for media support – mp3, aac, 3gp, mp4 – so far those worked for me. The camera is 2MP.

For my fellow Mac users, it syncs to OS X 10.4.7 using iSync and doing thishttp://blog.deconcept.com/2006/06/0…and-isync-os-x/

No problems syncing with iCal and Address Book.

The memory is expandable, up to 2GB – miniSD.

So far, my only complaint is if you look at the pic that shows the keyboard. On the right side there’s a red button (cancel), it’s too close to the space bar. I’ve hit it a couple of times while I’m typing but have been getting more used to it. Wish there’s a way to disable it or reassign it but not a big problem.

I don’t know what else to say but this phone is off the hook. BTW this model is the E70-1 which is the European version. The E70-2 which is black, is supposedly the North American version. Not sure when E70-2 will be available here.

Here’s some pics

Screenshots taken using a free software for Symbian S60 OS:

Pros:

• bluetooth (HFL support, works with 3rd Gen Acura TL – no signal or battery meter display)
• wifi (supports SIP for VOIP service)
• can store wifi connections in groups
• multitasking (can perform everything i list below simultaneously)
• be on the phone using bluetooth headset
• send/receive files via bluetooth
• send/receive emails via wifi
• browse internet via wifi
• send/receive mms/sms
• iSync via bluetooth
• 2MP camera quality
• video capture quality (supports 3gp and mp4)
• miniSD up to 2GB supported
• phone will say person’s name while phone is playing ringtone
• will sync with OS X 10.4.7 via iSync and bluetooth with a small modification, but flawless results
• supports POP3/IMAP4 with SSL and Blackberry for emails
• interface is customizable from shortcuts, themes, profiles, etc.
• phone flips open and a QWERTY style keyboard can be used

Cons:

• has restarted once during SIP registration
• triband, so no 850 support (i have the E70-1, US will get E70-2 but have fun waiting) though signal is still good for me
• when using the keyboard, on the right side is the red cancel button. the button is placed too close to the space bar. so in the beginning, you will find yourself hitting this key when typing – at least i did
• problems using Vonage softphone account (possible NAT issue)

Comments:

This phone, by far is the phone i have been searching for, for a long time. prior to this i had tried many phones and carried many devices. here’s just some that i tried:

• Nokia 6260
• iPaq 5550
• Palm Treo 650
• Sidekick 2

I have tried all those devices and found myself looking for more features in a matter of weeks. I’ve only had the phone for a week and I’ve never been so impressed by a device. I highly recommend this phone.

I hope Nokia fixes the issue using this phone with Vonage on the next firmware update. I would truely give it 5 stars then.

Just to add, I’ve found another bug. It’s with the contacts options. It will not order the contacts by first name. No matter how you set it, it won’t remember the option. I’m running firmware version 1.0610.05.07 30-05-06. I’ve been to multiple forums and found that others are experience the same bug. Nokia is aware from what I heard so I guess I’ll just be waiting. Sorry for the long review but I’m stoked about this phone. After so many years of fiddling around, I’ve come close to a perfect all in one solution.