N85 Review Part-3: Software, Music, Battery and Screen

Firstly I’m sorry for such a long sabbatical from blogging. I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately. A couple of days back I bought a new PC- a netbook actually. I bought the Asus EeePC 1000H at a really cool price (at least in India) and I’ve been busy getting it up to the condition I need. In fact this review has been written on it.

Well lets get back to what this blog and this post is about, phones and in particular the N85. Now I’m sure you have read about the first two parts of the N85’s review (click here for the first part and here for the second part).

For this post I shall concentrate on the factors that can make or break a device in an instant. First, it’s the Software.

Software:

Now the N85 has the famous S60 OS doing duty inside it. The S60 on  the N85 is quite different from the N96’s, though both were V3 with FP2. It seemed that the N85 seems to have a better rendition of the S60 within it compared to the flagship N96. I wonder why it is so? The transitions on it are reminiscent of the N78’s transition effects. I thought that this version of the S60 to be really good. It’s more fluid than the N96’s transition effects.

Tilt the screen and the screen adapts to the new dimensions almost instantaneously and it’s a pleasure watching the N85 transition from landscape to portrait.

If you have read my post on the N96’s software (click here to check it out), you will see how the S60 V3 with FP2 is different and definitely an evolution from the FP1. The N85 is very much the same. there is however but one difference, the Active Standby. The Active Standby on the N85 seems a step ahead and is a ‘real’ step forward. if you saw, the there were only 4 icons on the N96’s Active Standby. vis-a-vis the N85 which has a full complement of icons in the Active Standby, 7 to be precise. With these 7 (configurable) icons you can pretty much do everything you want on the phone. Wonder why the N96 could not have such an implementation.

I would give the N85 a very high 9.5/10 in this parameter.

Music:

Now music is one place where the N85 really disappointed me. With the memory of the N96 fresh in my mind (and ears too ), I was expecting something similar, but was letdowwn, the N85 performs nicely but it lack that ‘wow’ factor. Personally the N82 is much better here on both counts, viz. the speakers and the headphones.

The N85’s speakers aren’t made for listening to songs, and I thought that it could have been much better. It lacked any depth and every song sounded pretty much flat to me on the speakers. But when you connect the headphones, you realise a marked difference in the sound, though it’s still lacking that punch. I was left waiting for something like that to hit me.

What this means is that, if you are looking at using this as your MP3 player, you could probably use it, but it just can’t replace that 2GB sansa clip or iPod shuffle. Also since my N82 performed even better on both counts I was left wondering what went wrong with the N85 then?

A rather poor 6/10 for the N85’s music capabilities. Really thought a lot was lacking here.

Battery:

Battery is the one place where the N85 reclaimed itself. with a huge battery, I was expecting it to perform really well and it did not disappoint, I got close to 2.5 days on regular usage and even with heavy usage I was able to get 2 days worth of battery life (the screen brightness cranked to max.). The N85 has superior energy management systems in place. The addition of a ‘Power saving’ option allowed me to stretch the phone’s battery life to about 3 days.

I think this makes the N85 a worth buy. My N82 lasts me about 2 days with light usage and about a day if I used it heavily. I don’t one needs to even ask where the N96 falls. The N85 gets a very high 9.2/10 from me on this parameter. A good battery life means that it allows you to do more.

I won’t give you a list of what I did to get battery life like this, just go to the N96’s review on the same parameters and scroll down you will get an idea. The screen brightness on the N85 was max.

Screen:

The screen is another area which needs an extensive post, but I won’t do that, I’m sure you know how good AM-OLED is compared to the traditional TFT screens. in case you don’t a quick ‘Google’ will throw a lot of information towards you. the AM-OLED screen allows you to see more clearly with better contrast. In the sun however, you just cannot read anything on the screen. Tilt the phone and the screen’s orientation also changes quickly. The phone’s screen is definitely a must have for all phones. I love it, it makes my N82 look like an ancient baby. the N96’s 2.8″ screen in AM-OLED would have been very ‘revolutionary’ for the company. the N85’s screen is a comfortable 2.6″ screen and is capable of reproducing 16.7 million colours like all the other smartphones’ screen. I think the N85 deserves a 9.5/10. Simply marvelous.

N96 Review Part-3: Software, Music, Battery, Screen

the music/N-Gage keys

Continuing the review of the N96, this time we look at the software, music, battery and screen aspect of the phone. These are things which are increasingly important for a phone of this kind. Earlier portions of the review, we looked at the design and the lighting aspects.

Lets see how the N96 performs on these counts.

Software:

The N96 uses the now very well known Symbian S60 OS. The S60 on the N96 is slightly different than the one found on the N82 or even the Eseries. It has the FP2 (Feature Pack 2) which brings apart from more security, a lot of features to the device. The FP2 also enables the ability to have transitions between menus. So when you see the screen tilt and change more gracefully then you saw on the N82, it is because of these transitions.

The new S60 3rd edition is very different from the S60 on the N82 or the N95 even. A lot has changed. For starters the transitions have made the phone more graceful in its working (visually). The screenshots below will give you an idea of the changes that have taken place in the S60 3rd edition FP2.

First up is the menu views,

There are now many different types of views for the menu, namely “List”, “Grid”, “Horse shoe” and “V- shaped”. The latter of the two are new and you are not likely to find it on the N82, the N95 has this.

Second, the applications running in the background,

Now earlier if you needed to check what applications were running in the background, you would keep the menu key pressed and it would show you a list (vertical) of applications minimized. Not anymore, now no matter where you are in the menu, you can see which applications are running by selecting the left soft key and then the top most option, “Show open apps.”, this option then shows you in a horizontal format, the apps that are running in the background -  Neat and very good in my opinion.

The third change is the Active Standby,

There is one more option available now, “Navigation bar”; This style allows you to de-clutter the crowded Active Standby screen on the N96. Also the wallpaper that you set now is more visible. Finally a better way to have everything on the screen and and yet not look crowded.

Bluetooth is another area, where some changes have occured,

There is another tab called “Blocked Devices”, which essentially is a list of devices blocked from connecting to the N96. I haven’t had to use it yet, so no comments.

“Photos”

This replaces the “Gallery” in many ways. Remember the amount of frustration at not having the photos and videos segregated. This little addition changes it. Now you can view all the photos you have clicked by just going here. You can also run a slideshow from here itself. A handy feature.

“Video Centre”

This option has undergona slight change, primarily since the N96 has DVB-H facility, that allows you to watch Television channels (Note: this feautre is not yet implemented in many parts of the world)

“Themes”

This option has seen a few additions, namely the “call image” option that lets you set the iamge you want to see when you initiate a call.

“File manager”

The “File manager” option now incorporates the “Memory” feature into itself. This in my opnion is a very good move and a step in the right direction. It was a bit silly to have 2 native applications to do the job, I’m glad they have been amalgamated into one single application. The application also allows you to map an online drive you might have. Hmmm…  S60 has been very hard at work lately! I like what I see.

If that wasn’t enough, you can take a backup of your phone from right here itself. Woah! so this means that there are 3 applications amalgamated into one! Neat!!! I’m very impressed.

“Device manager”

The “Device manager” allows you to check the version of the OS on your phone and even check for updates and download a new version, if available. the code *#0000# will bring forth that application from now on. A neat thing.

“Destinations”

This option which is in the “Settings” menu under “Connections” is a big change from the “Access points” option in the N82.  Although doing the same job albeit under a new title, the look of this has changed. I don’t know why this has been done. Was there something wrong with the earlier title?

The above are but a few changes listed. There are many more. I have really like the new S60 and I must say that it is definitely more polished. Seems like the Kastor UI has been incorporated partially.

The one thing which has put me off completely, is that every time I connect my phone to the laptop to transfer data( photos, videos, etc…), the phone pops up a “Connect to the internet” pop-up and even I cancel, it shows up repeatedly 10 times. Highly irritating and a real put off! The same is the case when I want to change the theme. What’s worse is that I can’t seem to turn it off! This has become the single most annoying feature on the S60.

Apart from that S60 functions just the way it should. The N96 also has very little RAM available to the user, only 30 MB! which is shocking, the N82 running on V30 had close to 89MB and on V31 has 94 MB free. What is the idea behind having so little free RAM?  The phone is also noticeably slower than the N82 and the E71. A slower processor is to blame for it; 264MHZ single core v/s 369MHZ  dual core. What was Nokia thinking? A flagship device that is so ancient on hardware!

On the software aspect, I will give the N96 a 7.7/10. I higher score could have been possible had the internet connection pop up issue not been present and the hardware been better.

Music:

The music is a spot where the N96 performs with aplomb. The N96 is a powerhouse of a music player (video player too!). I have not seen any Nseries phone perform so well. The N96’s speakers are LOUD! I have said that earlier and I repeat it. The thing blasts most phones into oblivion. I don’t think even the N81 performs this well. It’s like having a pocket sized boombox! Connect it to a pair of Sennheiser HD202 and I’m in music nirvana! If you have a N96 or are planning to buy it, you absolutely must invest in an obscenely expensive pair of great headphones! Not having a good pair of earphones or headphones for this phone is a crime!

On this aspect I have to give the N96 a 9/10. We have a winner here! I wonder how the N97 will perform on this count or even N96’s successor? This phone is a tough act to beat!

Battery:

The battery has been called the weakest link on the N96. I would second it, but only upto the point that is a 950mAh battery. The battery management on the N96 is really good. I guess made better by a slower processor and lack of a dedicated graphics chip. The BL-5F does duty on the N96. The same battery that was employed on the N95 when it first came out.

The battery can easily be made to give a good life by adjusting the settings within the phone. I have been able to get close to 2.5 days of backup on a single charge and my daily usage is somewhat like this, most of the times I have had the music player playing at full volume through the speakers(about 3-4 hours at minimum) and with approximately an hour on calls with about 20-25 minutes of WiFi usage and maybe about 5-10 minutes of GPS too with about 10-15 messages being sent and received almost everyday.

Now to most people that might seem surprising. The first few days, when I used the N96, I was getting a battery backup of only 1 day max. which was horrible and I wasn’t even using the phone so much. Then I made some changes to the settings to the phone and the battery backup increased dramatically.

Here is what I changed in the N96 to give me a good battery life.

Bluetooth switched off (only used when needed not otherwise)

WiFi scanning switched off (only used when needed)

‘Navi wheel’ breather light switched off.

Auto-rotate switched off

Brightness set to lowest.

Power-saver time-out set to 15 seconds.

Light time-out set to 10 seconds

Network mode set to only GSM

If you were to implement these settings on your phone, rest assured the battery life will increase. Changes in the ringer volume will also have a positive impact on the battery life.  I would give the N96 a respectable 8/10. The battery life indeed can be good on a device such as this.

Screen:

The N96 has a huge 2.8″ screen. With such a huge area to play with, Nokia has given the standard Active Standby 7 icons instead of 6.  The presence of an accelerometer mean that the device shifts from portrait to lanscape almost instantly. The dual sliders also help in changing the orientation. A huge screen like this is a big boon. Watching videos on it is an experience in itself. With 16.7 million colurs being displayed, it easily trumps the Windows Mobile based phones in colur reproduction. There was just one complaint from the screen, it was too glossy! The finish made it impossible to see anything without being able to see yourself too.

In this area the N96 scores high point again, 8/10. If the glossy finish was a little toned down, it (points) would have been higher.

If you are wondering why N-Gage has not been mentioned, worry not, In the last part of the review I will talk about it exclusively. Stay tuned for the last 2 parts and see how the N96 peroforms in those aspects.

E63 Review Part-3: Software, Music, Battery, Screen

With the first two parts of the review of the E63 over, where I gave my views on the design and lighting aspect, it is now time to look at one of the most important aspects within the E63, the software, music, battery and screen.

Software:
The S60 is what does duty on the E63 too. The E63’s Operating System (OS) is a little different as compared to the E71’s version. The E63’s software is a little buggy, like when you connect the phone to the USB and the music player application is working in the background it stops and says that ‘USB connection in progress‘ at this point whether the phone is connected to the computer in PC Suite mode makes no difference, the music player stops functioning and even after disconnecting it doesn’t stop flashing that message, one has to switch off the phone and restart it to use the music player option. If by chance you get a message about the music folder being corrupted and it is repairing it… that’s because you switched off your phone with the application still being connected to USB! That is a big no-no, I think Nokia is going to have a lot of people complaining about this. The E63 is surprisingly fast! I think its a bit faster than the E66 also! Remember I had stated in the E71’s review that it was slower than the E66, which I found to be very snappy. At first, I thought that the transitions have not been given to this version of S60. But I was wrong, they are there, with the phone being so fast, it hardly a wonder that I never got to see it once till today, quite by accident!

Now I am a big fan of the Nokia Email Service (NES) which has been rechristened as Nokia Messaging, and will be rolling out in a select few countries soon, to check my mails, the web browser to browse and download, the search function to search for things online, fring to chat and post updates on my twitter channel, etc. Most of these functions are being done simultaneously. Never once did it freeze unlike the E71 which occasionally did. Such demanding usage would probably slow a phone, but not the E63, no sir!, the thing seemed to be in a hurry!

The icon for NES mailboxes in the standby screen has undergone change in the E63, its a big blue icon now, and it looks really good!

The ‘bubble’ feature which shows you your missed calls, messages and voice mail messages is present here also. I am a great fan of this feature, something that must come to the Nseries (N97 perhaps?). The Active Standby Mode is good and crowded too. The Switch Mode feature which is unique to the Eseries, performs brilliantly and does what is expected of it. Just like in the E66, here also one can customize it according to ones needs, enabling applications, changing themes, etc.

Quickoffice is a boon to the business user, and with the E63 coming with a full version of the great application (head on over to Symbian-Guru store for a 30% discount on it), the E63 scores a big advantage for itself, compared to other business phones.

I would give this experience a 8/10. The S60 performs just as it is supposed to. The fact that the software has some minor niggles is not good. On the other counts, this device comes out on the top. In terms of speed, looks like E71 has something to learn from its younger sibling.

Music:
The E63 has a mono speaker setup with 3D sound and stereo widening options. The speaker could have been better for the E63, considering it is thicker than E71, but unfortunately, I found it to be a little below par (Now you know where the corners have been cut!). Once a headset (N82’s headset)was connected, I was left shocked! I had to check if it was the N82 or the E63! This phone has one kickass output on the headset! It is loud. Good job Nokia!!! The music player is standard music player found on any S60 3rd edition handset with all the settings and equalizer options. There is just one addition to it, since the phone does not dedicated volume buttons the top and bottom keys on the D-pad control the volume and have been given signs within the application. No other phone had this before.

In terms of music, I am going to give it a 9.8/10. The only reason why I am not giving it a full score is because it does not have a good speaker.

Battery:
The battery on the E63, is the same which does duty on the E71. Now, if you remember, the E71 had given me excellent results. The E63 should have done the same, maybe even better. But that’s not the case. The E63 has (not that) good battery management. The phone lasts for 3-4 days with normal usage i.e, a few calls, quite a bit of messages, a little bit of WiFi usage, and an ‘always on’ net connection. While this is not bad, It could have been way better, with the E71 clocking in 4-5days easily on a single charge and with a much heavier usage.

I’d give the E63 a 7.5/10 on this parameter. It could have been much better!

Screen:
I am just going to lift this part from the E71’s post on the same, since there is no difference here.

“The screen of the E71 is in landscape mode. Most phones that I have used have been in portrait mode. The portrait mode has its advantages over the landscape mode. The portrait mode in the E66 allowed for a better Active Standby Mode. But it had its disadvantages when one was to surf the net. The E71 has a 320×240 QVGA screen, capable of displaying 16.7 million colours- all of that in a 2.4″ screen. But I miss the accelerometer found in the E66. I wish it was there in this phone too. I would give the screen a 9/10. The Active Standby crowds easily in this orientation and phonebook viewing can be a bother. But the superb resolution, colour reproduction and ease of use at the time of surfing or checking mails and messages are its biggest positives.”

Leave your views and comments below! Tell me and the other readers your views…

E71 Review Part-3: Software, Music, Battery, Screen

In the first part of my review of the E71, I talked about the design aspect of the phone. In the second part it was the lighting aspect of the E71. In this post, I will concentrate on the software, music and battery life and screen orientation of the handset. Let us see how it performs in this aspect.

Software:
The S60 is what does duty on the E71. The E71’s Operating System (OS) is same as the E66’s OS. Though both use slightly different versions, probably because E66 has an accelerometer and the E71 has a landscape orientation only. The S60 version used here is no different from the the one that does duty on the E66 in terms of features. Both offer the same user experience to the user. The icons that I saw in the E66 are the same ones used in the E71. I am not a great fan of these, maybe a little colour would do the trick. Overall I found the E71 a little slow (surprised!) as compared to the E66. There are times when it lags. Also the menu transitions which I liked very much in the E66 is not so visible here [:(]. The demanding users will find that it (E71) performs upto the expectations of a smartphone. Expect a couple of hiccups once in a while.

In these past few days I have extensively been using the Nokia Email Service (NES) which is in beta-3 testing to check my mails (Will give you the lowdown on that in another post), the web browser to browse and download, the search function to search for things online, fring to chat and post updates on my twitter channel, etc. Most of these functions are being done simultaneously. I found that once in a blue moon the device freezes, because of so many things being asked of it. But with such demanding usage also, I did not find S60 slowing down, it still performed as quickly when one would not use so many features. But it does not negate that the E71 is slower than the E66.

The ‘bubble’ feature which shows you your missed calls, messages and voice mail messages is present here also. I am a great fan of this feature, something that must come to the N series. The Active Standby Mode is also very good (A major overhaul is needed now, as it is crowding up and fast!). The Switch Mode feature which is unique to the E series, performs brilliantly and does what is expected of it. Just like in the E66, here also one can customize it accroding to ones needs, enabling applications, changing themes, etc.

I would give this experience a 9/10. The S60 performs just as it is supposed to. The slight lag in speed is not a dealbreaker. The S60 really shows what it can do. But I know there is room for a lot more. I will post a small list later on what all can be added to the S60. Oh, I forgot to mention editing is also possible in the Quickoffice application, a big boon for power users and business executives.

Music:
Now this one department, I thought will not be good on the E71. I was completely taken aback by the audio solution offered on the E71. THe mono speaker is much better positioned and is clearer than the E66’s solution. I don’t know if the same hardware is used for both. The volumes were high for the speaker, something that the E66 lacked to an extent. Using the headset, I found the music player performing nearly as good as my N82 (did I just say that???) very clear, very loud. I am no audiophile and so really can’t describe the intracacies of music output. All I can say is that I did find it lacking a little punch. Not a phone for the music enthusiast. But when I compare it to the E66, the E71 is miles ahead. Way better music delivery and clarity; I am definitely impressed.

If you like listening to music occasionally, you will not be disappointed with the performance of this phone. The speaker is a revelation and the music player is outstanding! I would give it a 8/10. The E71 is an instant improvment over the E66 in this area. Though a lot more improvements can be made.

Battery:
With the E66 I remember getting upto 3.5 days of battery life. The E71 seems to be pushing into 4-5 days. I have had heavy usage of the phone and even after that the battery doesn’t seem to be in any mood of dying out. I have been recharging the phone because I thought the phone would not last long with the current amount of juice left (N series users know what I’m talking about). But no I feel that this battery has been designed to defy all logic. This battery refuses to die out! Even though I spend close to 3-4 hours online (my data connection has been constantly on for the last 5 days now… thanks to a flat rate and unlimited data transfer!), sending SMSes and receiving calls, not only that, I have also been tinkering with the phone and checking my email almost every 15-20 minutes on NES. Yet I have been recharging the phone once every 3 days this, especially when I have lost only 3-4 bars. This phone can easily give 4-5 days on a single charge in my opinion. Of late I have also been using this as my modem to connect to the net on my laptop. The battery of the E71 is simply superb. Its the stuff legends are made of (Ok I admit, I have taken this line from some movie!). But on a more serious note. The E71 outperforms all the Nokia smartphones or featurephones I have seen. The BP-4L is a powerhouse of a battery. When will N series users get this kind of battery life? I am going to give the E71 a full 10/10. With the slim battery, the E71 acheives what no E or N series device has achieved till now, a fantastic and long lasting battery life.

Screen:
The screen of the E71 is in landscape mode. Most phones that I have used have been in portrait mode. The portrait mode has its advantages over the landscape mode. The portrait mode in the E66 allowed for a better Active Standby Mode. But it had its disadvantages when one was to surf the net. The E71 has a 320×240 QVGA screen, capable of displaying 16.7 million colours- all of that in a 2.4″ screen. But I miss the accelerometer found in the E66. I wish it was there in this phone too. I would give the screen a 9/10. The Active Standby crowds easily in this orientation and phonebook viewing can be a bother. But the superb resolution, colour reproduction and ease of use at the time of surfing or checking mails and messages are its biggest positives.

E66 Review Part-3: Battery, Software, Music

Today I have decided to combine these three aspects – battery, software, music into one big post.
So lets begin first with battery.

Battery:
For a handset like E66, which is so slim, I was left wondering what would the dimensions of the battery be, which one were they using? I was stunned to see such a slim Nokia battery. Things have sure come a long way since the BL5C. The BL-4U is thin (anorexic almost). Rated at 1000mAh, Nokia says that this Li-ion cell will keep you phone on standby for upto 336 hours (WCDMA) and give you a talk time of 7.5 hours (GSM). Indeed those are very respectable figures coming from a smartphone. In the real world how does it perform, well I just about managed to squeeze about 3.5 days from one charge. This involved about 2 hours of phone calls, 10-15 minutes of daily wifi usage, tinkering around with the phone (light and sound settings), sending a few messages and a little bit of photography. Those are quite impressive figures for the phone. I am sure heavy users can easily get a whole days worth of juice from that ‘anorexic’ battery. I must say, for a slim phone those are rather great figures. On this account I would give the phone a score of 8.1/10.

Software:
The S60 has come a long way from the 7650. Today it is one of the most widely used OSes in the world. The S60 UI on the E66 is very different than the UI found that you would get to see on a N series or a regular phone. The UI in the E66 has very smooth transitions. I was amazed with the how fluidly the system would go from one part of the menu to the other. I did not find that kind of smoothness in the N82 I am using currently. The ASR feature is also very smooth in execution. For once, I thought that these were the FP2 transitions! but the fact is that it is only FP1. Lets a look at the menu from the beginning… first the icon pack used, A lot of people have written negative things about the icons used for the E66 and the E71. My take – is that they could have used a different icon pack (even another colour of the icons would do), though I don’t hate these icons, I don’t like ‘em either. I would have liked to see a completely different icon pack (not even the regular N series ones either). Also an interesting I noticed was that if you were to create a new folder, the colour would be blue instead of grey.
Secondly, the Active Standby screen, The Active Standby screen is completely different on the E series. Firstly there are little ‘bubbles’ on the screen which tell you about any voicemails, messages and missed calls. Each of these alerts are shown in a different ‘bubble’. This is basically like the huge notifications that remain on our N series phones until we check them or we cancel them. Over here the functionality is greater, not only do they occupy small portions of the screen, highlighting them lets you navigate within the bubbles (without leaving the Active Standby) for extra options like ‘making a voice call’, ’sending a text message’, ’sending a MMS’, ’sending an Audio message’ for each entry. My only question is? When are we getting it on the N series???
Third, the ‘Switch Mode’ functionality. I absolutely love this feature on the E66. You can also disable applications within the modes, allowing for a clear separation of business life and personal life. Very nicely executed. Just one grouse, couldn’t we have it as a combination of keys instead of having an icon placed on the Active Standby? Moving ahead lets look at the ‘Contacts’, here again there is a change, by clicking in the right against an entry, you are no longer directed to a group, but instead you are directed towards options regarding that entry, which is mentioned above for the notification ‘bubbles’.
In terms of ‘out of the box’ experience, I found the phone to be ready for use. A business user will have all the softwares he needs, though Quickoffice might have to be purchased. Apart from that there are many softwares like the ‘Multiscanner’ which is a business card reader come text converter. ‘Solitaire’ for the card players, ‘WiPresenter’ from Psiloc(trial only), ‘Advance Call Manager’ which allows you to manage which calls are to be received and how are others to be treated. I haven’t been able to extensively test it as I don’t get those many calls on that number in the phone. But the little bit that I did use it, I found it to be an absolutely must, It could be a great way to have those pesky promo calls from the network operator no disturb you. You could allow the phone to notify you only when people from your phonebook call you or only when a certain amount of people within your phonebook call you. I wish this were a part of S60 and not an add on. ‘We:offset’ is alo another great software, about which I have written in a previous post. Unfortunately I haven’t used it. Other softwares include ‘SkyeQuiKey’, ‘Mobile Magnifier’ and more. The phone is also different in many ways from a standard S60 phone and N series phones. There are settings which can be put for using the intranet. A dictionary comes inbuilt with the phone, one only has to download the conversion packs, the default one is English-English. Now why can’t a N series have this?

The calendar also has received updates, now one can see the entries alongside the calendar. The phone allows the ‘phone memory’ and the ‘memory card’ to be encrypted. But the biggest change is how one accesses the phonebook to make a call. No longer does one have to go to the phonebook, scroll for the name, select it and make a call. Now all you need to do is type (using T9) the name on the Active Standby screen. So if you want to call or message, lets say Joe, you would just hit 5,6,3 and voila Joe’s entry would show and highlighting it would give you the options. This is something that S60 has not had, especially since Windows Mobile has it. This is one thing which needs to be implemented across the S60 range. The other innovative things can wait, this one can’t. Simply because its not only the business user who is multi-tasking in this day and age, everybody is!
On Software I would give it a 9.5/10. The only reason I have not given it a perfect 10 is because there is a lot more that the S60 platform can achieve.

Music:
Lets move on to the one aspect of the phone which a lot of people will use in the phone, Music. The music player is the same that you find in any S60 third edition device. There is nothing different here except for the fact that there are no visualizations. Although you do have an option of showing ‘Now Playing’ as a screensaver. I found the E66 music qualities to be mediocre. Nothing great if you ask me. It is built as a business device and hence there is little attention given to the music capabilities. I wish that had not been the case. The music player application which supports so many formats could be used by a business man/woman for playing an audio file which might be the need fo the hour, now if it was a crowded place where it was to be done, imagine what a bad impression it would put on the owner of the phone. Seriously, Nokia making a phone this stylish and smart, but not giving it good audio hardware is really a deal-breaker. This one the most sore points in the E66. I would give this aspect a 5.5/10. This department really needs to be looked into and pronto!

You can read part-1 of the review here.
Part-2 can be read here.

BL-4U

Screensaver

Now Playing