In the last part of our review of the E72, we looked at the software, music and battery life of the E72. This time we give the camera and the accessories that came with it a thorough look.
So without wasting any time let’s look at the camera of the E72.
Camera:
The E72 employs a 5MP sensor with autofocus. Low light photography is somewhat possible with a single LED flash. The 5MP camera on the E72 is an upgrade to 3.2MP sensor on the E71. Therefore one might think it’s just an ok camera and really not a performer. I was of the same opinion and thought of it as just a gimmicky feature. That’s where I was wrong. The E72’s camera is anything but just another camera. It seems that when E72 designers were going through the feedback for the E71, they decided to really make the E72 a good camera-phone.
I found the E72’s camera to be a capable performer, easily giving me some great shots and some rather surprisingly good low light photos. Now, I like the N82’s camera and I swear by it. The E72 did not match it, but it definitely showed the current crop Nseries how a camera should work. I must admit the E72 was able to click better photos than the N97 and N97mini. The alogrithms on the E72 are clearly a step ahead of the ones found in the more expensive Nseries.
Where the Nseries go ahead is in the macro settings. Otherwise this E72 is clearly a Nseries camera phone in the garb of an Eseries. If you are looking at a good 5MP camera, the E72 makes a strong claim to be the right one for you. Given it’s dimensions and it’s good looks, I’m sure even a Nseries buyer might be swayed into buying the E72.
Some samples at the bottom of the post should give you a better picture of what I am saying.
Video is an area where the E72 takes a bit of a beating. VGA quality video at 15fps is really a downer. I would have really liked it if the resolutions would have remained VGA and the 15fps would read 30fps. This has been deliberately done it seems to keep the Nseries as media centric devices. Pity, since the Eseries has gone way ahead than the Nseries and it’s the Nseries which need to sit with the Eseries designers and learn how to make solid phones again.
The single LED flash might seem like a downer too, but in low light it manages to give a decent output. In fact, I was able to get much better quality with the E72 than the N97mini in low light. Clearly the single LED was much better than the dual LED flash of the mini. I don’t see the E72’s single LED flash coming in the way of clicking pictures in low light conditions.
One look at the setting and it’s a familiar look, all the setting that the camera centric Nokia smartphones have are there in the E72. There is however GEO tagging, a feature which is a boon, that is missing on this device. I hope that it comes in subsequent firmwares. I wonder why it was left out on the E72?
Overall, the E72 ia capable performer. Easily going ahead a couple of steps than the E71 and the E75 in terms of picture quality. I’ll rate this at 8/10. A couple of important features missing deny it from a score of 9.
Accessories:
The E72 has an almost similar set of accessories the E71 came with. A leather pouch, data cable, handsfree headset, Micro SD card, and of course the charger.
The pouch has definitely undergone a change, and is now open from both ends instead of only one end on the E71. This seems like a very carefully thought out innovation once you realize how easy it is to remove or put the phone inside. Accessing the 3.5mm jack and the 2mm power jack, memory card slot and the USB slot without having to remove the phone is also possible. Clearly, the designers have been listening. Kudos to them for actually implementing a small but very carefully thought change in the design of the pouch.
The data cable in the box, is a mini data cable and is definitely a cost cutting decision on the part of Nokia. It is really too small to be practical enough. Clearly Nokia does not want you to be syncing it with a desktop. Connecting to a laptop is probably the only option and if you are short on space the cable is the last thing that will allow you to be flexible. I did not use the short micro USB cable that came along with it, the CA-101 being a more useful and sensible option over the CA-101D that came along with our review device.
The handsfree headset, WH-601 is a very well designed headset, the thin flat wires give it a sleek and unique look. The sound output is pretty good, and will not disappoint. Probably the only things that holds it behind is the fact the the rubber rings that come with it are not enough to hold it in one’s ears. One needs to put on a pair of cushions and then they’re good to go.
The Charger is a regular AC-8E charger. I miss having the small chargers the N85 came with. Though there is nothing wrong with this either.
The review unit I received had a cleaning cloth too. This may or may not come with your device. But if you do get it, I suggest you keep it properly as it is very useful.
I’d give the E72 a 8/10 for the accessories it packs in the box.
Here’s the gallery of images for you to see.
Aditya Singhvi's Phones 