Nokia E65 part three: final thoughts

So far my experience with the Nokia E65 has been largely positive with a few minor issues taking away some of the shine. I must admit to being a fan of the Symbian OS- it is designed for voice usage above all and is an impressive system for any smartphone to have onboard. The real beauty comes when it is implemented in a small device like the Nokia E65. It feels like a phone, it looks like a phone yet it contains many smartphone features that I suspect many people will never use. It is aimed at the business market though and I feel sure that many people will love what it can do and start to really appreciate it.

In the case of the E65 it almost feels as if the OS is too big for the phone. That may sound silly and no doubt some people like devices that allow them to view emails and not necessarily reply to them on the go but, and this is a personal view, it can seem like a marriage that is too one sided with the hardware holding back the included software. Having push email and exchange sync is great and the contacts and calendar functions work perfectly but the whole experience is let down by using a standard number pad. I feel sure that the majority of people will prefer this and a couple of people I have spoken to absolutely adore predictive text. My response of “it’s because you know no better” went down well I can tell you.

I have to ignore the data input side of things for these articles though because it wasn’t a surprise to find only a number pad included on the device and it is built for a specific purpose which is to bring business type functionality to a smart looking small device.

On the whole I found the performance to be very speedy but as the available memory drops a little the occasional stall occurred and I would find myself waiting for a few seconds before it started to move again. I am not convinced that there is enough available memory for continued stable use and have to conclude that Windows Mobile 5.0 handles available memory better than Symbian when things are getting busy.

Nokia have made efforts to include some original features which will be of benefit to many people if they take the time to understand how to use them. The conference facility is brilliant as is the VOIP feature, WiFi connections were pretty impressive for such a small device and I had no issues with the Bluetooth set up. Unfortunately all of these facilities do have an impact on battery life and using some for extended periods of time may mean needing a charger handy. Maybe the battery life will improve as it is conditioned but bear in mind that there are a lot of power hungry features powered by a small battery in this unit. That is by no means a bad thing because I would rather they were there than not.

This phone can also be a potential cost saver when you consider VOIP and the conference facility so it genuinely is a device that could pay for itself quite quickly if your usage (and general location) fits the right pattern to benefit from this.

The big surprise for me has been the ability to enjoy many entertainment functions in such a small device- videos are perfectly viewable, eBooks (using MobiPocket on full screen) are readable and the music side is excellent- with a decent set of headphones we are approaching iPod quality and this was a real surprise.

The included calendar is very poor and so far little effort has been made to improve this- the ability to be able to set alarms by default is surely a needed option? Most other aspects of the software are top class apart from the web browser which in no way worked as well as on the Nokia E61 but Opera’s worked well for me anyway.

All in all this is a superb device that works as it states on the tin and you are unlikely to be disappointed if you buy one. Remember though that the data input side falls well short of the potential held within and for a hardened PDA or smartphone user this may well be reason enough to avoid.

Nokia E65 part two: the good bits

I have had the Nokia E65 for three days now and have really dug into setting up as many features as I can and personalising it to my tastes. A few standout features have hit home already-

Email and messaging

Setting up access to my remote server took about two minutes and was so easy that even I did not screw it up (or have need to phone Neil and ask his advice)! Manually synchronising seemed slightly slower than on the v1605 but not to the point that it would cause concern. All in all I found the remote access side highly professional and Nokia have done a good job of making it workable on such a small device.

I have since had an issue trying to make my server ‘push’ email to me and have still not resolved this. GoodSync does push email fine but not Mail for Exchange which I believe to be a Nokia issue. There are ways around it such as having your provider add an ‘APNIAS’ SOC number to your account but it should not be needed.

Battery

The battery life may not be as good as some people expected if they have been used to less well featured phones but for anyone coming from a PDA phone it will seem like an eternity between charges. At the moment I do not use WiFi and thus have not experienced how well the battery copes with it but I understand that it is a big drain compared to most of the other features. Having said that I am confident it copes with the WiFi better than other devices I have used (v1605 being an obvious contender).

In the past three days I have installed a variety of applications, left the phone section on all of the time and also have 3G running continuously. I have mail for exchange set up to automatically grab updates, over 40 photos have been taken and a few videos as well. At the moment the battery is showing about 50% which is more than adequate for most people’s needs- for the first charge this is very impressive and one of the reasons why I am struggling with the v1605.

Last Friday I made and received 47 calls by 1pm and the battery was at 30%. Admittedly I am a very heavy voice user due to my job but it does mean continually worrying about the battery every afternoon and at least one charge per day is required, and it’s not a short charge time either.

UPDATE: First full day’s use at work with 3G enabled took the battery down to one bar by 4pm. hmmm…

Camera

The camera is a double edged sword for me. Without doubt it whoops the pants off all of the Windows Mobile devices I have used and is markedly better than any Treo camera, the shutter speed is good and for quick snaps it is what I would expect of a ‘camera’ phone. I am not someone who will jump at the opportunity of owning a 5 megapixel camera phone because I still prefer a real camera for proper photos but I’m not totally convinced of this one. It is good in daylight and the images look good if you want to view them on the phone but when transferred to a PC they can looked washed out with poor colour definition. Despite that I would rate this as a good phone camera and one worthy of inclusion.

Display

No complaints about the screen because it works well in direct sunlight with no screen protector attached and gives, like most other non touch screens, a clearer and brighter display. Being quiet a small screen but still QVGA obviously sharpens things up as well. Strangely I had no issue reading an eBook on the screen or watching a movie. It is right on the edge of being too small but I have good eyesight so can cope, not sure this will be acceptable to everyone though. GPS is an interesting experience using a screen so small I can tell you.

Performance

No resets at all yet and no slow downs in performance. The available memory does seem enough to cope with most things you can throw at it. TomTom Navigator 6.0 chugs along at a fair old rate as well which is a bonus. Interesting story with Navigator on this device- my copy of Navigator is registered to the v1605 and the Treo 680 so of course it cannot be used on another device. I took my miniSD from the v1605 and stuck it into the E65 to view some photos and TomTom started up. It asked if I wanted to activate it so I chose to using the automatic service and hey presto it worked? It is now working on three devices and is a genuine copy of the software. I’m not complaining but it is a quirk.

All in all I am pleased with the overall stability and speed of the E65 and can see this being a stable workhorse for anyone who just wants to get through the day without tweaking a phone all of the time.

Tomorrow I will look at the software, voice features and other bits (good and bad).

Nokia E65 part one: first impressions

What exactly is required to put the ‘smart’ in smartphone? Myself and Neil discussed the relative merits of Windows Mobile and Symbian devices the other night (yes, we are highly interesting people:)) and it seemed that the differences between devices always centred on opposites. Here are some questions for you which may help to understand our discussion- 

Name a Windows Mobile device with a good camera.

Name a Windows Mobile device that does not have voice quality that sounds processed.

Name a Windows Mobile ‘Pocket PC’ phone that looks stylish.

Name a Symbian device that is easy to navigate.

Name a Symbian smart device that does not look stylish.

In my opinion I can’t find an answer for any of the above and it highlights the fact that between the two platforms they tend to be very good at some things and poor at others. For example Windows Mobile cameras tend to be poor compared to their Symbian competitiors and Windows Mobile voice quality rarely matches Symbian devices. In contrast the latest incarnations of Symbian can be tough to navigate and difficult to input data quickly.

In the case of the E65 Nokia have managed to squeeze in the following in a device that is tiny compared to almost every other fully OS’d smartphone on the market-

WLAN 802.11b and g, Quad Band, 3G, Bluetooth 1.2, IrDA, a QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, VOIP, voice recorder, speaker phone, conference calling, remote synchronisation, voice commands, voice dialing, talking ringtones and speech codecs (more on that later).

All of that is housed in a device weighing 115g and measuring 105 x 49 x 15.5mm. It is a highly impressive feature list and matches my current device (v1605) in almost every way yet the v1605 is 50% heavier, 25% thicker and bigger in all other areas. The v1605 is smaller in two crucial areas though- screen and keyboard. Those are the crux of the matter in deciding if the E65 is a worthy smartphone contender- is it the quality of the features or the hardware they are housed in that ultimately decides which is the ‘smarter’ device? Let’s find out…

The E65 comes in a plain looking box and is not overly laden with extras. You get a synchronisation cable, AC charger, mono headset, CD software and a case. These are all standard but the whole packaging is a bit demure and is more understated than the usual Nokia effort.

It is a different story when you pick up the phone though. Mine is the mocca coloured version and from a design perspective it is a beauty. It does not shout out ‘look at me’ but it does quietly whisper ‘you like me don’t you, a lot.’ And yes I do like the design a lot- I would go as far as to say that it is one the nicest looking phone I have owned and the styling does not lean towards business or consumer, even if Nokia are indeed aiming it at the business market.

The front is dominated by shiny silver and the back by a brown leather type material which I have heard described as horrible in other reviews. Personally I love the retro feel of it and it adds something slightly different to this phone. The standard shiny silver Nokia design seen on many of their phone is becoming a little jaded in my opinion and starting to look distinctly unfashionable.

The buttons below the screen are plentiful and carefully laid out. I personally found no issues with any of them and found the outside ones particularly easy to use. Once again I have heard conflicting views on these buttons which goes to show that you cannot please everyone. The side buttons are sadly not as good and recessed to the point that they are difficult to use when you are on a call- the benefit is that the voice recording button is unlikely to be accidentally pressed which is an unfortunate trait on so many other smartphones and PDAs. The number pad is superb and one of the nicest I have seen- it looks very flat but in practice works well and I have made few errors even when typing out text messages as fast as a 36 year old can

The charging and sync ports are on the bottom of the device and of course including a standard headphone jack would be asking too much. Rounding up the outside the camera lens in dead centre on the back and compliments the overall look of the phone.

All in all this is a seriously smart looking phone which impresses greatly in the looks department.

Symbian Smartcards- geek games

The review of Symbian Smartcards at All About Symbian made me laugh- one for the true geek “Every year, on leaving the Smartphone Show, Rafe, Steve and I pick up the Symbian pamphlet of all the published phones, and joke that this is the year that we would sit down, write some Flash code, and create a Top Trumps game, where people could compare the properties of each phone on a programmed playing card – winner takes both cards, and another round is played. Keep playing until you have all the cards.

Well, this year, we didn’t have to do that. Whether someone in the Symbian Press/Wiley Publishing marketing department has been paying attention, or simply smoking something interesting, once we jumped on the DLR to get back home, we each had in our hands a box of ‘Symbian Smartcards’. Yes, 52 actual playing cards, with all the stats.

Who needs flash when you have cardboard?”

Holux GPSlim240 GPS Receiver Review (a perfect add-on for the E61)

Holux GPSlim240 GPS Receiver Review by Shaun

There is a current trend in bundling GPS receivers into the latest PDAs and Smart Phones. The Loox T830 and Mio A701 are just two examples out of many models out there. The thought of integrated GPS appeals to me and in a device like the Mio it appears to work well and not overly bulk up the device. The question is could devices like the T830 and others be made smaller if they did not have a GPS receiver built in? I use GPS for long trips and thus only once every two weeks or so and so prefer to have a separate GPS receiver.

There are some disadvantages to separate GPS receivers such as having to carry two devices and keep these two items charged up but with the right charging equipment in the car the latter should not be an issue. When you are walking in for example a city like London GPS can be very useful to get you to your destination and a converged GPS device is ideal for this.

So what to do if you have a Smart Phone or PDA without GPS built in?

Clove showed me the Holux GPSlim240 last week and I initially thought it was a USB memory stick. It is so tiny compared to other devices on the market and will slip into your pocket without being noticeable. There is also a small space for a lanyard to fit so you could carry it on your key ring if you wish and it would feel no different to having a USB stick with your keys. I’m not sure whether it is the shape or the size or a combination of both that lifts it so high in my opinion but as I look at it now I am still impressed that so much can be squeezed into a 64 x 22 x 15 mm form. It is also only 35g in weight. Here’s what Holux have managed to get in to the 240 (remember those dimensions)-

SiRF Star III chipset / 20 - channel GPS Receiver for fast acquisition and reacquisition 200,000 effective correlators for fast Time To First Fix (TTFF), even at poor satellite signal / Built-in WAAS/EGNOS Demodulator Compatible with Bluetooth Serial Port Profile (SPP) completely / Built-in rechargeable Lithium-ion battery for at least 8 hours operation. Built-in rechargeable battery for memory for RTC backup and fast Time To First Fix. (TTFF Support NMEA0183 v2.2 data protocol or SiRF binary code.  

Those specs are about as good as it gets at the moment and most impressive to me is the 8 hours battery life- the device itself is smaller than most batteries on the market!

In the box you get just about everything you need to get you started-

GPSlim240 Receiver / USB Sync Cable / Vehicle Power Adaptor Tool CD / Quick Guide Warranty Card 

The Holux is charged via miniUSB so chances are you will already have wall socket chargers but if not just use the included USB or vehicle charges.

I used the Holux on a trip from Gatwick to Brighton to Heathrow and back to Gatwick and it performed admirably. I switched on the Bluetooth on my E61 and upon loading up TomTom Navigator 5.0 the first lock was achieved in less than 2 seconds. Throughout the journey the signal held 100% of the time and even through the long underground tunnels at Heathrow Airport it kept a good signal. I would say it is slightly quicker than the new TomTom receiver at acquiring a signal and equally as good at holding a signal.

The simple slider switch on the side is nice because I personally hate buttons that you have to hold down to turn on and off- always a pain when driving. There are three light-up indicators on the top for battery, Bluetooth and signal and for once these are clear and obvious. A lot of Bluetooth GPS receivers give little indication of what is happening on them of which the TomTom receiver is a classic example.

Finally there are a few other features which are worth noting-

It communicates with other electronic utilities via Bluetooth, USB-compliant interface, and has a built-in rechargeable battery to save such satellite data as the status of satellite signal, the last location, and date and time of previous use. With low power consumption, GPSlim240 tracks up to 20 satellites at a time, re-acquires the satellite signal every tenth of a second and updates positional data once a second. The power saving mode (Trickle-Power) allows the unit to operate a fraction of the time. It also provides a time and position fix function (Push-to-Fix) that will switch on the unit at a designated time, even when the receiver stays off.

Conclusion: What can I say except that there is nothing wrong with this product. At under £70 it is good value and works extremely well. The size is the main feature and I can recommend this product to anyone who requires good quality GPS for their PDA or Smart Phone without the compromise of carrying a large extra device.I own the TomTom receiver and also an older receiver which both work perfectly well but I really do not want to send the Holux back- it is cute, functions perfectly and is easily the best receiver I have used to date.

Available from the 247 Clove Hardware Store for £58 + VAT.