Two Weeks With The Nokia E6

Here I am again with another mobile phone review. Who'd have thought, right? This time it's the E6 - Nokia's latest E-series phone with touchscreen and QWERTY. I'd been salivating over this one since the first time I saw pictures of it online, so, many, MANY thanks to WOMWorld/Nokia for sending me this trial unit :)

Within four days of my first conversation with Paul at WOMWorld/Nokia, the E6 was in my hands. Such excitement! Even the courier delivery guy received a great big smile. So eager was I to unbox the phone, that all plans of an unboxing video went out the window.

To my delight, I'd been given the black E6. Upon opening the box, the first thing that caught my attention was the keypad. 'There are several other QWERTY phones available in the market, what's so great about this one?', you might ask. It's different. Different from the E5, the E72, and the E71 before it. Maybe it's the shape of each key. Maybe it's the gentle curvature of the keypad. Or maybe I'm just smitten.

Then I switched the phone on. Ah! The screen! So bright! More vibrant than my C7, I noticed. Also, you can't help appreciating the new Anna icons. I think it's the uniformity of size that makes them so pleasing to the eye. I turned the phone over, marveling at its thinness, reveling in the feel of the smooth metal. Sleek, yet sturdy. I saw the nick on the bottom edge of the phone, inflicted by a careless user before me. I stretched my thumb first over the keypad, then over the screen, realizing instantly that it would be comfortable for single-handed use as well. The overall size of the phone was just right. The weight seemed good, too. I don't like phones that are particularly light. This is definitely one of the most good-looking handsets available today.. after my C7, of course :P

And so began my brief affair with the E6.

To start off, as I'd said in my earlier review of the Nokia C7, I'd rather not put up fancy photos of the phone with in-depth technical descriptions. There are far more professional blogs for that. This time, however, I've included a few screenshots where appropriate. I've always wanted to type out a blog post using a phone with a comfortable QWERTY (I've no idea why, but anyway, most of this post has been written whilst waiting to pick my daughter up outside her school), so here goes..

Setting up

The E6, like the C7, comes without USB On-The-Go and TV-Out cables. Surprisingly, there was no pouch either. Oh well. I did like the idea of having five home screens to play around with initially, but after a day or two, I brought it down to three. Scrolling through five home screens was rather impractical for me, but I guess it would be useful to others.

Screen

The display, though small, is beautiful to look at. Bright and crisp, with vivid colors, photos look amazing on this screen. Screen visibility outdoors is pretty good.

The E6 allows six widgets per home screen, out of which three are customizable. Anna continues in the Symbian tradition of adding shortcuts in groups of four. The lower left portion of the screen is widget-less and is reserved for the improved notifications widget. So, no matter which screen you're on, you'll always see your alerts for messages/missed calls. I use the word 'improved' because the widget on my C7 is always visible, even when there's nothing to notify you of. The widget on the E6 however, disappears after you've cleared all notifications.

I had no problems with the responsiveness of the touchscreen. It was also nice to have the home screen move along with your finger-swipe - the Anna improvement. I did, however, have a few problems with accuracy (particularly in the browser) and ended up using the D-pad sometimes, because the screen is that small. But it isn't really that much of an issue, I'm just used to the larger screen on my C7, I guess.

At times, the font was too small to read, again, mainly in the browser. Luckily, the E6 comes with a Font Magnifier. After I increased the size to 110% I had no problems, for the most part.. :)

The following screenshots should explain what I'm talking about. They're a couple of hours apart, and I had made no changes to the font magnification. Yet, there was a noticeable difference in font size which sorted itself out on reboot.

While on the topic of font size, here's a screenshot of the app I used the most -Gravity! Only three tweets visible per screen (at a font size I found comfortable).

The screen lock slider on the right seems to be a bit too close to the volume buttons. I found myself accidentally trying to slide the lower button of the volume rocker, on many occasions.

Calling

The 'call' and 'end call' buttons on this phone are white, not green and red on most other Nokia phones. I found that a bit odd. Not sure I like it too much.

Call clarity is excellent. Speaker volume is good too. Had a few problems with the proximity sensor and calls getting muted, but after a couple of calls you get the hang of how the phone needs to be held against your ear. Surprising, because I'm quite familiar with this issue on my C7. I didn't think I'd have a problem with this phone's proximity sensor, but I guess I was mistaken.

Keyboard and messaging

The keypad is different from the other Nokia QWERTY keypads (as seen on the E71, E72, E5) in that it's slightly curved, which, I think, makes it more comfortable to type with. Another thing I liked was the shape of the keys - slightly different from the others.

Having used this phone exclusively, for the last two weeks, I can say that the keyboard is very comfortable to use. Typing is a pleasure. I had no trouble shifting from the full touch C7 I've been using for over six months, to the hardware keyboard of the E6. The touch-QWERTY combination makes the good ol' copy/paste routine so very easy.

Email

I've always had a love-hate relationship with Nokia's email app, even with my earlier phones. For some reason, mail just refuses to sync for me. I thought I wouldn't have a problem with the E6, being an E-series device and all, but I was wrong. This time around, I had difficulties sending email from the phone. One particularly stubborn email message required a phone restart before it was sent successfully. However, when it decided to work, it did so perfectly, downloading .doc files which I could view with theQuickOffice suite that comes preloaded.

Applications

The E6 comes preloaded with a few apps, for instance, JoikuSpot, which worked like a charm. My only regret is I didn't figure out how to use it sooner!

The new web browser is a big improvement. In the two weeks that I used the E6, I didn't feel the need to install Opera, so that's saying a lot. :)

Social seems to be unfriendly as ever. No improvements there. None that I saw, at least. I could be wrong here. It isn't my favorite app, so I didn't spend too much time with it.

The AccuWeather widget is supposed to work on the E6, according to Nokia's website, but it didn't work on the unit I had. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling it four times at least, before giving up.

Ovi Store is completely and utterly useless. I haven't been able to install a single app using it. The search feature works erratically. I had to install all the apps I wanted to try out via the desktop.

As for the other apps I tried to install - some worked, others didn't. For eg.,SportsTracker wasn't compatible, but Endomondo installed and worked perfectly, no errors at all. However, on running the app I was faced with a display like this:

I'm not sure if this is normal because I've never used the app before, but I wonder why its designers would use just a portion of the screen. Odd.

Gravity worked flawlessly. No complaints there. :) WhatsApp worked perfectly too.

Sadly, Molome wasn't compatible. Neither was Angry Birds.

Fruit Ninja installed without error, but for some reason the 'slashing' wasn't too accurate.

On the whole, there weren't too many compatible apps to choose from, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before all these incompatibilities are sorted out.

Camera

What can I say about the camera? EDoF -- you either love it, or you hate it. I hate it. Again, and I'm repeating myself here, I'd gladly sacrifice a few megapixels for an auto-focus camera. But if you're not too fussy, the camera should serve you well. Here are some unedited samples:

Conclusion

If it's a solidly built QWERTY you want, the E6 is definitely recommended. The battery life is truly amazing. Even after pretty heavy GPRS usage, I found that daily charging wasn't necessary.

And what is a love affair without its ups and downs? On the downside, there's a definite lag everytime you start an app, and the infamous spinning circle makes its appearance while the app loads up. But I was able to launch 25 apps before I got an 'out of memory' message. So, not too bad, I'd say. The screen size is rather small, if you're used to a larger full touchscreen, but E71/E72 users shouldn't have problems with it. The EDoF camera will never satisfy me, however, I'm told it is much better than some non-Nokia phones available today.

To be honest, I think I would have bought the E6 instead, had it been available when I bought my C7. Sure, I've complained about the screen size, but that's only because I've been spoiled by the C7. I'd have been upgrading from the E66 which had a similarly sized screen, so I don't think it would have been much of a problem.

So, on the whole, for me, certainly an affair to remember.

Two Weeks With The Nokia C7

OK.. So you’ve probably read all the C7 reviews floating around for the past couple of weeks. Good. That means I needn’t go into detail about how good the phone looks, the amazing screen, how awesome it feels in your hand, etc.. etc..  Also, I won’t list the phone specifications here. There are several websites with much more professional descriptions than I could ever hope to put up. This is my opinion, as end-user, of the C7, having used it a little over two weeks. This is, by no stretch of the imagination, a ‘techie’ review, so there may be points here better classified under Symbian^3 rather than under C7, but since one runs on the other, I think for the end-user it’s one and the same. So let me just jump into what I think of the phone.

Unboxing and setting up

Having heard about USB On-The-Go and TV-Out, opening the box was quite a let-down because there were no cables provided. Come on, Nokia. How much would it have cost to include the required cables? Imagine the excitement the user could have had connecting his/her brand new phone to see the first photo / video shot on TV… Well, you killed that all right.

On the other hand, it was nice to see a carrying pouch included in the box. It would offer some protection for the screen, if it actually did fit. The pouch I got was so tight, it was, and still is, impossible to slide the phone even half-way in. But I tried anyway. And then, the phone being brand new and all, taking it out was quite an effort because I didn’t want to grip the phone too tight (I might have broken it with my strength) or scratch the screen (alas, no Gorilla® Glass). So it took me all of 5 minutes to coax it out of the pouch. BTW, I’m still stretching my pouch with one of my daughter’s similarly-shaped toys.

Setting up the three Home screens, choosing backdrops, deciding which shortcuts and widgets would feature on them, was a bit of fun. This was kind of new for me, coming from S60v3. Found it a bit strange that shortcuts had to be added in groups of four. Oh well.. Just one lil gripe with the Notifications widget.. Instead of being visible all the time, why doesn’t it disappear when there are no missed calls or unread messages to notify me about? Here’s where my E66 was smarter. The screen does have its unresponsive moments, but thankfully they aren’t too frequent. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Phone calls

Talking on the phone was another source of amusement/annoyance, depending on my mood. Many times after hanging up, I’d find myself in various apps.. the messaging app, I think was the most frequent. Also, on several occasions, I found the phone call would mysteriously get muted, so I’d essentially end up talking to myself, only realizing, when there was no response at the other end. I have now learned to hold the phone well away from my face, with only the top part touching my ear. Makes me look retarded – sticking my elbow out like that, but what choice do I have? On the other hand, call clarity is excellent.. better, I think than my old E66.

Messaging

Messaging is a pretty nice. There’s a Conversations view I use all the time.. keeps things in perspective. Typing, however… UGH! I used to type much faster on my E66. Portrait orientation has only the alphanumeric keypad, which is probably a good thing. Landscape orientation gives you the QWERTY keyboard which, for me, is horribly inaccurate. In fact, it’s quite a pain typing on it. Multi-touch would have been useful here, but I guess Nokia didn’t think so. Installing Swype helped a lot. But I still think my good ol’ E66 was faster. Also, there’s a noticeable lag when switching between portrait and landscape views, and I find it more pronounced while in Messaging mode. Quite irritating, in fact.

Social networking

The C7 boasts a Social Networking app which is just OK. It integrates with the phone book so that’s nice. But displaying social profiles for contacts is quite a drag as the app connects to Ovi each time giving you that splash screen EVERY TIME you want to check someone’s profile out. Plus, it just takes too many clicks to get to a person’s profile. I’ve noticed that you’re allowed to add only Facebook profile pics as contact images in your phone book. Why not Twitter? Also, when saving them to the phone book the Facebook profile pic gets converted to a really low res image that looks just horrible. The widget cycles through tweets and status updates displaying them one at a time. But I’m happier now that I’ve removed it from my home screen.

Mail

The Mail client does most of what it’s supposed to do. But for some reason it just REFUSES to sync. I’ve tried various settings, even deleting and reconfiguring the mailbox.. No luck. As a result, I avoid using it as far as possible, because I end up having to delete mail twice – on the phone and on the computer. So for me, it’s just a feature that I know I have, should I decide to use it someday. Sad. Nokia should do something about this. C7 eMAIL FAIL.

Camera

The camera seems excellent.. on paper. However, the less said about the images it produces, the better. I will never understand why Nokia decided to go with fixed-focus here. I would have gladly done with 5 megapixels with auto-focus, rather than 8 megapixels with fixed-focus. I’d really love to know if there’s anybody who disagrees with me on this point. Huge, HUGE disappointment. I expected better.

After seeing the pictures, I had no hope for the quality of the video recording. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I’m pretty happy with the video quality and I see myself shooting more videos than photographs. Actually, scratch that. I’m very happy with the video quality.

Music & FM Transmitter

Music players on phones have never really been of interest to me. I don’t usually listen to music on the phone because I don’t particularly like using headphones. And then I discovered the FM Transmitter. Nice app. Now, the only time I play music is in the car – if I want to listen to a particular song that I know I have on the phone. Ocassionally, the music does stop transmitting, for some reason or the other, but I’d like to believe that it’s the car FM receiver that’s at fault and not my beloved C7.

Conclusion

If there are other features of the C7 that I’ve left out, it’s probably because they work the way I expected them to and I have no real gripes to point out here.

So, would I recommend the C7? Sure. As long as you’re not expecting quality ‘focus-able’ photographs. That’s not to say C7 photos are out of focus. They are in focus, but the entire photograph is in focus.. which is just not something I like. Also, closeups are a no-no. But I don’t need to say that..