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Video review
The E90 is the latest in a short, and considerably maligned, range of Nokia Communicators. Despite having a redesigned clamshell hinge, no one is going to be amazed when you 'reveal' that it has a hidden QWERTY keyboard. Especially given competitive smartphones, like the HTC S710, which is thicker, yet appears more compact to the naked consumer eye.
Suits you, sir
But size and weight isn't necessarily the first concern for the target audience for the E90. Those of you who are au fait with Nokia's naming conventions will know that the 'E' prefix makes this a business phone.
Your man in a suit has impeccably tailored pockets or a briefcase in which to keep his E90, and what he wants from it is messaging ability, connectivity and document handling. All of which it has, but so powerfully realised that it has raised the eyebrows of us non-suit-wearing Stuff geeks.
Widescreen wonder
Folded, the E90 is a Series 60 smartphone with a 16million-colour, 320x240 screen, a 3.2MP AF camera and the power of say, the best-selling Nokia N95.
It has HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS, like the N95. But, unlike the N95, you have the option to unfold - at which point the actions cuts near-instantly to the 800x352, 16m-colour widescreen - and let the E90 really fly.
Suddenly you're full-screen browsing on the move, with the near-broadband speed of HSDPA.
Scrolling through your Facebook galleries adding abusive comments. Reading emails in their entirety, instead of the eye-straining, constant scrolling of standard phone-based messaging. Battering out a reply on the keyboard, either handheld using your thumbs, or on the deck and stabbing away with your fingers. Watching a video, editing a Technicolor spreadsheet - the E90 is an unashamed powerhouse.
Review continues after the break...
Hip to be square?
But, there are a number of things that the E90 isn't. It isn't touchscreen, so all on-screen manipulation is handled by the five-way cursor to the top right of the keyboard, to varying levels of satisfaction in the various applications.
It isn't impervious to rough-and-tumble use. The bigger screen, in particular, picks up greasy finger-marks that are difficult to remove. Given it’s not a touchscreen, no, we don't know where those fingerprints came from either.
And, occasionally, the E90 steps over its processor’s mark, and stumbles a bit.
But more crucially than any of these gripes, the E90 isn't cool. No matter how strongly you underline the power, fun and productivity, regardless of how underpowered it makes the iPhone look, people laugh at the E90's bulk, and its oversized, folded appearance.
We estimate that three-quarters of you are agreeing, and each of your 'it's-the-iPhone-for-me' nods is a nail in the E90's coffin.
But, in the meantime, there'll be a hardcore of HSDPA-happy geeks, multimedia blogging their way through life on an E90. Oh, and possibly some of them wearing suits, too.
Tech Specs
- Bluetooth
- Yes
- Dedicated MP3 player software
- Yes
- Dimensions
- 132x57x20mm
- Main camera resolution
- 3.2
- Memory card slots
- Yes
- Memory card type
- Micro SD
- Operating system
- Symbian Series 60
- Quad band
- Yes
- Screen resolution
- 320x240
- Standby time
- 14 days
- Storage
- 128MB
- Supported music formats
- MP3, WAV, AVI, WMP
- Talktime
- 5.8 hours
- Video resolution
- 640x480
- Weight
- 210g
- Wi-Fi
- Yes
- Xenon flash
- Yes
Comments
Steve Catchpole
49 weeks ago
I worked my way through all the Nokia Communicator bricks as they were terrific business tools and for many years ahead of the other (although smaller) phones - Communicators would even handle faxes! Sadly added the E90 to my pile of mint condition communicators and have become an iphone convert for now!
freeiphonecouk
3 years ago
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It is a completely legit offer and you don't have to part with a single penny. Don't believe me? Check out the site and watch the BBC Newsnight report and look at other proof to see how and why it works.
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Ukjeeper
3 years ago
'Uncool' and happy.
I've had my E90 for about 4 months now, and i have to say that i'm quite happy with being 'uncool'. This is my 4th 3g phone, and imo it's the best one i've ever owned. When it was time to move on from N73 I looked at the I-Phone, the N95 8gb, and the TYTN II. But when i found the E90, i knew it was the next phone for me. It just does so much more than the others. Bucket loads of legitmate and 'homebrew' apps, full QWERTY, and oh that screen! The other choices had some of the above, but none had all of them.
I do a lot of driving, and also offroad driving and hiking, so having proper sat-nav and a screen big enough to see the maps was important. For on the road, i use Tomtom or GarminXT. When the tarmac ends, i switch to Viewranger, which uses OS maps. I can plan/update my hike on the big screen, close the phone and use the small screen for updates.
Also the internal screen is great for watching movies. Convert with Mediacoder and it will play in full screen without any loss in quality. Last night me and a friend played Spiderman 3 on our phones (he used an N95 8gb), the E90 screen dwarfed his N95 screen and just looked 'bigger'.
Even though its 'only' a 3.2mp camera, the picture quality never fails to impress. Install Panoman, take panoramic shots, and see the WHOLE picture at once on the internal screen.
I have MfE on here for my work mail, i can see all my mail without it having to shrink to fit the screen. Makes looking through mail so much easier. Also, our phone system at work drops office phone voicemails into outlook, and i can download them and listen, along with almost any other attachment.
Internet radio, Fring, Walkinghotspot, Quickoffice/Officesuite, etc just add more and more capabilities to this phone. Recent firmware upgrades (which are free btw, not like some phones...) have added flash support, so youtube videos, etc all play just fine.
Is there a downside? Yes, of course. It's an E series, not an N, so the music player interface is, urm, basic. But still works well enough for me. I can still scroll between songs, create playlists, etc
Something thats (currently) missing, real games support (NGage), a shame considering the size of the screen. But if i really feel the urge to play a game, i bring the PSP with me.
Oh, and touchscreen. I've played with the I-phone and I-touch, and love that style of interface. But the input/navigation method on the E90 works just fine. Guess what i wrote this review on?
So for me, at least, the E90 ticks all my boxes. And i'm cool with being 'uncool'.