Nokia E65 - Review
Apologies for the lack of posts about the actual phone. What with trying to get a passport in a week and getting the time off work for London, I’ve been a bit busy. But here you go, I’m sure some of you at least have been waiting to know what I really think about the E65 when it’s all said and done. At the time of this review, I’m using firmware v1.0633.18.01.
Size/Build Quality – I really honestly can’t say enough about
how well-built the E65 is. There are virtually no squeaks, gaps, or
anything else that we’ve come to find on these devices. The slide is
liquid smooth, spring assisted with a very solid lock on either end.
There is no evidence either on the front or the back that the pieces
are rubbing together, which is a good thing for longevity. The size of
this thing is nearly perfect. Closed, it’s the same size as the N76
when it’s also closed. The only difference is that the N76 flips and
the E65, obviously, slides. The keypad is a bit mushy, but not too bad.
The S60 button cluster, while awkward from what I’m used to, is usable.
I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of having dedicated buttons,
specifically for seemingly random tasks (like conference calling and
mute) but they’re at least easy to press and with good feedback. The
screen is a lot smaller than I’m used to, coming from the N95 and N76,
but it’s very vibrant and easy to read.
Menu/Speed – One thing about the E65 is that it handles memory
EXTREMELY well. I mean, on boot it only has ~20MB, but that’s more than
enough for this little powerhouse. I’ve easily brought it down to 2-3MB
before it starts closing apps in the background, which is phenomenal.
The menus are extremely quick, with only a barely noticeable delay
between screens. By mapping the Own key to the camera (since the phone
itself doesn’t have a camera key, which is weird, to me) I’m able to
have the camera up and ready to take a pic in under 4 seconds. Not
exactly a point-and-shoot, but pretty quick, nonetheless. The time to
display pictures that have just been taken is also fairly quick.
RF – I’ve found the E65 to be more on par with my N95 in terms
of reception and EDGE speeds than the N76 was. It’s able to hold onto a
signal in my new testing grounds, the elevators at my building. The N95
(and E65) are able to hold onto just enough signal to send out an SMS
or maintain a data connection, while the N76 lost everything as soon as
the doors close. Call quality is stellar (Which it should be, seeing as
how this device is obviously focused towards VOIP/voice calling). The
speakerphone is nice and loud, I was even able to listen to my Kenradio
podcast through it in my truck!
Multimedia Functions – I know, this is kind of a cheap section
to toss in, given that it’s not an N-series, and it’s very clearly not
intended to be used for multimedia. However, I’m surprised at how good
the device handled my media needs. The biggest one is Podcasts.
Although, being a non-FP1 device, the E65 is still plagued with the
antiquated and painful media player from days gone by, it was able to
download and playback my podcasts with ease. I was also able, for the
first time on a phone, find a use for the Voice Recorder app, which I
talked a bit about here.
The fact that the Own Key only has one function really bothers
me. It just seems somewhat useless, specifically when surrounded by the
equally useless voice-function keys on the device. I would much
preferred to be able to select what these extra keys did, as well, or
at least have them do something useful (really, a dedicated conference
call button? Who uses those?) but alas. I did find the camera to be
decent, with all things considered. It was really odd to not hold the
phone longways to snap a picture, that’s for sure. The phone also does
not have the front-facing camera that I often use for sending Christina
a video via MMS, which was frustrating, but I can deal with it.
Random Notes:
These don’t really fit in a single section, thus, they’re
random. The first thing I noticed is that the Gmail app that downloads
for the E65 isn’t the same one as the N95. I think it’s one version
older, because the softkey functions are swapped. I use this app
hourly, so I noticed right off the bat. Also, though this is unbranded
firmware, I somehow ended up with 2 "Web" icons, which was odd as well.
It was also frustrating going back to a non-FP1 device and having 2
different browsers, and not having recurring alarms in the Clock app.
Would I buy this phone? This one, no. It’s too aged, the
camera blows (relatively speaking) and I hate those useless buttons on
the front. If it was the EXACT same design/build, but with the cam out
of the N73 and FP1? I’d probably be REALLY tempted to snag one. I’m
pretty sad to see it go, but I’m also glad to be back getting cozy with
my N95.
Who do I suggest this phone to? Believe it or not, I’d suggest
it to the fashion-conscious slider-fan. It’s really thin, really well
built, and has the basics for what you probably need. At ~$400 on
fonegrabber.com, it’s a heck of a deal, specifically with the WiFi (if
you can use it).
It’s a very good device, indeed. It lacks some more stable firmware only. It became annoying with these rebooting things during a call etc.