I usually love making assumptions about handsets before having them in my hand even for a few seconds, and I definitely like being proven wrong about them. That happened with the N82 which I first believed was a silly replacement for the N95 until it bluffed me with its full package, the E71 whose design I despised on press images and thought wasn’t appropriate for my usage to later discover that it was and still is the best phone I’ve ever held. It also happened with the N97 which I thought would undoubtedly be my next handset and a great replacement for the combination of E71/N82 until I trialled it and found out that the smallest things (battery, internal memory, lack of free office) were broken beyond repair and formed a real deal breaker for me. Enter the Nokia E72 which has been on my radar for a while now.
Jeb Brilliant makes a good point on why he’ll upgrade to the E72 from his favorite device which happens to be the same as mine, the E71. He specifically mentions the camera improvement, which will prevent him from carrying a separate point-and-shoot digicam all the time and will hence provide a much better converged solution. But I think the improvements brought by the E72 go way beyond a simple boost in Megapixels.
Hardware-wise
- Accelerometer: i once said that the one thing that I really miss on the E71 is the accelerometer, the E72 brings it, enabling all the apps and games that require it.
- Better video recording: not only is the still image capture boosted from 3.2 to 5MP, but also video recording resolution is doubled. Granted, we’re still on 15fps, but a better resolution with the possibility to use the flash in video recording are nice upgrades.
- 3.5mm headset plug: so long small 2.5 plug and welcome standardized format! Using any headset is no longer an issue.
- MicroUSB charging: the E72 has the usual pin charger but also supports microUSB charging so you can charge it from any computer.
- Battery life improvements: if you thought the E71′s battery life was phenomenal, then the E72 should blow you away with power management improvements.
- Optical scroll: I haven’t tried it yet, but it seems as though it’ll improve the scrolling a lot.
- 600 Mhz processor: with a 369 Mhz processor, the E71 was fast and snappy, now imagine a 600 Mhz processor!
- 250 Mb internal memory: with 128Mb on the E71, we had a little over 100Mb free and we could install all apps and games on there. With the E72, we’re guaranteed at least 200Mb free and that should be awesome for installation but also leave some free space to receive a ton of files over bluetooth for eg.
- Built-in compass
- Dedicated torch key
- Brushed metal backcover (no fingerprints)
- Active noise cancellation.
Software-wise
- Feature Pack 2: for some, the best feature of FP2 is the access point handling in Destinations. For me, it’s the OTA updates and UDP, this is crucial given that I have a Mac as a computer and NSU is a huge pain in the ass to use on a Mac.
- Better default icons: the E71 definitely has the ugliest set of icons known to man, but the E72 comes with the new set of icons so you can install the lighter default version of themes without losing much on aesthetics.
- Pre-installed Nokia Maps 3.0, N-Gage, Nokia Messaging: these 3 programs that eat tens of megabytes of internal memory when installed separately come in by default which should definitely spare some MBs.
- Improved multimedia support: the E71/E66 were the first Eseries devices to copy the improved multimedia software from Nseries, but the E72 should make that even better with N-Gage, UPnP, Panorama mode for shots, a better Gallery view…
As you see, there’s much more in the E72 package than a camera improvement though undoubtfully, it’ll be the main reason E71 owners will upgrade as they can finally leave home without a standalone point-and-shoot and count on their mobile for decent pics. For me, a tried and true E71 fan, the E72 fixes even the smallest nibbles that I have with the E71 and adds some options that are unbelievably drool-worthy. If you own an E71, make sure to voice your opinions on the E72 in the comments below: are you considering an upgrade to the E72 or are you ready to go touchscreen or to leave to a different OS?















