Nokia E63 Qwerty keyboard smartphone [printer-friendly] • reghardware

Original URL: http://www.reghardware.com/2009/02/11/review_smartphone_nokia_e63/

Nokia E63 Qwerty keyboard smartphone

E71 pared back for price

11th February 2009 11:02 GMT

Review Last year, Nokia introduced the E71, a do-it-all smartphone clearly modelled on recent examples of the Qwerty-keyboard toting BlackBerry. Unlike many other would-be BlackBerrys, it proved to be a worthy rival, with a solidly functional keyboard, fault-free push email, 3.2Mp camera, A-GPS, HSDPA 3G and Wi-Fi, all in a slimline package. The E63 misses out on a couple of functions, but basically it's a cut-down version of the same phone.

Nokia's E63: the E71 minus a few bits

The first evidence of scaling down is the casing. Where the E71 has a solid metal shell, the E63's is all plastic, shiny on the front, and a tactile, matte finish on the back. Practically, there's little difference, since the E63 is only a gram lighter than its cousin, and while the E71 might feel like the sturdier model when the two are held together, the E63's sturdy plastic doesn't feel like a sell-out. If anything, the warmth and tactile appeal of the slightly rubberised plastic is an improvement on the coldness of the E71's metal.

At 113 x 59 x 13mm, the E63 is a couple of millimetres wider and thicker than its predecessor which, if anything, helps it slightly with the greater room afforded the Qwerty keyboard, which is spectacularly easy to use either with one or two thumbs. The keys are of the same rubberised plastic and raised in the middle - making them nice and easy to identify and grip - but also slightly larger those on the E71, which raises the ease of use score, without sacrificing much in the way of pocketability.

The four-line, 39-key layout is actually more practical than that seen on recent BlackBerrys like the Bold 9000 [1] or the Curve 8900 [2], since you can access important characters like the full stop and @ with a single press - though the greater spacing on the BlackBerrys means it's easier to text without looking at the keyboard.

Slightly larger than the E71 but no less pocketable

Above the keyboard are a square navpad - sadly, it doesn't double as a touch-sensitive clickwheel - flanked by four 'one-touch' keys which act as shortcuts to the home page, the diary, contacts list and messaging apps, as well as call start and stop and two soft-menu keys. Stop now doubles up as the power button, as it has been with almost every manufacturer except Nokia for ages.

The screen is pretty much identical to the E71's: with dimension of 2.4in and 320 x 240 pixels, and boasting a 16m-colour palette. Nothing wrong with it, in other words, proving itself equally adept at displaying pics and videos, with its landscape resolution lending itself well to web pages.

Messaging as good as any BlackBerry?

Around the sides are micro USB port and Micro SD memory card slot - you can augment the 110MB of on-board memory with up to 8GB but, unlike the E71, there's no card supplied - and a 3.5mm headphone jack, covered by a plastic flap.

That's all. No volume buttons - though you can adjust this by pressing the navpad top or bottom while making a call - and no dedicated button for voice notes. For those, you'll need to go through the menu unless you reassign one of the one-touch keys, which can be set to take you virtually anywhere in the phone's prodigious menu system, regardless of the icons mounted on them. Helpfully, you can assign two destinations for each key too, accessed by either short or long press. Now that's clever.

The messaging facilities are every bit as strong as those offered by a BlackBerry, and the E63 can handle virtually all of the main email standards except Blackberry Connect, which seems like a petty omission, and could have made the Nokia offering that bit stronger. Most email accounts are easy to set up if you know the address and password, and there's a host of useful messaging editors, including one for text messaging that counts down the characters from 160 as you type.

The E71's dual personality is repeated here, allowing you to set different themes for work or play – not essential perhaps, but a nice touch on what is likely to be a work-dominated handset.

The browser is practical rather than flash, with a useful system for breaking down complicated web pages into numbered sections, which takes a bit of getting used to, but certainly helps you to focus on the areas you're interested in. Shortcuts for zooming, full page display, address bar and keyword search can all be accessed using the numeric keypad, and it soon becomes intuitive once you've sussed out which keys do what. You won't find them in the manual.

The decent screen's good for browsing

The internet isn't as fast as it could be, since there's only a standard 3G connection, lacking the higher-speed HSDPA link offered by the E71. That said, there is Wi-Fi for accessing broadband. And speaking of 3G, there's no front-facing camera for video calls, either - that little dot above the screen is actually an ambient light sensor, which adjusts screen brightness according to the light-level around you to save power.

But if the browser holds its own against its more expensive sibling, the camera is a very definite step down from the E71. It has 2m pixels, as opposed to the E71's 3.2, with a fixed focal length and, next to the lens, a single LED flash light and self-portrait mirror. It can manage a maximum resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels, has a minimal 2x digital zoom and includes a burst mode - six shots in not very rapid succession - and night mode.

Don't expect much of the camera

Pics are okay within their limits, but are quickly prone to noise if the light is anything less than perfect. The flash is fairly bright but, as usual, not very effective more than a metre or so from target. Handily, though, you can switch it on permanently, like a torch, by holding down the rather small space bar on the keyboard for a few seconds.

The rather excellent post-pic editing suite found on many other Nokia smart phones is absent - no surprise, given how naff the camera is - and you're left with just the ability to rotate, zoom or display pics in full-screen mode. Video is hardly worth it unless you have good light and little movement, recording at 15f/s.

Viewing saved videos is a different matter, however. RealPlayer is the default video viewer and films play well on the 16m-colour screen. You can download them directly from the internet, transfer them from your PC - you'll need to get your own USB data cable; there's none supplied - or import them wirelessly over Bluetooth. Incidentally, there's no infrared connection, as there is on the E71 but to be honest, it's no great loss.

The music player holds its end up with support for MP3, WMA and all the standard AAC sub-formats, and there's a six-preset graphic equaliser to set your sound. The standard issue Nokia headphones are OK, though the presence of a 3.5mm jack means it's easy to add your own. You'll need them to act as an aerial for the FM radio, which features 50 presets.

Adequate media playback

Another obvious cut-back is that while Nokia Maps is pre-installed, the E63 has no GPS receiver of its own.

Battery life proved to be strong, running for three days and more of moderate use with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on constantly. Call quality was up there with all the best Nokias.

Verdict

The E63 is considerably cheaper than the E71 - currently a good £80 or so less, a quick scoot round the web reveals - but all that Nokia has really sacrificed is on-board GPS. The other cut corners are things like HSDPA and a camera that's not quite as good – but all still perfectly acceptable. As a substitute for the not-too-discerning E71 fan, and as a very strong alternative to the BlackBerry, it's well worth considering. ®