Nokia E7 Qwerty slider smartphone
Symbian's last call?
Review The Nokia E7 is the company’s latest for phone for business and, in keeping with the styling makeover first seen on the N8, it features a sleek aluminium casing with tapered ends and a big 4in screen. Indeed, it could easily be mistaken for an N8 at first glance.
For business and pleasure: Nokia's E7
It’s only when you look more closely that you notice the thin gap around the display. Press on the edge of the phone and the screen swings up to reveal a four-line Qwerty keyboard which, despite its flatness, has enough travel in the keys to be highly usable. The tactile keys are well-spaced and easy to read.
Another similarity to the N8 is that the E7’s battery is in a sealed unit, so you can’t pop out the cell if it runs out of juice. Fortunately, battery life on this phone is outstanding. Charge it daily and it’s very unlikely to go flat on you. Indeed, charging on alternate days is a real possibility, unlike many smartphones. The E7 has no memory card slot, so you’re limited to the built-in 16GB storage, but that’s probably enough for most folk.
The E series of Nokia phones go big on business functionality. So it’s easy to set up multiple e-mail inboxes which can sit onscreen alongside each other or you can switch quickly between mail accounts. If you use MS Exchange, the E7 comes preloaded with Mail for Exchange to integrates with existing Exchange servers.
Slide out Qwerty keys when you need them
The HDMI output means you can work on PowerPoint presentations on a big screen instead of the phone’s display. It’s also handier than, say, the iPad for getting documents off the phone – if you can connect a USB stick (you’ll need the supplied adaptor to fit the phone’s micro-USB slot) it’s a simple matter to transfer files.
Next page: Security conscious
COMMENTS
I think you misunderstood the reviewer's battery life comments.
Looking at the spec for the Tytn it has up to 200 hours standby and up to 4 talk time listed. The E7 has about 450 hours standby and around 9 talk. So, unless you've a double-sized battery this thing will outlast your Tytn easily.
I think the reviewer probably charged the phone overnight and played with it on an off all day, then found the battery showing half when he got home.
Perhaps more clarification form the author is needed?
Won't be getting an E7 but do like the latest Symbian
I'm running an N8 and it's neither slow for browing (Opera Mobile and Mini) nor when running apps (eg I regularly multitask with Ovi Maps, Viewranger and Sportstracker all running simultaneously with no problems).
I often get 3-4 days with maybe an hour or so browsing a day, plus a bit of gaming and checking mail etc. Your mileage depending on your usage may vary. I do a lot of camping and trekking so I just carry a small screwdriver and can change out the battery in a few minutes, it's no big deal.
I have no problems with the 'outdated' UI, but I've been using tech for 25 years and have no problem adapting to new UI's. In fact I also have alternatives such as Voyager Home Screen and SPB Mobile Shell installed along with various iphone imitations and the like, but keep finding myself going back to the standard, but with a different theme. If people don't like the look they're free to change it (that thing in the screenshots is hideous imo).
When other phones have cameras as good, built-in fm transmitters, usb-otg, hdmi out, expandable storage, decent battery life, the freedom to change the UI any way I want, and don't tie me into some piece of shit like Itunes or Zune for transferring files, then get back to me.
Those are all features I find extremely useful, so in the meantime I'll do without so called 'sparklier' or 'fluider' interfaces or ten squillion apps that I neither want nor need. At the end of the day it's a tool to get things done, and I'll pick a drab workhorse with good functionality any day over some supposedly desirable prancing venetian covered in slap.
Browsers
I saw one last week in the phone shop. They had some trainer from Nokia down to do demos and training on the N7 and I noticed he'd got Opera on his home screen. So the browser doesn't seem much of an issue.
sealed batteries, what new kind of hell is this
Don't remember seeing any Android phones with sealed batteries. Or any of the admittedly few feature/dumb phones I know about. Has the infection really spread that far from its IPhone home?
There's not the slightest chance I would ever buy a phone with a sealed battery. A spare battery's a hell of lot smaller than those emergency rechargers - mine fits in my wallet without bloating it too badly. I like having a working phone at night however hard I've misused it during the day!
as engadget, they are missing something
I think E7 will be way better in couple of firmware updates but let me tell you, a symbian default browser doesn't matter that much. You have coding piece of art Opera Mobile for instance, a real browser, not some joke of itself because of app store.
Chinese also came up with UC Browser, which has the most amazing UI I have seen to this date with very crazy/functional UX tricks.
Nokia is extremely conservative with device browser, part thanks to anyone can install any browser using any channel (web,app store or even bluetooth).
I don't recommend any Symbian device anymore but lets not ignore the ignorance of engadget or any US site regarding anything non Apple or Google.
