The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
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"You are gonne LOVE it you are gonna HATE it. There isn't in between." on by maple3s
Pros: Probably best small full Querty keboard, brilliant display, WiFi, BlackBerry Service, good camera for movies, great business phone, good signal reception.
Cons: No flash, mediocre still picture quality, speaker volume low, Call quality just so-so, joystick just so-so, no stereo bluetooth.
Summary: The phone is no longer sluggish. Since the last firmware upgrade, the speed is very good. See newsgroups for more info.
As I mentioned, this phone has been full of controversy. There are people who think it is junk other think it is fantastic. Don't believe what you read. Try it for yourself. It is rather hard to buy. There is European version (easy to get) but that doesn't work as well in N.A. Try to get the black-keyboard-version for N.A. They are/were on sale at Nokia store and few retailers in the US. Some of them on Ebay. In Canada there is only one online reseller.
Buy this phone only and only if you need it for what it is built for - a typing work horse with briliant screen with Wifi and BlanckBerry service in form of standard phone. If this rings the bell - then you will love it. -
"Great Potential But Poor Speed and Reception" on by dgad
Pros: Web Browser, Attachment Viewers, Camera
Cons: Call Quality, Call Quality and Slow
Summary: I own the European version. I just switched to the Blackberry Pearl. It handles more contacts, runs much faster, and gets good reception. The E70 has very poor reception. It also sometimes gets stuck disconnecting from phone calls. I have the latest Symbian OS loaded. On a different note, its camera is excellent for a business phone, much better than most, and it can open attachments w. out 3rd party software. Software for Symbian OS is excellent for phone features. You can have call blocking software, phone based answering machine, and SMS and email autoresponders and filteration directly on the phone. The screen is the best. Wifi is excellent. Bluetoooth w. multiple connections at one time is also a great plus. I use it for syncronization w. no problems. I think the Clamshell design leads to poor reception, and a faster chip would make this phone excel. UI is very good but Blackberry is slightly better w. each having their own pros and cons. Nokia's voice recognition is not as good but the Voice Recording Option is excellent. I love the fact it has both a keypad and keyboard but having to open the phone to look up a contact w. direct key input slows me down and multipressing any number to get the correct letter is a pain. Also voice recognition is limited to only 1 number per a contact. Smart recognition by offering choices w. single presses of the key to determine the contact would be best. The next generation could be better as this has a lot of potential. This is currently my backup phone primarily due to poor reception. I have no choice as reception is the #1 issue.
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"Nice for those who likes to send SMS all the time" on by rasjr
Pros: Nice Keyboard, big display, good camera, high SD card capacity.
Cons: ANNOYINGLY ABSURDLY Slow, Web Access Unstable and Unreliable, Skype integration difficult to achieve (unless with 3rd Party software), Battery Life a Joke.
Summary: As jack the ripper once said, let's try it by parts.
1) Battery Life: Battery would have a great endurance if i could manage to disable the wireless access/search so as to save battery life. I tried the manual and the nokia page and i couldn't find a solution.
2) Smart Phone Capabilities: Web access is slow, flash integration is nil and if you try to access a more sophisticated webpage, the browser crashes without warning. Although when traveling, the Worldmate is a great companion and the phone comes with a 3 year subscription of the software.
3) Text Messaging is nice with the keyboard (But it's still slow to reach it), witch is US-International configured by default. Other languages exists, but i don't know if they would be compatible with each language selected.
4) Processor speed: It is VERY ABSURDLY ANNOYING. Trust me. A PC XT with 4 Megs of RAM is faster than this phone using Windows 3.11. Sometimes you can't even reach the redial or the contacts because the phone is still trying to end the call attempt that you have just aborted. And the count goes like 6 to 7 seconds of delay/lag.
5) Nokia PC Suite Integration: It's poor and frustrating. I have tried with 2 different bluetooth dongles the integration but still Nokia PC Suite insists that it doesn't find a Bluetooth device on my PC. My palm works fine and my other bluetooth devices as well. I have tried to contact nokia and send surveys in it's webpage but seems to me that nokia is not that much interested in rethink it's phone software so that the phone companies can sell ringtones and wallpapers.
6) Customization: Background settings are too limited. Or better, does not exist at all. If you try to put a wallpaper stretched to the display as i tried (i created an image in adobe photoshop with the exact size of the display) you will find out that the phone doesn't let you stretch to the whole of it. It's annoying because you cannot customize the display the way you want it.
7) Audio considerations: Ringtones can be used in MID or MP3, but the phone speaker is too low for mid frequencies and high for high frequencies. Speakerphone is too low when you're in a car with a normal noise and you gotta reach it close to your ear like a nextel (not that i'm deaf, but it's nice to put the phone in your lap while driving).
8) USB Connections: While the new editions of Nokia uses miniUSB connections, this one still uses the old and tricky nokia connection. If you live near the beach or somewhere hot and humid (as i live in Rio) expect to have it rusty in 6 months, and then you'll be a hostage of the USB connection.
9) Size and Handling: Not too big, not too small. The size, in this case, doesn't matter too much.
Bottom Of Line:
Stubborny Slow, Battery dies within 2 days of standby thanks to the inability to turn of the WiFi802.11g (not in the manual how to switch it off!), Smartphone software crashes and Web access is too crappy, Nokia PC Suite is still a joke and messes up with your Windows startup, USB connection is an alternative but the Nokia CA-53 connection keeps you busy while sincronizing with PC suite (keeping the phone connection very attached to the phone so it does not skip it).
I bought it, i'm still paying for it, and i'm looking for another nokia. -
"Free Phone Killer, but flawed" on by ibriggs
Pros: Symbian OS, Full QWERTY Keyboard, Wi-fi Browsing, Upgradeable Storage, Great Camera
Cons: Poor Flash Support, No WMV support, finicky wi-fi, a bit sluggish
Summary: The Nokia E70 is a great phone, but not as great as it could be.
Ergonomics:
The butterfly form factor that initially attracted me to this phone has held up. It's truly an amazing design, giving ample room for both thumbs and keeping your hand from feeling cramped. Folding up into your pocket its slightly thicker than the usual phone, but clearly superior over Blackberry "Calculator" designs. When flipped into this mode the screen automatically turns to landscape mode. The all-plastic case is nice, but does feel a bit flimsy after owning a RAZR's aluminum shell. The black/silver combination is otherwise quite pleasing, looking distinctly "Nokia". Lastly, another complaint is the thumbstick which is, as CNET stated in its review, a bit finicky. Perhaps a better choice would have been a blackberry style scroll wheel.
Performance:
The cpu seems a bit underpowered by my estimation, and could've used more RAM. Noticeable delay when switching into QWERTY mode, and when swapping between applications keep this phone from really living up to the Symbian OS' potential. A confusing menu system makes it sometimes challenging to find the feature you're looking for, though the menus can be restructured to fit your needs.
MISC.
I love the way the phone works, but perhaps Nokia should attempt to USE the phone they've made. Its great, but just little details show that it probably made sense on paper and maybe not in execution. When a phone gets this expensive and has this many features, its hard to complain. Still, the details are what seperates a good phone from a really great one. -
"Useful but flawed" on by successdavid
Pros: Good for SMS, good camera, big buttons
Cons: sluggish, Qwerty keyboard slow, manual poor
Summary: Overall, I like this phone, but because the keyboard is split, they could use a rationalized set-up - it is hard on your thumbs as there is a lot of movement. Mine broke after 4 months, and the repairs have not been done. The speaker is not as good as the Razor, and the sensitivity is not as good. Good try but needs improvements to be really good.
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