Nokia E70 (Unlocked)

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.