NOKIA E63

NOKIA E63 actually ’ON’ my NOKIA E63 itself. I am thinking that this may be the very first review on MS actually typed on a mobile device. This is a smart phone as tagged by its manufactured however the smartness of the device is limited by its service provider. Its Airtel so far in my case.

Here is a glimpse of its features:

1.QWERTY Keyboard: Well, I am brave enough to use the same to type this review. It isn’t that difficult, but yes it would be easier for someone who has matchstick sized fingers. The keys are soft and very familiar to normal computer users. I would go ahead to say that NOKIA certainly researched ergonomics as well as the most common actions well. Keys like @’?,. / are just one click actions. It was a pain on my RIM Blackberry.

2. Convenience button: It is as the name says right in the centre and just below the screen. It does the most common actions for the menu/screen active like dialing a number, pressing ’enter’ while typing or surfing the internet. It is well supported by a rectangular shaped button covering ti from all sides. That is the navigation key with the resultant movement of the cursor in all 4 directions.

3. Internet Browser: This is the NOKIA standard, however one can install any of the available mobile browsers. This closely replicates the IE interface with the option to zoom in/out to fit the small screen or to read the print in decent font size. It supports JavaScript and SSL 2.0. It also allows multiple windows simultaneously, however runs out of memory with more than 5 windows in tandem. That’s ok for a mobile device, what do you say?

4. Shortcut Keys: It has 4 such keys - Home,Calendar,Contacts & Inbox. Reaching any one of them through any other route is however like locating the ’Paranthe wali gali’ at Chandni Chowk by a newcomer.

5. Camera: Its 2.0 mp with 4x digital zoom and a flash. The quality of images can be adjusted to low,medium and high keeping the storage memory in mind. It can record video with the same resolution.

6. Storage: It has an inbuilt storage of 128 MB with a 1 GB micro SD card provided with the handset as default. It is expandable up to 2GB.

7. Wide screen display: I am looking straight into it and feel it is 2.5 x 2.0 inches. It supports 16.7 million colors. It is good enough to watch videos, type multiline SMSes and of course type this review!

8. Music: Again decent quality music can be played with a loud volume. It is however better with the supplied headset where the stereo capabilities can be felt. Do not compare this with SONY walkman phones.

9. Radio: It can play good quality FM radio once the headset, which also has the antenna, is fitted. It also has an Internet radio, which the suckers Airtel do not support.

10. Bluetooth: It allows transfer of data with any bluetooth device. I find it easier than fiddling with USB cables to connect, although that is also supported. Yes,you need to purchase a USB cable seperately.

11. Mobile OFfice: This makes it possible for the handset to be used as a wireless modem. The bandwidth is a function of the provider.

12. Quick Office: This is apparantly NOKIA’s version of MS OFfice. It has equivalents of Word,Excel,PowerPoint and are not difficult to use, although it needs practice. I have the ambition to create a presentation on it one day, just like I a, writing a review using a handset today (Soma, sitting next to me is probably thinking what made her marry this nerd, coincidently, this was the very first train we boarded just after marriage).

13. Voice aid: It reads out names, commands and options. Its useful when it says out the name of the person from the contacts list, when he makes a call, and I am like driving.

14. Voice recorder: Its useful to record any phone talk or simply anything worthwhile. I am yet to try that out.

15. Video call: Its there but just in theory as we are not yet 3G enabled. A 1x1 mm video camera facing you is supppsed to do the job.

16. Phone: Before I forget to mention, it is a phone too. I just rejected a call while typing. The voice clarity is good, with or without the loudspeaker.

17. Battery: It works out for 3-4 days with decent phone and moderate GPRS usage for me. Not a single point has gone down so far since I started typing this review. It has few more features which I don’t care about like Java games, GPS etc.

The only glitch I have noticed so far is that it hangs up if you try to receive a call when the network is weak. The only way out is a reboot. Well that’s something so much Microsoft like.

I have been using this handset for little over a month now for all this analysis and feedback. .....and before you forget, let me remind you that I wrote this entire review on the same handset itself and uploaded to MS over GPRS.

Purchase Price:	INR 14500
Talk time (minutes):	180