nokia e65 review

The Nokia Eseries has been popular among business users, and with the E65 Nokia shows that business phones can be stylish as well as smart. Aside from being the best-looking Eseries mobile phone to date, the E65 is also very slim. Armed with all the connectivity options you could want plus a 2 megapixel camera, the 3G capable Nokia E65 looks set to be a winner.

Physical Aspects

Our review unit came in an attractive mocha brown color scheme. The chrome and silver finish around the display and front buttons gives a touch of class to the E65. I like the plastics used for the E65’s casing, as they make it feel solid and do not look cheap at all. The battery cover has a leather look and feel to it, reminding one of the L’Amour series of handsets. My only gripe about the build quality is the battery cover release button; it looks poorly made and it just does not fit in with the rest of the high quality materials used on the E65. Other than that, the E65 is solidly built, and the spring-loaded mechanism for the slider works really well.

A light sensor is located to the right of the earpiece above the display. The light sensor automatically adjusts the screen brightness and keypad backlight according to ambient lighting, saving battery and reducing damage to your eyes when in poor lighting. The 5-way navigational d-pad is flanked by four new One Touch keys – conference call and ‘My Own’ keys on the left, and phonebook and mute keys on the right. The conference call button allows users to select a number of contacts and initiate a group conference call. Your network service provider usually limits the number of contacts in a single conference call, so it is advisable to check with them before using the feature too much. The ‘My Own’ key is a shortcut key that allows users to quickly access a single favorite application, chosen from a pre-defined list. The phonebook key gives quick access to your list of contacts, and the mute key lets you mute your calls in a single key press, instead of going through the options menu while on a call. An outer ring surrounds this cluster of buttons containing the left and right soft keys above, and the call, menu, clear, and end keys below. This outer ring is thin and pressing on the keys required some getting used to. I always missed the call key and ended up pressing on the menu key.

There is nothing on the left of the phone, but on the right a line of silver buttons are located just next to the loudspeaker. These buttons consist of the volume, edit, and voice recorder keys. The back of the E65 is of a simplistic design and contains only the 2 megapixel camera lens. There is no LED flash or self-portrait mirror. The top of the E65 slants upwards to the back of the phone and contains just the power button. The familiar Pop-port connector and charging jack are located on the bottom of the handset. I was wondering what the matte black strip above the Pop-port connector and charging jack was until I saw the Infrared option in the menus. The Infrared port has been cleverly hidden, making the E65’s design more streamlined and seamless.

Sliding open the E65 produces a nice click and the sliding mechanism feels solid. However, I did not like the fact that there is not a thumb grip to aid with the opening of the E65. I usually had to reach down to the base of the phone with my thumb to push it up.

My experience with the yellow backlit numerical keypad has been a love and hate affair. I liked the keypad for its adequately sized keys with proper raised ridges on each row, though I found the keys lacked depth and some key presses were not registered. This resulted in some errors when typing out messages.

Overall, the E65 is not only attractively designed, but is also very solidly built with high quality materials. It measures 105mm x 49mm x 15.5mm (4.13″ x 1.93″ x 0.61″) and weighs 115g (4.06oz). This makes it one of the smallest S60 phones currently available and definitely the most stylish member of the Eseries.

source:mobileburn.com