Nokia E63 Review

BY: AWright, Brighthand.com Contributor

When Nokia introduced the very thin and powerful Nokia E71 QWERTY smartphone, it probably had no clue that this would be such a popular model. So much so that they could keep it at a higher price point and release a sibling model, the E63, with a lower price and slightly reduced feature set.

The interesting thing is that the Nokia E63 doesn’t really feel like a cheaper device when you are using it. It’s that good.

Design and Build
The E63 uses a tablet shape, with a front-facing QWERTY keyboard and a 2.4-inch display.

Unlike the mostly-metal E71, the E63 is a plastic-covered device. It also has a thicker profile (13mm vs 10mm) and slightly heavier weight (126g), making it more compairable to a BlackBerry Curve or Palm Treo Pro.

Nevertheless, the soft-touch paint of the rear, and wide profile are pleasing in the hand. The E63 brought back memories of the Treo 680 that I used to own as it felt simply “hand-friendly.”

Beyond that, the 320-by-240-pixel (QVGA) screen offers great visibility in indoor and outdoor conditions. The refresh rate seems a touch faster than what I’m used to with my Nokia N95.

On the downside, the E63 lacks dedicated buttons for volume and power. The volume settings are configured either via the devices settings or a sound-specific application (such as the music player). The power button is the same as the call-end button.

Despite this, the mono-speaker was good enough for listening to music, ringtones, and podcasts.

Keyboard: The QWERTY keyboard is the same that is used on the E71 — domed keys that offer great feedback and travel. Comapred though to the E71, the spacebar is smaller and there’s an extra two keys for common symbols.

I’ve recently picked up a Palm Treo 750 in order to get an idea of that keyboard versus the E63 and both are similar in terms of key feedback and size. However, the curve noted on the Treo 750 makes it easier to get to some of the buttons on the bottom without feeling like your thumbs are doings some exercises.

Compared to the BlackBerry Curve, the E63 feels the same in hand, but the keys have a longer travel to them. The dome shape on the E63’s keys do help here, but you will probably get up to speed faster on the BlackBerry.

Performance
The E63 runs on the Symbian S60 Feature Pack 1 (v3.1) operating system. Having been utilized in Nokia devices for the better part of two years, the Feature Pack 1 implementation on the E63 is about as good as things get.

Device stability is the best I’ve ever seen — not one crash. Also, despite the menu-driven aspect of the Symbian S60 user interface, the E63 is very snappy in getting from one screen to another.

Much like the E71 and other recent E-series devices from Nokia, the E63 has a modified home screen — called Active Standby — which not only offers a view of the day’s activities, but also has some “speech bubbles” which denote new SMS, MMS, and voice mail messages. This screen also features a type-and-dial feature, similar to that of BlackBerrys and Treos, where you start dialing and the device immediately begins to search your contacts for the nearest match.

The browser was another area of snappy performance. Nokia’s S60 Browser — a Webkit-based browser — has seen some tweaks for this device and renders websites quickly. One of the things you will notice is that unlike Apple’s Safari Mobile browser (also Webkit-based), you will get the mini-map look only after the page has loaded, not as the default landing. Nevertheless, using keyboard shortcuts, navigating pages that have Flash, complex JavaScript, and more, is pretty much a breeze whether using a 3G or Wi-Fi connection.

Productivity: Being a Nokia E-series device, this device concentrates more on work than play. Software such as Mail for Exchange works seemlessly with the device to offer push-email and PIM syncing. QuickOffice, Active Notes, a built-in Dictionary, Measurements/Financial Converter, VPN wizard, and support for VoIP systems all make this device very much a work horse.

What I found most interesting is that with all of these features going in one way or another, the device rarely faltered. Battery life was absoutely astounding — lasting a 4-hour flight with music and gaming and having the energy afterwards to make calls and check email over 3G. One should expect something solid out of a 1500 mAh battery, but that was unexpected.

Beyond the software that is on the E63 by default, the Download! application led me to several more applications. Download! will eventually give way to the Ovi Store, opening the possiblity for even more software to come to this and other Nokia devices.

Camera: The E63’s 2.0 MPx camera, while great with the auto-focus and flash, doesn’t really add much, as most of the pics are noisy and overly sharpened.

Sample Picture — Outdoors, No Zoom
Sample Picture — Outdoors, Zoom
Sample Picture — Indoors, Flash

Specifications

Symbian S60 Feature Pack 1 (v3.1)
Display: 2.36-inch 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA)
Wireless:
- Quad-band EGSM 850/900/1800/1900
- WCDMA 850/1900 (E63-2 model)
- Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g
- Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate
110 MB internal dynamic memory
microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 8 GB
Micro-USB connector
3.5 mm standard AV connector
BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Po standard battery
Camera:
- 2.0 MPx with auto-focus and digital zoom
- video at 320 x 240 (QVGA) at 15 fps

Conclusion
The Nokia E63 is really a mobile for the masses. The low cost and ease of use are probably more game-changing than Nokia might have realized. This is easily a great device choice for those who are looking for an unlocked device with the power of BlackBerrys and Treos, but needing something different all the same.

Nevertheless, it’s a work device before its an entertainment one. The camera is barely adequate, and the lack of volume buttons seems like a good idea, until the device rings and its a touch too loud (good speaker though).

Again though, these shortcomings aren’t a bad thing for $280 (unlocked, unbranded). This would easily be a sub-$100 smartphone if offered by a carrier. Because it doesn’t come through one, it’s best looked at as either a second phone, or something to purchase if you are already happy with your smartphone plan and are just looking for something a bit newer and very stable.

Pros