Smartphone Review

BY: AWright, Brighthand.com Contributor
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has quickly become a very popular Symbian S60-based mobile device for the Finnish company. In its first few months on the market, there have been over 2 million of these devices sold.

And while one can point to the similarity of the 5800XM to other famous touchscreen models such as the iPhone, Instinct, and Prada; none of these devices have demonstrated the sheer capability, or market friendliness that Nokia’s offering has. Maybe that is why, despite some glaring weaknesses, that its found a solid place in this reviewer’s pocket.
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BY: Ed Hardy, Brighthand.com Editor

Nokia has announced, but not yet released, the Nokia N97. This top-of-the-line Symbian S60 smartphone will include a touchscreen, sliding keyboard, 3G, Wi-Fi, and a host of other features. Read More »

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.

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BY: AWright, Brighthand.com Contributor

The Nokia E63 is a Symbian S60 QWERTY smartphone. Most will look at it and easily mistake it for the Samsung BlackJack II, Palm Treo 755, or the BlackBerry Bold. All four devices are similar in their design, application, and approach. However, the E63 represents something of response from Nokia to bolster its appearance in the low and mid-range market segments, where most of the purchasing power with consumers lie. And so far in my impressions, I can say it nailed the target.

Build and Design
Though it looks similar to the Nokia E71, another QWERTY smartphone, the E63 is considerably thicker, and slightly underspecced. This is to ensure its marketing position below that of the E71, and at the same time to allow the E63 some distinction of its own.

In addition to the aforementioned keyboard, the E63 features a 320-by-240-pixel (QVGA) screen in the landscape view. Offering some striking colors and contrasts, it works well in office or direct sunlight.

There are not many buttons surrounding the E63. The top has a covered 3.5 mm headset jack — better than that of the E71 — and that’s it. The power button on the E71 has been moved to the End Call button. The sides are also bare of volume or voice recorder buttons, having only having two covered slots for the Micro-USB and microSDHC memory card slots.

The rear is likewise bare, featuring only a the 2.0 megapixel camera (with flash and auto-focus) to break up the one-piece battery cover. Read More »