Smartphone 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.

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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 »

Handspring has dropped the price of the Treo 180 to $249 with a service contract from T-Mobile or Cingular. This is a Palm OS smartphone that offers a monochrome screen and runs on GSM wireless networks. A GPRS upgrade is due in the near future. This price applies to both the version with a built-in keyboard as well as the one that uses Graffiti.

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DataViz has just launched Inbox To Go, a wireless e-mail application for Palm OS handhelds. This allows Documents To Go users to get their e-mail, complete with Microsoft Word and Excel attachments. Files can be edited in Documents To Go and sent as e-mail attachments which arrive at their destination as real Word or Excel files. It requires either Documents To Go Premium Edition or the Standard Edition. Inbox To Go is available now for $50.

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