Touchscreen Mobiles

Nokia’s business targeted E7 may have already started shipping to destinations around the world, but for business people craving a reliable and competent smartphone that boasts a full QWERTY keyboard, the Finnish manufacturer offers its little brother, the Nokia E5. TechSmart put on a suit and tie to spend some billable hours with this corporate aimed device.

Business ready device

To get the business exec to his business lunches and -meetings on time, the phone sports free drive- and walk navigation via Ovi Maps, which is excellent considering that it’s gratis.

As impressive as the Ovi Maps-based navigation is this smartphone’s battery life. Seeing that the battery is almost 50% bigger than that of the BlackBerry 8520, it shoots past the normal smartphone average of one day to almost three days with medium usage. This includes making/ receiving calls and messages, chatting sessions, as well as taking pics and recording video.

The smartphone also boasts Quickoffice to be able to view, as well as edit your business documents (Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint) on the go and you can also view PDF documents via the on-board Adobe Reader LE. You’ll be able to store documents (as well as music, photos and videos) on the phone’s 256 MB internal memory. The latter is expandable to 32 GB using a microSD card (2 GB card included), but the MicroSD cards are not hotswopable, meaning you have to switch off the handset and remove the battery before you can insert the card.

Web browsing is handled via the standard on-board Symbian browser which coupled with the lack of a touch-enabled display makes the whole netsurfing experience feel somewhat outdated. You use the directional keypad to slowly and frustratingly move around pages. There is a nice visually represented page history viewer though, which provides you with snapshots of previously visited pages to scroll through.

Social networking integration

The E5 also pencils in some fun to go with its business functionality. As is the case with the recently reviewed Nokia C6, the E5 uses the company’s Symbian Series 60 mobile operating system (though the older 3rd edition, as opposed to the C6’s release 5). Unlike the N6, which offers a Facebook app with no real OS integration, the E5 enables users to connect their Friends’ Facebook contacts to their phonebook entries.

This allows you to view your friends’ Facebook statuses and profile pics right in your phonebook, which brings the ageing OS in line with functionality that has been on other smartphones such as Research In Motion’s (RIM’s) BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 for a while now.

The first time you start the phone’s FB app you get the option to link your contacts to FB which will prompt the device to match your FB contacts with the phonebook entries. Following this you can manually match every new contact you add to the phone with your friend’s FB profile, which makes economical sense as you’ll be charged for data usage with this functionality, so you want to be able to pick and choose which (and the number) of your friends’ data that the smartphone is continually streaming from FB.

Alternatively, you can simply rematch all contacts again at a later stage and you can also choose the timeframe (e.g. hourly or daily) for the phone to update the FB info displayed in your phonebook.

Although we were impressed with the level of Facebook integration that this device features we still prefer the BlackBerry Curve in this regard though. This is because BlackBerry users (with BlackBerry Internet Service or BIS) aren’t charged for data usage when it comes to social networking and its Facebook integration offers more functionality such as being able to poke a contact or post to their wall.

Happy snapper

Apart from the proper social networking integration on offer, the E5 also sports a really good camera that utilises a 5 megapixel sensor with LED flash, although there isn’t any auto-focus (uses fixed-focus). The camera takes photos that are of a really good quality and offers some additional functionality such as a self-timer and burst mode. The latter allows photos to be captured in six slow (about every second) burst shots.

Doing double duty is the smartphones LED camera flash, which can also be employed as a flashlight by holding down the spacebar on the keyboard in order to provide light in dark places.

Unlike the pics, this phone records videos at a pretty average quality (VGA video at 15 fps) especially compared to more modern devices offering HD-ready (720p) video recording including Nokia’s own N8.

Design

More modern than the phone’s video capturing capabilities is its BlackBerry esque form-factor. Nokia’s E5 sports a look and feel similar to that of the Nokia E72, just with cheaper but still good quality materials. Its four-row QWERTY keyboard with its raised keys is quite comfortable to use though we liked the larger keys of the N6’s wider keyboard better. Webpages and photos display well on the handset’s TFT display, given its limited 2.36" size and resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. This said, we still had to use the directional keypad a lot to zoom in and out and move through pages.

Final Word

Although Symbian Series 60 has long since passed its sell by date (we feel), having proper social networking integration does go some way as to bring it in line with more modern OS platforms. The E5 does feature all the functionality corporate users need, within a stylish package and also offers really good battery life for a smartphone.

It offers better navigational and photo capturing capabilities than the comparable Curve 3G, but having email, chat (BlackBerry Messenger), internet browsing as well as social networking being free on the BlackBerry (with BIS) more than equals the playing field. If you aren’t concerned with data charges inflating your phone bill each month, then go for the Nokia E5, otherwise the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 should fill your entry-level smartphone vacancy quite nicely.

PRICE: Rs.10443

APPLE iPHONE 4

Love it or hate it, the iphone is the smatrphone to beat. The latest version as usual sports the coolest looks, the simplest OS and the biggest range of apps by far as well a adding social gaming network game center, a much better camera and, despite what you may have heard, improved reception. With the same processor as the iPad it’s speedy as hell to boot.

The iphone 4 is very well built. We’ve dropped ours several times and had no ill effects despite the massive noise that the toughened glass case makes on landing.

Another headline feature is the outstanding, high-resolution LCD screen. The iphone’s multimedia capabilities are generally hard to beat: the five-meg camera produces high quality stills in decent light and exceptional HD video for a phone. The music player is the same as on an iPod touch and video playback is also remarkably good thanks to the hi-res screen.

The new Game Center lets you show off your achievements and high scores and take on rivals over Wi-Fi, By no means all games support it as yet but some best sellers such as Flight Control do. Our only reservation is that it’s remarkably ugly for an Apple app.

Battery life is reasonable, though you’ll still have to charge it at least once a day. Reception, call quality and messaging are all very good, if not exceptional. The keyboard is excellent, helped by the best error correction around.

All told the iphone 4 is sleek, sexy and a joy to use. The only problem with the device is its sheer ubiquity-if everyone else has got one, it can’t very well be considered cool. Ah well, we can live with that….


SPECIFICATIONS

Operating System: Apple iOS 4

Processor: 1GHz Apple A4

Storage: 16GB + microSD up to 32GB

Screen: 3.5 inches, 960 x 640 LCD capactive touchscreen

Connectivity: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, A-GPS, 3.5mm audio

Camera: 5 mega pixels, auto focus, touch to focus LED flash

Video Capture: 720p at 30 fps

3G talk time: 7 hours

Weight: 137 grams

Web browsing time: Not quoted

LG OPTIMUS 7

LG’s first Windows phone 7 handset is impressive: chic and solid in its full metal jacket. The 3.8 inches screen is bright and sharp and the world’s newest mobile OS is responsive thanks t the Optimus 7 ‘sGHz chip-BlackBerry take note.

Windows phone 7 is as slick as Windows mobile was, er, not so slick. It looks refreshingly different from the icon-grids found on most other smarphones, with an eye-catching ribbon of tiles and hubs.

The people tile constantly changes the snaps of Facebook contacts and the Xbox Live square shows yur gaming avatar nudging in and out of shot. It’s neat balance of the overall design which is Microsoft’s and your own customization.

Xbox Live integation creates a formidable gaming platform with a fleet of launch titles, including Flight Control and the slim’s 3, with many more on the way. You can play turn-based multiplayer games too.

One of the stipulations of Windows phone 7 is that the camera button will activate the 5 mega camera even if the phone is asleep. One long press and you’re ready to shoot stills or HD video. There’s refreshingly little shutter lag and it’s easy to upload images straight to Facebook or paste them into an email. On the pictures hub you’ll find shots you’ve taken on the phone plus images from Facebook. It’s all very neatly done.

What’s odd about the OS is that WinMo’s business element seems to have been relegated to na afterthought. You get the trusty Office suite and Cloud storage from Skydive, but there’s no cut, copy and paste-it’s not cut, copy and paste-it’s not going to arrive until later. That’s just bloody weird on a Windows phone.

SPECIFICATIONS

Operating System: Windows phone 7

Processor: 1GHz

Storage: 16GB

Screen: 3.2 inches, 480 x 360 capacitive touchscreen

Connectivity: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, A-GPS, 3.5mm audio

Camera: 5 mega pixels, auto focus, LED flash

Video Capture: 720p at 30 fps

3G talk time: No quoted

Weight: 157 grams

Web browsing time: Not quoted

BlackBerry Torch

The torch rectifies that, sitting its most comfortable QWERTY yet under a large, responsive touchscreen. It’s chunky as a result, but still smart.

The touchscreen or QWERTY combo feels natural, not cu and shut. If you want to dial a number without opening the phone, a virtual keypad appears on screen. You can do the same with text messages but given how luxuriously spaced and satisfying the QWERTY is, you won’t find yourself doing so often.

The torch comes with the new BlackBerry OS 6.Based around swappable screens-frequent, Media, Downloads and a customizable favourites one- it’s easy to navigate, with a tap on the info bar at the top of the screen calling up e-mails, texts,facebook updates and the latest from Twitter.

It still feels notably less slick than iOS or Android, and the 624MHz processor lags sometimes, but the 3.2 inches touchscreen is quick and responsive and the accelerometer is better than most.

The biggest improvement is the web browser, which looks lush, making the most of the greater screen real estate. There’s also a decent five mega pixels camera with flash, and the battery should last most users two days between charges.

As ever with BlackBerry, email is the best available, being fast, reliable and secure, while BlackBerry Messenger lets you send unlimited free messages to BlackBerry users.

This is the best BlackBerry to update. It’s still not the complete smartphone package but for frequent messengers, nothing else comes close.

SPECIFICATIONS

Operating System: BlackBerry OS6

Processor: 624MHz

Storage: 4GB + microSD up to 32GB

Screen: 3.2 inches, 480 x 360 capacitive touchscreen

Connectivity: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, A-GPS, 3.5mm audio

Camera: 5 mega pixels, auto focus, LED flash

Video Capture: 640 x 480 at 24 fps

3G talk time: 5.5 hours

Weight: 161 grams

Web browsing time: Not quoted

MOTOROLA MILESTONE 2

The first Milestone had a decent screen and a disappointing keyboard. Moto has largely put that right with the new Milestone, improving the QWERTY by removing the pointless direction pad and adding larger, better-spaced keys. It still has some way to go to complete with the Torch’s keyboard, but it’s the best on an Android.

The inclusion of the MotoBlur overlay also makes the Milestone 2 a more enticing proposition. Inveterate social networkers will like the way it very fluidly aggregates different forms of communications from your contacts. MotoBlur also backs up your data to the cloud, which could prove extremely handy.

In conjunction with Android 2.2, the Milestone 2 is generally fun to use. Motorola has provided simple ways to navigate across the seven home screens and there are also some good widgets, including a strip of icons to easily turn N Wi-Fi aeroplane mode, GPS and Bluetooth on or off from the home screen.

Web browsing is fast and video playback smooth. It’s also Flash-compatible so more of the internet is visible than on the iphone 4. However, although the 1GHz processor keeps most things running at a good clip, the touchscreen can be annoyingly slow to respond.

With the camera taking decent five-mega stills and very good 720p video, this is a strong handset. However the feeling remains that there’s nothing exceptional abut it. You might be better off waiting for the Desire Z if you want Android 2.2 with a QWERTY keyboard…..

SPECIFICATIONS

Operating System: Android 2.2 with MotoBlur