Nokia E7 4-inch Touchscreen Wi-Fi GPS QWERTY Smartphone Review

Great design and build, exceptionally comfortable typing experience, large display, HDMI out, USB On-the-Go, HD video playback, good camera and video recording quality. Expensive, a bit long and bulky, no auto-focus in camera, no expandable storage, cannot play video files over 2GBw

Over the years, we've seen a steady stream of business and messaging-centric landscape QWERTY smartphones come and go, with HTC arguably leading the pack via its collection of Windows Mobile, Android, and WP7 devices featuring sliding keyboards and tilt-out displays. But few of HTC's offerings are as iconic or memorable as Nokia's line of Communicator clamshell phones -- starting with the Nokia 9000 in 1996, continuing with Symbian S80 models, and culminating with the Nokia E90 atop S60v3. The Nokia E7 is the latest Communicator in this distinguished series and the manufacturer's current flagship device, dethroning the Nokia N8 which continues on as the company's media mogul. A lot has changed in the six months since the N8 was introduced, including Nokia's recent partnership with Microsoft and the stunning announcement that it will be adopting Windows Phone for future high-end smartphones. So, is the E7 -- which is finally shipping in the US?

Nokia's Communicator series has come a long way since its inception back in 1996. The Nokia N9000 Communicator was the first of the lot and incidentally also happened to be the very first smartphone. What made it "smart" was its ability to be used as a PDA, a big deal back then. Since then, the Communicators became more powerful and also smaller along the way. The last time Nokia used the Communicator brand name was with the 9500. The E90 that came after that did not have the Communicator name associated with it but it was unmistakably a Communicator.

Times were changing though and people no longer needed such large devices. They wanted something more compact but at the same time with a full QWERTY keyboard to type their messages on and a large screen for reading their mails and browsing the Internet. This was exactly the kind of usage the Communicators were built for but with their old design, they would find only a few takers in today's day and age. So, to meet the demands of these new age business users, Nokia completely redesigned the Communicator and thus the E7 was born.

Just like its predecessor, the E7 may not have the Communicator name attached to it, but that doesn't prevent it from being just like one. It has the same large display, a large QWERTY keypad and all the features that a business user would appreciate. If only N9000 would have been around, he would have been proud of this little fella (little in comparison to the N9000. The E7 is not small by any means). Today, we have the opportunity to review this latest and greatest business phone from Nokia. Let us find out how well it performs.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA
Anodized aluminum unibody
4" 16M-color ClearBlack AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display
8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash
720p video recording @ 25fps
Symbian^3 OS
680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
microHDMI port 720p TV-out functionality
GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
Digital compass
16GB of on-board storage
Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
DivX and XviD video support
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM Radio with RDS, FM transmitter
microUSB port with USB On-the-go
Flash and Java support for the web browser
Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
Good quality audio
Smart and voice dialing
Office document editor preinstalled

Bundle

Nokia E7 handset

Battery BL-4D embedded

Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-179

CA-156 HDMI

CA-157 USB OTG

Nokia Stereo Headset WH 701

Nokia Charger AC-10n

Quick Guide

Main disadvantages

Symbian^3 is still behind Android and iOS usability standards
Ovi store content is inferior to Android market and App Store
Fixed-focus on an 8 megapixel camera is just wrong
Camera interface is decidedly outdated
Battery is not user-replaceable
No microSD card slot

Nokia reconfirmed their commitment to Symbian in the short-term, but that doesn’t mean much. If the platform is to be scrapped, users will learn it the hard way when regular updates stop coming in. Occasional bug-fixes is the best they can hope to get. And good software support is among of the main reasons why people still choose Nokia

Nokia E7 is basically a larger N8, trading the camera bulk for a a larger and better display and a full QWERTY keyboard. To be honest though, when we reviewed the N8 it was mostly the camera we were delighted with. Then, that was five months ago and the bar is set higher now.

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