Hands on Review of the Nokia E90 Communicator
i have been putting the new nokia e90 through it paces for more than 10 days
ramesh tells me it's still as hard to get one as the prada
and just as expensive
the e90 is the 10th (or so) version of the communicator
surely the best and smallest to date
and possibly the best phone money can buy
there's a really good review at the site below
http://www.my-symbian.com/s60v3/review_e90.php
take a look if you are interested
i have been keeping an eye on this phone ever since it was announced
and was afraid that it will be too bulky, heavy or ugly
when i got it
sure enough it was a fat pig
and wont win any beauty contests
but it feels really nice on my hand,
better than the broad e61 and e61i phones
this phone will droop if you place it in your shirt pocket
and somewhat bulges when you put it in your pants pocket
other than that, it is really a super phone
1. great workmanship - from its hinges to the keypads
everything is well crafted and built to last
my only pick is the camera button which at times feel unnecessarily loose
2. good heavy clear fonts - this is so important to me
the e61 and e61i doesnt have very good fonts
- on the e90, you can also set the font size as well
3. as it is, without opening the lid, everything works fine
- i wasnt able to install the slovoEd dictionary
which i wasnt able to with the n95 and e61i also
- emulators like gameboy, nes, snes etc work only with the lid open
otherwise everything works just as it is
4. however, you will want to open the lid
because it opens a new world of 'notebook-like' computing
- so easy to answer sms, emails, surf web and do lots of stuff
this is the area the the e90 really shines
5. the e90 runs on symbian s60 3rd edition
which is really a good operating system
- it is not downward compatible,
but already there are tons of software - check out my thread below
http://secentral.net/forum/index.php?topic=13707.0
e90 does almost everything you want on a mobile device
1. i just returned from vietnam on sat
and as you can see from the screenshot above
gps works okay in saigon aka hcm
2. 3.2mp camera is good
shutter button has a lousy loose feeling
3. video is big, bright and clear
especially if you play on a pc
pity flash not yet upgraded to play youtube
4. e90 is fast, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps, UMTS, EDGE
pity starhub is not yet offering 3.5g (but m1 is)
5. lots of power - ARM11-based TI OMAP2420 processor running at 330 MHz
128 MB of operating memory (RAM)
supports 2 gig micro sd card
6. quadband 850/900/1800/1900 GSM, 2100 WCDMA
Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g 54 Mbps
Bluetooth 2.0
use it any where
7. lots of excellent s60 3e software
bibles, dictionaries/thesaruses, emulators, games etc
even if you are not looking for a phone
check this one out
i started off by thinking that it could be a good second phone
but now it's my daily phone of choice
p/s Walkthrough on the GPS for the Nokia e90
the e90 uses a different gps routine than the n95
(which wasnt very good anyhow)
the most important thing for you to do to get gps going
is a little patience in waiting for a fix
- this is because nokia uses a less powerful chip
so as to conserve battery power
1. goto gps > map > options > plan route
starting point should be gps position
destination can be any place you want to go
i find downloading the singapore guide for $15
really simplify things
especially if you want to add new landmarks as destinations
2. when gps kicks in (usually within a minute)
goto options > show route
3. goto options > navigation
(if this is your first time
you will be asked if you want to download voice commands
answer yes)
1-2-3 and you are on your way!