The global smartphone market is so crowded with touch devices that it is rather difficult for a customer who wants to purchase a regular button gadget to navigate when choosing. After all, not everyone needs a touch screen, for some, a full physical keyboard is still more acceptable for work and leisure. The focus of this article is the wonderful Nokia E72 smartphone , which, unlike other competitors, along with great functionality has a regular button keyboard. Specifications and owner reviews will help potential buyers get to know the gadget better.
Nokia E72 Market Positioning
A business-class smartphone worth about 6,500 rubles is intended primarily for entrepreneurs and employees of commercial structures, where the main selection criteria are high reliability and support of all corporate standards for unhindered communication. Mostly it is about: access to resources, mail, instant messaging. A large battery resource, the quality of communication in GSM networks and convenient functionality for working with documentation are also one of the requirements for a decent gadget.
The Nokia E72 smartphone , whose characteristics are more focused on communication rather than entertainment and games, is also suitable for lovers of instant messaging, because working with a physical keyboard is much more convenient than touch-clicking on the screen (the proof of this is the fact that all user jobs equipped with button devices, not touch ones).
First introduction to the gadget
A smartphone, like any other digital device, is customarily greeted by its packaging. And the buyer can be very annoyed when he sees a miniature box in which, apart from the Nokia E72 gadget itself, a charger and operating instructions, there is nothing. This is the policy of the company - it is still a telephone for business, not a multimedia center.
You won’t be able to find fault with the build quality; phones of this category comply with international quality certificates. The metal-plastic construction has no defects - all components are perfectly matched to each other. By the way, because of the metal, the smartphone is quite heavy, but the owner will quickly get used to it. The choice of color in the market is small, but, as sales show, the black, steel and bronze colors of the body are considered popular.
Gadget screen
Owners of touch devices will obviously not like the Nokia E72 display, since 2.3 inches for a TFT screen with a resolution of 320x240 pixels is a very low indicator. However, the manufacturer managed to create such a functional menu of software for business that many developers can envy information content and management. The device display has excellent color reproduction (16.7 million colors) and has high contrast. By the way, it is able to independently adjust under the control of a light sensor. But with viewing angles, things are very bad. View multimedia content in a large company is unlikely to succeed on the screen of this smartphone.
Nokia did not make high-profile statements regarding the screen's protection from external factors, however, the smartphone owners in their reviews note that the device has some protection. So, many users have found that the front panel is reliably protected from moisture - talking in the pouring rain will not disable the smartphone. If the screen falls down onto the asphalt, the case can only be scratched, and the display does not even turn off.
Ease of use
The Nokia E72 phone has a full keyboard, except that the digital unit is located in the form of function keys, but this is almost invisible during operation, since the software understands when you need to switch to enter numbers yourself. The buttons are made of plastic and have a fairly tangible stroke. It’s unlikely that you can press a few keys with your thumb, since all the buttons are separate and have a slight taper. Built-in key illumination allows you to work with your smartphone in the dark.
The joystick, which was borrowed from the high-tech and very expensive Blackberry smartphone, deserves special attention. In fact, this is a small touch pad, which with its functionality is more like a laptop touchpad. Around the sensor there is a plastic frame that hides 4 customizable control buttons. Between the keyboard and the screen there are many additional control keys that can also be customized.
Interfaces & Connectors
The battery can be charged in two ways: on the bottom panel there is a traditional Nokia pin, there is also a micro-USB interface connector, which is located on the left side panel in the phone. It is covered with a plug and, as the owners note in their reviews, it is made soundly, you should not worry about the wear of the closing element. Nearby, under the same plug, is the receiver of memory cards (micro-SD), which allows you to insert and remove media without first disconnecting the device.
Future owners will also like the location of the audio output for the headphones - it is located on top of the device, next to the power button, which is quite convenient when the Nokia E72 is in the case. The manufacturer did not become greedy and provided his device with a decent audio system, implemented at the hardware level. In addition to the sound quality of the speakers, the stereo output is also capable of producing decent sound. You can verify this yourself, just connect the active speakers to the phone.
Wireless interfaces
The standard Wi-Fi module in the Nokia E72 phone, the price of which goes beyond budget devices, is implemented according to the old technology and supports 802.11b / g standards, which looks a bit strange. The same goes for Bluetooth - it works on 2.0 + EDR technology. However, as the owners note in their reviews, its functionality is enough to use hands-free headsets, synchronize files and use the phone as a wireless modem.
Negatively, the owners of the gadget reacted to the lack of an infrared port, which was the previous modification of the phone (Nokia E71). After all, all software for working with multimedia for OS Symbian supports data transfer via IrDA.
Communication opportunities
Support for all existing 3G standards in our country is somehow less interesting to users than full-fledged data transfer via GPRS / EDGE. As practice shows, 99% of smartphones in the post-Soviet space work on a slow, but very reliable and stable communication channel. In general, the gadget has a complete order with signal reception, because the Nokia E72 case has a metal battery cover, which plays the role of a full-fledged omnidirectional antenna.
A built-in modem, an email client (including Microsoft Exchange), an HTML browser, and authentication certificate authorization support allow you to use your smartphone on any corporate network built on the basis of Windows or Unix.
The manufacturer announced that the smartphone supports GPS technology, but it is implemented on the basis of A-GPS (calculates the position between cells). Navigation is based on the free Nokia Ovi software, supports map downloads and does not require an Internet connection.
Call management
A smartphone for business should definitely support hands-free calling, call forwarding and audio conferencing. This is implemented at the highest level in the phone Nokia E72. The instruction supplied in the kit describes call management in detail, giving examples for fine-tuning the smartphone. For many owners, judging by their positive reviews, it was a big surprise to notice on the gadget's screen about unauthorized connections to the conversation (when the interlocutor organizes a conference without warning).
The positive aspects in managing calls include an incoming call during a call - the phone will emit monotonous high-frequency beeps in the ear speaker until the owner deigns to respond to the call (cancellation, acceptance or transfer on hold with a pick-up). For office employees, this functionality will help avoid penalties for missed calls from company management.
Multimedia and entertainment
In the descriptions of smartphones for business, very little attention is paid to the technical characteristics and functionality responsible for entertainment. But in the Nokia E72, according to the owners, this is a complete order. A full-fledged camera with 5 megapixels, designed in the phone to work with documentation (at the level of a flatbed scanner), was very popular with users. As buyers note in their reviews, the built-in camera is able to replace the camera (no interpolations, as is usual in touch smartphones). True, shooting video in 640x480 format leaves much to be desired.
The built-in voice recorder can record conversations during calls, however, at the same time, the interlocutor is notified every minute by a sound signal that emits to the Nokia E72 network. Firmware from folk craftsmen, which can be found on the Internet, will quickly fix this misunderstanding with an alert. Also, as an entertainment, the smartphone has a radio receiver, which needs stereo headphones to work as an antenna.
Finally
In the domestic market, the Nokia E72 smartphone is considered the best purchase in terms of price and quality among push-button devices without a touch screen - this is an indisputable fact. All the functionality necessary for the business was implemented in one device, which perfectly copes with all the tasks.