Nokia is about to launch its flagship E-series device, Nokia E7 in the Indian market shortly. The Nokia E7 is projected as the successor to the popular Communicator series. It can also be vaguely regarded as the Nokia N8 with a physical QWERTY keyboard. We were invited to the Nokia Bloggers’ Meet in Bangalore to have a hands-on experience on the E7 before it was released in the Indian market.
Initial thoughts on Nokia E7
When closed, the Nokia E7 looks a lot like the N8 from a distance. But its larger 4-inch display & the menu key which is centered on the E7 instead of to the left on the N8 are giveaways.
Display: The 4 inch display, which is the first on a Nokia, is absolutely stunning thanks to its AMOLED screen with Clear Black Display. We couldn’t help imagine how much better it could have been with a resolution higher than the 640×360 it possesses. We will keep our fingers crossed to find out whether its 1200 mAh battery will provide sufficient juice to this enormous display for an entire day.
Form Factor & Keyboard: Nokia E7 borrows from the popular form factor of the N97 with its screen popping up & resting at a tilted angle for your viewing pleasure. The full QWERTY slider is packed into an reasonably thin form factor. The QWERTY keyboard is very comfortable with nicely spaced out keys & the space-bar is centered and big.
Camera: Unlike the N8, the E7 has just a 8MP camera but its not the MegaPixels or the lack of xenon flash which are a cause for concern. The E7 has a fixed focus camera and hence capturing macro shots of objects very close to you can turn into a futile exercise. Except for the macro shots however, the camera is very impressive for a business device.
OS: Nokia E7 has the same Symbian^3 OS which you find on Nokia N8 and hence the user interface is pretty similar. Hopefully Nokia will release PR2.0 well in time to address the missing features in Symbian^3 such as virtual Portrait QWERTY & improved browser.
Ovi Music Unlimited: Nokia E7 is the first E-series phone which will ship in India with an yearly subscription to Ovi Music Unlimited for downloading unlimited songs to your device. The E7 lacks a memory card slot but comes with a reasonable internal storage of 16GB with USB OTG support.
Final Words:
The biggest challenge to Nokia E7 will not be the phone itself but how Nokia will convince its prospective buyers to buy a Symbian^3 phone at an estimated price range of Rs.30,000, after having announced its tie-up with Microsoft for adopting Windows Phone for future smartphones. The fact that Symbian will cease to exist for smartphones in a couple of years will weigh heavily in the mind of users while buying the E7. The Microsoft announcement aside, Nokia E7 is a good option for those who like Symbian OS & are looking for a physical QWERTY version of the Nokia N8, albeit with a less powerful camera.
Pictures:
We would get back to you with a detailed review of Nokia E7 once we get a trial unit. In the meanwhile, you can check out the pictures we clicked of the Nokia E7 at the hands-on event below:
Pingback: Tweets that mention First Hands-On Impressions of the Nokia E7 -- Topsy.com