27 September 2008

Nokia E66 - Business in Perfection!?
Part I: The Hardware

Since there's TONS to write about the Nokia E66, i have decided to split my Review in Parts this Time - Hardware and Software.

I didn't really pay much attention when the Nokia E66 and E71 has been presented, but the more i read and saw about the E66, the better i liked it.

This slim Business-Slider has really gotten into my Mind, although the Specs can't really compete with my previous Nokia N82 and Nokia N95/N95 8GB!

Well I took the Opportunity and asked my good Friends over at WOM World Nokia for a new Trial Device and they promptly granted my Wish and sent me a Nokia E66, which couldn't make me more happy, as it was the Device, i really wished they give me!

So Thanks once again to WOM World for this great Opportunity!!

Sales package contents

• Nokia E66-1
• Nokia Battery BL-4U, 1000 mAh
• Nokia Compact Travel Charger AC-5
• Nokia Stereo Headset HS-47
• Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101
• Nokia 2 GB microSD Card MU-22
• Eseries general CD-ROM
• Eseries Wrist strap
• Eseries Pouch
• Eseries leaflet
• Quick Start Guide

Alright, back to the Phone. The E66 already impressed me out of the Box, the first Thing i actually tried was the Slider and BOOM! - what an Improvement compared to the N95. No Gaps, no Space, no creaking Noises whatsoever! It slides down, and it slides up again, that's it! It's supersolid in both, closed and opened Position.

The Chrome Materials doesn't look if they wanna chip off immediately like on the E66, there's a huge chrome Battery Cover on the Backside, which gives the whole Device a very solid Feel, but it's not slippery like other Nokias before. 107.5 x 49.5 x 13.6 mm are decent Measures for this Phone, 121g doesn't make it a Lightweight, but i don't think it's supposed to be one. I prefer a heavier Phone for better Materials and that's clearly the Case! Random Applause for Nokia this Time, cause they really did their Job on that One!!

So let's start from the Beginning and most important Thing: The Screen! The Nokia E66 sports a shiny 2,4" Screen, with the well known and absolutely outdated QVGA Resolution (240x320 Pixels). Somehow this Size fits perfectly for that Phone, although i wished to have a bit more than QVGA, 352x416 at least, if not VGA!

*click to enlarge

Chromed Edges around the whole Screen Part of the Slider are giving the E66 a very elegant Look, fitting perfectly into every Business Man's Pocket - and not even Business Men i'd say! Also surrounded by some Chrome is the Speaker on Top of the Screen. Call Quality is average, to me it seemed the Speaker sounds better on the N-Series Device, but that could just be me..

On the right Side of the Speaker is the Light Sensor, left Side we have the Front Cam for Video Calls. Open the Slider and enter a World full of texting Pleasures, i mean wow .. That's exactly how i imagine the perfect Buttons. Not too small, not too big, great great Feedback.

The only little Download i've found: The Bottom Row (* # and 0-Key) have no Space between the Slider Part, so you often press the Slider instead the Buttons. Took some Time to get used to it, but i've managed it and i think i've never been typing so fast on a Phone before!

The Navigation Pad

The Navigation Pad, how i like to call it, is something well discussed on the different Blogs and Forums. Some People call it useless and a waste of Space, some People and that includes me as well, LOVE those Buttons! I'm absolutely impressed about the Functionality of this Navi Pad.

*click to enlarge

Basically the only Thing missing is the Pencil-Key, which Nokia has unfortunately banned from all their Phones. So well, let's have a Look what all those Buttons can do:

Green/Red Call Keys: Well known, not much to explain there.

Delete Key: is basically the C-Key

Left/Right Softkey: as known from other Devices.

Home Screen: a new Key which has nearly the same Function as the Menu Key, BUT if you press the Menu Key on a N-Series Device, you will get directly in the Menu. The Home Hey on the E66 brings you on your Desktop first, after a 2nd Press you'll get in the Menu! Great Thing, i like that, check my Mails/Messages first on the Desktop Screen, then go to the Menu. Long Press gives us the open Task Bar, like known from other S60 Devices.

Calendar/Messages/Contacts-Keys: And this is where the Fun begins!! Those 3 Buttons will start the dedicated Menu on Press BUT they are fully customizable! And not just on normal Press, but on long Press as well, which gives you 6 Shortcuts for whatever the Hell you like - absolutely awesome if you ask me!! Messaging Key for Example brings me in the Messaging Menu to check my Mails/SMS, and opens a new SMS on long Press. It took me some Time to get used to this new System but i must say that i'm absolutely in Love with it. I doubt we'll see this on N-Series as well, but if yes, i'd be impressed even more!

Navi-Key: I'm yet to discover what Nokia means, when they write "accelerated Scrolling with intelligent Navi-Key, but so far i found out this: Once you press the Navi Key longer, the Menu scrolls faster, which comes very handy if you have many SMS saved or a lot of Contacts to go through. Another great Point!

What's also on that Navi-Key? Something i think is called a Notification Light - another excellent Idea which i wanna see on upcoming N-Series as well! This small Light Ring inside of the D-Pad (which i managed to catch on this Picture) pulsates slowly when the Phone is in sleep Mode. Once you received a new SMS or missed a Call, this Ring will start to pulsate faster.

How can you not love this Feature!! One small Idea for Nokia would be different Colours for different Events? Like red Light for SMS, blue One for missed Calls etc .. But that's just an Idea, i'm happy that the simplified Version made it to the E66!

Another crazy-good Idea is the new Screensaver in the Sleep Mode. Your E66 "sleeps", once you go on and long-press the Navi Key, the Screen shows us the Time, Date etc in big white Letters on the black Background. If you release the Navi-Key, the Screen turns black again! (Check out this little Video to get the Idea!)

I don't really care what People say, i absolutely LOVE this whole S60 Navigation Pad!

The Sides of the E66

Now let's have a Look at the Sides of the E66. A Lot of different Features and Possibilities, combined with probably the biggest Downside ever! We start on the left Side of the Phone. 2,5mm Audio Connector? ouch, that one hurts. So the first Thing after buying the E66 will be a 2,5mm to 3,5mm Converter.

I don't think there's a Lack of Space so what the Heck? The micro-USB Connector sits on the lower End of the right Space, with a little emphasized Part to open it easier. The Infrared (yes, you read right) Eye sits under the USB Connector and well, i still don't know what to think about it. Do we really need Infrared nowadays? Or is it just a Trick to make the E66 more feature-rich? Decide yourself.

*click to enlarge

The Bottom of the Device is pretty un-surprising as it only contains the Charger Successor and that's it. The right Side sports the dedicated Camera Button, which does not and i repeat, DOES NOT, open the Camera Application on the Nokia E66. I have clearly no Idea, why the Hell this happens but it is like it is and we have to live with it. Thanks God, my Cam App starts with a long Press on the Calendar Button hehe ... But again, this is probably one of the biggest Downsides on the whole Phone. Thumbs down! On the upper End we find the Volume Keys and in the Middle of it, the Button for Voice Commands/Voice Dialing!

*click to enlarge

Positioned on the Top is the red On/Off-Button, from which i still don't know why it's red. But i take it as it is, doesn't really matter to me.

The E66's Backside

First Thing that came in my Mind? How do we even access the Back!? No Buttons to open the large chrome Battery Cover, no Holes or something. Then i remembered those 2 ribbed Buttons on both, the left and right Side of the E66. If you press those Buttons together, the Battery Cover lifts off and you can easily take it away - another clever Idea, which i like about this Phone. Once the Cover is removed, we can access to the Battery BL-4U to be exactly, which powers 1000 mAh. No 1500 mAh like we used to know from the E-Series Devices.

*click to enlarge

I simply can't understand what's the Deal with Nokia and their Batteries. Sometimes i think a Hamster running in a Wheel will last longer than those damn Nokia Batteries. Battery Producers have the Power for a long Time to give us more, but Nokia just refuses to give us what we need! I hate Nokia desperately for doing this. The whole Device is 13,6mm thick, and i've seen much better Work in much thinner Phones!!

*click to enlarge

Anyways, the 1000 mAh powers me for at least 14 Hours, so my E66 needed at least 1 Charge a Day. The microSD Slot is located on the left Side of the inner Section, but can't be changed without removing the whole Battery Cover. Nokia says it support up to 8 GB Maximum Capacity, 4GB are working nicely like i've tested it. And if that's not enough, the Phone has still around 110 MB of free internal Memory to play with. Could have been better as well, but Nokia teaches us that we can't have anything Time and Time again!

Probably the biggest Downside of the Nokia E66 is located on the Bottom of the Backside: The Speaker! There's is no Plural S, means no Stereo Speakers. The single Speaker with possibly the crapiest Output from all the latest Nokia Phones turns really quiet when you turn the Phone to see what's going on on the Screen. What the Hell? I know the E is for Business Phones, but damn this great Phone deserves some better Speakers desperately!! I don't think we need Stereo Speakers on E-Series, but at least a better sounding One would been nice!

Positioned on Top of the Backside is the Camera, which is not the baddest Deal for Business Guys. We talk about a 3,2 Megapixel Camera with Autofocus and a LED Flash. After you have browsed through the Menu Keys, thanks to the stupid Camera Key which does not fire the Camera Application you'll be warmly surprised as the Viewfinder is FULLSCREEN in the Nokia E66. All the Settings will appear if you hit one of the Softkeys. Great Deal, definitely wanna see this on N-Series as well!

The Pictures coming from the Cam are not bad on Daylight Situations - Night Shots will be kinda messy, as they are a) completely overexposed due to the strong LED Flash or b) the Pics turn out to be too dark, cause the Flash is only working in a Range of 1m! I won't ask for a Xenon Flash on a Nokia E-Series Device, so i'm good with it. I think sometimes there must be Differences between N- and E-Series Devices and the Flash should be one Thing. Video Recordings are taking Place in QVGA with up to 15 fps, which i believe is Standard nowadays! Again, good Camera, enough for E-Series Users!?

Hardware - Conclusion:

Nokia has done one Hell of a good Job on the Nokia E66. There's no cheap Plastic Feel at any Time. The Materials, like on most of the E-Series Devices are great, chromed Edges are completing the hot Look, which attracts me more than recent Phones N96 for example! The Buttons are solid, giving great Feedback, maybe the best Buttons i ever had my Hands on.

The Navigation Pad is the most usefull Thing I've seen in a long Time, 3 Buttons which we can configure completely free on short AND long Press gives a great Functionality! The Sleep Mode let's your Battery live longer but keeps you informed about Date, Time etc, when you press any of the Buttons on the S60 Navigation Buttons.

The Sides are featuring the well known Buttons like Volume Keys, Camera Key which does not fire the Cam App unfortunately, and a 2,5mm instead of the Standard 3,5mm Audio Connector! Also something nice are the 2 Buttons to open the Battery Cover on the Back. A 3,2 MP Camera with LED Flash and Autofocus for some quick Snapshots and probably the poorest Speaker ever are completing the Back of the Nokia E66.

The Hardware has impressed me in a great Way and i can't say that often enough. PLEASE bring something similar to the N-Series Range. We desperately need better Material Quality! Nokia has pretty much done the Job on the E66, with only little Downers like the poor Speaker and the 2,5mm Connector unlike of it's "bigger Brother". 8/10 Points for the Hardware on this impressive Piece of Business!