24 October 2008

Nokia E66 - Business in Perfection!?
Part II: The Software

Sorry for the Delay, but i truly hope i can fullfill your Expectations of Part II of my Nokia E66 Review. I tried to do something different this Time and decided to do Video Screenshots instead of still Screens.

I used Mobiola Phone Remote Control (sorry about the Trial Version Watermarks!), which turned out to be a cool little Helper!

The Software on the E-Series Device has always been a bit different from the well-known One on the N-Series Phones. Why? Simple, cause it's completely oriented on another User-Range.

We all know about the Possibilities of the Symbian S60 Software, so i'll just point out some innovative new Things which i noticed during my Trial Periode. I'm pretty sure you'll be as surprised as i was - Please Nokia give us some of the E-Series Features on ALL S60 Devices!!

The Active Standby Screen:

The Active Standby Screen brings some innovative cool new Possibilities and i can't believe how good they are! First up is the new Dialing Menu. This basically means, that you can dial a Number the normal Way, but additionally you get a Popup Menu with the matching Contacts, from the Typing! As you can see in the Video, i searched for Teo's Contact. In Case you access your Contacts, i would have to type "836", which would mean Teo in written Letters using T9. In my Opinion an absolute Killer Feature!! Its different for me to explain it in English, therefore i decided to do the Videos

Next up on the Standby Screen: More Applications, more Notifications, more everything! We all know WLAN Search, Organizer, WLAN Search, Radio etc from N-Series. So what's different? E-Series now offers to keep Applications you don't need simply away from the Home Screen via Menu.

So if you only want your Mails and the App-Shortcuts like i have them on the Screen, you just go on and set that up in the Menu - that's it! We're also able to set up not one, but two E-Mail Box Notifications, using the built-in Mail Reader, which has unfortunately not changed. The recently announced Nokia Email Beta3 is not as well implemented, it eats up 3 Lines of the Home Screen, i hope Davis and his People will work on that soon, cause i just think it's a Waste of Space!

Once you received a new SMS Message, Missed Call or a Voice Mail, you will get notified in a different, in my Opinion MUCH MUCH better Way then before: The Bottom of the Home Screen shows up 3 different Boxes in each particular Case, with a little Preview Popup of what happened, once you scroll on the Box. You'll also notice in the Video, that those Popups are really functional as you can immediately choose to shoot for example the missed Person a SMS Message, Multimedia Message, Mail or simply call the Missed One. All this WITHOUT entering the respective Menu, just from the Home Screen! One Word: WOW! Those Pop-Ups can also be enabled for the Mail Notification-Preview, Pop-Up is the best Solution among "Header only" and "Header and unred" Options for the Mail Preview. I love the Nokia E66, just only for the Home Screen and there's still some cool Things to come!

Contacts:

The Contacts have also underwent some Changes. First Thing i noticed is the white Background in the Contacts-Menu, no Matter which Theme. I don't know the Meaning of this, so i won't really say it's good or bad. On the right Side of every Contact is an Arrow, allowing you again to use this sweet little "Quick Menu", allowing to call the Person, send a SMS Message etc. Handy little Add-On, really like that!

Organizer:

Organizer Functions has been extended as well, now offering TONS of possible Appointment and Meeting-Options as well. I must say that i don't use my Organizer much, so i just let the Video speak for itself!

Internet Browser/Camera Application:

The Internet Browser is now capable of full screen browsing, which is definitely nice. Hit one of the Soft Buttons and the Menu Bar appears! This also counts for the Camera Application, which is basically the same one like in other S60 Devices, but full Screen again. No Matter how much i like the Full Screen Experience, this still does NOT explain why the Hell the Camera Application doesn't start up on a long Press of the Camera Button!!

Dictionary:

Something i've also not seen before on my Phones, is the built-in Dictionary. It's pre-installed in English, but you can download it in other Languages as well. There's also a "Listen"-Function, so your Phone tells you the right Spelling! Another nice little Helper, maybe why not improve it with a Translator Function? The Phone is your Teacher - isn't it strange how they dictate us?

Mode Switcher:

Probably the most discussed of the E-Series Symbian OS v9.2 FP1 is the Mode Switcher. This is a new Function, allowing you to set up 2 different Modes, depending on whatever you wanna do. For Example, i have a Business Mode and one for Private Hours. So what does it do? Basically if you switch the Mode, it will change not only the Theme, but the Home Screen Applications, Application Shortcuts, Mailbox Notification (you can change them in every Mode - private Mailbox for Private Mode, Business Mails for Business Mode, or both in the same, however you like it!) and last but not least, the Wallpaper! I really love the Possibility, but since i'm not really a Business Worker, who needs a business Phone, i've just set up one Mode and pretty much have that running all Day long. But again, this could come really handy if you have a tight Business Schedule, but still wanna use the E66 as your "Party Phone" as well

Last but least, i made a Video, giving you a little Overview of the Settings Menu in general. Feel free to ask anything, i have the Phone another Week so i'm able to get you Informations from first Hand!

The Nokia E66 offers some extremely impressive, never before seen new Features to the S60 Software Range, especially the new Home Screen has completely blown me away. Please Nokia, please don't hesitate to implement Things like the Dialing Menu or the customizable Home Screen Application to our lovely N-Series Devices as well! Overall, the E66 has seriously made me think about switching to it, but the 3,2 MP Cam makes it hard to step backwards, away from the N82's 5 MP + Xenon.

The Build Quality can't me mentioned often enough, the Slider is still ROCK-solid, even tho i use the Phone every free Minute i currently got. The D-Pad with the 4 Quickstart-Buttons, along with the Notification Light score even more Points and the Chrome Parts is something like the Topping on that sweet Piece of Cake. The Software Additions, together with the Top Notch Material Choice even overcome the Downers like the poor Speaker and the Cam App not firing on the Cam Key.

The Price is currently around € 350,-- in Germany and Austria, which is not too bad at all, being slightly more expensive than N95 Classic (300,--) and N82 (320,--). So anyone who's up for a new Phone and still not sure what to get, you might think again about switching to the E-Brand, the recent N-Series Quality Issues has taken the Spotlight a bit away from the Multimedia League.

To finish this Review, my Rating would be a solid 8/10 for the Nokia E66, Nokia's successfull non-qwerty Attempt of another Helper for today's Business Fighters!

*click to enlarge