Messaging, Internet & Connectivity
As you might guess about a smartphone with a QWERTY board, the E70 is a messaging powerhouse. Not only are standard SMS and MMS messages supported, but the E70 can also create and send PowerPoint-style presentations made up of slides with text, images, sound, and/or video (provided that the recipient's phone supports them and your carrier allows it).
A built-in Email client is bundled under the "Messaging" header on the E70, and it supports POP3 and IMAP4 protocols along with Blackberry Connect and other corporate Email systems. The client is easily configured to download entire messages or headers only, and can handle a variety of attachment types well suited to the business user. Though heavy Emailing isn't quite as comfortable on this screen as it is on the larger displays found on Treos, Blackberries, and the newer Nokia E61 and Motorola Q phones, it's really not bad. The incredibly high resolution of the E70's display renders text crisply and clearly, making it easy to both scan through the Inbox and read messages of moderate length.
The E70 also has a built-in IM client than can function over GSM or WLAN networks. The client supports many popular IM protocols, though none are pre-configured out of the box.
Writing messages with the QWERTY board was easy. Predictive text input is available, though I didn't turn it on when using the thumbboard. The only issues I found in tapping out messages related to typing numeric characters - the positioning of the number keys along the top row of the QWERTY board made for the occasional awkward key press.
The E70 can connect to the Internet via GSM EDGE cellular data networks or WLAN 802.11b/g/i networks - better known to you and me as Wi-Fi. I used the phone to connect to the Net using both methods with great results. Configuring access points took a little getting used to (the software treats cellular connections and WiFi networks alike as "access points"), but once I set up T-Mobile cellular data access, my home WLAN, and the WiFi hot spot at a cafe I frequent, I was able to switch between the three with no problems at all. The E70 can also be set to automatically sniff out and connect to any available WLANs.
Browsing the Web on the E70 is as good as it gets on a mobile phone. The E70-specific Nokia Web browser is terrific. Save for a few "Low Memory" warnings that prevented images from loading on a few pages, the majority of sites I visited rendered basically the same as they do on my computer.
Nokia built a very handy Overview feature into the browser: while scrolling through a page too large to fit on screen at once, a thumbnail of the page featuring a box highlighting the portion currently being viewed is superimposed in the top right of the screen. This made it very easy to quickly scroll to the areas of pages I most wanted to see. It's a clever bit of design and engineering that I'd expect to see in more Nokia devices going forward.
Note that because this phone is only available in the US as an unlocked version compatible with any GSM carrier, use of Internet services may require carrier-specific configuration. Both Nokia and T-Mobile offer Web-based "Configurators" that will send model-specific WAP settings as an SMS message to your phone. I tried both services and both worked successfully with the E70.
The E70 is certainly not lacking when it comes to connectivity options. This US version of the handset, the E70-2, features a tri-band GSM radio with support for the 850, 1800, and 1900 MHz bands as well as GPRS and EDGE cellular data. Also included is a WLAN 802.11g/e/i antenna for connecting to standard WiFi networks. The E70 supports VoIP Internet calling and can even switch between GSM and WLAN voice networks on its own.
The phone also features a miniSD card slot that supports removable cards up to 2GB in size. This is on top of 75MB of available internal memory for file storage. Memory is important in a smartphone like the E70 that features computer-esque applications, multitasking, and memory-hungry features. As mentioned, I had occasional "Memory Almost Full" errors while attempting to browse certain Websites, but the phone was smart enough to load the pages without images and so avoid crashing.
USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 1.2 support are built-in to the E70, as is an Infrared port. The phone is capable of connecting to several types of Email networks, including
BlackBerry Connect, Seven Always-On Mail, Visto, and Intellisync Wireless Email.
The E70 is also capable of juggling multiple data connections at once. WLAN, USB, Bluetooth, and Infrared may all be used at the same time (perhaps involving the included Presentation software for connecting the E70 to a projector). Use of the phone as a data modem with a PC is supported, as well.
Simply put, the E70 is as much an executive mobile computer as it is a phone. Executives who rely on corporate Blackberry Email should flock to the device as it packs astounding connectivity options and features into a form factor smaller than any Blackberry currently on the market.
Next: Conclusion »
4.7
