Introduction & Design
Sometimes I wonder what the mobile phone industry would be like if each manufacturer was limited to, say, five new releases per year. Ideally they'd be forced to divvy up their wares into clearly defined segments and make one exemplary model per segment. For instance, a company might make one excellent smartphone, one super high-end multimedia phone, one slim/fashion phone, one solid mid-range phone, and one inexpensive or specialty phone. And that's it. That way if you wanted a high-end multimedia phone you'd only have to choose which company's version you prefer ... and not from the four or five models offered by each company, each with a slightly different feature set, form factor, and design.
Alas, we live in a free market economy and as such are subject to the good and the bad that comes with almost unlimited choice in the marketplace. So rather than offering us a single ultimate multimedia phone, Nokia gives us the entire N-series, a range of mobile devices that includes the "cameraphone" N93, the "everything phone" N80, the "music phone" N91, and the subject of this review, the "also everything phone" N73.
Huh? While the N93 and N91 are easily enough defined as Nokia's top of the line cameraphone and music phone, the N80 and N73 are a bit harder to distinguish from one another - at least on paper. The N80 features a 3MP camera and Nokia's Series 60 interface running on Symbian OS 9.1. The N73 features a 3MP camera and Nokia's Series 60 interface running on Symbian OS 9.1.
So what's the difference? The N80 is a slider, includes WiFi, and packs a standard 3MP camera. The N73 is a candybar, lacks WiFI, and features a 3MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics. You see what I'm saying - it'd be so much easier if Nokia was limited to five models per year. That way there'd be one phone with a Carl Zeiss camera and WiFi, and your buying decision would be that much easier.
But since we've got the entire N-Series to consider, I got to play with an N73 for a few weeks. It's a great phone. But - you guessed it - it's not quite perfect.
The N73 is a large candybar phone that has a solid, luxurious feel to it. After using the device every day for two weeks, I switched back to my Sony Ericsson w800i and only then did I realize how much larger the N73 really is. That's just to say that Nokia did a great job of making the N73 feel good, despite its size. Measuring 110 x 49 x 19 mm and weighing 116g, the N73 is more or less the same size and weight as the SE K790a - it's most direct competitor in the US.
I received a silver and plum N73, and the front panel is finished in a sharp matte silver plastic with both chrome and matte silver buttons. A glorious 2.4" TFT LCD display takes up a little more than half of the panel, and is flanked by the speaker, LED status light, and secondary camera on top and control buttons below. The LED light is actually a minor sore point for me, as it flashes blue when the phone is in "sleep" mode (i.e. on but not in use) and I often had to turn the handset face down on my nightstand when going to sleep lest the flashing light bother the peaceful darkness of my slumber.
I really like the look of the front panel buttons, though some are a bit wonky to use. A standard 12-key dialing layout finished in matte silver is topped by four keys (call, cancel, two softkeys) surrounding a clickable joystick, all of which have a chrome finish. Bordering all of this are four more chrome buttons: Menu, Input Mode, Clear, and a Multimedia Key. All of the buttons look great and give good tactile feedback, though the numeric keys are just a tad cramped and the joystick has something of a stiff feel to it.
The sides and back of the phone are finished in a textured plastic that's easy to grip and feels nice in hand. This is the plum portion of the silver/plum housing, and the color is a really nice, rich shade that looks almost black until light hits it. Almost all of the buttons and accents on this part of the housing are finished in chrome, lends some "snazz" to the feel. The overall look is sleek and luxurious, as befits a $500 cell phone.
A single button on the top panel of the N73 controls power and profiles and is centered in a chrome speaker grille - the device features top and bottom mounted stereo speakers. The bottom panel speaker grille is much smaller, to make room for the AC adapter and Pop Port accessory jacks. I was surprised not to find any sort of tethered cover for the Pop Port jack.
The left side of the phone is bare save for an infrared port while the right side features three chrome plastic buttons. A rocker switch is well-positioned for dual use as volume control during calls and zoom control in photo mode, while the placement of dedicated media player and camera keys is also well thought-out. Seeing as the N73's camera is a big draw to this device, Nokia did well to make the handset comfortable to hold and use vertically (as a phone) as well as horizontally (as a camera).
Flipping the N73 over reveals a clever rear-panel design that provides a clean, seamless look as well as a functional sliding lens cover for the camera. Chrome accents tip the user off to a panel release button - for accessing the battery and SIM card slots hidden beneath - as well as the camera behind its sliding protector. Sliding the lens cover open activates the phone's camera mode while also revealing the silver-accented 3.2MP Carl Zeiss lens and accompanying LED flash.
On the whole I much prefer the look and feel of the N73 to the N80. While I found the N80 to be an oddly thick, stubby handset, the N73 feels large but powerful to me. I've used this analogy before, but using the N73 is akin to driving a Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7-Series sedan. Yeah, you're in a large car, but that's the point - you've got power and comfort to spare. While the N73's keypad fails ever so slightly in this regard, its shortcomings are more than made up for by the spaciousness of the QVGA display it makes room for.
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4.7
