Real World Computing
No knocking Nokia
A couple of columns back, I complained that "Nokia doesn't seem to be particularly journalist friendly, and so I don't tend to get many Nokia devices to evaluate in my real-world testing environment". Well, the world moves on and Nokia UK got itself a new PR agency, and where the old agency often erected barriers between Nokia and journalists (not just me) the new one seems to be actively seeking dialogue. I now discover that Nokia UK's head of communications describes himself as an "ex-techie" and is someone who could turn out to be a great friend to this column. From having no Nokias at all to evaluate, I've now received one of the first E51s ever released to a journalist, along with an E90 Communicator and an E61i (the updated E61 that took pride of place on PC Pro's A List for so long).
In a world of pretty-much-the-same smartphones, Nokia's current crop of business devices has a number of distinguishing features that mark them out from the pack. First, they just ooze build quality. Take the E90 Communicator as an example: I owned two previous versions of this phone and, although they were technically innovative, I managed to break them both since their plastic cases were very fragile. The latest version sitting on the desk in front of me is in a completely different league, feeling far more rugged. It's still a bit of a "brick" (but that's in the nature of this particular form factor) and I'm not tempted to try dropping it from a great height onto a hard floor, but it feels far more capable of withstanding real-world rough and tumble than its predecessors - the screen hinges in particular seem much better engineered.
Nokias also seem to excel in screen clarity. As I write this sentence, the sun is low in the sky and sunlight is streaming onto my desk - I've just placed a few phones from my test collection into this light patch, and the difference between them is astonishing. With their backlights turned off, the only phones whose screen contents I can still see at all are these new Nokias and an ancient BlackBerry 7290. If I tap a key on each phone to wake it up, again it's the Nokias that win hands-down, with only a hideously expensive (and ludicrously huge) HTC Advantage coming anywhere close to their clarity when viewed in direct sunlight. Outdoor screen visibility is actually a very important factor often completely ignored by mobile reviewers, who tend to conduct their tests indoors under normal office lighting.
But the real Nokia advantage, at least when it comes to these E-series business phones, is the range of email clients available for them: in addition to Nokia's own clients (both POP3 and ActiveSync/Direct Push), there are versions of Visto, Seven, Good and BlackBerry Connect for most of them. I can't think of any other smartphone manufacturer that offers you such freedom when deploying handheld email devices within your enterprise, and to have an ultra-slim candy-bar phone like the E51 hooked up directly via BlackBerry Connect 4 to your corporate Exchange Server is nothing short of brilliant. Of course, you won't want to be typing lengthy replies on its T9 multitap keyboard, but for keeping an eye on email it's a fantastic combo.
I'm going to play in much greater depth with the E90 and the E61i, and will report back again in a few months'time. Regrettably, the E51 was one of only two samples in the country, so I've had to send it back to Nokia. See last month's PC Pro for my original review of the E51, and read why it walked away with a Recommended award.
