Does lightening ever strike twice? The Nokia E72
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 15 February 2010
Nokia’s E71 was that perfect storm of rock-solid build-quality; powerful, stable software; and a great-looking form factor that included one of the best keyboard and D-pad combos ever on a smartphone. At the time of its release, we had no hesitation in declaring it better than the iPhone. It really was that good: one of the best things to come out of Espoo for many years.
But that was way back in the summer of 2008, before the advent of the iPhone 3GS and its killer combination of super-fast processor (which almost eliminates all worries over the lack of multi-tasking); useful, location-based services; decent camera with video; and vast, easy to navigate App Store.
So, how does the E72, Nokia’s follow-up to our favourite physical QWERTY smartphone, measure up today?
Well, to answer that, we’d like to look at the E72 in the context of what made the E71 so special: build quality, software and good looks.
Build-quality? Hell yes!
We’re happy to report that the E72 almost lives up to its predecessor in terms of how it’s screwed together. This is a very satisfying device to interact with. It has a good weight, feels great in the hand and the materials used are a premium mix of steel and good-quality plastics. But we said ‘almost’ just then didn’t we? Our one hesitation concerns the rear battery cover. The clasp mechanism that holds it in place feels flimsy compared to our E71 and – although it never came off during our time with the device – it always felt like it might. There was also a little hint of flex from the cover. Honestly, no big deal, but not something the bullet-proof E71 ever suffered from.
Strong, stable software? Close, but no cigar
One thing’s for sure: non-touch S60 is miles ahead of the touch version in terms of usability and stability. When it comes to software, everything on the E72 just feels like it was designed that way from the beginning – that’s something we can’t say for the contrived N97 mini.
On the whole, the software on the E72 is a strong package. The PIM applications are optimised like they were on the E71, so you get a fairly powerful diary, Quickoffice suite, and a decent contacts app that is very usefully integrated into the home screen (just start typing and the E72 brings up contacts it thinks you’re looking for together with context-aware shortcut menus – great stuff). All the other usual S60 refinements are present and correct too with one notable exception: Podcasting. This seems a really odd omission but we’ve long since given up trying to figure out the rhyme or reason behind Nokia’s product management decisions.
We do have some hesitations over the software package however and they are threefold:
- Yes, we experienced some problems. Nothing too frequent but once every two or three days, an app would crash or hang or pause on us. On one occasion we had to remove the battery to get things going again. This was not the end of the world as far as we’re concerned – and we suspect that Nokia could iron out this kink in the E72’s armour with a firmware update – but, the thing is, the E71’s armour never suffered such a kink. It was flawless straight out of the box.
- Internet access: The E72’s ability to handle access to the Internet more intelligently than the E71 is welcome (it allows you to define what it calls ‘Destinations’ that can include a prioritised list of Wi-Fi or cellular internet access options) but we wish Nokia would get its act together and implement this properly: system-wide. Far too many applications – both Nokia ones and 3rd party-provided – don’t have the ability to connect using Destinations. So, you quickly end up with some apps using your 3G connection while others are connected via Wi-Fi. It makes no sense. How we longed for the iPhone’s simple, clever and unobtrusive internet access. With our iPhone, we never worry about how our phone is connecting we have the peace of mind of knowing that it’s always doing it in the most cost-effective way.
- Nokia Messaging: When it works, Nokia Messaging shows flashes of potential, hints that it might one day become great. But it’s nowhere near that today. In the very near future, we’re planning an in-depth interview with one of the Product Managers from the Nokia Messaging team to try to get to the bottom of what’s going wrong – in our view – with this crucial software component. So, we won’t go into too much detail here. Briefly though, we see three main problems with Nokia Messaging as it stands today:
- Set—up and maintenance: Oh sure, if it works, it works painlessly enough. But if you mess up somehow which is all too easy to do (as we did having had a number of accounts running on different devices), good luck to you, you’re pretty much on your own. The software on the phone will just loop you around in an interminable round of meaningless error messages. You’ll eventually turn to the Nokia Messaging website. It’s not much better. Error messages without context or helpful next steps, inconsistencies, and irritating repetition await. The good news is that the Nokia Messaging team is very responsive on email and Twitter. Good for them. But, honestly, that only helps the geeks amongst us. The rest of us just want something to work easily and when it doesn’t to have an obvious and helpful support section to consult. Both are currently missing in action.
- Aesthetics and usability: To be fair to it, Nokia Messaging is far better than its predecessor: the built-in messaging client. But there are still simply too many oddities here for a product that has been around for two years now. Things we forgave when we tested the E71 but which now strike us as archaic include: the lack of a unified inbox (all accounts are separate and you have to navigate between them using the clunky menus); the ugly, inefficient way in which the program displays header information (it often takes the whole screen to show name and date received because the information is so poorly laid-out); and the way it handles HTML (emails should be shown in accurate HTML as a default, instead you have to waste time clicking through clumsily to an HTML version which often is an approximation of the real thing. We know what the real thing looks like because we can see it perfectly in our iPhone email client.)
- The limitations of Nokia’s push service: Nokia seems incapable of delivering all of your email via its push email service. You are limited to 1 month at the most of past emails (incidentally, we’ve never managed to get it to deliver even that) and 10 of your IMAP folders (another fail since the folders only show up if they have an email in them that is less than 1 month old). How can we put this succinctly? Completely, utterly unacceptable for a device that aspires to be a serious business email tool. Laughable. For that matter, we think that, nowadays, it’s completely unacceptable for any device purporting to be a smartphone. We’re keen to find out more from Nokia why this is the case but, in the meantime, we would just remind them that only geeks like us would even care what the reason might be: everyone else just knows that the iPhone gives you full access to all of your IMAP email – all of it – and the E72 doesn’t. Nokia, you need to fix this - and fast.
Good-looking form factor? For sure, but it’s not a step forwards
We’re not going to make a fuss about this. Maybe you’ll look at the E72 and think it’s better looking that the E71 but, to our eyes, the E71 wins on looks alone – and that’s a shame because we always like to see devices improving not regressing. They’re details of course and – as we just said – very subjective ones but we’re not keen on the bigger camera bulge on the rear of the device (it looks like an after-thought) and the bulkier font used on the camera label. More significantly, we’re not fans of the redesigned buttons around the D-pad – they take up about twice as much space as on the E71. We completely understand why Nokia did it – you get better control – but aesthetically, it’s a step backwards. Finally, the shorter chin and smaller metal battery cover don’t improve things in our view.
On the other hand, we concede that we’re being very picky here – perhaps we just loved our E71 too much. In isolation, this is still a great looking phone – even better, we think, in silver than the black version we tested.
Trumping the E71
So far, we’ve given you something of a ‘one step forwards, one step back’ summary of the E71’s evolution into E72. But we don’t want to give the impression that it’s all just incremental improvements. There are some areas that are notable, significant leaps forward. The two most obvious ones are: the camera quality and the new OS’ ability to perform updates over the air:
- Over the air updates: This wouldn’t matter so much if Nokia shipped devices with strong firmware straight out-of-the-box but, as you’ve just read, it doesn’t. So, the ability to update your firmware without having to connect to a PC or lose any data is very welcome indeed. As we said in our recent letter to Nokia’s CEO, what we’d really like to see is Nokia using this ability to substantially increase the functionality of its phones over their lifetimes rather than just fixing bugs. Apple does it? Why not you Nokia?
- Much better camera: This is fast-becoming a must have for any high-end smartphone. Users rightly demand that their phone – even if its primary purpose is business – is also capable of serving as decent point-and-shoot camera when needed. We’re happy to report that the 5mp camera unit in the E72 produces notably better stills and video than our E71. It’s not N-series quality (we presume because of the quality of the lens) but we doubt many E72 users will complain about the results overall. A welcome improvement.
While we’re talking about features that trump the E71, we’d also like to give the optical navi-key an honourable mention. The idea here is that the centre of the D-pad also serves as a touch-sensitive area that you can use in the same way you might the back of Apple’s Magic Mouse – enabling kinetic-like scrolling in apps such as Web or Gravity. Unfortunately, it’s more trouble than it’s worth because when simply navigating through the menus you inevitably end-up touching it by mistake and moving the cursor just before you intended to press select, thus choosing the wrong option. Make no mistake about it ladies and gentlemen, in its current state, this is a dog of a feature that doesn’t work at all. Our advice to any would-be owners is to disable it the moment you switch the device on for the first time. Having said that…it is also a simply fantastic idea in principle that – given proper development – could provide the perfect compromise between touch and non-touch OSs, giving you all the advantages of kinetic scrolling but retaining the benefits of physical buttons, much like the Magic Mouse does for an iMac. So, huge kudos to Nokia for giving substantial innovation a go (and for enabling the option of switching it off!) We hope they have another stab at this in a future device. With some hardware tweaks, it has the makings of greatness.
Conclusion
Overall? Well, George Clooney can hang up his fisherman’s outfit for now. We don’t think we have ourselves another perfect storm here. We enjoyed our time with the E72. We really did. It’s a good looking and purposeful messaging device. If you’re looking for a smartphone on which to do a lot of SMS, Twitter or email, and you don’t get on with virtual keyboards, then we wholeheartedly recommend the E72. It will deliver superb call quality, strong messaging capabilities and be a decent companion when the time comes to relax with some multimedia or web. On the other hand, the game has moved on since the days of the E71. As things stand today, if you can live happily with a virtual keyboard, the iPhone’s big, gorgeous screen; trademark ease of use and speed; seamless integration into the iTunes ecosystem; and huge app store still make it the better choice overall.
Does lightening ever strike twice? The Nokia E72
Nokia’s E71 was that perfect storm of rock-solid build-quality; powerful, stable software; and a great-looking form factor that included one of the best keyboard and D-pad combos ever on a smartphone. At the time of its release, we had no hesitation in declaring it better than the iPhone. It really was that good: one of [...]
41 Responses to “Does lightening ever strike twice? The Nokia E72”
-
-
Your point about the UDP is a good one: since the E71′s firmware is now mature, in a way there’s no great advantage there.
In pains me to say it but if the improved camera doesn’t float your boat, then yes, I think you should skip the E72 and hang on to your E71 until Nokia pulls something more innovative out of its hat.
-
Arashi
15 February 2010
The increased speed, if it floats your boat, then get it.
The E71 was zippy. The E72 flies.
-
I don’t care much about the camera (used the E61 for a long time before the E71). If the the E72 had a few more features (thinking OLED and 8GB internal) I would probably switch. But the way things are I’ll stick to my E71 until the E73 or maybe a E90 successor (about time for that one Nokia). Thanks for the help
-
-
-
What has odds of ‘one in nine million’? « WOMWorld/Nokia
15 February 2010
[...] in this case, is of course metaphorical. He is, in fact, referring to whether the E72 can further raise the bar that was set so high by the [...]
-
Ismail
15 February 2010
So what would you advice me on? I need a full physical qwerty keyboard phone with a very good and stable Operating System for messaging, organising myself using the calender, occasionally emails and web-browsing. I need a good quality Build and a great battery life…. I have not had and used the Nokia E71, so what is boils down to is these devices that I have in mind…… Nokia E72, Nokia E71 or The New Blackberry Bold 9700???
Please, I would be very grateful if you have any suggestions or word of advice for me on a smart-phone device to get….. I am waiting very urgently for your reply. Thanks a lot in advance…..
-
If you don’t have a E71 then I’d go for the E72 (if you don’t mind the extra cost). I’m not much of a blackberry user, so I can’t say much about that, apart that they have beautiful screens with a higher resolution (might be better for browsing) that Nokia should also build in their devices.
-
If messaging is top of your list, you don’t like virtual keyboards, and you want to do occasional web browsing, I think you should go for the E72. As I wrote in our review “it will deliver superb call quality, strong messaging capabilities and be a decent companion when the time comes to relax with some multimedia or web.”
The Blackberry Bold is a wonderful messaging device too and the screen resolution on it is lovely but it doesn’t have the looks or the build-quality of the E72. Also, the OS is rather clunky in my view: good for email but not so good for everything else.
-
Ismail
16 February 2010
The Prodigal Fool, so which colour should I choose for the Nokia E72??? The Zodium Black or the Metal Grey Colour….
Please let me know as soon as possible…… Please me at (small.small87@gmail.com)
Thanks a lot in advance.-
That’s a personal choice but, for my money, it looks better in the grey rather than the black.
-
-
-
Don’t mix E72 with a Bold 9700. E72 is a great device and has it’s own plusses and minuses but Blackberry Bold 9700 is a complete product as far as mails and chats are concerned. The facebook app is also better and now they have come up with Twitter for Blackberry also. So it’s better? Well, that depends on how much of multimedia do you use on your phone? E72′s browser is better than Blackberry’s, camera is better, emails, chat decent. Blackberry is 80% work, 20% fun. E72 is 60% work, 40% fun. it that helps you decide, and if you are into twitter and foursquare, then buy gravity and E72 is your devicde. imho
-
-
Al Aftoora
15 February 2010
I upgraded from the E51 to the E71 when my E51 phone volume control failed and Nokia said it was unrepairable. The E51 had excellent call sensitivity–a great antenna?–and even in my poor coverage area I had excellent phone reception.
The E71 fails to meet the E51 phone sensitivity standard by a long shot! When coverage is good, of course, sound quality is fine and the other applications work beautifully. Any way to compare the E72 to the E51 (or E71) in terms of phone reception sensitivity?
Thanks
-
I’m afraid you may have breached the limits of my geekiness Al. The idea of conducting a phone reception sensitivity test is just too nerdy even for me. Well maybe….No, what am I saying, sorry, I can’t bring myself to do it.
What I can tell you is that we had absolutely no reception problems with the E72 throughout our test – and that we tested in central London as well as the more rural areas on the outskirts of London.
-
Al Aftoora
16 February 2010
Thanks for your honesty!! Actually I believe that since the phone has morphed into a mini-computer, the basic function — making and receiving calls– has become less and less important. I guess I just need to move closer to town where signals are stronger.
Al
-
-
-
Diogo Neves
16 February 2010
Oh the E72… Such a nice device… I guess I just can’t live with a screen that has less then 3″ otherwise I would get it…
Now one questions pops in my mind… Let’s try and compare the incomparable shall we?
What do you think of E72 vs lets say… the HTC Hero in terms of multitasking, email client, UI looks, BROWSER (very important for me) and photo quality?
-
Diogo – As you say, these are devices that don’t really compare. But I’m certainly with you on the screen size. Like you, I can’t go back to anything less than 3″.
As for the HTC Hero, well, it’s kind of yesterday’s phone now isn’t!? Have you seen the Legend unveiled today at MWC? If not, stay tuned, we’ll be posting about it here on The Prodigal Guide tomorrow morning.
-
Diogo Neves
17 February 2010
Yes I saw it, and I was very excited about it… But the price tag is just out of my range… I know it’s incomparable, but since I am upgrading in a few days I wanted to know what you think… The E72 looks so nice to me, but the lack of a bigger screen killed it for me. Less then 3″ is unaceptable for my usage of a phone. So the only other phone that fits in my price tag range is the HTC Hero. Yesterdays phone or not it will have to do I guess…
-
Then go with the Hero, Diogo. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. I haven’t tested it myself but I hear good things.
-
Diogo Neves
17 February 2010
I guess that even if I didn’t wanted him, I wouldn’t have any other chance right?
As I said the E72 has a way to small screen and to be honest, Symbian is lacking apps nowadays. What used to be a rich platform with all kinds of apps is now a fragmented OS with few quality apps. Android on the other hand is rising and fast! Better keep up with the evolution with something Android powered (even if it is the old Hero
)
-
-
-
-
-
The Prodigal’s take on the Nokia E72 | Bestel uit china
17 February 2010
[...] than than only being a mass of specs as well as photos. In this case, here’s a Prodigal Fool summing up a Nokia E72 really well, both great points as well as bad points. In alternative E72 news, people have been reporting a [...]
-
joeyfallon
19 February 2010
For those of you worried about the screen size, I recenttly changed from an E61 (2.8 inch) to an E72.
I’ve totally gotten used to the smaller screen now. I do a lot of browsing but use Opera Mini 5 Beta – for me the excellent zooming in OM pretty much negates the screen size issue.
I’ve the black one – it’s purty
-
22 February 2010
[...] premium, touch-screen race; then we wrote a rather curt letter to OPK, Nokia’s CEO; and finally we concluded that the E72 just didn’t live up to the high standards set by its predecessor: the E7…. In each case, there was a recurring complaint: we think Nokia’s messaging software is a mess. [...]
-
the e61 was a ground breaking but they didn’t have the successor on it..
-
Diogo Neves
22 February 2010
The E61?
-
-
Ashish
14 April 2010
I bought a E72 , had a blackberry curve , can anyone tell me how can i transfer contacts and when u add contacts in Nokia if wont have a option for address in contacts by default ..how to change it ..after few minutes nokia would ask me which connection i want to select . how do i fix it to wap services..
How do i see all video format in nokia . is there a software .
Think BB is better-
Ashish – I think you’d be better off checking out the forums over at my-symbian.com or allaboutsymbian.com
-
Ashish
16 April 2010
Thanks
Do u no if theres ny software that can run all vedio format in Nokia e72
-
-
Faridur
1 July 2010
Transferring contacts for me is a breeze. I use an E71, an E72 and an Omnia Pro B7330 interchangeably though my main device now is the E72. I have all my contacts in my Exchange server. So as soon as I sign in to my Exchange server, my contacts, mails, texts and calendar items are all in sync.
If you do not have an exchange account, you can create a Gmail account and sync your phone contacts there once. Then when you sign into different devices, all your contacts are in sync.BTW, E72 is my favourite device now. With the latest firmware installed, it is stable, fast and reliable. Never failed me once and I am an extreme user. Use it for Fring voice/video calls, always-on email (4 accounts), GPS navigation etc.
-
Good to hear. Thanks for stopping by Faridur.
-
-
-
[...] handed over a Nokia E72 to trial. Now, if you’re getting flashbacks here of an E72 review already conducted by The Prodigal Fool then you’d be right. But this is different for two key reasons: the first is made most [...]
-
Griffith
1 August 2010
Another Iphone fanboy
-
A fan of excellence? Unashamedly, dear boy.
-
-
Sid
6 September 2010
My basic requirements with E71/E72 are email/internet/messenging clients. I dont have E71 but i heard E72 had alot of problems/bugs related to memory mangement,battery life , audio quality. Can you tell me if E72 is just as buggy as it used to be. I really dont mind the price difference between E71/72 but i dont want to buy something with alot of annoying bugs.
-
We didn’t encounter any significant bugs during our time with the E72 except for the ones mentioned in the post – and that was over six months ago. Since then, we understand that Nokia has released at least two firmware updates for the E72. So, I would expect you to have a bug free time with the E72.
-
Straight-Six
7 September 2010
Me intend to buy before year-end….
-
Well, I’d wait until Nokia World has come and gone if I were you. I suspect Nokia is going to announce the E7 next week. That might well prove to be the perfect phone for you: all the advantages of a physical QWERTY keyboard, the familiarity of Nokia’s Symbian OS and a big gorgeous glass capacitive screen for browsing.
-
-
Sid
11 September 2010
I just bought a E72 yesterday , so far im completely satisfied with my needs. Interestingly it seems to offer more than what i wanted. Its a very capable device. Also the prices of qwerty devices aren’t all that high with the advent of android and other touch based devices , so E72 offers good value for money.
-
Congratulations! A good buy. The E72 is a solid choice for physical QWERTY lovers.
-
-
-
-
Justin
11 October 2010
I got rid of an E71 six months ago, and moved into the world of touchscreen with an N97 mini. This last week, I’ve just bought an E72 – and I’m moving back out again! As is always the case, it is personal preference…. and I prefer to have a phone with buttons I can press, rather than a touchy screen that is frustrating to use. I would go down the route of an iphone, as I understand it has an amazing screen, but I also appreciate a decent battery life.
I’ll be with my E72 for a long time, as I reckon it’s going to take some topping!
-
Straight-Six
12 October 2010
Justin,
I bought an E72 on Saturday and have been loving the experience too, moving on from an E71. Only problem is one of the function keys doesn’t depress properly, so have to exchange it today. But I’m willing to accept that as the device is so choice and spot-on!
-
Willing to accept yet more shoddy quality-control from Nokia? I’m surprised to hear you say that.
We told Nokia’s management very clearly at the beginning of the year that they desperately needed to get on top of their quality assurance – both hardware and software. I’m surprised and disspointed that devices can still be leaving their factories defective like that.
They have an up-hill struggle on their hands already to catch up with Android and iOS; it doesn’t help to lumber themselves with avoidable problems like this.
-
-
bluejacker
15 February 2010
Great Review, really loved it. What would say a current E71 user should do? Skip the the E72? The two things that I like about the E72 and miss in my E71 is UDP during firmware updates and the 3,5mm headset port. I could buy a bluetooth stereo headset and I think the E71 firmware is pretty mature by now, so I’m not sure if it’s worthwhile “upgrading”…