Thread: Nokia E90 Communicator Mobile Phone

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE GRAND POOBAH OF SMART phones, look no further than Nokia's new E90 Communicator. As opposed to Nokia's multimedia-focused N-series, the E-series focuses on messaging. In Nokia speak, that basically means these devices have QWERTY keyboards. The reality is that this unit is quite capable as a multimedia device, just as the company's N-series phones are also excellent e-mail handlers, despite their numeric only keypads. The unlocked E90 is a much-improved follow-up to the clumsy 9300 and 9500 Communicators.

Along with stellar voice quality, the E90 includes dual screens, dual keyboards, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, plus an entire suite of applications that would cost significantly more with other smartphones. Any way you slice it, this is a precision-engineered instrument for those who can spare more than a grand and have extra-large pockets. The E90 is a quad-band GSM phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), making it useful for world travelers, although it supports only the 2100-MHz band for 3G data speeds overseas.

The E90 is one of the best-sounding cell phones I've reviewed: 1 could hear perfectly clearly and folks on the other end thought I sounded great. Two separate callers even thought I was using a landline. The device's excellent noise rejection meant that I could walk outside on a windy day-or even right past a road construction crew with a jackhammer, in one case-and continue a conversation. Reception was also top-notch, and calls were loud and clear through an Aliph Jawbone BIuetooth headset. The E90's speakerphone is loud enough for outdoor use. It can make VoIP calls in a Wi-Fi hot spot, but my review unit wasn't activated for that purpose, so I wasn't able to test this function. The handset also includes push-to-talk capabilities for those who enable it.

Since the E90 is a Symbian Series 60 3rd edition phone, it will work with thousands of third-party applications. My testing software, JBenchmark ACE, detected an ARM9 processor running at 244 MHz; in use, the E90 felt a bit sluggish compared with a BlackBerry or Palm as device. The included Nokia PC Suite software lets you back up data, use the E90 as a slow EDGE modem for your laptop, and move files back and forth from your computer. You can also do the latter with microSD cards up to 4GB in size. Keep in mind, though, that the E90 doesn't support higher-capacity micro SDHC cards. The E90 also sports a built-in GPS radio along with Nokia Maps and Landmarks applications.



Nokia bundles in a copy of Qyickoffice, which lets you create, edit, and save Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, a boon given the E90's incredibly comfortable input features .Nokia's enterprise support for the E90 is robust. Along with the aforementioned e-mail capability, the device includes a bar code reader that uses the built-in camera as a scanner. You can also secure memory cards with passwords, and lock the handset remotely by sending a text message to the unit. At an eye-popping Rs.35,000, the E90 certainly isn't for everyone.