The best smartphone camera ever? The N73 reviewed

I would have a bought a N73 as I prefer the Candybar form factor. But until the networks start offering unlimited data access at a realistic price then I can't do with out the WiFi, just a shame Nokia left it out.
So for now I'll stick with the N80, crap camera aside it is near perfect for me, It has a better fantastic screen than the N73 and and I no longer have to take a newspaper to the loo, I can sit and read the BBC website over WiFi instead😊

3 UK have a yahoo deal of 512MB internet a month for life. This is only for N73.

N80 just gets 30MB.

Unlike T-mobile you can use it for anything. :icon14:

Nice to see alternative viewpoints in the same review. Well done. 😊

Here in Finland you can get unlimited GPRS access for �7 a month, it lets you do anything except P2P. I've used it as a substitute for my PC's broadband modem when the ADSL goes down, and it works pretty well.

The UK phone networks are doing more damage than anything to the mobile internet right now. If they went flat rate, or if they had a more reasonable price per megabyte, a lot of people would abandon wi-fi altogether.

There's one way to terminate the Gallery application on N73: when Gallery is active, close it from the task switcher menu: long-press apps key, select Gallery and press C.

Yes, you can quit the Gallery application by pressing the C key from the task switcher, but you shouldn't have to do this.

As mentioned in my review, I think Gallery's behaviour is intentional - having to wait while thumbnails get built takes forever with 3.2 mp images, so they made Gallery stick around to work in the background.....

Steve

krisse wrote:Nice to see alternative viewpoints in the same review. Well done. 😊

Here in Finland you can get unlimited GPRS access for �7 a month, it lets you do anything except P2P. I've used it as a substitute for my PC's broadband modem when the ADSL goes down, and it works pretty well.

The UK phone networks are doing more damage than anything to the mobile internet right now. If they went flat rate, or if they had a more reasonable price per megabyte, a lot of people would abandon wi-fi altogether.

In the UK, T-Mobile already offers flat rate GPRS/3G with their Web'n Walk option. �7.50/month for unlimited (that is, 2GB in T-Mobile parlance) access via a phone and �10/month for access via phone or PC. The �7.50/month tariff T&C prevents the use of certain applications such as P2P, VOIP or streaming i believe but i'm not sure about the �10/month tariff. The nice thing about this option is that it can be added to their SIM only contract which has no minimum term so you can get unlimited data without having to be tied for 12 or 18 months.

For PAYG, T-Mobile Web'n Walk PAYG is not that bad: a horribly expensive �7.50/MB at first but if you reach �1 of data in a day, you can keep browsing for free for the rest of the day.

Orange might be better for some for PAYG: �4 for 4MB valid for a month and �1 for unlimited GPRS or 25MB of 3G valid for a day.

Orange is going to launch a flat rate data tariff with no restrictions whatsoever although at �75/month and tied to a 18 month contract 😡 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/31/orange_tariff_changes/

I like playing games in my phone. Currently I have a 6680 and I was about to change it for a N70. But the joystick in the N70 is very bad in my opinion. Although it does support diagonals, the design makes it almost impossible to use them. Yoy cannot play properly, for example, Sky Force or MAME without them.

Have you tried any games in the N73.

By the way, am I the only gamer? Why this theme of diagonals is never mentioned in the reivews?

Aarkham wrote:I like playing games in my phone. Currently I have a 6680 and I was about to change it for a N70. But the joystick in the N70 is very bad in my opinion. Although it does support diagonals, the design makes it almost impossible to use them. Yoy cannot play properly, for example, Sky Force or MAME without them.

Have you tried any games in the N73.

By the way, am I the only gamer? Why this theme of diagonals is never mentioned in the reivews?

I think not... at least on Web browser, don´t.

EDIT: YES! In games, yes. It does diagonals!

Aarkham,

Games play a big role in my phone selection too. I have a 6600 but have been looking at the N70 and N73. Previous articles on AAS mentioned a lot of games are not yet compatible with the third edition yet so you may want to look into that. My current opinion is that the better screen, camera, smaller size and quad-band are worth the price difference. I just noticed there is a sequel to Sky Force available for the N73 so gaming definitely has a presence.

-Marc

I read the review of Steve and second opinion of Stuart. I am personally very impressed with the phone. I found the N80 a little to thick for my pocket, but the N73 is very acceptable. Image quality is amazing. I can now use it in together with Whiteboard photo (http://www.whiteboardphoto.com/) and capture all flip charts and whiteboards.

Now some less positive things of the N73.

Something that was not mentioned in the review is VOICE DIALLING. Nokia has been trying to be smart. It is no longer possible to attach your own voice tags to contacts. There is now some kind of automatic voice dialling feature. IT SIMPLY DOES NOT DO THE JOB. This is very anoying when using my bluetooth Nokia carkit. I can no longer leave my mobile in my bag. Also, when using voice dial, it does not confirm your choice by repeating the chosen name. So, every time you use voice dial it is a surprise who will be on the phone. I find it difficult to understand that Nokia with its reputation can make such a big mistake.

Also, as this is supposed to be a smartphone (with synchronization with Outlook) it is very strange that there is now proper deskstand available. For syncing data I have to connect the data cable (or use bluetooth) and for charging I have to find the other cable. This is not well thought through. For all previous models, desk stands were available.

The last flaw I noticed (but that's probably Symbian) is that when using the emailbox (through GPRS), it is not possible to delete emails. You can select "Delete on phone and server", and indeed, the mails are deleted on the server, but it leaves the emails on my phone with a "delete mark". During my holiday, this list becomes really long. Apparently, people from Nokia don't use this feature themselves.

Last question: Why does symbian still not support the "middle name" used in Outlook? In many european languages, this is a serious limitation.

Tom

Voice dialling has worked really well for me so far and I love not being restricted to 20 contact with voice tags, but I agree it would be better if the phone repeated the name before dialling.

Maybe mine is working better because I use the cable headset when I'm in the car.

Email deletion? Works perfectly. Maybe you're not using 'Disconnect' at the end of each email session? That would cause the deletions not to be carried out fully?

Steve Litchfield

I think the N73 is really good - even have Tom Tom installed (you need version 6 for N73). So phone, good camera and satnav in 1 is just what I need. Negative point is my voice dialling doesn't work. Took it back to Nokia service centre and they said it was to do with software O2 had flashed it with. They were going to get back to me but I'm still waiting. A bit annoying as I used voice dialling a lot with my old N70 and bluetooth car kit, but I have to say the good features outway the bad.