Following on from my Nokia E55 review, I look at its sister device, this time with traditional keypad - is there anything to complain about in the perfectly formed little E52? Don't worry, I manage to find quite a bit - you can't read the keys in some light conditions and there are significant omissions from the initial firmware - though it's still a triumph of S60 miniaturisation. Here's my review of the Nokia E52.
Read on in the full article.
Business-focussed? I thought it means a good calandar app (which Calendar isn't), good mail client (which Messages isn't) and virtual/hardware qwerty keyboard to type mails and edit documents quickly. It's business because named 'E'?
What about signal strenght? What about noise cancellation? Battery in real life?
Does the podcasting client SIS file (available here: http://europe.nokia.com/get-support-and-software/product-support/podcasting/compatibility-and-download ) install and run on the E52 and E55?
Thanks.
jrmt wrote:Does the podcasting client SIS file (available here: http://europe.nokia.com/get-support-and-software/product-support/podcasting/compatibility-and-download ) install and run on the E52 and E55?Thanks.
Put simply, no
Signal strength and voice call quality are both good, but then this is a Nokia - kind of goes without saying?
And it's definitely aimed at businesses, I'd say. It's not much good for general media watching and games because the graphics aren't fast enough.
To my mind there's two kinds of 'Enterprise' devices - both with an edge towards business use because of the software set (and build quality for durability, I guess - though you could argue a N-Series exposed to a school playground or Gym needs to be more robust!) - one set is for actually working on the move, so E90, E75, E61/61i/71/72, E55, N900 (woops - I mean N810!) and N97 (yes, I'm going to include it!) with an emphasis on QWERTY as well, in some shape or form - and the other set (like E52, E51 et al) is for business people on the move who don't necessarily need to create but have an efficiency in quick-viewing info and quick-accessing communication options and accessing appropriate other services to do with productivity - as well as having a robust but very small device to carry in a top shirt pocket, but don't necessarily need to 'create'. And overlying this argument about business people needing robustness is that actually people who have more money to spend (though that landscape is now rapidly changing) or are spending company money want to make a statement about having stuff that's sleek and sexy and expensive-looking. Let's not also forget that many people would (now it's so easy to switch devices and retain consistency of data) have a QWERTY device in tandem with a non-QWERTY and use them as needed.
thanks very much for your review, Steve
I always look forward to reading your assessment of the latest Symbian device
from time to time, I use a Nokia E51
in bright sunlight, I often tear my hair out trying to edit Notes - I find it almost impossible to see the cursor position, no matter what theme I'm using
what's your opinion of the E52's performance in these conditions?
Dave
P.S. am I being too picky?
Really like this device 😊
Will probably buy one when it's a bit cheaper and a black model is available, if it ever happens.
It would also been nice if it had TV-out and a better camera too (would gladly sacrifice some 2-3mm thinness for that), but they are features that I can be without.
Why on earth would Nokia "by design" leave Podcasting out? It costs them nothing to leave it in, it's one of the best apps available for S60 and most users really find it useful; it's almost as if Nokia designers have no idea or interest in how people actually use their devices...
@dave: Screen in sunlight is the same as for E51.... But it's bigger, so should be a little clearer 8-)
@unregistered: Yep. EXACTLY. Terrible design decision, all for the sake of a couple of hundred KILOBYTES in the firmware.
No podcasting. No internet radio. I bought the N82 despite the terrible keyboard and paying for quickoffice BECAUSE I can listen while I work, fly, train and drive on business. These are essential business phone attributes. Nokia need to do some serious customer reseach and put it on the E72 which I was going to buy for the keyboard and better camera - however it seem I will probably stick to the trusty N82 after all.
Simon Spooner
Two questions and one suggestion to Nokia:
- Can't podcasting and internet radio be downloaded from Ovi or anywhere else? If they're not available yet, they're definitely a software issue, right? So one can expect someone (Nokia or others) to address this, right?
- I use my E51 while plugged to the power adapter. With the E52, I suspect having the power connector on the side, instead of the bottom, will make this very uncomfortable. Have you tried it? I wonder why they put that connector on the side anyway, while leaving the bottom empty. This seems to be not such a great idea in order to put the phone in car adapters either... Can you comment on this issue?
- I would suggest Nokia that they brought the optical Navi-key to these phones (E52/E55). I do heavy web reading on my E51 in bed (that's why I use the phone connected to the power adapter...) and after a couple of hours I start suffering from RSI. I'm pretty sure that non-pressure Navi-key would help a lot with reading.
Anyway, as soon as they put out a black version of the E52 I'll probably upgrade from my E51, a phone I've been really happy with for over a year (although I still miss the exquisite screen in the older E60 and hopefully the E52's brings back some of that charm).
PS: Oh, I have another one: the E51 can't be laid on a soft surface (a cushion, a sofa, etc.) because the speaker on the bottom will be severely muffled and you won't hear the ringer. Does the E52 suffer from this too?
PS2: Sorry, the last one: I love the blinking light on my E51 telling me about missed calls or texts. Is this still present on the E52?
Anyone know why Nokia would hold on to the black version and not release it right away?
I'm extremely interested in the black model, and would like to have it before I go to a trip in late october and use it with Ovi Maps 3 and so on, but it seems like I may have to go for the gold version instead :frown:
How long the battery last on real world standby and lite usage. Thanks.
Unregistered wrote:How long the battery last on real world standby and lite usage. Thanks.
Battery life is superb in early testing. No guarantees but I reckon if you leave it on standby with nothing happening it should last over a week. Light use (for me) probably 4 days. Heavy use (for me) 2 days. It's all subjective and depends very much on what you've got ticking over in the background. Quite stunning though when you consider this is the battery that keeps the E90 going for the best part of a week.
Tim
sicofante wrote:Two questions and one suggestion to Nokia:plugged to the power adapter
laid on a sofa
blinking light
Side-mounting a connection is never the best so you're right - unless it's a two-handed sideways device (though in Ewan's recent videocast he was questioning this for the N97 at least - I didn't agree and didn't find that it was in the way). They started this trend with the E71 et al ISTR and I remember thinking that all of a sudden that makes it very hard for anyone to make a cradle for it, whether desktop or car. Apart from the position, they also had a flap over the port. At least this doesn't have that.
Laid on a soft surface doesn't seem to impair the speaker for me.
Blinking light remains.
Tim
Just read this, apparantly several people are having issues with the sending signal, so the person on the other end get a very poor voice volume.
Probably a poor side effect of the noise cancellation, is there any way to turn that thing off?
Ouch! Lots of interesting comments there. Phone quality was fine for me when testing the device, but I'll admit that I didn't go anywhere really noisy - I tend to test these things as smartphones rather than as telephones.
So yes, sounds like Nokia need to adjust the noise cancellation settings to be a little bit less severe.
I have a problem with my E52. Today (the battery was full) the phone switched off itself and I couldn't turn it on. When I pressed power button, the phone vibrated but nothing else happened. So I went to Nokia Service and they reflashed the phone and said that everything will be ok now. 2 hours later the same thing happened Sad Did anyone have the same issue with phone? Is it faulty unit or it is firmware issue?
thanks a lot for your informative review, i'm interested in e52 and planning to buy it but i have some questions about it.
- you said that it's music quality is good if we use a pro earphones, does this mean that i can depend on it as a music player?? is it comparable to music oriented devices such as express music or n series phones regarding music experience ( both in quality and loudness) ??
- about the call quality, i read in other forums about serious issues about call quality and that the noise cancellation caused bad voice quality, did you face any problems regarding this issue??
- about the build quality, is it really that good?? i mean some other users said that it has no so good build quality and that it's made of chromed plastic which is not as good as metal material.
- i'm planing to buy a new phone next month and i'm really confused between e52, n79 and 5800 xm, each has something that i like but i'm about to choose e52 due to build quality, fast processor and what is left is to be sure that it's good at music to buy it, please help me choose one????
thanks for your time
is it an open secret or does it only happen to us here that its safer to wait for at least the 3rd or 4th shipments of new Nokia releases to be safe from the dodgy 1st batches? Always the 1st batches' antics wont be fixed even with firmware upgrades. Seems its not just the firmware, but hardware upgrades is involved in the later batches
oh yeah, the N97 included. Better still, why not just forget the N97 altogether and it'll be worth everybody's while to wait for a N97i or N98watsupersoeva that's gonna come out right the 1st time
I really like the look for the E52 / E55. I have an N95 at the moment (which is still very very capable) however have a hankering to upgrade. I recently got a HTC Hero (G2 Touch) which lasted a week and then went to the bay of e (terrible lag and awful camera). I have a factory unlocked iphone 3gs on the way from Oz at the moment but I'm not sure I'll be keeping that either!
I want the E55, but the caveats about the keyboard put me off a little. Internet Radio and Podcasting apps are a bit of a pain too, but I'll be using the phone in conjunction with my ipod touch too, so can be lived without if I absolutely have to.
So, after my pre-amble....will the digital compass work with Google maps a la iphone? I think I have a couple more quaetions too, but the kids need feeding and watering....back soon!
On my second replacement phone. Phone crashing and then occasionally even switching itself off. Could be one of the resaons one of the major networks are not releasing the phone yet. Impossible to see the screen in daylight and some pople complaining that they can't hear me, particularly in a noisy environment, like traffic.
Unregistered wrote:I have a problem with my E52. Today (the battery was full) the phone switched off itself and I couldn't turn it on. When I pressed power button, the phone vibrated but nothing else happened. So I went to Nokia Service and they reflashed the phone and said that everything will be ok now. 2 hours later the same thing happened Sad Did anyone have the same issue with phone? Is it faulty unit or it is firmware issue?
You're not the only one out there with similar problems. On my second replacement phone. Something wrong and Noki are aware of the fault, but, who knows what, when or even how they'll fix it.
I got a black E52 yesterday, and I already screwed up :tongue:
I installed a bunch of various themes to try out, and when I uninstalled the ugly ones, I also accidently uninstalled the wrong thing, so now I lost "Advanced Communication manager" which was on the included memory card. That's a shame cause it's a program I would enjoy to have.
Does anyone know if there is any legal way to get that program back? As it's a 3rd party program by WebGate I guess I could just buy the thing for $25.50 USD, but I rather avoid that if possible.
I already sent an e-mail to the Nokia support, but I'm kinda expecting a no there.
After 2 replacements I have downgraded back to the E51 which was a great tool.
The E52 is simply not fit for purpose as a mobile phone, the quality of call clarity (make and recieve) is dreadful, it constantly drops connection in the middle of conversations and no-one can hear you talk unless you're stood absolutely still in a quite room.
Nokia have damaged their reputation releasing a sub standard handset
R
got to first say had no intention of buying this hand set i bought a sony erickson c510 got to admit what a piece of crap so took it back i had not read any bad reviews which there seems to be a lot the top and bottom i am not a buisness user all i wanted was a phone for loud calls good battery and txt and can trueley say was not dissapointed was not going to buy a nokia again after problems with 5310 poor battery very low in ear piece and the lcd screen breaking so glad i daid so fingers crossed it stays good now mine was made in finnland most review of the dogy one r they are made in far east anyway nokia 10+ very happy
