Review: Nokia E72 - part 2: Camera, Media, Applications, Round up

I'll follow up with my own view of the E72 in due course, but what I will say is that its my primary devices (or more accurately one of them) at the moment.

Unlike Steve I've had no issues with Nokia Messaging or Exchange (use both), which of course makes a big difference.

There are some early bugs (e.g. space bar and keyboard not keeping up if you type very fast), but they haven't been show stoppers for me. So yes updated firmware is needed (what phone doesn't seem to need it these days). As is typical in these situations you'll find and 80/20 rule (or similar) - 80% of people will probably be quite happy, but 20% wont (and they'll be vocal about it)...

What I like about the E72 is the form factor and design. There's not a great deal of difference from the E71 and that was another favourite device. The good news is that with no fundamental hardware issues in my opinion (maybe the bottoom of the front over time, maybe battery cover could be better) the device, with software updates, should become another block buster.

Ooh soo true.
The OS is pretty 'ok' ... with some issues, but the Nokia Messaging app is a big step BACKWARDS from the Nokia E71's version of NM. It needs an urgent release of a big update.

You 'forgot' to mention that the header-part of an e-mail view looks terrible. Labels like 'From:', 'To:' etc and it's contents are on different lines (like if the screen is too small for the application) and those lines are also separated by empty spaces ! Also there is no default 'HTML' view for e-mails.

And this for a phone that should be a Nr 1 Messaging device. Nokia really needs to kick some butts in their organisation.

Hi Steve,

If you disable the navi-key, in the camera mode, just press and hold the d-pad to focus and release to shoots the photo.

Love your review too

QVGA is so outdated, Nokia really needs to up the resolution and screen size, my old E70 has better resolution then the current crop of S60 3rd edition phones.

12 seconds to process a photo, non-usable software, inconsistent ui and the usual mishmash of folders typical Nokia right now.

Nokia is still releasing beta firmware to consumers have been for a long time.

Unregistered wrote:QVGA is so outdated, Nokia really needs to up the resolution and screen size, my old E70 has better resolution then the current crop of S60 3rd edition phones.

lol

Thank you for the review, the phone seems so disappointing. Between the E71 with v400 and the E72, wich one would you pick?

QVGA is unusable for me (web browsing is extremely uncomfortable, fonts and icons are ugly and blocky etc.), my old E60 had much higher screen resolution. Is Nokia walking backward? Did they see Blacberry screens last 2 years?

I recommend using Profimail for email - Nokia Messaging is ugly, confusing solution, lacking many features (IMAP idle etc.). Too bad S60 does not allow selecting default system email program (or web browser), bit even Messaging is not main system email.

Great review, agree on most items. Especially the "divorce" of the optical key from other operations while in camera mode.

I don't know if it's language-pack related, but my custom version is 021.024.203.04 (shipped two weeks ago) and the processing of images doesn't take 12 seconds. Instead, the camera is rather quick. So maybe they've already done something about it.

Else, I'd love to see Nokia becoming serious about their Ovi store and taking the 100 best iPhone / Android apps and porting them to S60 (where possible).

Coming from an N95, I still think the E72 has a superb calling quality. So as a phone - at least - it's good.

Well I had been waiting for the second part of this review and it just sums up my fears for Nokia as a manufacturer. They never ever learn!! I was weighing up the E72 against the BB9700 and to be frank all the forums have reinforced your review that it is a buggy and poorly prepared product. I tried one in store in Middlesborough last week and the battery cover has got to be a deal breaker as it doesn't look like it will last 18 months.

I cannot believe that in a phone whose prime goal is messaging and email connectivity that the Nokia messaging client is so poorly set up and unusable. The failure of it to be able to synchronise calendars, contacts in google is nothing short of a major error.

Again I so deperately wanted this to the handset for me but it just looks as if it is another half baked Nokia product. The future for Nokia must be very uncertain if this is the future standard of their products in 2009/2010. However regarding releases with buggy or unfinished devices and firmware Nokia are not on their own and that may ultimately be their saving grace.

A real pity
Martin

With regard to the camera speed, I've done a power off/on cycle and processing speed for each image is now back to a reasonable 3 seconds. Phew - something was obviously 'up' in the OS. I've removed this sentence from the review now.

What Nokia is produced right now is rubbish, both in software and hardware, the glory days of the e51, e61, e70, e90, n73, n82, n93 and the mighty n95 are over.

They use to stand for innovation and quality, but the latest phones ship with beta firmware, underpowered hardware and faulty hardware nee the current "flagship device" the n97 and the "successor" to the n95 that was the forgotten n96.

The e72 fails, email is laughable when Steve can't even go beyond the setup screen, it's obviously got buggy firmware, and while Nokia have updated the CPU, camera and included a 3.5mm headphones jack what about the most important aspect the bloody screen QVGA at end of 2009. It's competing with Blackberry who have smartly moved onto 480 by 360 pixel screens.

Nokia what the flapping hell are you doing?

Having switched from the E71 I am slightly bemused by the new folder system. Folders such as Games and GPS appear to be locked in the Applications folder whereas on the E71 they could be moved around at will.

Yes, I know I can create new folders for them in the Root folder but I then lose the icons.

Or am I doing something wrong?

What's wrong with the email?

I put in my Gmail details, and I have push-email Gmail straight away! Heck I receive notification of emails via my E72 minutes before the desktop notification happens.

I've also been synchronising contacts, calendars etc via bluetooth and my laptop with no issues, in fact, it's been working pretty smoothly.

Again, as per usual with any device, however new or old, YMMV.

Just bought the e72 yesterday and I�m amazed, it�s a spaceship compared to my old N82 I was using before. The camera is really good, better than I expected!

The build quality and design is beautiful, a little light leak under the home button, but that�s only because I�ve read that other people have been complaining about it, I wouldn�t have noticed it otherwise.

The email set up is the best I�ve ever used on a cell phone, I just put up two mail accounts and then the mails started to drop inte to the mail boxes 😉. I don�t care about the mail exchange stuff though, never had, don�t like microsoft shit.

qwerty keyboard is wonderful and my space bar is working good so far, battery cover is not that loose as some say, I doesn�t bother me anyway.
The optical navi key is really nice when using it in the nokia browser, it�s just a bit tricky to get the techique right, but when learning it, it works like a charm 😉!

I was really about to buy the e71 when it came out, but refused since the camera seemed so poor, I got a plastic n82 instead (which is a great smartphone but has the look and feeling of a soap dish) . The e72 has a very nice design and when the battery life of an iPhone/Android-device has ran out, the e72 just keeps going for some days more 😉!

Well I think I'll stay with my E71, other than an improved camera there seems little reason to (and several against) make the change. An improved (MfE compliant) Email client was what I was really hoping (and expecting) that the E72 would deliver; without that it can never really be considered a business device. Come on Nokia -- Wake up and smell those blackberries!

Thanks for the great work you guys do putting together these in-depth reviews.

Having left an E51 for a Blackberry 9000 (due to the former's weak battery), I was hoping the E72 would be the one to bring me back to Symbian. After a few days' hammering, I concluded that the E72 was a step backwards from the Blackberry: the BlackBerry's core apps are so fast to open, to navigate, to search, etc.

I encountered the same issues with the Nokia Messaging app, plus the disappointing fit of the 'chin' panel on the front of the device. Some general shoddiness, which was surprising. However, I was impressed with the strong battery life, and you can't beat the E72's footprint and slimness.

Nokia, please experiment on beta testers who are keen users, not with paying customers. I bought it handset-only and was able to return it for a refund. However, if I had just signed an upgrade agreement with the E72 as my new handset (i.e. very limited options to return or exchange), I would be dissatisfied.

Steve, nice review as always!
Do you think E72 is a worth upgrade from a E71 user?
I like the E72 because it now has a 5mpx camera that looks way better than E71, a 3.5mm jack, a faster cpu..thats about it, but the price i have to pay for it, Can get me a "2nd hand" E71, so it's kinda ridiculous..
thanks

There have been many reports saying that third party headsets (Jabra and Plantronics, even some Nokia) don't work well on the E72. I've tried with my new Voyager Pro, and it keeps disconnecting from the phone and freezes the OS.

This is a BIG MAJOR issue for many business user. I've been a loyal Nokia fan for five years. But they're testing my patience now.

Unregistered wrote:Do you think E72 is a worth upgrade from a E71 user?

I fully agree with your review Steve. I am trying hard but I can't help being very dissatisfied with the software flaws of my E72 after waiting so long to get the phone: email configuration issue (push Gmail & MfE limited compatibility with Exchange 2003), unreliable bluetooth (although I only use Nokia BH headsets), unfriendliness of VoIP configuration (flawless on FP1 devices nightmare on the E72 although works beautifully when you get finally configured), absence of podcasting, optical pad not convincing, etc... that's just too much.

As many fans on this forum I'm not only dissapointed but also getting worried for Nokia !

Hi Steve,

you must be using a different phone to me.

Not seeing any of the issues you report in your review. Email set-up is by far the easiest I've ever seen. Works a treat for me (although I don't synch with Exchange).

The hardware is superb - top build quality all round.

We're talking about the E72, right?

Best,
Tony

"No build issues"?

Just turn off the lights guys - then you'll notice the light leaks under the screen, and that the keypad lighting is uneven.

Give it a few days and you'll notice that you have "dust under your screen".

I think Nokia shot themselves in the foot when they changed 'designs' from the E71. The battery cover is loose, the flashlight not working sometimes... I cannot believe you said "no build issues".

Thinking of selling my e72 now. 😞

I have been using the messaging (beta) client in the e71 en e61i. Is the e72 version somehow different? On my older phones I just entered my user name and passwd, and all my 3 accounts automagically appeared on the phone as I had set them up on the nokia messaging website . What has changed?

I'm using my new E72 for a week now. And I'm VERY HAPPY !

* Build quality is great
* Gmail account set-up work like a charm
* Great multi-tasking
* Fast...
* Battery life is amazing (dayS...)

Ok, it's not as "sexy" as an iPhone and the UI looks a bit dated, but it's a very EFFICIENT device. I'm very happy that I didn't read that review before buying...

Cheers...

1. @#^&*#$#@$#%$@#$
Picked up the E72 couple of days ago in sheer anticipation of a great product... opened the box (brown version) to find the "space" lifted up and the entire keypad puffed up slightly. Also, the were significant gaps between screen and 1st row of keys and bottom panel and last row of keys. Frankly speaking, i was shocked to this low level of build quality on the E72.

2. %^*$%^#$%@#%@!#%
Where is Chat ??? It seems that the version availabe in India does not offer Chat (Nokia Messaging IM) at present and no unfortunate soul at Nokia support had a clue as to what is the status of Chat.

For me these are 2 major disppointments (particularly the build quality) and I have returned the E72.

Does the screen rotate, eg if I want to play N95's Bejewelled?

I have the same issue with Nokia Messaging as it was presented by Steve. The wizard would not let me to set up the e-mail. No error messages, no confirmations and no progress. For the last 4 years I have used WinMo and I said to myself that I am going to give Nokia a chance until WinMo 7 comes out. I did not see the Nokia Messaging coming this way...

You might say I am a bit of a non-traditional business phone user. For the past couple years I've had the original iPhone 2g followed by the iPhone 3g. As many of you know, or may have heard, the iPhone is a *great* multimedia device. What it falls short in, by a long shot, is service as a reliable mobile phone. Without going to far afield of this review, let's just say that the unreliability of the iPhone has been far exceeded by the reliability of this jewel of a device from Nokia known as the E72.

Thus far, I've been pleased with the connectivity options and battery life of this device. Most of the functions I became accustomed to using on the iPhone I've found similar for on the E72. The call quality is simply outstanding in comparison, and seems at least as good as the N95. GPS functions work quite well and the position is locked within seconds of activating either the OVI Maps or Google Maps application. Email functionality falls a bit short though, there should be an option to set your preference to read messages as HTML by default, but otherwise work well for push against both Exchange and Gmail on the same device. The built-in camera takes great outdoor pictures but indoor pictures tend to be noisy and of significantly lower quality (in both cases, again, exceeding the iPhone). Lastly, the keyboard on the device is quite usable, although the keys are a bit small, with the keyboard becomes quite easy to use. I've not yet had the chance to explore some of the more advanced features of the phone such as tethering but look forward to it.

In short, I'd recommend this device. I had a chance to look at the N97 but found the resistive touch screen unreliable, the software exceedingly buggy, the call quality and ability to maintain connections spotty, and the overall experience a step down. If you're looking for a competent business phone with multimedia features as a second, then the E72 seems to be a pretty good choice. Recommended.

AC from India wrote:Where is Chat ??? It seems that the version availabe in India does not offer Chat (Nokia Messaging IM) at present and no unfortunate soul at Nokia support had a clue as to what is the status of Chat.

Are you sure? To quote Clinton Jeff from http://zomgitscj.com/ye-giant-nokia-e72-review/ :
"There�s also �Nokia Messaging for IM� included in the E72 under the app name �Chat�. Although you�ll have to hunt around for it. I couldnt find it untill I went to the �Setup Chat� icon on my homescreen."

At the setup process E72 connects to ccds.nokia.com server throug SSL web connection. And retrieve some data from server about preinstalled mail parameters for gmail, ovi, e.t.c.
At this moment you will be asked for typing e-mail and password and after submit your email and password, some data in two packets sized approx 1kb sent to ccds.nokia.com.
Server must be correctly answered for installation continuation
If server gets no answer, setup process canceled without errors.

Workaround.
Setup any access point, for example wifi a.p. and setup all correctly parameters, except gateway address. From the point of view of E72, the server does not answer.
Setup will continue without choices of preinstalled mail accounts.

Official support answered: without submitting from nokia server, you can not create email account.

What data sent to server, official support has not told.

Phone not checking Verisign certificate from server at TLS/SSL handshake process and can create proxy with own certificate, and watch for transmitted data in decrypted format.

But at that time phone has been returned to seller.

Good luck.