Worth Reading?
+9 [11 votes]
Mobile productivity fanatics are having a good Fall 2006- along with the Motorola Q and the Treo 680, Nokia has also jumped into the game with a smartphone meant to reach more than just the average business consumer. As first reported by SlashGear on September 12th , and regardless of their hopes, the Nokia E62 is another productivity-driven smartphone that is most suitable for business people on the go. Released on September 29th and available exclusively through Cingular Wireless, the E62 is the U.S. version of the E61, which has been available in Europe since earlier this year. Nokia designed the E62 as an attempt to bridge the gap between corporate users and everyday people, and priced it at an affordable $199 with a 2-year contract, and even as low as $150 with a mail-in rebate from Cingular.
Lots of pictures and an in-depth review after the jump…
First, let’s discuss the fun stuff. At a slim 0.7 inches, the E62 is thin enough to stash in a pocket, and its wide, high-resolution screen displays 16 million colors, making it an excellent choice for media playing and internet browsing. Video was crystal-clear, and going back and forth between web pages was especially easy with a screen capture feature that you can scroll through to go back to the page of your choice. IM was a breeze with the roomy QWERTY keyboard and software included for AIM, Yahoo! and MSN messaging services. Though surprisingly sophisticated, the audio player was unpleasant to listen to due to the lack of stereo speakers. An included headset with two earbuds instead of one would have also helped lend the E62 more credibility as an MP3 player. Viewing pictures was a breeze, but only after transferring pictures from my laptop with Nokia’s included PC Suite software. I was able to transfer photos and other data easily through an included USB 2.0 cable, Bluetooth and Infrared, but I think this model would have been complete with an onboard camera.
Productivity-wise, the E62 is ahead of the pack for its price point. I was impressed to find the Symbian 9.1 OS was fully-equipped with applications designed to view, create and edit documents in Microsoft Office (including Powerpoint presentations), a feature not available on the much-hyped Motorola Q. The PDF reader was also a help, but let’s talk about the number one reason to buy an E62- complete mobile email support. Setup is a breeze, an email hot key provides one touch access, and a light at the top right corner of the E62 notifies of incoming emails. Though still not the ultimate combo of media, internet and productivity support, the E62 is a powerful contender even up against Blackberrys at double the price.
Reasons to Buy:
*Instant, painless access to a full range of personal and corporate email accounts
*Large, easily readable screen- even in sunlight!
*Light (only 5.08 oz) and Slim (0.7”)
*Globally Accessible (Quadband EGSM 850, 900, 1800 & 1900)
*Great choice for transitioning from standard cell phones to smartphones
Reasons to Wait:
*No Touchscreen
*No Camera
*Low Memory (80 MB, expandable with miniSD card)
*Voice Recorder Button too close to Volume Buttons
*Too wide and unwieldy for everyday personal use
For more information about the Nokia E62, visit the Nokia website.
The Nokia E62 Calendar Function
A Screenshot of Web Browsing at our very own Slash Gear :)
Navigate on the Web from Page-to-Page with Screen Captures
Pick your Poison- the E62 is preloaded with major IM providers
Online Chatting- one of the most accesible features of the E62
The Menu Screen is clear, bright and customizable
This is the Home Screen- shows calendar events, apps and the media player
The Back of the E62-Revealed! Note that additional memory card must be inserted under battery. :(
Side view of that pesky memory card slot!
See how close the voice recorder button is to the up/down volume buttons? It made for some embarassing accidently recorded conversations…
Great review, Bob, and it looks like a great phone too!
At least this smartphone has easy to find volume buttons. I have had my blackberry for months and still can’t figure out how to make the volume high enough that I can clearly hear calls. Too bad it is only available through cingular…
Thanks for the review - I have been hungrily eyeing the treos for awhile and biding time with the razor which I hate…but I think this might be more what I’m looking for….
Interesting that the Q doesn’t have Office support…
The E62 sounds like a good phone, but I’m so enamored with my Treo that I’m never buying another smartphone without a touchscreen.
Despite some of the nagging issues you found, the E62 looks like a good phone for the price. I don’t know if I’m ready to make the jump to smartphone yet, but if the rebates keep coming who knows. Good honest review.
You know, with all this talk about providing cell phone service on subways, I really hope smartphones catch on. I’d rather have people type and go online than speak obnxiously loudly and disrupt an otherwise peaceful commute home.
hopefully verizon will start offering better phones through their service like this one, because i’d be pretty interested in checking it out. very thorough and in-depth review.
I’ve been finding my RZOR not to be as pleasant as I had originally imagined, and have been looking into smartphones. the Nokia E62 seems like a great combination of packing and price, though a camera would put it over the top.
It’s nice to see that companies like Nokia are trying to reach a broader base than just movie producers and lawyers. It looks like a lot of the features of this phone could be helpful to many other people. The accidental recording of conversations sound annoying though.
agree.. lack of a camera!
This review was very informative and very well detailed (without being overwhelming with technical information and scary numbers). it was a great idea to add the photos! looks a great product and a possible prospective purchase. well done!
The E-Series smartphones are designed for business professionals in mind. That being said, a lot of business do not allow devices with cameras for obvious reasons.
I was thinking about snagging one of these to replace my 6 year-old pda but it seems that great design is hard to find these days…guerss I’ll keep waiting until “they” get it right! Thanks for the informative review!
I’m running the T-Mobile Dash review shortly. You may want to wait before making a purchase. So far, the Dash is living up to 95% of my expectations - in a smartphone. Also keep in mind that the E-62 is only for Cingular subscribers. You’ll need the E-61 for other GSM networks.
http://www.slashgear.com/t-mob.....122027.php
That makes some sense, but this phone seems to be pushing the multimedia angle pretty hard with internet browsing and video and MP3 support. I could see a camera being very useful for buisness anyway, taking pictures of charts and presentations at conferences. I know many people that take pictures of buisness cards and store them that way. The average person could benefit from the same features that many buisness people use, names, numbers and e-mail for setting up playdates, calendars for work out schedules etc. It seems to be more of that crowd that is an untapped market, with money to spend and what Nokia almost gets with this phone. A camera would be a nice addition in my opinion. A phone this large could accomodate it if my Razr can.
Why would anyone buy the E-62 through Cingular and lock themselves into a contract which will end up costing you more with ONE LESS MAJOR FEATURE? Why not buy an unlocked E-61 that has all the same features, PLUS WiFI, and put your Cingular SIM card into it and not lock yourself into another Cingular contract?
Amazing how people in the US continue to hog-tie themselves to the US cellular market; do a little research and stop feeding the big 4 cellular companies.
Good point, but there is a large portion of the U.S. market that isn’t even aware of the difference between a locked and unlocked phone. Not that any of them read tech blogs, just yet. :) The E61 is definitiely a great choice for non-Cingular subscribers, but keep in mind that price is usually an issue, too with the E62 as low as $150 now with a plan versus $399 for the E61 at http://www.butterflyphoto.com. (That was the lowest price I could find off-hand.) Here’s a question: Do Europeans buy phones much more often than Americans? What about the environment there would make consumers more willing to drop a lot of money on a phone?
Keep those comments coming!! I love the feedback. ;)
Traditionally contracts in the UK are 12 months, although we’ve started to see some 18 month ones if you really really want a top-spec brand-new phone for pennies. Two year contracts are, to my ears at least, unheard of. So people tend to upgrade every 12 months, although most networks will let you do it earlier if you’re either spending shed-loads with them each month or by paying a penalty fee related to how much of the original contract there is left.
Pay as you go means that people can upgrade more often, but of course the handsets are more expensive. There’s a healthy industry in second-hand phones, with people trading in mid-way through the contract just for a change. Being seen with the “right” handset is very important over here!
Thanks, Chris, I was hoping that you would shed some light on this one! :)
This is quite a good article on the difference in European/American attitudes towards cellphones: http://mobileopportunity.blogs.....e-use.html
E61/E62 is a bit wide to me, in the other hand Treo works better to me. The screen and the WiFi on E61 is good though…
Thanks for the great review of the Nokia E62 smartphone. It gave me lots to think about before I make a purchase. The photos of the phone made it much easier to see the pluses and downsides with this particular item.
I’ve been buying unlocked phones for the last four years and spending well over $400 dollars per phone, and I usually change phones every six months.
Guess what? I’ve been using ATT/Cingular the whole time!
So what the hell, I signed a two year contract and got this phone for free!
There’s only two GSM providers in the US.. there’s not a whole lot of research to be done.
Thanks for assuming that we’re all stupid though.
I really like this phone…my dad bought it for me, and i cant wait till it arrives…im soo excited..its my 1st smart fone..i hope im not too dumb to manage it..=D
be back once i get it…♥