Nokia E72: First Impressions

One of the devices I’ve been eagerly waiting to get my hands on is the Nokia E72 – the successor to one of Nokia’s most successful devices ever – the E71. Up until the day I’ve won the N97, my primary device was the E71, while I used to test all others for a couple of days before getting back to my favorite keyboard. Today was on happy day; I got a call, the Nokia E72 was on its way to my desk. I was excited but a bit worried; I didn’t want anything to ruin the fact that I still think the E71 rules and wanted the E72 to rule as well.



The Nokia Levant team sent me the E72 in Topaz Brown; in case you’re wondering about that, it’s the color that falls between gold and bronze. You may call it light bronze or dark gold, you’d still be right. It’s a classy color, it’s a fashion statement, but I’d go for the black one though I haven’t seen it live. Maybe when I do I’ll change my mind and go for the silver or brown version.

So…my first impressions. Drum roll please, and here we go:

- I’m not referring to actual data sheets or official measurements from Nokia, but the E72 looks a tad wider than the E71. It actually is (1mm), but the point I’m trying to make here is that it LOOKS and FEELS wider.

- The back cover is STILL a fingerprint magnet and it does a pretty good job at it! I was expecting something more like the cover of the E52 which eliminated all sorts of “prints” on the handset.

- The keyboard feels the same – I’ll go through the changes in detail in my full review.

- The E72 gives the impression it’s shorter than its predecessor, maybe because the bottom part doesn’t sport the big empty gap below the last row of keys that the E71 had. This used to make the E71 look narrower, but now – excuse the comparison Nokia – the E72 now looks more like a BlackBerry.

- The keys on the side (volume and record) look weird. They have a silver color while the device is brown. Any input design people?

- I have no clue why the back cover is loose. I have a very early prototype which looks like it traveled the world before getting to Beirut. I’m going to leave that out for now until I get my hands on a retail package.

- Build quality is amazing, but of course.

- The memory card slot and microUSB port on the other side look better now; no more rubber. They’re made from the same material that the non-metallic part of the phone is made from, in simpler terms hard plastic.

- The protruding camera lens on the back will be an issue. It is prone to scratches and since it’s the only thing coming out of the back of the phone, the latter will rest on it once placed on any surface. Designers took care of that by introducing a small brushed aluminum frame around the lens to protect it from scratches when the phone lies on its back (99% of the time) but I wouldn’t place my phone anywhere unless it is in its cover.

- Speaking of covers, the E72 fits perfectly in the E71’s cover which I’m going to be using since the unit I have doesn’t come with all the goodies normally shipping inside the retail box.

After switching it on:

- Boot-up time is amazingly fast.

- The screen is beautiful.

- The Optical Navi™ Key feels a bit weird. I have to get used to it (and yes, it can be switched off)

- The keyboard is great. It’s got some new keys.

- Locking/unlocking is done like on the E52: by using a combination of left soft-key then right soft-key.

- Besides being cut down to half in size, the space-bar activates the flash on the back. A long press (2 seconds) will activate it and keep it on if the phone is unlocked, while the same press will only activate it if you keep your thumb on it while the phone is locked. So if you remove your thumb while the lock is on, the light switches off.

- The screen doesn't auto-rotate. I don't know if this will be introduced through later FW updates. The accelerometer sensor is mainly used for silencing calls and snoozing alarms in addition to, probably, some games and apps.

- Overall performance is snappy; nothing new to the Eseries, especially the E71. Again, note that I'm testing a very early firmware version and I believe much improvement WILL be noticed on the final firmware.

I think these should suffice as first impressions. More in-depth testing to come in my full review. Meanwhile, your inquiries are more than welcome. Please post as comments anything which you’d like to be tested during the upcoming days.