Nokia E90 Communicator

On first encountering the giant candy-bar that is the E90 Communicator, it’s difficult to get over the sheer size of the thing. If any phone deserves the moniker “brick”, it’s this one.

Ted Gibbons | Tuesday, February 26 2008

Of course, like all Communicators that have gone before, the E90 is really two distinct devices rolled into one – hence the bulk. Outside, it’s a pretty standard cellphone, but inside it’s a full-blown smartphone with a big QWERTY keyboard and a big, wide, high resolution screen. Construction is first rate and swapping between the two interfaces is simply a matter of flipping the E90 open on its sturdy and adjustable hinges.

The outside interface boasts a 50mm screen and a number keypad that also accommodates navigation buttons. The screen looks great with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution, and the ability to display 16 million colours. It’s a breeze to see outside and the home screen gives you quick icon access to a number of applications like contacts, messages and the camera. It also displays any current calendar entries, new messages, notes, and whether wi-fi is on or off.

You’re only ever likely to make voice calls with the E90 closed and in this mode it operates as well as any other Nokia handset. Network reception is very good and voice quality is loud and clear. A handsfree stereo headset (with a standard 2.5mm jack) is provided, that also doubles as the aerial for the built-in FM radio.

On the back of the E90 you’ll find the lens and a flash for the 3.2-megapixel camera. Top still image resolution is 2046 x 1536 pixels and there is a comprehensive range of image capture adjustments including handy scene modes and the ability to store your own favourite settings. Auto-focus is quick and accurate and the flash is not completely useless. Images were crisp and colours were vibrant, without any obvious colour castes. The camera will also shoot video and manages a very impressive 30 frames per second. A second internal video camera provides for video calling.

Time now to flip the E90 open, and it’s inside that this device really starts to feel like something special. You’re presented with a wide-angle aspect screen with an incredible 800 x 532 pixel resolution and a spacious QWERTY keyboard. I liked the E90 in this mode so much that I kept it open on my desk in this way all day, only closing it to take voice calls.

Blessed with all the connectivity you could hope for, including wi-fi, Bluetooth and fast HSDPA on Vodafone’s 3G network, the E90 is a great communication tool. In the Messaging application POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP standards for email are all supported. If you leave the Messaging application running it will automatically check for new email and notify you. If you want to use Blackberry Connect you can download it from the Nokia Business software site. The E90 is also a quad-band phone so roaming is never going to be a problem.

The E90’s screen lends itself perfectly to SMS and email display and thumb typing on the spacious QWERTY keyboard is also an easy and comfortable exercise. My only gripe is that the keys are a little stiff and don’t offer particularly good feedback. The fact that it lacks a touchscreen interface also makes some of the E90’s navigation a little clunky in applications like this where you have to hop between a five-way navigator and soft buttons on the side of the screen. And for some reason the big Enter button on the keyboard doesn’t actually function as an Enter button in a lot of situations.

The Symbian OS web browser is excellent, loading pages fast and rendering them nicely for the wide screen. Here, however, the wide and not very tall screen works a little against the E90 as it makes text very small.

The E90 also boasts Quickoffice applications compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the productivity-minded.

Rounding out the E90’s offering are a dedicated music player and a video player. Getting video and music onto the E90 is a breeze, either via the supplied PC Suite software, or simple drag and drop. However, there is a certain lack of body and volume in music playback and, once again, the screen is not the best for rendering video at a good size unless it’s in a widescreen format.

One feature that I simply could not get to work on the E90 was the GPS. Try as I might, I could not get a satellite fix anywhere in Auckland, and upon calling Nokia to get some helpful tips, I was told that no maps would be available for New Zealand until April anyway. When they are made available they will be downloadable for free.

The E90 is by no means perfect – you won’t be putting it in your pocket on a Friday night – but it is a great business tool. I do, however, wish it was a little cheaper.

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