Nokia E7 review roundup

The Nokia E7, the latest generation of the Communicator, combines a large 4-inch touchscreen with a similarly large QWERTY keyboard, and is the latest of Nokia’s smartphones to sport the Symbian^3 operating system – the Finns’ answer to the perceived user friendliness of iOS and Android. So what do the experts think? Read on to see what some of the first online reviewers made of the Nokia E7.

Build quality

Know Your Mobile describes the aluminium-bodied Nokia E7 as a “good-looking device”, but does note that its large size might put some people off and takes issue with the QWERTY keyboard’s sliding mechanism, which they say makes it tricky to open. All About Symbian seems happy with the slide-out keyboard, however, and calls the “outstanding” Nokia E7 “one of the finest devices Nokia has ever produced” from a design point of view. SlashGear is similarly positive, with its only complaint being the “slightly rattly” lock switch.

Screen

Both All About Symbian and Know Your Mobile praise the image quality of the Nokia E7’s 4-inch capacitive AMOLED screen, which uses Nokia’s Clear Black tech to enhanced contrast and brighten colours. SlashGear is also impressed on that front, but not so much with the 640 x 360 resolution, which it says makes individual pixels easily discernible.

The touch performance is described as responsive by SlashGear, although its review takes issue with the fact that Nokia has added artificial lag when swiping between homescreens.

Keyboard

The size of the Nokia E7’s slide-out keyboard gets some love from All About Symbian: it likes the spacing of the keys and says you can comfortably type on the pad for long periods of time. SlashGear, meanwhile, singles out the keys’ travel and resistance as an aid to speedier typing. Know Your Mobile calls the keyboard “very good” but sounds a note of caution, saying that the size of the E7 means it doesn’t sit comfortably in your hand for longer typing sessions.

Camera

The Nokia E7 has an 8MP camera but as SlashGear notes there are signs that Nokia hasn’t considered it a priority feature: there is no true autofocus and the flash is dual LED rather than Xenon. All About Symbian notes the lack of Carl Zeiss optics, but Know Your Mobile likes the detail of the images the Nokia E7 produces, not to mention its ability to shoot 720p video at 25fps.

Symbian^3

Know Your Mobile calls Symbian^3 “a breath of fresh air” that adds customisability and maturity to the handset, but wants a greater selection of homescreen widgets. SlashGear isn’t so positive, describing it as “Symbian as standard” and in need of another refresh soon if it’s to keep up with Android. It thinks Ovi Maps and QuickOffice are capable. All About Symbian describes the web experience as “out of date” but calls most criticisms of Symbian^3 “unfair”, pointing to its multimedia capabilities, energy consumption, phone-centric features and resource requirements as strong points.

Performance and battery life

SlashGear says it got a couple of days’ use out of a single battery charge on the Nokia E7 due to its “frugal” CPU, a 680MHz ARM II processor that it hints is powerful enough to run most functions adequately (with the exception of the web browser, which it calls “sluggish”). Know Your Mobile also mentions the web browser as straining the processor and thinks Nokia should have opted for a 1GHz CPU. All About Symbian is generally positive about performance.

Verdict

SlashGear is the least enthusiast about the Nokia E7, admiring the hardware and build quality but identifying Symbian as a weak link – it would be a “best seller” with Android or Windows Phone 7 on board, it says. Know Your Mobile is more positive, calling the Nokia E7 “thoroughly decent”, while All About Symbian describes it as a “compelling device” while noting that the hardware is superior to the software.

We’ll be reviewing the Nokia E7 in the near future. Anything in particular you’d like us to look at? Let us know in the comments section below.

Know Your Mobile Nokia E7 review score: 4/5
SlashGear Nokia E7 review score: N/A
All About Symbian Nokia E7 review score: N/A

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