The Nokia E71 certainly hit the mark for its target business audience, so it's little surprise that its E72 successor reprises much of what was good about that QWERTY keyboard-packing Symbian S60 smartphone, while updating it with extra power and performance.
The E72 features a sleek business-like design, sporting a BlackBerry-style full QWERTY keyboard across its wide body. Some eye-catching chrome trim complements the classically understated bodywork that's aimed squarely at serious business users.
Smartphone technology may have moved on rapidly since the E71 first wowed us as a business tool, but it seems there's still strong demand for devices like the E72.
This E-series model operates on the non-touchscreen Symbian S60 3rd Edition (v3.2.3) platform, so there's no screen-tapping action here – its 2.36-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) landscape-oriented TFT display is, in fact, similar to the E71's.
However Nokia has upgraded the processor under the bonnet to a 600MHz ARM processor, making its work-rate that much quicker.
The E72 has also introduced an optical trackpad within the navigation D-pad, so light finger action can initiate movement on the screen.
The camera has been enhanced from the E71's 3.2-megapixel shooter, with a 5-megapixel camera taking care of imaging.
HSDPA connectivity has been boosted to download speeds of up to 10.2Mbps (suitable network capability allowing) and HSUPA upload at up to 2Mbps. Wi-Fi is safely onboard, as is A-GPS satellite navigation which supports Nokia's latest Ovi Maps free turn-by-turn sat-nav software upgrade.
Nokia has beefed up the messaging experience on the E72, providing support for Nokia Messaging, where up to 10 regular email accounts can be handled in a user-friendly desktop-style push email environment.
Nokia's Chat software also provides instant messaging connectivity for multiple services simultaneously. Other software enhancements are dotted throughout, bringing the enterprise user experience up to date.
So does the Nokia E72 still have what it takes do the business?
Your comments (6) Click to add a new comment
nenslo
April 6th 2011
6. I'm supporting several of these phones (alongside iPhone 4 and various BlackBerrys) in my work environment, and I really wish I wasn't. The Mail for Exchange function on this handset is shockingly bad; this is supposed to be one of the core functions of a business phone and it fails badly - it takes forever to reflect changes in both emails & calendar and it regularly fails completely to sync, forcing me to reset the connection on an almost weekly basis. The rest of the phone is what you'd expect from Symbian (ie. not great!).
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rajatd08
February 12th 2011
5. Stay away from this phone. The display of my E72 stopped working 6 months after purchase. Nokia care asked me to pay 3000 for repair though it was under warranty. They said it is a case of physical damage though there was no sign of it. There was an internal circuit failure. Nokia care managers dont know how to talk to customers. Stay away from E72
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jackhu
December 15th 2010
4. This phone is the successor to Nokia E71 and E71x and is a solid handset with more internal memory, faster processor, and better camera. The phone also has voice guided navigation courtesy of Ovi maps. This phone still has the same strong messaging capabilities and sleek design as its predecessor.
www.nokiae72.net
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jadesmith
November 25th 2010
3. This phone is the successor to Nokia E71 and E71x and is a solid handset with more internal memory, faster processor, and better camera. The phone also has voice guided navigation courtesy of Ovi maps. This phone still has the same strong messaging capabilities and sleek design as its predecessor.
http://www.nokiaphonereview.net/nokia-e72-review.html
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sumner
July 24th 2010
2. I have had this phone now for a month and am happy with it. It feels well built with a solid and attractive construction. Email and text messaging works well although it can take longer than expected to download html email (initially is downloaded in text with an option to open in html). Internet provides relatively quick access to internet (primarily mobile internet pages) but Iphone users will probably miss the look and feel of their browser with full internet pages. However the keyboard layout (which works well and is easy to use even for chubby thumbs) aligns this more to Blackberry territory. In comparison to Blackberrys I feel this wins because it has a much better camera both for still and video so it suits the business users needs in the office and at home. The Home screen can be configured to have easy access (one button press) to a range of applications which is very useful when considering what sometimes seems a random menu structure where functionality is buried / hidden away. Battery life is ok and can quite easily last 31 hours constantly being left on (even over night). The navigation key is ok to use, I havent experienced the problems referred to by other users here. I did have issues synch'ing this with Outlook for calendar, contacts, etc but ultimately managed to do this via Nokia PC suite (ensure you wait until the PC suite tells you when to connect the phone, first time will take a while to recognise the mobile too). However since the original synch with outlook it will not re-synch although it will synch with contacts, calender, etc in the PC suite application.
Overall if your looking for a mobile with a full qwerty keyboard this is a good buy.
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jericho
April 1st 2010
1. 4 out of 5, you've got to be kidding me. how long have you used it before - we're just about to return every single one in the office to the network. It's about as good as it's predecessor the E71. Just once Nokia have to get a smartphone right. BTW the network in question was asked what other Nokia smart devices they could recommend...they couldn't!
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