3GSM 2007 On-site Coverage - Nokia (Phone Arena)

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3GSM 2007 On-site Coverage

3GSM 2007 On-site Coverage

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Published on: 11 February, 2007 by Pressian Karakostov and Nanko Rusev

Nokia Booth

Mobile television is getting more and more popular and broadcasting is now available in the US and many countries in Europe. While in the States, MediaFlo is likely the monopolist of this market, in Europe the most used technology will be DVB-H.

The N77 is Nokia’s second DVB-H capable phone, with the first being the N92 which launched commercially a few weeks ago. While the N92 is considered a high-end device, the N77 is a mid-level phone with a lower price.

It doesn’t have that “special mobile-TV” look but is plain candybar, resembling the N73 in many aspects of its design. In order to watch TV though, it can be put to lie on its left side so the display is in horizontal landscape direction. We are happy to see that the N77 is completely monoblock solution – you don’t have to rotate or open any hinge or display, or retract an antenna (it is internal) in order to watch TV.

The DVB-H service allows for up to 50 channels, but most service providers nowadays offer only about 15, The quality is almost regular TV-like, but still from time to time we noticed lag or missing frames. We contribute this not the actual phone, since the rest of the DVB-H devices we tested also behaved in a similar way. In the case of the N77, you have QVGA display with very nice quality and size. The sound of the TV comes from stereo speakers located on the bottom and the top of the phone.



Nokia N77 TV viewing experience

On the right side you will find a dedicated TV key which starts the broadcasting application for a few seconds. When you are in it, moving the joystick left or right or just using the numeric keypad (0-9) will change the channel you are watching.

As this phone is TV-oriented, the camera is 2-megapixel unit and not 3-megapixel as it was on the N73. The rest of the phone’s functionality is the typical for all Symbian S60 handsets.

The N77 is tri-band GSM for Europe/Asia with single band UMTS data, and 240x320 display with 16 million colors. The features include microSD memory slot, Bluetooth and FM radio.

As we’ve said before, the N77 is very similar to the N73 by its look, but also has some different aspects – for example its keypad is totally flush, the keys are still relatively small, but pressing them is easy and with very strong tactile feedback.


N73 next to N77

Nokia N77 Video



Nokia E90


Nokia 9300 next to E90

Nokia announced the E90 as their most-converged and powerful phone, part of their Enterprice series. They actually call it E90 Communicator, which clearly states this is the successor of the 9500 Communicator, which until now was Nokia’s most advanced business device. The E90 features almost everything you may want from a converged device, and Nokia can really call it "multimedia computer" as they love to do with all their phones running on Symbian.

Building on the previous Communicator’s design, the new phone is side-opening clamshell. Being closed, it is a fully-functional S60 Smartphone with normal size QVGA display, numeric keypad and navigation keys. You can use all of its functionality in this mode, including camera, internet browsing, GPS navigation, etc. It has dual-position hinge, which will allow you to open it half way (similar to a notebook computer) or fully for tablet-like look. The opening mechanism is very smooth and comfortable to use, and feels solid at the same time. Open it a little more than the half, and you can put it on a table, where it will lie on small rubber "feet" positioned on its back side. In this mode, you have access to the full QWERTY keyboard. We really loved the large size of the keys, and the fact that you have a separate row for the numbers and they are not put as secondary characters to other keys. There’s also an additional line with shortcuts above, which opens the Calendar, Contacts, Notes, and other predefined menus. Unfortunately, the keys are not raised and you may not feel separate ones, but typing is still very fast and with almost no mistakes, ones you get used to them. The new E90 also has backlight, which was missing with previous communicators.

In the E90 to take or place calls, it has to be closed. You can also call when it is opened, but this will be a conversation, conducted through the phone’s speakerphone. If a call arrives while the phone is opened, you can answer it and use the speakerphone, or close it and then choose to either receive or reject it with the green and red keys.

Full of features, the E90 packs Wireless Lan, HSDPA and GPS. The first two are used for high-speed data, which can be used for the email client or for browsing the internet.


E90 full HTML browser

This is done via the Browser, which is exactly the same as those of other Symbian S60 phones and in our opinion is the best Internet Browser available on a phone. As you have 800x352 pixels resolution on the internal display, the need of horizontal scrolling will be greatly reduced.




Nokia E90, S60 interface

The mentioning of S60 above is not a typo. Unlike the previous Communications, E90 runs regular S60 3rd Edition over Symbian v9.2, a very welcomed move, which should have happened even with the release of the previous models.

The GPS can be used for Navigation, and the phone comes preloaded with Nokia’s Maps software which is the same as the one of the N95 for example. Keep in mind that this one has fewer features than the one coming with 6110 Navigator, a phone specially designed for navigation. Still, the Sirf Star III chipset of the GPS is guarantee for robust and accurate positioning.

Talking about the features, we just want to mention that it is powered by 330MHz processor, which may sound slow, but in reality the phone is very swift. Another (minor) upgrade over the previous Communicators is that this one now has a vibration.

Our overall impressions from the E90 are EXTREMELY positive. Converged devices have been on the market for a while, but all had some shortcoming, which were either features missing or too bulky or large size. The previous Communicator attempts were somewhat successful, but could not compare to the excessive feature-set of the new E90.

During the short time we spend with the device, we were just trilled with functionality, features and design. The display is superb, the keyboard is very convenient, the HSDPA speeds are there, the camera is 3.2 mega pixels, and it is ready to navigate you wherever you go!


Nokia 3110

Classic is a revolutionary device for Nokia, as it improves almost any aspect of the functionality when compared to the phone it replaces – the Nokia 6070. Being part of the high-end of the entry-level class, the 3110 is targeted as a mass-seller phone with basic multimedia functionality.

Among its features are support for 1.3-megapixel camera, microSD memory and Bluetooth with stereo sound. Connecting it to a computer is via standard miniUSB cable, which hints us that Nokia are slowly but surely abandoning their Pop-up Port. The display of the 3110 Classic is big for this class, but also is its keyboard, which is very usable and left us with only good impressions.
Nokia 3110 Video



Nokia E65

Nokia E65 brings the Enterprise functionality of the S60 phones to the stylish slider design. While the 6110 is slider dedicated to Navigation (GPS), the E65 is enterprice slider with WiFi. Talking about sliders – this one opens extremely well! The phone is very well built and its back has leather like surface for preventing of slippery but also helps for more pleasant feel. This is probably the E-series phone with the most inconvenient keyboard. Starting from the upper slider, the navigation key is very usable, but the four shortcut keys next to it take a lot of place, and the most frequently used keys – the soft keys and the menu, and the most important ones for a phone – the green and red receivers are very small and hard to press. Navigating through the menu, we often hit upper right shortcut instead of the right soft key, which opened the contacts menu assigned to it. When we go to the bottom slider, the keys are pressed well, but their size is very small. This is due to the fact that a great part of that slider is reserved for the slider-mechanism, similar to the N95 phone. Otherwise, the functionality of the E65 is the very standard of a modern Nokia S60 phone. We find it strange that it won’t be available in a version without a camera, because when it comes to Enterprise, cameraphones are not always welcomed.

The E65 is quad-band GSM phone with UMTS for Europe, but strangely lacks HSDPA. The battery times are incredible – 6h of talk and 11 days of stand-by.

Nokia 6110 Navigator

We started the rumors about the 6110 Navigator after we saw a Nissan Qashqai SUV with advertisement stickers for the 6110 over it, and expected to see the new device at 3GSM in Barcelona. Nokia officially announced it, and it appeared to be a S60-powered slider phone with built in GPS (via Sirf Star III chip) and powerful new navigation software.

The 6110 Navigator has size and design similar to those of the E65 which is also a slider, but features GPS instead of WiFi. We find its keyboard more comfortable to use due to the bigger key size. As the device is basically a standard Symbian S60 3G smartphone, we will not discuss its functionality, but will only focus on its navigation features.

The chipset of the GPS it has is one of the best offered on the market, and the software coming preloaded is comparable or better of even TomTom or other similar solutions.

The navigation view shows you a map with the roads and your current location. You can choose to a specific address to go to, and the 6110 will find the fastest or shortest way to it. Choosing Near-by allows the user to view and be routed to close to his current location POI (Points-of-Interest). Voice Hints are available which helps you find your way without watching the display all the time. This helps you while driving when you have to keep attention on the road, but is also very handy if you are a pedestrian.

Unique about this phone is the “Pedestrian Mode” where you just choose the destination, connect your headphones and put the 6110 Navigator in your pocket – it will tell you where get there as a pedestrian, not as a car. In this mode, one-way streets are ignored and threaded as regular ones, the expected time-of-arrival is calculated based on the average speed of a pedestrian. This is very handy, and everyone who has tried to navigated as a pedestrian using a phone (even a Pocket PC) and a TomTom for example will know that “in car navigation” just doesn’t do the job.

As this software is more advanced than Nokia’s Maps which come with N95 and E90 for example, it has more features. Using it, you can find cinema, specific type of restaurant or other public place (POI - Points of Interest) near you by choosing the type you want, but that is not all. As the 6110 is a phone as well, from the navigation you can directly choose to call this place or email it, if it has electronic mail.

Getting a meeting organized is also easy, as you can send your GPS coordinates as a message to other phone, and if it is compatible (a S60 v3 phone with Maps), the other person will “read” them and navigate to you.

In the box, the phone comes with a DVD with maps for about 50 countries, but the maps for only one country are activate. If you want to use others you must license them, which will cost about $13 (EUR10) to $65 (EUR50) for a country and about $105 (EUR80) for a region, which will depend on exactly which country or region you want. The prices which we were given are preliminary and might change.

Using the Map Manager software on your computer you will also be able to see when a map is updated, and so will be able to purchase the license about this one with a discount if you already have it.

The phone features include quad-band GSM operation, plus European UMTS/HSDPA data, 2-mega pixel camera, 40 MB internal memory and microSD slot in case you need more.

When it is available, the 6110 Navigator will start at $590 (EUR450) sim-unlocked.
Nokia 6110 Video



Nokia E61i

While the E65 and the E90 are totally new models from the Enterprise category, the E61i is merely a E61/E62 with a camera. The new phone also has minor design changes, like the battery cover, slight keyboard and battery time improvements. The navigation part of the keyboard is more different with two new shortcut keys and a 5-way d-pad instead of a joystick. Nokia claims that this controller is much more comfortable to use, and it actually is. It is strange to see that for connecting to a computer, the old PopPort is used as it was in the E61, and not a miniUSB and 2.5mm jack as in the E62 and new Nokia phones.

Running on Symbian S60 software, there are just a few changes when compared to the E61. You can choose on your own, which plug-ins to appear on the Active Standby screen, but it is not sure if 3rd party apps would be usable in this place. The E61i comes with Theme Suite which was available on the E50 but not on the E61, and helps for personalizing the appearance of the user interface.

The E61/E62 had great battery times, and the E61i improves those even further. The stand-by time has been increased from 11 to 17 days, while the average for today’s phones is about 8. The stand-by has gone up as well, and it is now 7 hours.