 |
|
|
|
| Nokia E71 |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Nokia E71 is a great slab-style QWERTY phone, better than almost any on the market. It has a slimmer, cooler design than the Motorola Q9h or the Samsung BlackJack 2, and it can handle almost all of the business tools that those Windows Mobile 6.1 phones use. It doesn't have all of the carrier amenities that we usually ignore anyway, like over-the-air music downloads and streaming video clips, and it could be more localized for U.S. users. Still, we had no problem setting up the phone for our Exchange ActiveSync business e-mail, and all of our favorite business features, like tethered modem support and Office Document handling, worked nicely. The biggest challenge this phone faces is competing with the ultra-low, carrier subsidized prices of its competitors, but if you want the top of the line phone in this form factor, the Nokia E71 is an easy choice. Release: July 2008. Price: $500.
Pros: Great design with a comfortable keyboard and a slim, slick case. Fast networking on AT&T's 3G network. Plenty of features, including GPS, Wi-Fi and Exchange support.
Cons: Setup could be confusing for the U.S. audience. Exchange AciveSync drains the battery significantly. Camera is lousy.
| Poor |
Mediocre |
73%
GOOD |
Very good |
Excellent |
|
|
| Nokia E66 |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Nokia E66 is a fine business phone, and a great, small alternative for users who want a slick design inside and out, paired with loads of great features. The phone has great options for business users, including Exchange server support and a robust Office suite, though not everything is as easy to use as it might be on a carrier-supported phone, and we found ourselves frequently searching for server settings, additional apps and instructions, all to get the phone working on this country's most popular carrier. Once all the settings were in place, we were continually surprised by how feature-rich and powerful this device can be. A little smoothing for U.S. buyers and a great unlocked price would make this a very compelling phone indeed. Release: July 2008. Price: $500.
Pros: Solid, classy design. Great keys. Live, while-you-type searching for contacts. Great Web browser.
Cons: Many features cost extra, like navigation and Quickoffice. Networking seemed slow in our tests. Could have more multimedia features, like the Nseries.
| Poor |
Mediocre |
72%
GOOD |
Very good |
Excellent |
|
|
| Nokia N95 8GB NAM |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Nokia N95 8GB has only improved since we last saw it, but so have our expectations grown as well, and we've come to feel stronger about great interface design and a fast, reliable bit of desktop synchronization software. This isn't the iPhone killer, in fact it's the exact opposite of that device. The Nokia N95 is packed to the gills with features; it does just about everything we've ever seen a phone do, at least in this country. But it lacks an intuitive, fun interface, and the desktop software, though improved to the point of being usable, is a far cry from Apple's seamless, reliable iTunes experience. It's a tough call between the two, and as phone geeks, we'd love to own the feature-rich N95, though we wouldn't hock our iPhone to buy one. In the end, we're glad both phones are out there, because they each represent the goal that the other should strive to achieve. Release: March 2008. Price: $450.
Pros: Feature-packed, now with loads of internal memory and faster networking. Camera, GPS navigation and media functions are among the best in class.
Cons: Big, square phone without much style. No touchscreen. Interface is uninspired and aging. No QWERTY.
| Poor |
Mediocre |
Good |
83%
VERY GOOD |
Excellent |
|
|
| Nokia N86 |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Nokia N86 offers some subtle but meaningful improvements over the Nokia N85, and it's quickly become our favorite of Nokia's Nseries devices and the one we'd recommend first, even over the mighty Nokia N97. The Nokia N86 packs all our favorite features, including one of the best cell phone cameras on the market, even better than the Sony Ericsson C905 on AT&T that we recently crowned our favorite. The N86 8MP also has solid music and multimedia playback features and even app downloads in Nokia's upstart Ovi Store. Still, for all its impressive stats, and they are impressive, in the end the improvements over the Nokia N85 weren't features we were clamoring for, and the most egregious problems with Nokia's Symbian interface and half-hearted U.S. market support haven't improved, while the competition is lapping Nokia in terms of interface design and social networking integration. We're still impressed with the dazzling OLED screen, though it isn't quite as unique as it once was, and we like the design improvements that make this a more sleek, yet usable phone. Plus, it has the smartest kickstand we've ever seen. But the aging menus and the lagging OS performance means we're less impressed with the same old stuff we've already seen. Release: September 2009. Price: $500.
Pros: Great OLED display. Takes great pictures. Packed with features, including surprises like FM transmitter and intelligent kickstand. Design, especially keypad, improved over Nokia N85.
Cons: Symbian OS isn't getting any younger. Camera interface was unimpressive. Lacks some features out of the box that U.S. buyers expect, like IM support.
| Poor |
Mediocre |
Good |
82%
VERY GOOD |
Excellent |
|
|
| Nokia Surge |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Nokia Surge is something of an ugly duckling among the inexpensive, full-QWERTY messaging phone set. Actually, it's not even that ugly, and with its Symbian S60 smartphone OS, it's definitely more swan than duck. If you skip the junk that AT&T has piled onto this phone, you're left with a powerful device with business-class e-mail, contacts and calendar sync, a respectable, full-HTML Web browser and suite of multimedia options that were capable of handling our basic music and video needs. We loved the keyboard. It's our new favorite among compact messaging phones, and even though the aging Symbian interface doesn't compare to new-fangled, top-of-the-line smartphones, it still outclasses other, simpler messaging devices by a mile. We wish the phone had more built-in options for our favorite messaging addictions, like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, but that Symbian S60 OS means an intrepid user will find third-party options available. In the end, some messaging fans might prefer a friendlier QWERTY feature phone like the LG enV3 on Verizon Wireless or the LG Lotus on Sprint, but the Nokia Surge is the best compact messaging phone on AT&T's lineup, and a solid choice all around. Release: July 2009. Price: $80.
Pros: Great keyboard. Full smartphone OS in a small package. Nice Web browser, especially for a compact device.
Cons: Aging Symbian OS not as friendly as other smartphones, or simpler feature phones. Lacks advanced IM and SMS options.
| Poor |
Mediocre |
71%
GOOD |
Very good |
Excellent |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Archive