Killer Handset From Nokia (Nokia N70)

Member Name: johnnyho

Product:	Nokia N70
Date:	09/12/05 (6668 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Symbian OS, 2MP Camera, Bluetooth, 3G

Disadvantages: Battery life, Size

The N70 is a 3G "smartphone" running the latest Symbian operating system from Nokia. Symbian smartphones have a reputation for software reliability and functionality. Nokia are the leaders when it comes to Symbian, but others, including Siemens, Panasonic and even Sony Ericsson run some form of Symbian on some of their handsets.

The N70 is in a new range of top-end phones by Nokia. The Nokia N-Series are high end phones, all with slightly different functionality. The N70 is probably the most basic one, but is still a killer handset.

Features
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The Nokia N70 has a very wide range of features. The full list can be found at the Nokia website. Some of the most useful are 3G capability, Bluetooth, the ability to add software because of the Symbian operating system and the 2 mega pixel camera. Other features also include FM radio, expandable memory via DV-RSMMC (Dual Voltage Reduced Size Multimedia Card), second camera for video calling and QuickOffice - a suite for reading MS Office files. The phone also includes a basic MP3 player for music, which is actually not too bad. The interface works well, and even shows the album art of the song if this is stored on the file. The one problem I have is the volume; it is quite quiet even on maximum. The Bluetooth function also works very well, with minimal problems connecting to other phones and hardware.

Battery life
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The battery life of the phone is the only thing that I find below excellent on this phone. The battery will usually last for less than a day while using the phone for about 2-3 hours, with Bluetooth on, sending about 5 texts and using the camera with flash on quite often. However, if the phone is hardly touched, with a few various calls now and then, it will usually last for a couple of days.

Camera
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The camera on this phone is simply brilliant (well for a phone anyway). The camera can take almost anything quite well, especially when in good lighting conditions. Even in dark conditions, the results are not too bad, but will never compare with a standalone 2MP digital camera. I don't like the fact that as yet there has not been a cameraphone with an optical zoom, which I think will be available very soon. But as far as cameraphones go at the moment, this is one of the best for photos. The camera is however, lacking in some features. These are mainly the lack of auto focus; this phone still uses a fixed focus lens and the lack of a macro mode for close up shots. These two are related in a way as the lack of auto focus makes close up pictures very blurred. However, for everyday photo taking, this phone is perfect. The built in flash also works very well, coming on automatically when it is needed, and is also surprisingly effective. I also like the fact that the camera mode is activated as soon as you slide down the cover. This does activate the camera sometimes when not needed and can become quite frustrating as you need to close the cover then use the phone, which can take quite a bit of time. The video mode on this phone is the best I have ever seen, as the files are of a higher resolution than that of most other phones, which means that these files will not play on other phones if transferred by Bluetooth for example. The picture is very good; there is hardly any jittering and very smooth.

Symbian OS
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One of the main reasons why I chose to purchase this phone. The Symbian operating system is one of the most stable platforms for mobile phones, but however tends to run quite slowly. The speed of the phone ranges from almost instant, to an excruciating long time. I have heard however that a new firmware flash will slightly increase the phones speed. The great thing about Symbian is the ability to add a wide range of software. I have currently installed on my phone Quickoffice, which is a MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint file reader. This software however doesn't allow you to edit documents. Another very useful feature is Adobe Reader, which I find extremely useful as I have the London Underground map on the phone. I also have purchased TomTom Mobile. This is a satellite navigation system which is similar to the TomTom Go units. This requires a Bluetooth GPS receiver, which can be bought from eBay for a reasonable price. Although expensive, it is a very handy tool indeed. The phone runs this software with no problems whatsoever. In addition to these, I also have various games installed.

3G
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This phone is 3G capable, allowing much faster data speeds than GPRS if in a 3G signal area. This allows you to browse the internet at much faster speeds that usual, and also allows you to use your phone as a modem for internet connection for your laptop. I have not tried this as it must be supported by your network and network charges apply. Another feature that could be used using 3G is the ability to video call. More of a gimmick really, but can be quite cool sometimes. The phone has a lower resolution camera on the front which is used solely for video calling. I have not had a chance to try this yet due to a fault with my network, and is no fault of the phone.

Problems and Issues
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I don't really have any problems with this phone, but do have a few issues with it. To me, this phone is almost perfect but the features I find that are lacking are, as already mentioned, a macro mode and auto focus on the camera, infrared, even though hardly used now, it may still come in handy and maybe slightly better battery life. Another thing is the slide for the camera is too big and so the camera is too easily activated.

Summary
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A well built high quality handset that does almost anything that you need in a phone, but it is still not perfect, and the N80 has already been announced!


Some Technical Information
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220MHz processor
32MB RAM
176x208 pixels, up to 262,144 colours
Volume: 95.9 cc
Weight: 126 g
Length: 108.8 mm
Width (max): 53mm
Thickness (max) 21.8mm
GSM 900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100 networks
2 megapixel camera (1600 x 1200 pixels) with 20x digital zoom
Second VGA camera (640 x 480 pixels) with 2x digital zoom
Up to 27 MB of internal dynamic memory
Expandable memory: Reduced Size Dual Voltage (1.8/3V) MultiMediaCard (MMC)
Integrated Bluetooth wireless technology v.1.2
USB 2.0 full speed via Pop-Port™ interface

Summary: Smart, powerful, feature packed phone

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