The Nokia E5 Review: A Cheaper E72
by Mithun Chandrasekhar on November 30, 2010 2:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Nokia
- E5
- Mobile
There were a couple of other areas where the user experience was rather iffy. Why one has to download the Ovi Store app instead of it being preinstalled is something I really don’t understand. But navigating the store itself is not the most fluid experience either. For reasons I can't explain, the app got stuck at the end of the Ovi Store registration process thrice in a row.
The Ovi Store (left), intermittent issues I had while trying to download apps (center, right)
Only restarting the phone solved this issue. Speaking of restarts, the E5 goes from zero to usable in less than a minute, compared to most smartphones today that easily take a good 3-5 minutes to do the same.
But it’s not all so gloomy on the software side; using Ovi Maps was one of the best navigation experiences I’ve had on any device, not just on smartphones. So much so that during the course of the 2 weeks I spent with the E5, I used it as my primary navigation device on multiple occasions. It was comparable to my dedicated TomTom GPS unit.
The Nokia E5 makes a very good navigation device
Honestly, if the screen was bigger and of higher resolution, I would have no qualms in using this as my only navigation unit. And unlike its closest rival in Google Maps Navigation, Ovi Maps does not require a data connection to function, which is a huge plus. Plus, the app itself is very responsive and quick to recalculate a route.
But because the maps are stored on the microSD card and Nokia just packs in a 2GB card (really Nokia?), the E5 comes out of the box with just 27MB free on the memory card. If I found any issue with the maps app itself, it was that I needed to “stop” navigation if I wanted to access any of the settings (Voices, routing etc.). This can get quite annoying but then again, not a lot of these options are to be modified regularly once set initially.
I also want to briefly mention the default ‘Gallery’ app for viewing pictures that comes on the E5. It seems like the only piece of UI on the E5 that is not a decade old. The animations are reasonably smooth and the interface looks slick and modern. In fact, it feels completely out of place on the E5.
Next we have the raison d'être for the Nokia E5: the Messaging sub-system. Here, the E5 does what it’s built to do fairly well without any major complaints. Setting up multiple email accounts is a straightforward process and you’re up and running within a few minutes. You can set up accounts for most popular email services such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and also Exchange and Lotus Notes, apart from Nokia’s own Ovi Mail service. You can also define and set up a custom account if you don’t use any of the above email services. Strangely, you have to download an app from Nokia’s website to enable push-email support, just like the Ovi Store app.
The messaging platform works well. Why doesn’t Nokia include the push-email app by default?
But once you have the Nokia Email Service app installed on the phone, and have set up a Nokia Messaging account (apparently, for which you need a subscription…which comes with the E5), there’s nothing much you need to do. I was actually quite confused by this initially because after installing the app, I didn’t get any notification of anything having happened and neither could I find any options to set up push email. But searching through FAQ’s I found out that once the app is installed, it automatically configures your supported email accounts for push functionality. You can log into the Nokia Messaging portal to set up IMAP folder syncing and other specifics.
Apart from very good email management, the E5 comes with a bunch of business-oriented apps pre-installed (Bloomberg, Quickoffice, Traveler, Active Notes etc.) and Ovi Chat, which is a multi-protocol IM client that supports Google Talk, Windows Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Ovi Chat. Again, setting the accounts up and using the app is fairly easy and quick.
Business-oriented apps that come pre-installed on the E5 (left, center), Ovi Chat app (right)
Interestingly, the E5 also comes with a Microsoft Communicator app pre-installed. For those who don’t know about this, it is the Windows Messenger equivalent for Microsoft’s Exchange Messaging Service and has specific features targeted at business users. Since I didn’t have an Exchange account to test this with, I can’t really talk more about it, but going by Nokia’s implementation of other messaging apps, it should be fairly straightforward to setup and use.
I did however notice a few issues with the E5’s messaging platform. Firstly, after setting up my Gmail account, the E5 refused to sync my inbox. All other folders were sync’d perfectly except the inbox and trying to sync manually didn’t help either. Secondly, an odd behavior I noticed the first 2-3 days of using the phone was that after some time (a couple of hours), the E5 would just stop syncing emails altogether. The solution for both these problems was a simple restart of the phone and I did not see this problem after the first 3 days with any of the other accounts I tried setting up later. I even asked a friend to setup her Gmail account on the phone, who could do so with no issues to report. I haven’t been able to recreate this problem or find any obvious patterns after searching online either, so I’m going to chalk this as more of an anomaly than an actual issue with the device. If anyone else is facing the same issue, let me know and I’ll update the review accordingly.
The email app refused to sync my inbox initially (left); you need to explicitly add text recipients instead of just typing their names (right)
The one other idiosyncratic move on Nokia's part was to not allow entering contacts by name in the texting application. In this day and age, having to remember and enter a contact's number instead of just typing their name with the phone suggesting contacts as you type is laughable. There is a way to “Add Recipient(s)” via the menu, but this is a smartphone, and it’s not the year 2000. Come on guys, get it together.
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anactoraaron - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
My E63 has had Opera Mini since (4.6?) and it is much inproved from the default browser. I actually believe there is some sort of conflict with opera 10 and S60 (again speaking from experience with my E63). As this phone is in-between the E63 and E72 I think Opera Mini should be used if anyone plans to buy this phone.melgross - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
I think the comments about some features that don't work well not being important because this phone is aimed at business users is well off the mark. Business users want the same phones everyone else uses. It's not likely they will be thinking; Ohh, a cheap Nokia with few features that only does a few things right, just what I want! And there is a reason why they are leaving their BB's for iPhones and the like. They no longer just want to message. They want to do the same things we all do, and do it on a phone that their friends and business partners won't laugh at.This may have been a sellable phone Pre iPhone, but not any more. This is why Nokia has been losing serious marketshare around the world. They need to make bold moves, not this. At any rate, it won't sell more than a handful here in the States.
munky - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
They are? I know business users who are ditching the iphone for android, and then realizing they have been missing out on a bunch of features Apple hasn't "invented" yet. This phone will sell, just like the Nokia e71and e72 did, and the buyers will be people who know what they want, not those that buy something because your neighbor has one.jonup - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
It depends what you understand by "cheap"? For some people that appreciate build quality and feel inside your hand (you can actually hold a Nokia in you hand and make a phone call) is more important and valued than some useless application that we would never use because I have to many things going on to be f-ing around with our phone. The phone might be relatively inexpensive, but it is definately not cheap. Samsung Galaxy is cheap. Just like car interiors - future rich can feel cheap; simple can scream luxary. I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder. I am sure the guy with the E52 above would not trade his phone for an I phone in a million years.fausto412 - Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - link
sick and tired of being overcharged on both phone, service and texting while being tied to contracts with termination fees and terms that keep getting longer.LotecT1000 - Sunday, December 5, 2010 - link
I've been selling and performing service on mobile phone for a decade now.I see how trends change, and what stays the same.
I see what different people are looking for and what they need.
Conclusion:
1. The average user is dumb!
2. The average user does NEVER EVER read anything of the documentation that comes with the phone, and they have no interest or skill in reading up info on what their phone can do. They want to make a call. That's it.
The average user does not need a more advanced phone then the Motorola Micro Tac from the early 90's..
- They make a few phone calls. They have less than 25 numbers in their phone book. About 25% of our customers don't have a single number stored in the phone book. Their callers log show 1-4 numbers.
- They send a few text messages. Many does never ever send messages.
The average user buys a lot of different brands and models. Everything from phones that's made for developing countries to top models (which they never ever use more then 10% of the functions on). Many of them buy iPhones too. They are not advanced users.
Then you have the young user which use the phone differently depending on their sex.
The boys start to add porn pics and video on their phone when their like 10 years +. They never seem to stop adding porn as they get older. A phone with a good screen and that is able to play several video formats is good. Being able to play you tube videos is good.
They send text messages... and switch over to e-mail as they get older.
The girls.. they want a good screen, and if they have facebook, twitter and stuff like that .. they're happy. And.. they send a LOT of SMS messages.
They don't buy their own phone. They are asking their parents for iPhones, or Android based phones. Some have Nokia too. Nobody uses Blackberry.
Then you have those that was born in 1965 - 198X..
They are changed in two groups.. one is very technically capable - and they have advanced phones like the Nokia N900 where they can do a lot of stuff. Make their own code and software. Use it to watch movies. Connect it to the TV/projector and stuff like that. They use it so surf a lot, and they may use facebook, skype, twitter and what not. They have paid for the phone themselves. Most of these users have Android based phones due to price, what's "hip" and things like that. Nobody uses Blackberry. It is not very likely that they have an iPhone.
You also have a few people in this group that use old Nokia phones like N95.. yeah.. they're still working. And they use all the functions the phone can use. Some use iPhones, but they tend to change them for Android based phones or Nokia because of the limitations of what you are allowed to do. They also look more on the specifications on the phones they buy. They may not always buy a top spec phone - buy it can do all the functions they require.
They pay for their own phone.
Then you have students.. that is a mix of all the above. Many that changed to iPhone a few years back are now iPhone users. There are some customers that use iPhone no matter what. If jobs changed the color of the phone every 3 month.. they would buy a new phone every 3 month. That is a very nice customer to have. We have them outside the store for several days before a new iPhone is released. Apple have a group of super loyal customers here. No matter what the phone costs, they will buy it.
Some buy their own phones, and some get the phone from their parents.
The business user:
They want a phone with a keyboard and a good e-mail solution and a web browser.
They go for a mix of Nokia and Android based phones from HTC and Samsung. maybe 5% of them go for iPhone..
Most of them get the phone from their employer. They usually have to buy a phone in a specific price range. That exclude the more expensive phones, and so the E5 will be in their price range.
75% of them buy a very simple phone. They hardly need no camera and MP3 player. They don't need to view video and so on. If have to be solid. It can not fail if it falls to the floor. It must have OK battery capability. A color screen is not the most important thing for them.
It must be easy to connect to a PC without any special software just to drag and drop a few files. But they all like to have the ability to sync the calendars and stuff like that.
We see more and more that they want a phone with a good web browser and that can play moves and pod casts. This is a growing need because they waste a lot of time in airports and train terminals. It they can watch their favorite show or movie..it's a plus.
I see a lot of ads from our competitors too. We wanted to try to see if we could sell the Nokia N900 to every group. So we made 4 adds. One for business, one for young users, one for students and one for the general user.
We had success with this phone on 3 groups.
We included a 5 hours business user class for 100 dollars including lunch. We explained all the advantages and functions of the N900 - and we sold many of those. This is a phone or pocket PC with a phone option if you like.. They loved this model. All you need is the class to teach it to them They will not read a book.
They also loved the option to connect it to a projector, so they could drop the laptop too meetings at customers.
We sold it to young users with focus on the video and chatting functions. Free skype calls on the schools network and stuff like that. We helped them to set it up.. and they asked their parents for a new phone.. we showed them how to use group calls too. Which all phones can do. They loved that they could
The tech hungry users bought this phone too in quite large numbers. They liked the Linux functions x-terminal and stuff like that. And the pod and torrent functions.
The novice users are not interested in a phone like that. It is to expensive and the just use it to call a few people. That's is. 65% of all customers are in this group...
They buy dirt cheap phones. Some of them want to buy the cheapest phone we have. If they are focused on image - they buy a more expensive phone (like the iPhone) or a phone that have a special color. No matter what brand it is. And you have those that bought a Nokia 15 years ago.. and they keep on buying a Nokia every time. They change the phone when the battery dies.. or after they have changed the battery once.
The seniors buy phones with large keys and a screen which is easy to read. It the phone have 3 separate keys that we can program with phone numbers for them they are sold.
Our sales number so far for 2010 is:
HTC (27%), Nokia(42%), Samsung( 12%) and iPhone(9%) are the phones we sell most of. LG and other brands is just about 5-10% of the total market.
We have a surprisingly high numbers of customers that have ordered the Samsung pad. It is really a hit with business customers too. And we see a lot of truck companies that will have one in each and every one of the trucks they have. This will outsell the iPad in 2011. We would never have thought that. But with the GPS and phone capabilities.. it is easy to sell. We just need a slightly lower price..
LotecT1000 - Sunday, December 5, 2010 - link
I forgot to add the sony ericsson that we started to sell in december. We started to sell them 2nd dec and we have sold a lot. maybe 30% of the december sales so far.Maybe it has to do with a TV ad that they run now, or the good test scores. Sone Ericsson have a winner in the experia models.
If this continue the other brands will have to prove themselves next year.
btw the university bought about 1000 Nokia E7/N900 for the staff. we though that was a big sale - before a store chain bought a lot of experia phones as a christmas gift for their employees. with free use for 2011,
We would have expected the iPhone 4 to sell better, but the antenna problem, and all the broken screens have resulted in slow sales.. except for the first two weeks.
If the iPhone 5 is any good, we will probably sell many of those. if it comes before the 3G batteries fail. we expect many of the 3G and iPhone 4 will buy the new model - even though many have changed to a android based phone. if blackberry phones does not start to sell more, we'll have to stop selling them.
we sell a lot of extra stuff for the Nokias too. We seem to sel a bluetooth headset or handsfree option for every phone we sell. We make more and more money on teaching people to use their phone too. We have classes for everything from "dumb" phones to smart phones.
People are surprised of how many functions a dumb or semi dumb phone have.
Many buy a phone for the gadget functions, and forget about what they need the phone for. now many buys a simple dumb phone for calling, and use the other for the rest.
if you just want to make a call. a phone without a color screen, wifi and other stuff that kills batteries will have to be charged once or twice every 14 days. it is small, super quick to dial and to turn on and off.
I have a semidumb phone too, but only as a spare - and for when I do stuff that can destroy my smart phone. . like kayaking, climbing and stuff like that. I have bluetooth connected and I can take a few calls or listen to audio books or music.
I can't wait to see how the slate/pad market will affect the use of two phones. we see the samsung pad have replaced some smart phones. they buy a pad and then they buy a more simple phone - that is very good at makeing calls. . and not much more. maybe play mp3 and have a radio. . but that's it.
The samsung pad fits in a suit pocket. use a handsfee solutions and it does the job as a phone - and it replaces a laptop in many cases.
I think a lot of transportation companies can use the samsung pad as a gps, as a laptop and as a phone.
we will start to use it in our service cars from january next year.
given all its uses, the price is fairly OK as well.
j3ff86 - Sunday, December 5, 2010 - link
christ how much further can they dumb down/cheapen the E71?LostPassword - Monday, December 6, 2010 - link
i bought one. so far so good. biggest issue is getting skype on it. There's skype app for euro users but for some reason, its not available for americans in the ovi store. i would bail on skype if so many of my friends didn't use the damn app.also, the free gps thing, sometimes the red dot doesn't show up for me.
its definitely a cool feature though, especially since i started to travel alot.
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