Nokia E7 review
Nokia's last gasp Symbian smartphone, the E7, is here. Does it go out in a blaze of glory or is it a damp squib? Julian Prokaza finds out in our review.
A few fiddly aspects aside, the Nokia E7 is a lovely piece of hardware, but the Symbian^3 operating system is just out of its depth when compared to the competition — and the fact that Nokia has also lost faith in Symbian is hardly encouraging either. So, unless the operating system is inexplicably a must-have for operational purposes, either the Android-powered HTC Desire Z or the Windows Phone 7 Dell Venue Pro are far superior hardware keyboard-equipped alternatives.
Keyboard side, the Nokia E7 has a flush-fitting button on its top edge that provides the usual Symbian options for powering off and switching profiles, plus a metallic slider on the left for quickly locking and unlocking the screen. There's a similar slider on the right for the volume control, plus a button that activates digital camera mode and then works as a shutter release. Lastly, a wide button below the screen returns the Symbian Home screen when pressed in any application, and brings up a list of installed apps when pressed at the Home screen itself.
The image quality of photos taken with camera is best described as average. The eight-megapixel photos look little better than those from lower resolution smartphone cameras.
The 4in AMOLED screen on the E7 looks great. It's bright and vibrant, but the 640 x 360 pixel resolution seems a little meagre with 800 x 480 displays now commonplace, even if it still renders text relatively crisply. The capacitive glass screen feels fine under the finger, but the super-snappy response that's a trademark of iOS and (to a lesser degree) Android is absent and that's where the E7's problems really lie.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
-
Cisco wants to take AI closer to the edgeNews The new “integrated computing platform” from Cisco aims to support AI workloads at the edge
By Ross Kelly Published
-
Software developer salaries are surging in the UK as AI skills gaps drives demandNews Stack Overflow says positive growth in developer salaries shows the community is thriving
By Ross Kelly Published
-
Darktrace bolsters expansion plans with double C-suite appointmentNews Industry veteran Samun Raju joins the security vendor as CFO, while former KnowBe4 executive Hein Hellemons becomes CRO
By Daniel Todd Published