Nokia E90 Communicator

Enter, the Big Daddy of all phones! The E90 may look like and perhaps feel like any other communicator, but is it really? The answer is a resounding NO! The previous models, although still quite popular in many arenas has nothing on this baby. With a combination of elegance, style and a sturdy demeanor, the new addition to the business i.e. "E" class of Nokia phones has promised to overshadow its predecessors. But whether or not it can actually live up to that is what we’re here to find out. So let's get to it.

Form Factor
Although the design is quite like any Communicators of yore, this one has a few upgrades. For example this is the first to have a fully functional ‘External Phone’ with a 16million color display and a resolution of 240x320 pixels. The reason I refer to it as an ‘External Phone’ is simply because it pretty much looks like any other Nokia phone inside some sort of shell. Whatever a normal S60 phone can do, the outer phone can do as well. No exceptions this time. This may also be the first time Nokia has placed the power switch on the side of the screen rather than on top.

The rear houses the 3.2 megapixel, Auto-Focus camera with a flash and the speakers. At the very bottom you'll notice a little flap, which is where the microSD card can be inserted. All you have to do is slide it open and insert the card. The bottom is where you’ll find the mini USB (2.0), charger pin and a 2.5mm earphone socket. What’s most noticeable are the two steel hinges. This is another factor that sets the E90 apart from the previous models. The steel hinges make the phone a lot sturdier and add a certain rugged appeal to it. On the side are 2 keys. The one on the top is a dedicated voice recorder key, and the one at the bottom just below the infrared sensor, is the shutter release key for the camera. However, it's not a dedicated key to activate it which is quite odd.

Flip it open and this is where all the magic happens. The large internal screen is what this phone is all about with a crystal clear resolution of 800x352 pixels and 16 million colors. On the sides of this fabulous screen are 2 pairs of keys. On the right just underneath the secondary camera is a set of call take and end keys and on the other side of the screen is a set of soft keys. But I don’t like the positioning too much as they’re a bit too far from the nav-pad, so you end up having to adjust your hold every now and again when selecting options.

The Full QWERTY keypad makes the E90 look like a miniaturized laptop. At the very top of the keypad Nokia has graciously provided us with direct shortcut keys to various functions and one key to call your own (Open key). There’s also a separate key to switch on the keypad light when it's dark and on the other side of the keypad is a five way Nave-Pad. So that’s it for the design of this big boy. Let's see what he’s capable of doing.

Keeping you Connected
The E90 is a brilliant 3G-enabled GSM Quad-band phone that could give most PDAs a run for their money. First off, the E90 runs on a Symbian V9.2 S60 3rd edition UI (user interface). It also supports Java MIDP 2.0 and has a 330 MHz ARM processor. It's so well equipped for connectivity it’s fantastic. Allow me to elaborate – The E90 is equipped with EDGE and can also handle Wi-Fi. That's not even half of the E90's connectivity features. Just to make sure this phone really makes par with the on-the-go businessperson, connectivity is enhanced with HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) and HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data), so downloading your attachments and other information is a cinch with the speed you'll get. The web browser also supports JavaScript 1.3 and 1.5 and Flash Lite 2.0. And just one more thing, it also supports Push-Mail.

Wait. I'm not done yet. The E90 is also more than capable of handling any other type of 'local' connectivity, to your PC, laptop or any other phone perhaps. How? With Bluetooth v2.0 compatible with A2DP no less, Infrared, and USB as well, I'm not sure if there’s anything else really. Maybe one more thing though - it has integrated GPS.

But the big question is, how well does it perform with these features? The answer is – Without a hitch. With Software like 'Settings Wizard' to guide you through the process, you can’t go wrong. Of course you’ll still need to contact your service provider for a few settings in case you’re not sure. But how hard is that. So once you have your settings in order, there’s nothing else to do but get connected. Surfing is easy, and I quite liked using the large display and QWERTY keypad.

The browser isn't exactly. If you've seen that of the N95 or any other 'N' series, this will be easy to use. Unfortunately Nokia has not yet figured out a way to allow the browser to open multiple pages. However it does open links in new pages. When scrolling across the screen you'll notice there's a small preview that appears at the corner, which I’m not sure serves any purpose other than give you a microsecond glimpse of the page's layout. There is a separate setting which you'll have to manually use to check a page preview and jump to any specific portion.

Business on the go
Apart from the varied options of connectivity, how really business-like is the E90 would be the next question. The Communicator range, to begin with, was designed to be a tool for the businessperson who's constantly on the move and needs to stay connected without having to carry a 900g laptop around. So it needs to be and IS equipped to handle that burden. The Quickoffice program allows you to access your Word, Excel and PowerPoint slides. They aren’t in a read-only format so you can make changes as well and create your own word and excel files to be attached to mails. There’s also a .PDF file viewer and a Zip manager to help save you a little space.

What's new in the office applications is Active Notes for one. It's exactly like the normal Notes function that all phones have but with an upgrade. This version of Notes allows you to insert media (including videos) into the note. You can also link the note to any particular contact so it will pop up when the person calls. Neat! Another addition is Nokia's Teams software. This really comes in handy. It allows you to create teams from your contacts and instead of having to send messages individually or conference call by selecting people the same way, this allows you to send a single message to everyone in a particular team. It also helps when making conference calls. It's similar to creating a group in your contacts, but allows for so much more by keeping all information including calls, messages etc. from members in one place.

Among other functions there's also options to wirelessly connect to printers that support the same or, connect to a Bluetooth enabled keyboard and best of all, a Wireless Presenter software (which is free to download but not pre-installed) that allows you to connect to a computer that has the same software installed (again free).

Of course the regular features include a converter, calculator, notes and scheduler in the calendar for tasks and top-dos. Nokia has also added a search feature to ease location of files. It looks for files in any folder you choose exactly like a PC's search option. Another great feature that only enhances the E90's user friendliness.