Nokia E63 Review Pt1: Hardware

The Nokia E63 was announced recently and the team over at WOM World were kind enough to supply me with a handset on the launch day so I can share my thoughts with everyone

This is a massive plus for World Of Nokia because only a few people were given these on launch and with all the well known sites out there for World Of Nokia to be given the chance is great for the site and shows how up and coming World Of Nokia is getting so a big big thanks to WOM World for this chance.

So what exactly is the E63?, well if you see the pictures your first thought would be ‘is that just not a red E71?’.  The answer to that is a 100% NO!.  The E63 may look the same because of the layout the the features inside are what makes all the difference.

So this 3 part review on the E61 will cover Hardware, Software and E63 vs E71 to compare side by side which many people have asked me to do, because as luck has it, I also have a E71 in to review too!.

This is Part 1 and covers the main hardware such as the screen, keypad, specs and battery life with Part 2 coming in a few days time.

Here is a quick overview of the main specs of the phone before I start:

• S60 3.1 Edition, Eseries
• Symbian Os 9.2
• Dimensions: 113 x 59 x 13 mm
• Weight: 126 g
• 2.0 megapixel camera (1600 x 1200 pixels)
• 320 x 240 (QVGA) at 15 fps (Video Capture)
• 110 MB internal dynamic memory
• microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 8 GB
• BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Po standard battery
• Talk time (maximum): GSM up to 11 hours; WCDMA up to 4h 40 min
• Standby time (maximum): GSM up to 18 days; WCDMA up to 20 days;WLAN idle up to 170 hours
• Quad-band EGSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 900/2100
• GPRS class A, multislot class 32, maximum speed 100/60 kbps (DL/UL)
• EDGE class A, multislot class 32, maximum speed 296/177.6 kbps (DL/UL)
• WCDMA 900/2100 or 850/1900 or 850/2100, maximum speed 384/384 kbps (DL/UL)
• WLAN IEEE 802.11b/g

The Screen

When using a smart phone having a decent screen in both quality and size makes all the difference especially when you are emailing or web browsing.  The E63 packs in a 2.36″ wide-screen with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels so pretty good quality and the size makes general use very easy.

There are many themes available either on the phone or online so you can personalise the phone to your taste so every phone is different and using your own wallpaper with the big screen is really nice because of the high resolution you get the best out of your photos.

The Buttons & Keypad

The keys on the E63 are quite small but you get a QWERTY keyboard which allows fast text entry, perfect for Email or if your a heavy texter such as myself who sends near on 1500-1750 a month!.  Before I get onto the keypad il cover the row of buttons under the screen first as these are for navigating your way around.  Starting from the left you have a shortcut key which works with what ever option you have on the left side of the main screen i.e. Contacts/Camera etc…, you also have the green call key for making phone calls and to pick up an incoming call.

Next you have a home key which loads your main menu to get the grid of icons, a calendar button so you can get to your appointments with 1 press, perfect for someone who uses their phone as a diary too.  You then have the 5 button navigation pad which is made up of a Up, Down, Left, Right silver square and a big select button in the middle.  After this you have a button to load your contacts quickly no matter what screen you are in which is great as it can allow you to use a on screen shortcut for something else.  Then you have a envelope which loads up your email account again from any screen so you have 1 touch email access.

To finish it off you have the right shortcut key and the red call button to end or reject phone calls.

The actual keypad is made up of letters with the numbers in grey in the middle.  These can be accessed by just typing in as you would expect to make a call.  When in text entry mode just hit the grey arrow in the bottom left and then the number for it to show up.  Sounds complicated but its a breeze really.

Looking around the phone on the left hand side you have a mini usb port for connecting to a computer and a MicroSD card slot for expandable memory.  The right hand side is totally blank.  The top of the phone has the speaker phone and what will be a joy to a lot of people… a 3.5mm headset jack so you can use the headset provided or  your own from say an iPod if you have one of them too.  A great addition and more phone’s should have this.

The bottom of the phone is simple with a charging port and a hole for a lanyard if you wanted to wear around your neck or want to hang a charm off it.

Now onto the back.  At the top you have a 2.0 megapixel camera, a LED light which also acts as a flashlight when you hold onto the space bar key on the front (what a great idea!), and a mirror for taking your own photo if you should want too.  The bottom  of the back there is a little latch which locks or unlocks the cover if you want to remove the SIM or battery.

Build Quality

The E63 is quite a well built phone with more of a rubberised feel to it which helps when your holding the phone so it wont slip out.  The plastic and rubber help keep the cost down again cheaper than the premium version the E71 and if your looking for a hard wearing business phone the E63 could be just what your looking for with the power of E-Series applications, the battery life being in days and not hours and the well built feel of the materials.

I have been very lucky to have both the E63 and the E71 in to review at the same time so comparing side by side is easier (and will be covered in Part 3 of the review).  The E71 needs that extra bit of care with the metal finish, the extra weight and just being more valuable where as the E63 just looks and feels like  a phone you can throw in your bag/pocket ant take anywhere (don’t worry WOM, I have not thrown this phone anywhere) it just has that look that you know its a sturdy phone and will work when you need it most.  Sort of like mixing a E51 with a 5500 (back in the days of 2006) you get the idea im sure.

Inside The E63

The E63 does have a lot of features hidden inside but it is easier to cover what is NOT included when compared to the E71

• No GPS Built In
• No HSDPA
• 2.0 Megapixel Camera (The E71 has a 3.2 megapixel camera)

These are all unfortunately things I use a lot so personally I would have to choose the E71 but there are many people out there who don’t want GPS, don’t want a high res camera and are not fussed about data speeds, they just want the phone because its great to enter data because of the large screen and large keypad and because of this you can snap up the E63 for quite a bit cheaper than the older brother the E71.

Battery Life

Battery life on the E63 is on par with the N71 because it has the 1500mAh battery included which is one of the biggest batteries Nokia have in their phones.  After getting the phone on launch day I put it on the full 16 hour charge just to make sure the battery was conditioned ready for use and of course with any new device when I first get it use is always over the top what with getting email setup, installing 3rd party software and getting to grips with how to use the phone.

So after a week of using the phone normally battery life sits on about 2-3 days of use with the following conditions:

• 4-5 short calls in 1 day
• About 50 texts in the day
• WiFi & Bluetooth OFF!
• Auto checking for Emails every 30 minutes

Pretty good if I say so myself as I consider myself quite a heavy user on phones and enjoy my email and web browsing

Well that is the review on the hardware, next step is the software where the phone really gets interesting with quick access to calling your contacts, sending a text and many more handy tips.

Look out for Part 2 in a few days here on World Of Nokia

Filed Under: Reviews

Tags: e series, e63, e71