Hands-on with the Nokia E55 (or how I learned to live with half a QWERTY)

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:42:30 +0000

I’m generally a fan of Nokia’s business focused Eseries smartphones, while for day-to-day use I require a device with a QWERTY keyboard (preferably a portrait one). Combine the two and the Nokia E71, released around 18 months ago here in the UK, is as close as I’ve got yet to the “perfect” smartphone — I even named it in my top ten Digital Lifestyle products of 08 — although, obviously, it’s far from perfect. Perfection is, of course, a moving target in the world of smartphones.

The subsequently released Nokia E75, which features both a traditional numeric keyboard and a generously large landscape slide-out QWERTY, came in at a close second and even offers a few of improvements over the E71, such as a faster processor, updated software, better camera and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

I was therefore keen to try out Nokia’s attempt at a third QWERTY touting form factor, with the announcement of the E55. As you can see from the photo above, the device adopts the traditional candy bar shape by featuring something the handset maker is calling a “compact QWERTY”. Essentially housing two QWERTY letters per key (can I say half a QWERTY?) and utilizing predictive text to bridge the gap. But, in everyday use, how does the E55’s keyboard perform?

Before we get to that, let me just say a little bit more about the phone’s form factor, aside from the choice of keyboard. Like all recent Eseries devices, more than not, the Nokia E55 oozes style. It’s incredibly thin, feels rock solid, and features enough of a metal trim to shout class. Having said that, the phone feels particularly light in the hand, especially coming from an E71, which subjectively makes it feel a little cheaper. Part of the weight loss I’m sure is down to the fact that the battery cover is no longer made of metal, although it retains a textured finish for improved grip.

The Nokia E55 (bottom-right) with the E52 (top) and E71 (bottom-left)

Thankfully, however, none of this comes at the expense of a smaller battery. The E55 uses the same high capacity 1500mAh battery as the E71, with Nokia boasting up to 6 hours talk time on 3G and a whopping 29 days of standby. In my fairly heavy usage — moderate WiFi, 3G, push email etc. — I was able to go at least a couple of days without the need to recharge.

Back to that keyboard

This was always going to be the biggest issue for me, although, surprisingly, it actually turned out to be a bit of a non-issue. The trick is to trust the phone’s predictive text algorithm — just type as you normally would on a full smartphone QWERTY and for the most part the device will pick the word you intended.

Pushing down on the D-pad will offer you a list of alternatives and if the E55 is really stumped it will give out an obnoxious ‘beep’ and drop you into non-predictive spelling mode.

You then single or double tap to type out the word you really intended and the phone will add it to your custom dictionary for future use. In other words, the system gets smarter the more you use it.

One slight let down is that the predictive text system insists that you use an apostrophe in words like “you’re” rather than using auto-correction — if you don’t then it determines that you meant a completely different word. On the plus side, when typing URLs in Nokia’s bundled web browser, the E55 is sensible enough to turn off predictive text altogether (unfortunately, Google’s YouTube app for Nokia S60 isn’t quite as clever, requiring you to manually turn off predictive text when doing a search).

Verdict

After even just a weekend of prolonged usage, I had very little trouble adapting to half a QWERTY — I could certainly live with it if I had to — although, as I get to choose, I still prefer the full QWERTY on the E71. The bottom line: If you want a candy bar form factor and hate T9 on a traditional numeric keyboard — I certainly do — then the E55 is your answer.

---
Related Articles at last100:

How I plan to use my HTC Magic Android phone

Steve O'Hear — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:08:55 +0000

Vodafone HTC Magic running on a SIM Zero contract on 3

As my obsession with mobile continues – the new frontier – I’ve made the decision to take out a second mobile phone contract. But with a twist. I don’t plan to make (or receive) a single call on handset number two. Instead, it will be used for data only (Web browsing, third-party Internet-connected apps and email).

Handset and contract number one will remain my trusty Nokia E71, with its fantastic physical QWERTY keyboard, superb voice call quality and reception, and huge battery life (3-4 days at a stretch). This will be my all rounder: voice, sms, email, BBC iPlayer, live radio streaming and occasional web.

Contract number two will power my shiny new HTC Magic, which runs Google’s Android OS. The phone is a Vodafone exclusive here in the UK but I picked one up on eBay – somebody’s unwanted upgrade – and the great thing about most Vodafone contract phones, as I’ve discovered, is that they come unlocked so that you can use them on any compatible network. In this case, I’ve signed up to a second contract with UK carrier 3.

Why choose 3?

The answer lies in their new “SIM Zero”, SIM-only 30 day rolling contract. Basically, it costs nothing per-month with no inclusive calls or texts – these are charged separately at fixed rates – but does allow you to pick from any of the available add-ons, in this case 1GB of mobile Internet (data) for just £5 per month. It will also be the SIM card that I’ll use most often when I’m sent a new phone to review.

The end result is that my all rounder, the Nokia E71 is costing me about £20 per month to run with an inclusive bundle of voice minutes, texts, free skype-to-skype, and 1GB of data. And my second handset – let’s call it my touch screen mini Internet tablet, the Android-powered HTC Magic – is costing me £5 per month to keep the lights on.

I know what you’re thinking, why not just carry one handset and save some money in the process. It comes down, in part, to the compromises of both devices. The Nokia E71 is super reliable – battery wise and reception – and has a keyboard I much prefer. The HTC Magic on the other hand has a superior web browser and much better over-the-air syncing with Google’s apps. And there’s the growing library of really cool third-party Internet-enabled applications and my general interest in Android as an up and coming mobile OS.

Besides, two or more mobile devices is just how I like to roll.

---
Related Articles at last100:

last100 » Nokia E71

Hands-on with the Nokia E55 (or how I learned to live with half a QWERTY)

How I plan to use my HTC Magic Android phone