Nokia E7

Design
At first glance, the Nokia E7 seems to be a little larger than most touch screen phones you see on today’s market. This device measures 123.7 mm in length, 62.4 mm in width and it is 13.6 mm thin. You won’t notice anything special in the design, but the phone is still pretty attractive, especially once you slide it open. Underneath the screen, you will find a full QWERTY keyboard. The keys are spread over four rows and the numbers share keys with the first row of letters. You can also use the directional keys, so navigating web pages will be easier than with most touch screen phones. The keys have enough space in between them and they are very easy to press. Once you get used to the layout, you won’t make too many spelling mistakes and you will be able to increase your typing speed considerably. The sliding mechanism is curved, which makes the phone even more attractive and easier to use. If you place it on a horizontal surface, you will be able to see the screen perfectly without standing on top of the phone. The 4-inch screen is large enough for any type of activity, but unfortunately, you will have to settle for 640 x 360 resolution. The only button you will see on the front side of the phone is right beneath the screen and it will take you to the menu. The back side of the Nokia E7 contains the 8MP camera, the flash and a simple and discreet Nokia logo. As usual, you will see a power on/off button on the top side of the phone, a volume rocker on the right side along with the camera button, and on the left side you will find the phone lock button. You can plug in your headset through a 3.5 mm audio jack. The big surprise can easily go unnoticed: a front facing camera right over the screen. This means that you can use the Nokia E7 for video calls if you want to.

Features
Despite its size, the phone doesn’t come with a card slot. This means that you will have to make do with the 16 GB of internal memory, which is a reasonable compromise for most people. In terms of connectivity, you will receive a mini HDMI output and a regular microUSB port. Because this is a Smartphone, you will also find some adapters in the box, which will make your life easier: a USB host adapter and a HDMI adapter. This means that you can connect your phone directly to your TV or PC without having to worry about compatibility. In fact, you can even connect a mouse, a keyboard, or any other USB device through the mini USB port.

The Nokia E7 runs on a 680 MHz ARM 11 processor, and it offers Open GL 2.0 graphics support. With the help of the processing unit, navigating the internet and running any programs will be a breeze, especially when considering the 256RAM of memory. The people from Nokia could have increased the performance a little bit, but even with these specifications, the phone performs fairly well.

The 8MP camera also falls in the mid range category and the dual LED flash helps a lot in certain situations. If you want to take photos and view them on the AMOLED panel, you will enjoy the quality, but you will notice some problems when transferring them to your TV. You can record 720p HD movies at 25 frames per second. The quality is above average, so you should take advantage of this feature.

The system behind the Nokia E7 is Symbian^3. This means that you won’t notice much of a change compared to pervious Nokia models, but if a formula works, why change it? You can download programs from the Ovi Store, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding the right browser, and you can even download Skype and other similar apps.

Nokia decided to forget about the FM transmitter, which might be a problem for those who usually listen to radio. You will have to settle for the MP3 player, which offers decent quality. If you take your handset out, the speakers will perform admirably and the sound won’t become distorted even at high volume. The same quality is offered for video playback, so pack as many movies as you can in those 16GB of space. You can even edit all of your videos and pictures directly from your phone.

The built in accelerometer will prove to be helpful when you go from vertical to horizontal and pop open your keyboard. The same is true for the proximity sensor which will turn off the light when you place your phone next to your ear.

Pros and Cons
The Nokia E7 is definitely a great media device. You can browse the internet, play music, and watch videos without any problem. Even taking photos is easy with the 8MP camera and you can start a video conference whenever you want.

On the downside, the phone is a little bit too large. Plus, the screen resolution is not exceptional and you can’t expand the internal memory. If you can get over these disadvantages, this is a great phone.

Conclusion
In the end, the Nokia E7 is better than most phones from its class. With a little bit of attention, you can obtain quality pictures and you can find a way to take advantage of what this phone has to offer.