A comparison of three Nokia E-series phones

The Nokia E-Series Smartphones: E63, E71 and E75.

I got inspired to do this comparison because my friend Erk was thinking of the Nokia E63 as an upgrade, a phone which my mum herself had recently purchased. I also still had the E75 for a few more days (on loan from @aussienick) , as well as the E71 to I own. Now being all Symbian S60 devices, the interfaces are all very similar between the three phones, so I've only concentrated mainly on the hardware. Here's how they stack up, noting that as their name suggests, the E63 is the cheapest, followed by the E71 in the middle, and the E75 being the priciest (and also the newest).

Build Quality:

E63 - its plastic body and light weight does make it feel slightly toy-like, but the tight seams between the different layers of plastic, and the soft touch material they've used gives the impression of quality. The rubberised material they use for the keys are a nice touch too, making them easier to press with either the meat of the fingertip, or with a fingernail (a plus for the user with long fingernails)

E71 - Its all metal construction gives the E71 a really sleek look and feel, and its probably the reason it was possible to make the phone so thin (its about 1cm at its thickest point) . The keyas are made of a textured plastic that feels like it last, but is a bit slippery. It looks expensive, but the use of shiney metal all over does make it a fingerprint magnet.

E75 - This phone is a bit of a mixed bag, with the all plastic front face and number keypad bordered with chrome-painted plastic giving the impression of a cheap and cheerful Nokia candybar phone. But turn it around and the stainless steel etched back combined with understated matte silver plastics is more keeping with a phone that's at the top of the E-series family. The keys on the QWERTY keyboard are also made of nicer material than the keypad.

Connectivity:

E63 - standard fare for an entry-level smartphone: 3G (no HSDPA though), WiFi, Bluetooth.

E71 - similar to the E63: 3G (but with HSDPA), WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

E75 - identical to the E71.

Screen:

E63 - it has a 2.34 inch landscape screen QVGA, which is smallish, but very usable. Its also quite bright.

E71 - has very similar specs to the E63 (the two look almost identical), but the screen on my phone wasn't as bright as the E63.

E75 - it has a slightly wider screen than the other two (2.4 inch) at the same resolution, but I didn't see that the extra 0.06 inches of screen is really made a difference. Screen is also nice and bright like the E63.

Battery Capacity:

E63 - 1500mAH

E71 - 1500mAH

E75 - 1000mAH

Bottom-line: based on anecdotal testing, the E75 runs out of juice in a day and a bit, whilst the E63 and E71 can go for about two days before needing a recharge.

Keyboard and keys:

E63 - it has a lot of keys, and they're all at the front of the phone - there is no volume buttons on the side, or power buttons at the top. What I like with the QWERTY keyboard here is that Nokia has catered to the SMS'er and Twitter, with all the common symbols having their own button (instead of having to sift through the menu for them), just as the @, ( and ). It also has a 'ctrl' button, so you can use functions like ctrl+x to copy, etc. The keys are all squished together, they are raised in the middle so its easier to press the right one.

Overall, the keys are nice and clicky, though slightly spongy compared to the E71.

E71 - very similar to the E63, with the majority of the buttons present in the front of the phone. The E71 does have volume buttons to the side, and a dedicated power button at the top. The keys are even more squished together than on the E63 (since the latter is a tad wider), and the some of the symbol keys are missing on the E71. Again, the QWERTY keys are raised so that its easier to discern individual keys by touch.

Keys are hard and 'clicky', and spring back immediately after you press them (versus the spongey E63 buttons) - but you do have to press them with a bit more force, which could lead to more tired thumbs in time.

E75 - This phone has buttons everywhere: at the front, on the side, and in the middle! Starting at the front, the keypad consists of strips of plastic, so that none of the numbers or functions have a single piece of plastic dedicated to them. Nevertheless, the keys are nice and clicky, but since they're all flat and flush with the surface of the phone, its hard to discern the different buttons by feel, and the reference 'bumps' flanking the '5' button doesn't really help. The direction button is a tad spongey, and there is a lot of give with the direction button before it registers.

There are chromed plastic keys on the side, as well as a dedicated camera button, with the latter having two stages like a camera ie pressing to the first stage pre-focuses the camera, and pressing to the second stage takes the picture. I like it, but the camera button is very easy to press to the first stage.

Slide the phone sideways and you've got a QWERTY keyboard. Its made of a nice rubberised material, but the keys are all flat and flush, and there is very little travel in them. Another criticism from my point of view is that there is no secondary direction pad on the QWERTY, so you have to move your right hand from the QWERTY to the direction pad on the front of the screen - you also do the same for the left and right softkeys.

Camera:

E63 - your run-of-the-mill cameraphone. Fixed focus, 2.0MP sensor gives typical camera phone images, though its white balance processing is pretty good. LED light is there, but not really good for close-up or far away.

E71 - close but just misses the mark - auto-focus, 3.2MP at least renders sharp images, but it suffers from a blue tinge in all of the images captured - typical of cameraphones, its crap in low-light situations, and the LED light is useless far away, and blows out the images close-up.

E75 - The best of the three - auto-focus, 3.2MP has the sharpness of the E71, but it renders the colours more accurately, like the E63. A clever innovation by Nokia is that the LED flash is also used as an auto-focus assist lamp, so that the camera can focus in absolute darkness as long as the subject can be illuminated by the LED. The LED is useless for faraway subjects (no surprises there), but does a great job of compensating the exposure of the image when using the flash at close range.

Audio output:

E63 - it has a mono speaker that fires from the top of the phone, and also has a 3.5mm headset/headphone jack, so you can use normal headphones on it.

E71 - it too has a mono speaker that fires from the top of the phone, but uses a 2.5mm headset/headphone jack. My attempt at using a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adaptor my own headphones didn't work, so its the proprietary nokia headset, or nothing.

E75 - it has a mono speaker, but fires from the back of the phone, so its easily muffled if the phone is sitting on its back on a desk. It does have a 3.5mm headphone jack though.

Extras in the box:

E63 - as the 'budget' model, the only thing you get with the phone is the charger, headset and a 1Gb microSD card. The phone can plug into a PC via USB, but you'll need to buy a nokia data cable for it.

E71 - you get quite a bit more here: charger, headset, 2Gb microSD card, leather slip case (form-fitting and very nice), data-cable, CD containing Nokia PC Suite

E75 - almost exactly the same as the E71, but with a more capacious 4Gb microSD card (very nice indeed), and a suede slip case that was frankly too snug to get the phone out of!

Conclusion

Overall I think Nokia have done a pretty good job with all three phones, though there isn't a clear winner between them, which is kinda scary with the case of the E75, which at the most expensive (double the price of the E63) should really be blowing the other two handsets out of the water.

In terms of build quality, features and price, I'm glad that I bought the E71, though its hard to look past the E63 as a great entry level smartphone or texting phone (I've seen it available at$279 Aus prepaid with Three). As for the E75, I think Nokia kinda dropped the ball with that one, packing a lot of great features (and a great camera) into such a ergonomic mess of a handset.

Bottom line: if you want a pure smartphone and won't use the camera except for emergencies, go with either the E63 or E71 - the latter if you can afford it. I can't really recommend the E75 for anything, unless you must have a big QWERTY keyboard in small handset that runs Symbian; for the price, there are really better phones out there.

E75 - makes a great camera phone

As I mentioned in the last post, the E75 has a really good camera. Yes, the images still look like they've been taken by a phone, but there were several key hardware and software elements employed by Nokia which helped make the E75 in my mind, a very capable point and shoot.

For a start the camera has auto-focus, and you can pre-focus by simply pressing the camera half-way. Unfortunately, pressing the button all the way down without pre-focusing bypasses focusing altogehter, but it does mean that you can take a photo quickly if you need to. But to me, what separates the focusing mechanism of the E75 from other phones - and indeed, other point and shoot cameras - is the use of the LED flash as an auto-focus lamp at low light settings. This brilliant choice by Nokia means that even in complete darkness, the E75 can produce a shot like this:

Seeing in the dark: Full marks to Nokia for employing the LED flash as an auto-focus lamp - this photo was taken at night in complete darkness, but the flowers are in focus, and despite being very close to the camera, the image is not washed out and the colours are close to life.

the correct render of the colours, and the absence of overexposure in the photo leads me to suspect that the white balance and exposure of the image is also calculated during the pre-focusing stage (see example below for more evidence). Honestly, I reckon Nokia should sell this technology to camera manufacturers if they thought of it, because I have stand-alone cameras that don't perform this well with a flash so close to a subject! It may be a hasty call after just using the cameraphone for a day and a half, but I think the E75 may be the best camera I've ever used in low-light conditions with the flash on!

As proof, I've added some macro shots taken of my laptop keyboard by my canon point and shot (A410, 3.2MP) compared to those of the E75 (3.2MP), another auto-focus cameraphone (E71, 3.2MP), as well as a fixed focus camerphone (Dopod 838, 2.0MP). To make things fair, all shots were taken one after the other, and with the flash activated and all settings set to automatic. The plan is to take more photos on the weekend (weather permitting) in a larger variety of situations (both indoors and outdoors), but for now, let us marvel as the prowess of the E75.

Umm, this is the standard?! : The Canon powershot A410 is a point and shoot camera with an auto-focus lamp, which definitely helped with the focusing. Unfortunately, the camera didn't/couldn't throttle down the exposure enough, and the "J" key has been completely obliterated, with some collateral brightening of the sorrounding keys. Colour is accurate where the image is not overexposed.

E75 : Subject is sharp, colours are accurate, and the LED flash has produced a bright section in the image, but nothing too severe. Auto white balance did its job well, with only a slight yellow cast compared to the Canon A410.

Dopod838 : Subject is reasonably sharp (macro setting on), but the black is washed out, and the LED flash has completely washed out the "B" key. White balance is correctly applied by the camera.

E71 macro shot: Where do I start? The image is more out of focus than the Dopod (auto-focus had trouble in low-light setting and dark subject), the image is the most overexposed of the three, and to add insult to injury, the white balance is completely wrong (my keys are not violet!)

Playing with the Nokia E75 - Preliminary thoughts

Thanks again to @aussienick, I have another shiney toy in my hands - the Nokia E75. Half candybar, half QWERTY slider, this phone straddles the boundary between feature and smartphone, and while having some a pretty capable multimedia features as well.

Having just played with the phone for a few hours, here are a few things that I've noticed:

Front on, you might mistake the E75 as another run-of-the-mill freebie Nokia phone

The Good:

-The E75 can be charged by USB (I think it may be one of the first Nokia phones to have that ability)

-It uses a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for sound output

-The camera is very good, with auto-focus, accurate colours, and proper compensation for when the flash is used (ie it throttles down so that the light from the flash doesn't wash out the image)

-It takes video in 640x480 at a high frame rate (30fps?) - the video is saved in .mp4 format.

-The fit and finish of the device overall is very high - the back of the device looks a million dollars - and the sliding mechanism is nice and precise

-The screen is bright and crisp.

-The QWERTY keyboard is spacious, and the materials for the keys look and feel high-grade and durable

From this side, the fit and finish of the E75 is closer to the standard of other E-Series phones

The Bad:

-Although charging is via usb, the port in the phone is proprietary, so you have to use Nokia cables (no microusb here unfortunately)

-The battery capacity is quite small - only 2/3rds the capacity of the E71 - I will test this more tomorrow to see how the battery copes with heavy use.

-The QWERTY keyboard lacks arrow keys (you're only method of navigating on the non-touchscreen phone) - so to enter text and navigate the screen, your right hand has to move back and forth from the QWERTY and the direction pad at the candybar face of the phone - you also do the same for the left and right shortcut keys.

-The phone automatically locks the keypad when you close the slider, which makes it annoying if you want to quickly switch from QWERTY to keypad/direction pad use in portrait mode (amendment: You can turn this off), as I often do when I want to switch from two-handed to one-handed use.

-Whilst the two halves of the slider are pretty solid when closed, when the QWERTY keyboard is slide out, the screen half of the phone does have a bit of wobble, and its the time when the phone feels the most fragile.

The Ugly:

-The front looks and feels like a cheap throw-away nokia - the thin bands of cheap feeling plastic that make up the number keys are ricketty, really close together, and the bottom left and right keys are very hard to press. They feel so fragile and such an afterthough, that Nokia maybe have done better without them, and just extended the length of the screen.

Keys made out of thin, flimsy plastic ruins the otherwise stylish E75

I think there is so much to love about this phone, but even just after a few hours of use, I can see there are a few hardware and functionality choices that may make it hard to live with this phone. Anyhoo, I'll keep an open mind, and report my findings while I have the phone.

I've posted some more images of the phone below, and I'll do a few phone camera tests later in the week.

Note the brighter screen of the E75 (versus the Dopod 838), and the classier look and feel of the device with the slider open

The smaller capacity battery on the E75 (left, versus the E71) may be a limitation and potential dealbreaker for business users

The E75 (bottom) is shorter, but thicker than the E71

Quick and Dirty Review of the Viliv S5

Thanks to my generous friend (and fellow gadget geek) @aussienick, I got the chance to spend a few days playing with a really cool gadget, the Korean made Viliv S5. Since the S5 has been reviewed more comprehensively by more reputable people, I won't bother doing the product shots and long musings, and just distill my impressions of the device based on what I like and what I don't like.

The Likes (ie. WANT!):

• Long battery life - at least 4 hours (haven't really tried to do a battery drain test yet)
• Crisp 5' screen - 1024x600 in a 5' screen = high pixel density = awesome!
• Stereo speakers - still a bit tinny, but loud enough for viewing videos without headphones
• Build quality - feels good, looks good, and provided (?) case looks good.
• Built-in 3G (as an option) - makes sense in a device you can actually use whilst walking
• Touchscreen - because I love touchscreens :)
• SSD - makes the device rugged, and provides faster boot-up and stand-by times.

Dislikes:

• Stubby telescopic stylus - the device is pretty wide, so it would have been nice if they could provide a stylus that was the same length as the width of the device, and had a silo on the hardware itself, instead of having it attached to the case
• Touchscreen calibration issues - which I hope is only because the drivers for XP is not playing nice with Win 7 RC1 (installed in this unit), and not a hardware fault
• Comes with plain XP - using Win7 on this emphasises how much more usable this device would be for me if it ran at least XP tablet edition
• Small fonts - the trade-off of a high rez screen in a smaller screen - my eyes get quite tired when reading text
• Onscreen keyboard - the buttons are nice and large, but the touchscreen can't really keep up with my thumbs unless I really slowed it down...and at that point, I'd rather use the tablet input panel for text entry (which I did)
• Direction pad instead of a stick-type mouse - would have been so much better for the times when you want to keep both hands on the device, but still be able to navigate the whole screen

So there you have it, my impressions of the Viliv S5 so far. Overall, I do like the concept of the device, but for me there were just too many factors that prevented me from falling love with this device. In the end I felt a little disappointed, not because the device was a failure (because it did a lot of things right), but because it was so very close being my ideal gadget, but not quite getting there.

I do have a few more days to play with the Viliv S5 before I hand it back, so I'll update this post I find more things I like/don't like about it. Also, if you have any questions about it, or things you want me to test for you, just let me know and I'll post the answers up as soon as I'm able.

A good match: Twikini for Windows Mobile and my Dopod838

A lot has changed with my web habits in the last few years, and I've noticed more and more that Twitter is forming the majority of the web content I consume, especially on the mobile.

When I upgraded my phone last year, I switched from my WM dopod 838 to a Nokia E71. For me the choice was both due to the experience and the hardware - basically, symbian S60 worked better as a phone, and WM worked better as a PDA, and unfortunately for the Dopod, the phone part was more important to me at the time.

Now, I'm considering moving back to the Dopod 838, at least as a mobile web device, after I've found a really good twitter client available for Windows Mobile called Twikini, which works well with how I like to use my WM device.

Scroll wheel FTW!

Being the twitter addict that I am, I almost impulsively wake up and immediately check my twitter feed in bed (you've all done it - Don't you judge me!!!). Currently, I perform this task on my 1st Gen iPod Touch (using Twitterfon), which works really well, except for one exception (which shows off the depths of my laziness): I have to use two hands to scroll through my feed*!

Why does this matter? Well, because I surf/view my twitters while lying on my side in bed, which means that I usually have one arm under my pillow or under the covers (especially important in winter, where its good to limit the number of limbs exposed to the cold to the bare minimum). Also, if you've ever lost grip of your phone and have it smack you in the face, then you understand why body positioning is important when using a portable device in bed! Anyhoo, in the case of one-handed operation (oh grow up), this is where the Dopod 838/Twikini combo shines.

Twikini on my Dopod838 - Scrolling is easy with the little scroll wheel on the side. In portrait mode you can view 4 tweets at a time

(conveniently positioned for my thumb)

With Twikini (which offers my feed in a convenient running screen), all I have to do is use the scroll wheel on the side of the Dopod to scroll up and down my feed - the scroll wheel also works as a select button, so when I'm just passively surfing through my feeds, selecting links is a breeze and completely one handed. Unfortunately, if I do have to create a tweet or otherwise need to input some text, I will have to use two hands since the onscreen keyboard built-in to WM is not at all finger-friendly, and the Dopod's QWERTY keyboard is of the landscape variety. But again, Twinkini comes to the rescue by providing some intuitive and clever UI choices to make tweeting a breeze, and addresses one of my pet peeves with WM devices.

*Okay, so that's not strictly true - I have mastered the "hold with 4 fingers and flick up and down with thumb" manouever, but after a while it does get uncomfortable, and my thumb isn't especially flexible, so having the thumb moving around in such an unnatural position does hurt after a bit.

Keeping a firm grip

With twikini, there are several options available for replying or DMing - you can either select the option on the menu screen, or simply scroll to the twitterer u wish to converse with, and tap on the left arrow key to @reply, or right to DM. This simple UI choice might not seem that exciting, but its a godsend for me, since I loathe having to switch between using my QWERTY keyboard and the touchscreen to interact with my devices.

Twikini on Dopod in Landscape mode: In this position, keeping the device in your hands really requires two of them (but I needed one of my hands for taking the pic)

This may not be an issue that people really care/think about, but it really matters to me since I'm one of those people that constantly has their phone out and surfing the web while walking. Because I'm on the move, I like my phone to be as secure as possible in my hand/hands. Now in the case of the E71 and the Dopod 838 (in portrait mode), keeping a firm grip with one hand is a cinch because both fit equally snug in one palm. However, in the case of the Dopod in landscape mode (QWERTY keyboard in use), a firm grip can only really be achieved with two hands, so in that usage scenario, I prefer that both of my hands are holding onto the Dopod (thumbs on the keyboard) as much as possible - and with Twikini and its left/right shortcuts for @reply and DM (correction: right arrow actually performs a RT, not a DM), I can interact and with my twitter friends whilst keeping my device stable in both hands.

Anyhoo, if you want to try Twikini, they have a 14 day trial period available so you can see if you like it, at http://www.trinketsoftware.com/Twikini

A friend (@jodiem) did note some issues with scrolling, where use of the inertial scrolling sometimes selects a tweet instead, so its good to take advantage of this trial period to see if the device works well for your device and use case scenario. But I'll say that having used Twikini back when the app was still in beta, I've found the developers to be pretty receptive to suggestions, and are also good with updating the features on their program, so it pays to make your voice heard and provide constructive feedback.

Finally, before you all "get up in my grill" (fo shizzle my nizzle - wow, did I really say that?) - I do know of (and will be reviewing in turn) alternative clients for other platforms, such as Gravity for Symbian s60, and of course, twitterfon and tweetdeck for the iPod/iPhone. I'll also get around to reviewing some web-based, mobile-optimised twitter clients like dabr and slandr, but do let me know if there are others floating around, and I'll check them out too. Cheers!

Quick Battery Life Post

Since battery life is such an important consideration for any portable device, I thought I'd stress test my various gadget to determine the minimum battery life I could get from my current smartphone (Nokia E71) and my netbook with its shiney new 9 cell battery (Acer Aspire One).

Nokia E71:

With Wifi-on, 3G on, continuously downloading podcasts and web surfing whilst listening to said podcasts over its mono-speaker, I got just over 7hours of battery life before the phone shut itself down :) This is pretty impressive, and certainly explains why I usually get about 2 whole days with moderate use with this phone.

Acer Aspire One (with 9-cell battery):

With wifi-on, screen at 40% brightness and on 'home/office desk" mode, tweetdeck constantly on and itunes downloading podcasts every so often, the battery would last 4 hours and 50 minutes before the netbook would forcibly go into hibernation mode (at 3% battery life). I think this is phenomenal, and infinitely better than the paltry 1hr 30minutes that I used to get when using the supplied (2-cell!!!) battery. Since having the battery, I've found that I'm using the AAO a lot more, and now I'm tempted to get a USB dongle so I can take the web with me :)

Anyhoo, that was all, except that I am interested to find out what the battery life is on the shiney new iPhone 3Gs under the same conditions - I'm interested in getting one, but I have to see whether it can come close to the numbers I'm getting on my current phone, otherwise I could potentially be disappointed.

E63 vs E71 - pics!

Just a quick and dirty post comparing the Nokia E63 and the E71, two qwerty phones from the Nokia E series. Apart from the chassis (plastic vs metal), there are some subtle, but potentially important differences - and not all of them swing in the favour of the more expensive E71 (which kinda sucks since that's the phone I own :P) Actually this post will be especially quick and dirty, since I'm just gonna throw some comparison pics for now (and blurry ones at that - sorry!) and add some comments later. Enjoy the phone pron :D

Want to upgrade from your old laptop, but can't afford it? Try this!

If you were wanting a new laptop/computer but can't afford it, here are some quick (and some slow) ways to breathe new life into your tired old lappie, or at least make it bearable to use and cart around until you can get your tax return ;) This post came about because I was struggling with this issue myself (actually, I suffer this every six months after I buy ANYTHING), and so I thought I'd share some of the tricks and tips that I've used to curb my purchasing of new gadgets. Enjoy :)

1)upgrade the RAM/HD - this is a great way to get more out of your existing computer, providing that you haven’t maxed it out to begin with. Getting new RAM will improve performance, and depending on your HD drive, you could either improve the performance and/or improve the capacity. And don't throw out the old parts either - coz provided they’re not faulty, you may be able to get some life out of them yet.

2)get a new battery - similar to upgrading the innards, getting a new battery to replace one that isn’t holding its charge anymore, or getting another to supplement the existing one, will help enable you to enjoy your lappie away from the cord a bit more, which increases its relevance in your tech life, and keeps it with you.

3)give your laptop a new look – I find that my eye starts wandering for new laptops when my device starts looking less than new...depending on your device, the remedy could be as simple as giving the thing a quick once over with a damp cloth (you filthy little monkey, you!) and you're well on your way to restoring your laptop to its pristine state. Of course, some device designs age better than others (I'm convinced that the dells look old when they come out of the factory), so if you're the person who plans to hold on to a device for a while, as shallow as it may seem, paying attention to how the laptop looks will help you to be happy about your purchase in a few year’s time. Also, pay attention to what materials are being used in your laptop – matte materials will start looking old when parts of it become shiny from being used, and they’ll also be more susceptible to staining as well, unless it’s a dark colour.

Another way to go, is to add a completely new look, by applying decals. There are a couple of companies that specialise in decals for your laptop/devices, like gelaskins, garskin and skinit, and they have the added benefit of being easy to peel off when you tire of them, or they start looking a bit grubby.

Finally, give your desktop screen an overhaul too, since It’s no good having a spruced up exterior, when the interior looks old (its like steampunk in reverse). I won't go into specifics (actually, I'm not even going to bother :P), but here is one article that I reckon, covers the subject quite well for windows XP: (link)

4)do a spring/summer clean - remember when you first got your computer and it ran quite fast (provided there wasn't much bloatware - your mileage may vary)? Well to get that new computer snappiness, I highly recommend doing a complete restore of your device, especially if its older than XP. Not only does it clear out the crap that slows the computer down (not sure exactly what, but I know it happens) but its also a chance for you to reassess which applications actually need to be on your device in the first place. A few caveats though -this will take a while, -you will have to backup all your files and folder before you do it - and you will have to reinstate any printers and network connections your computer may use, which may make you unpopular with the IT guy at work if he needs to set that all up for you.

5) swap computers with someone else - now, not everyone can do this obviously, but relying on the adage that 'a change is as good as a holiday', it may be worth it if you did the old switcheroo with another member of your family. Obviously this won't be as effective if the laptops are identical - but if they're not really fussed about the hardware that they're using, or you can bribe the other party in some way, this could be one way to make two people happy :)

Alright, so there are just a few ways you can breathe life into your old laptop, and a few of these tips can be applied to a variety of devices to different extents - most of them do involve spending, but if they mean that you won't have to buy another laptop/device for a while yet, then its money well spent, and its good for the environment!

Next blogpost, I'll discuss the benefits of, and the way to properly re-gift your old tech to your family, as well as the my thoughts on giving geek gifts to non-geeks and its implications (two words: “tech support”).

Pat's Quick and Dirty Acer Aspire One Review

First Impressions
Build quality is very good. Seams are tight, and all the different components fit very well. The construction is light, but solid. The pearlescent white plastic behind the screen looks to belong to a more expensive device, and the materials look to be of a high standard. It’s easily the most good-looking netbook in my opinion, possibly tying with the HP mini-note 2133, which is very stylish, but loses points for its bulkiness. The battery fits flush into the battery compartment and the material matches the plastics furnishing the underside of the netbook, so the battery fits well with the overall aesthetics of the design.
Unfortunately however, its with the slotting of the battery into the compartment, and powering on of the device, that the great first impression I had dissipated. Like a beautiful girl who snores like 60 year old overweight man with sleep apnoea, the loud, incessant whine of the Aspire One’s CPU fan just ruins an otherwise perfect moment. Its drone is constant, with the fan activated as soon as the netbook is turned on, and remains on, even when the netbook is idle, occasionally increasing in pitch when the the device is put to use. I understand that this serves to keep the CPU cool, but having owned the first gen Asus EEE PC for over a year, along with a few full-sized laptops, I can honestly say that the noise coming out of the Acer is the loudest I’ve experienced from a laptop. Although it does blend in with ambient noise, during my testing in a quiet room, the noise was so noticeable that I had to turn it off only after 15 minutes or so of operation. I could imagine this noise making the user a target of annoyed looks in a quiet lecture theatre, or a study area.


But overlooking this point, I must say that the screen is gorgeous. The relatively low resolution (1024x600) is well complimented by the small screen size, which means that visually, the screen renders crisp images, with barely noticeable 'jaggies' or blurriness. The backlighting is also very good, with the lowest setting still throwing a nice amount of illumination to the screen. Despite the wide-screen view, websites are easy to navigate, with only downward scrolling needed.
The keyboard is a good size, with good-sized shift keys one either end (an oft ignored aspect by other netbook manufacturers). Keys are comfortable to type on, and with time (and not being a touch-typist) I reckon I could get quite fast on it, despite the smaller size. The keys are a bit squishy, with the keys being slow to spring back after being depressed, but in any case, the keys register accurately and without any lag.
Unfortunately, while I would consider the Aspire One’s keyboard to be one of the better netbook keyboards I have used, I have to say that the touchpad would have to be one of the worst. The rectangular touch pad consists of the touch surface flanked by the left and right buttons on the side, instead of underneath as with other touchpads. This caused all manner of frustration for me, since I am so accustomed to using touchpads one-handed (usually for invoking the keyboard shortcuts with my left hand, while operating the cursor with my right). First of all, left-clicking using the dedicated button required the dexterity of a surgeon who does finger-yoga...however I managed to get around this obstacle by simply tapping on the touchpad itself, which in itself was quite usable and accurate. However, right-clicking proved to be an insurmountable obstacle, since my hand almost had to approach the touchpad from the north-east to even get my thumb in position to click the right button. To add insult to injury, both mouse buttons sit flush with the chassis and required a pretty hefty push, which was not always possible from the angle of my thumb, making it difficult to highlight text accurately because I couldn't maintain sufficient pressure over the left button with my thumb alone, and overall slowed down the act of activating context specific menu's via right-clicking. I seriously wonder how this touchpad design got past user testing (if any).


Programs
Fortunately, crapware is kept to a minimum, with google desktop, mcafee antivirus, and a trial of microsoft office being the only ones I noticed, so kudos for Acer for realising that its not a good idea to bog the system down anymore than it already is. Perhaps the only criticism I have, is in comparison to the linux version, the XP variant is missing the office and other tools that are present, but that only really affects those that are completely new to computing, which arguably is not the target market for the XP variant. All in all, on the software side, Acer keeps the MS install of XP home edition free from clutter.


Performance
I won't really touch on this because I've decided really early on not to keep the device, so I'm reluctant to install any software, and there are several reviews on the One that have already covered this, so I'll skip it. I will say that wireless performance is more than adequate (it identified and logged on to my home wifi network with ease) and webpages rendered quickly. Youtube videos work fine in both windowed and full-screen modes but moving the mouse causes it to drop frames immediately, and having the CPU at just under 50% probably has something to do with it. Taken as an indicator, I don't think multi-tasking will be a strong-suit of the One, though really, the small screen would really make that difficult to begin with anyway.
Sound from the bottom-firing speakers are not the best, but also not the worst sounding I've experienced from a laptop - suffice it to say that having the One on your shoulder boom-box style won't really be viable (or realistic anyway) or being the source of music for your neighourhood block party.


Battery life
The included battery is a thin block which is almost the length of the netbook, approximately 1.5cm thick, and sits flush with the chassis. While this makes the whole package aethetically pleasing, it does place limits on the battery's capacity, which ends up being a relatively paltry 2200mAH. Translated to real world usage, this means 2hrs of work with the screen at the lowest setting, and wifi turned off. Acer's decision to skimp on battery in this way is disappointing, because it severely limits the capacity of the One to work as a mobile device. Maybe my idea of target market serviced by netbooks is incorrect, but I thought the aim of having such compact laptops was so that they can be used on the go, part of which includes use in scenarios where access to cabled power is not available ie lecture theatres, and cafe's. With the battery life as is, the One would just make two 1 hour lectures before needing a recharge, less if some of that time involves use of wifi.

On that note, charging takes about 1min/1% of battery life when the One is being used, so with the stock standard battery, approximately 1hr and 40min are required to charge the battery from 0 to full - not bad, but certainly means that for continuous all day use, you'll have to be spending most of your day being plugged in.




Final thoughts
During my brief time using the One, I tried my hardest to love the device, and there certainly was a lot to love: looks, build quality, and computing performance were either on par, or better than expected for the price. However the misgivings with this device were just too obvious, probably emphasised by the attention to detail in the other aspects, and were things that I could not come to terms with, such as battery life, and that ruddy CPU fan noise! Its such a shame that the great detail to the design and execution of the chassis didn't extend to making a larger space for the battery, or having enough space to have a touchpad with the buttons in a more familiar position. To end on a positive note, I think that Acer has shown with the One that they are serious about their entry in the increasingly more crowded netbook market, and I hope that gen 2 of the One goes further in enhancing the usability of the device.

Living without a laptop for 5 days - not bad at all.

I reckon that its a pretty exciting time to be a geek - due to the rapid advances in battery and radio technology, being attached to a computer or the web no longer requires one to be sitting at a desk. Furthermore, computers themselves are getting smaller, and are now available in form-factors such as smartphones and mp3 players.


The no laptop challenge

With the smartphones and ipods being such capable internet devices, and with the majority of my web surfing needs not extending beyond basic websurfing and downloading the occassional podcast, I thought I'd set myself the challenge of leaving my laptop at home and relying on my smartphone and ipod during a 5 day conference in Adelaide earlier this year. So the first device I decided to bring was my smartphone, since a phone would be a must for safety as well as enabling contact with my work colleagues which were arriving on different flights. The phone also provided a source of 'reliable' internet access (based on the coverage maps of my provider), which I could use anywhere, and more importantly, at any time. The decision for leaving the laptop at home was made even easier by the fact that I didnt have to present anything this time around, so there really wasn't a need for the computing power of a full-sized computer. Sure my smartphone had powerpoint viewing software, and I could simply keep a copy of my talk on a usb stick, but I tend to be a little paranoid about things like presentations as it is without trying to add another variable to the mix. Anyway, in the end I decided to keep my gadget count to two - the smartphone and the ipod touch, both capable and extremely pocketable devices.


So armed with my smartphone (the Windows Mobile 6 based Dopod 838 at the time) and the first gen ipod touch, I headed off to the airport.


First off, I cannot tell you how liberating it is to not have to carry more than one bag into the plane, nor how much quicker it is to go through the baggage check - I think I even chuckled quietly to myself while watching the people around me trying to juggle their multiple bags in order to take out their laptops to place on the conveyor belts for scanning.

Also, this was around the ti,e when the airports had so many different rules on what you could and could not bring on board the plane with you, and I was adamant that I didn't want to have to check in any luggage, especially if my laptop was going to be in it. It turned out later that my worries were unfounded, but it was too late to do anything about it now.


Past the gates, I turned on my phone, and fired off a few work emails and a couple of tweets as I made my way down to the the boarding area, grabbing a slightly overpriced coffee and donut while browsing the news headlines on smh.com.au...ah, the wonders of mobile internet. as I walk past some internet kiosks littered around the airport terminals, and the people hogging access to them, I had another smug chuckle, then had a quick virtual window shop at some online stores. when i got to the terminal, I thought I'd save some of my mobile internet quota for when I actually got to Adelaide and had a quick war-drive for any free wifi...unfortunately there was only a for-pay hotspot provided by the Airport, so it was straight back on the mobile internet. When it came time to board, I just got up and continued surfing until I handed the boarding pass to the nice attendant, put the phone in my pocket and walked the ramp and boarded the plane without skipping a beat. Once my bag was in the overhead locker, I settled down on my seat, fired a couple of sms's, looked at what was happening on my twitter feed, and feeling so smug about the whole thing that I would probably punch myself in the face if I ever saw me. When it was time, I activated flight mode on my phone, and got my headphones ready for when we were in the air, and were allowed to use electronic devices again. This time, the ipod was my source of entertainment , which contained about 3 hours worth of podcasts that I'd downloaded over the air via wifi, thanks to an app called mobilecast (thanks to jailbreaking).


Once I touched down in Adelaide and got to the conference floor, the phone came in handy for the periods when I was feeling bored and a little anti-social, and in the evening, the free google maps app was handy for navigating around an unfamiliar city, using cell-tower triangulation to approximate my location, since my phone did not have gps. I think even I was amazed at how capable the Dopod was at fulfilling all of my computing requirements, including downloading a couple of podcasts over the mobile internet when I settled in at the motel.


at this point I should say that my use of the smartphone as a source of internet access over the ipod touch was less due to usability and interface factors, than it is by the fact that there is absolutely no free wifi to be had where I needed it to be in Adelaide...I probably could have looked a little harder, but because I had already signed-up and am paying for mobile internet, my laziness kicked, and I defaulted to using that full time. A few months later, I came across some software that would allow a windows mobile phone to act as a wifi hotspot, which would effectively allowed me to tether the touch to my phone...unfortunately I did discover this after the fact, and would probably just result in draining both my phone and ipod batteries quicker anyway, but good to know that its out there. Incidentally, I now have the symbian version of that program running on my current smartphone (the E71), and though i rarely use it, it does come in handy for when O need to access sites that dont work on the E71's in built browser, like hotmail for instance.


Anyhoo, for 5 straight days and despite being in a new city, I remained connected to the internet where I want, and when I want, and though I had to put up with starring at the world wide web through a small 2'8 inch screen, there was not a point during the whole time when I was lamenting my decision to forego the laptop. Can I also say that being laptop free allowed me to travel lighter during the conference since I'm too paranoid to leave anything valuable in my hotel room, which left more space in my schwag bag for, well, shwag of course :)


So as an epilogue to this post, I find myself increasingly turning to my smartphone and ipod touch when seeking to access the internet since that little experiment, and I find that my laptop is spending more and more time on my desk, and has been relegated to performing desktop tasks like video encoding, image manipulation and word processing. I probably should note at this point that this blogpost was written entirely from my E71 while lying in bed :), though I did upload it (and performed some minor changes) on a full-sized laptop.

Nokia E71 Review part 1: Unboxing photos

Okay, so technically this doesn't really count as a review since I'm only showing unboxing photos, but in the weird and wonderful way that my brain works, I've managed to write the second part of the review (camera performance) first, so I needed something to slot in as post to introduce the fact that I'm reviewing the E71.

For the sake of full disclosure, I paid for this device with my own money, having researched the device extensively for the past few days before I pulled the trigger, so if the review ends up a bit gushy, then its probably me trying to justify the purchase. Also, I'm not a professional blogger, or a professional anything that has to do with publishing in a format for 'normal' people to read, so my sentences will be convoluted and not properly formatted, so bear with me. Worse comes to worse, just look at the photos :) And awayyyy we go!

Nokia E71 review part 2: Camera performance

In this second part of my E71 review, I take a look at the camera performance, but not only as a device for taking happy snaps, but in its ability to work as a productivity tool.

Camera

The camera has a 3.2MP sensor, which doesn't really mean anything to me, since its not any carl zeiss optics, but it does make the images more usable when viewing on the device, or on the web. What I do like is that the camera has auto-focus, and what's more interesting, is that you don't necessarily have to use it. When you activate the camera, you can immediately take a photo by pressing the enter button in the middle of the direction pad – lag using this method fairly good, but don't except to catch any good photos of hyperactive pets or other fast-moving objects with this thing. However, if you want the camera to focus, you press the “T” button on the QWERTY thumboard, and the autofocus attempts to lock focus. Now I haven't tried this for far away subjects, but I find that the best implementation of cameras with a focusing ability is for taking close-up/macro images.

Now I know that comparing the performance of a chintzy, strapped on camera in a smartphone to that of a dedicated camera with proper optics is a bit unfair, but I really wanted to compare the feature of the E71's camera that I was most excited with, namely the autofocus.

But looking at E71's general performance, we can see the images have a definite blue cast (which I find to be a symptom of Nokia smartphones that aren't part of the N95 series), and items in bright sun are overexposed when you let the E71 control exposure (Fig 1). But with a slew of manual settings you can fiddle with (exposure compensation, white balance, and scene modes), you might be able to get a usable image for web use.

Figure 1: General camera performance

Now, as a macro-geek and information hoarder, I'm border-line obsessed with taking macro photos, as well as having electronic versions of hardcopy texts and whatnot. What I was hoping with the E71 is that the macro ability is good enough for me to jot things down on random pieces of paper, then taking a photo of it for storage on the E71. I am happy to say that in both scenarios, the E71's camera does a competent job.

Ignoring the blue cast of the pictures, we can see that in the two macro images I've taken, the sharpness in the E71 images aren't too bad, and doesn't seem to lag that far behind the dedicated camera in terms of autofocus ability. Note that for the sample images below (Fig 2) that I've taken a 500x500 pixel crop of the original images from the two devices, so the sensor MP differences are controlled for.

Figure 2: Comparing Macro capability of E71

In terms of taking photos of text, there is an obvious limit on how much you can fit in the one image, simply owing to the limits of the 3.2MP sensor. Another important factor is getting enough light onto the subject, in order to get quick enough shutter speeds to take care of camera-shake. But again, a competent effort that's good enough to make the camera useful as a tool. Again, examples are below (Fig. 3 for a closeup of 12point font, and Fig. 4 for an image taken of an A4 sized page).

Figure 3: Close-up of 12 point font

Figure 4: Macro image of an A4 page