Nokia E65 review

One of the problems with huge mobile phone screens is that they leave little room for a decent-sized keypad. Nokia's E65 gets around this with a keypad that slides out from under the screen.

The E65 is a very good-looking phone. It's compact and slim, and its rounded edges and textured back make it comfortable to hold. The phone feels well made, although the keypad doesn't have such a smooth slide action as Samsung's D900. The keypad is very easy to use, as the keys are large and raised in the middle for easy typing. The directional keypad works well, but it's hard to press the two 'soft keys' under the screen without hitting the contacts buttons beneath them.

The E65 runs the latest version of Nokia's Symbian Series 60 smartphone operating system. It's easy to use, and you can access the phone's main functions such as contacts, calendar and the web from the phone's home screen.

This phone also makes it easy to connect to the Internet. There's a wireless networking option on the home screen, and you just have to search for a wireless connection, select it and connect, and the phone will automatically set the wireless connection as your Internet access point. If you aren't near a wireless hotspot, it doesn't take long to download web pages over the phone's 3G data connection.

The E65's web browser is superb. It renders most pages perfectly, keeping the formatting the same as it would be on your PC. You use a cursor to navigate rather than scrolling through lists of links, so it's far easier to use than most mobile browsers. The phone has its own email client which works with POP3 and IMAP mail servers, and it can view Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents as well as PDFs.

Like most Nokias, the E65 offers superb call quality. Its integrated 2-megapixel camera has no flash, but pictures taken in daylight showed accurate exposure and vibrant colours.

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Author: Chris Finnamore