I had been looking out for a new cell phone since my Nokia 5320 conked off and my Nokia 2700 was flicked. After going through a lot of options, I decided to stick to something that operated on Symbian S60 3rd Edition software; however I also wanted a Blackberry.
After deciding that Blackberry had a user interface I simply could not work with daily, I set about finding something similar made by Nokia. With a friend of mine having an E71, I thought I would go and look about getting one for myself, and that is when I spotted the Nokia E63 for Rs.9000/- and bought it as it had everything I wanted at a brilliant price. Now the Nokia E71 is a powerful phone (not to mention expensive for my pocket too). So it’s the price factor where the Nokia E63 enters, firstly the looks and physical features.
The Nokia E63 has a plastic look with a matte finish; the E71 has a metallic look which makes it look much classier. The metallic look is also a fingerprint magnet and this problem is automatically solved in our Nokia E63 phone. I bought the phone from Mobile Store. The phone has a similar keyboard with a small exception; the spacebar key is smaller than your E71 and allows you to start the flashlight instantly. The smaller spacebar is in fact a hindrance to typing if you have big hands like me. Other than that the E63 lacks GPS; you can however pair up the Nokia E63 with a Bluetooth GPS device.
When you explore the phone further, you see many more changes as compared to the Nokia E71. A change on the back cover is very apparent, the Nokia E71 has a steel back cover held in place by a press down switch while the Nokia E63 uses a lock mechanism which I believe is kind of better and much easier to operate. One feature retained is the small light around the middle button which flashes on missed calls and other notifications, it looks very classy.
The QWERTY keyboard is extremely good, with each button having a nice solid click to it; the click is audible however the person next to you won’t hear it. Spelling mistakes are not going to be an issue as it’s hard to press the wrong key due to the raised centre of each button.
The call quality is fantastic as is the music quality; the phone is very loud when ringing however vibration could be a bit stronger.
This phone is feature rich and very secure with its remote locking feature. It has e-mail and contact sync built in as well as hundreds of apps available from Nokia’s OVI store. Customizing the interface is easy with plenty of changes that can be made. The camera is decent at 2.0 megapixels with a two-stage flash, which at the second stage is extremely bright.
The E63 is bulkier than the E71 and heavier, that is a turn off to a lot of people especially when your friend takes out his E71 and you see the shiny sleek metallic body which is smaller than your E63 and has more features.
There is a difference in internals also, I found slipping in the SIM card an ordeal, initially the SIM Card would only go in half way into the Nokia E63 and the manual surprisingly had no instructions at all on the whole thing. After searching the internet I realized it’s a common problem, the SIM card has to be pressed a little and then pushed inside for it to go in all the way.
As far as the software interface goes, there are a few improvements with the newer Symbian version. But one annoying thing is that unsigned applications are prohibited by default, really a big time waste, shut it down in application options to be able to install all kinds of applications which are signed or unsigned.
I also noticed a better and more useful switch application. The YouTube and Facebook links on the desktop are a pretty big plus. The 3G will ensure you get good data speeds and the Wi-Fi is also pretty reliable like the Nokia E71
Battery life tends to be a day for me as I spend a lot of time on the internet and on the phone; however I have experienced four days with occasional use.
All in all both the Nokia E71 and the Nokia E63 are awesome phones and worth every penny you spend on them. If you don’t mind a slightly bulkier phone with no GPS and would like to save some cash along the way too, Nokia E63 is the way to go
