Phones.com » Cell Phones » Review of the Nokia E90 Communicator

The Nokia E90 retains the block format of the previous Nokia 9500  communicator, however it manages to stay much more compact. The phone opens up like a notebook to unveil its large, unconventional 4" widescreen display and the full QWERTY keyboard. With its heavy-for-a-phone, 210 grams weight; and the large full-fledged keyboard, the Nokia E90 does feel like a mini notebook. The screen of the mini-notebook can be tilted for any angle or straightened out to 180 degrees with the keyboard. The metal hinges let the device screen stand straight anywhere between 100 and 180 degrees. Everything about the communicator felt high-tech and expensive, the design, craftsmanship and detail of the components. The keyboard was complete with numeric keys and backlighting control. The E90 even when closed, lets you do anything and everything on the front QVGA display and a full Nokia keypad. The beauty of the phone is its versatility, you can use it wherever you go, no matter what situation you're in.

The first thing we should mention about the E90 communicator is probably the inner widescreen display. It's a TFT LCD with a resolution of 800x352, capable of 16 M colors. We did find that the display produces sharp, bright and contrast-rich images that are a pleasure to watch. Web browsing, with Flash support was a total spoiler (in a good sense!), i mean we're tempted to get away from our notebook and browse leisurely on this device. The usual Gallery and Music Player applications of the Symbian changed their look to make use of the large screen of the E90. The E90 features an ARM11 330 MHz processor and 128 MB of RAM to handle multiple applications without hassle. The E90 supports a full-featured Email client, editing Office documents and viewing PDF documents; all of them add a new dimension to mobile productivity when tried out on the E90's splendid display and keyboard. The phone has 128 MB of memory for contacts, PIM and application data, and can be expanded through the microSD slot. The E90 supports SDHC cards, so expect 16 GB and the coming 32 GB cards to work as well as Nokia's stated 8 GB cards. The Maps application, Active Notes and other apps are powerful tools for business users on the move. On the multimedia side, the E90 supports powerful options to play back any media. There are stereo speakers on the device, and a 2.5" plug for Nokia's proprietary headset. The camera present on the E90 is a 3.2 MP with Auto-focus and Flash. It took perfect pictures and could even record VGA video at 30 fps. Clip size was limited only by amount of available storage. Inbuilt GPS, and Stereo FM radio are nice additions.

Nokia E90 comes with Quad-band GSM and WCDMA 2100 MHz connectivity. The phone supports simultaneous voice and data through GPRS/EDGE Class 32. HSDPA is supported on the 2100 MHz band, with download speeds up to 3.6 Mbps. The phone supported HSCSD but no Fax unlike the previous communicators. Coming to local connectivity, the E90 packs just everything available. Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP enabled, Infrared, and USB 2.0 with a mini-USB connector. The E90 supports WLAN networks on 802.11 b/g with WPA2 Enterprise and Personal security.

The Nokia E90 is quite a performer with its 1500 mAh battery. The phone is rated for a 6-hour GSM talk time and up to 14 days of standby. We found that the E90 is okay for two-days of moderate-heavy use. However not when working on the internal display, since the large 800x352 TFT burns a lot of power quickly.

The E90 is probably the only handset in Nokia's line-up that didn't see a price drop for about two years. It is expensive beyond doubt at over 600 dollars, but quite belongs there. The Nokia E90 communicator sure pays back every penny spent on it, by offering sheer performance for the speed-hungry mobile user.