Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Nokia N73, a personal review

If you own any other mobile phone, please don't be offended by what is written here. This mobile phone happens to suit my personal taste and preference. What I am writing about stems from my fascination for, what is IMHO, a well designed gadget.

Fist of all, the candy bar design, well suited for singlehanded operation, is equipped with a centrally-placed navigation button. Thus, using either just the left or the right hand, one can easily operate all the functions. A touch screen would have required both hands to operate. The camera is switched on and ready to operate by sliding the back cover open... even when the keys are locked. The screen is large and the size is just right. Any bigger, the phone would be uncomfortably large for most people. Yes, the camera takes great pictures and the screen has great resolution. The matt surface on the body is just right; it feels good to the touch and leaves no finger prints. Although this phone has been in the market for 3 years, I find many of the newer phones seem to have lost these desirable attributes.

In terms of software and CPU speed, perhaps the N73 could use a faster CPU speed as chip technology must have improved a lot since 2006. However, switching between functions is fast enough for me (considering the small sticker price). The menus are intuitive and all keys and functional buttons are well positioned. Last but not least, I am able to download free apps that run on the N73's Symbion OS9.1 operating system. I have just installed a free Sudoku game and a complete KJV Bible. I have replaced the 128MB miniSD with a 2GB one that costs just AUD$18 and memory space is now practically unlimited. What a deal!

No comments: