Mobile phone reviews

If you are an executive in the market for a cell phone, Nokia’s E series offers the best bang for the buck. The E51 has a superb 2-inch display capable of 16 million colours. The resolution of 240 x 320 is very high for a small screen, so fonts appear sharp and crisp. In direct sunlight, the screen is completely legible-even at half the maximum  rightness! As compared to the E50, the new phone has a completely revised keypad with dedicated keys for contacts, Calendar, E-mail, and Home.This approach has its advantages: you can directly access essential information at thetouch of a button. The soft menu keys, however, are a pain to use-they are too small for comfort. The keypad is a delight to use-good tactile feedback, and the key spacing is immaculate. The rubberised keys for volume...

The N81 marks Nokia’s entry into music-related services similar to that offered by Apple (as in iTunes). Like the N73 and N95, the N81 comes in two editions-Standard and Music. The former has a memory card slot, while the latter has 8 GB of flash memory and no memory slot. The N81 is handsome-rounded edges, black lustrous finish, and you’ll notice the use of contrasting brushed silver on the edges. Build quality is excellent, and though the body has a plastic feel to it, it’s rugged, and should take the rigours of everyday life. The slider mechanism is taut, but we’ve seen better ones on Samsung phones (and lately, the Sony Ericsson W910i). The front facia is dominated bya huge,  arklingly-clear 2.4-inch display. The screen equals that on the N95 (which has the best...

As much as common sense tells us to avoid slider phones for obvious reasons as in moving parts, wear and ear-they’re hot! The E65 is red-hot (literally), and it’s available in mocha, too. The entirely matte-finished body offers good grip, and it manages to also look classy. Red-russet brown really-might not appeal to all, but the soft contours are nice. With Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, EDGE, and more, the E65 is a business-oriented device with some artistic flair. The number keypad is well-laid-out with raised demarcations on each key, similar to the N95-but remember there’s no QWERTY. Keypad backlighting is good. The 2MP camera and the music player are pretty ordinary. Pop the hood and it’s a symbian S60 9.1 device. Quick Office has been provided, but it’s Word and...

The successor to the acclaimed N95, this new incarnation just got better all round. The navigational console has been completely revamped. The oblong buttons are easy to use, and the directional pad is much better than that on the N95. The extra chrome on the buttons could have been avoided, we think-it picks up finger smudges and is likely to peel off. The number keypad is well-laid-out, but the hard-touch keys, combined with the slightly raised surface, makes finger-pad touch-typing a pain. The music player is feature- rich-you can shuffle and repeat tracks,there’s a functional equaliser, and a visualization function too. Audio quality seems to have improved over the N95. Music quality is decent on the supplied earplugs, and this phone is just great with better earphones! Sony Ericssonstill...