Physically the E62 is a nice package. Weighing in at 5 ounces the phone is only slightly heavier (less than an ounce) than the Motorolla "dumb phone" it replaced. In fact, I can hardly tell the difference between having the E62 in my pocket (or on my belt) than having my old v551 with me. The E62 has a beautiful 320x240 screen that is more than large enough for about any PDA-esque task you could dream of (including web browsing, but we'll get to that later). The thumb-board is by far the phone's best physical feature. The keys are large and generously spaced. Making it easy to use, even for those with large hands. The layout of the keyboard is well thought out and works well as a messaging device, unlike the Blackberry 8700g which does not have many symbols that are necessary for an email based device (like the @ or the period) accessible without the use of modifier keys. Size-wise the E62 is about the size of the average PDA (give or take). It is comfortable both to use as a PDA and a phone. Battery life is acceptable on the phone, with the battery lasting about 3-4 days with moderate use (a few short calls a day and checking email on 3 accounts every 30 minutes to 2 hours, with minimal web surfing), though long phone calls and extensive data or bluetooth usage will cause those numbers to drop drastically. (Nokia lists the battery specs as being 7 hours of talk time and 11 days of standby.) I do have some gripes with the phone though. First, the voice record button on the side of the phone is ridiculously easy to press, which leads to many unwanted recordings (this has been fixed on the E61, the E62's European cousin, through a firmware update and can be dealt with on the E62 via an automatic key-lock application or by manually engaging the key-lock). Second, the MiniSD card slot is located under the battery cover, requiring the removal of said cover every time you want to swap memory cards. While this only effects users who will be swapping cards a lot, I can really see this being a pain if you loaded up a few cards with music or movies to entertain yourself while traveling. Other than those two small complaints, the E62 is physically an excellent device.

As a phone the E62 is great (which is a good thing since being a phone is one of the devices primary functions). A quad-band GSM phone, the E62 should work almost anywhere in the world your travels take you. Call clarity is excellent and the number of available volume settings should be able to please anyone. As I said before holding the E62 as a phone is very comfortable, though some people may want to use a headset if they are self conscious about holding a large rectangle to their heads. A nice addition to the standard phone features is the E62's ability to dial letters as well as numbers, making dialing "vanity numbers" (i.e. 1-800-BUY-TOYS) insanely easy. The only thing holding the E62 from perfection is the lack of support for the newer high-speed data services (like HSPDA or EVDO), though the phones GPRS connection does get the job done (just not as quickly).

From a software standpoint the E62 is well equipped. Running on the Symbian Series 60 v3 platform, the E62 is solid. In the time I have been using the the phone I have never experienced a crash or other software related glitch (something many Treo owners complain about). Out of the box the E62 comes with a decent array of software, including a MS Office compatible productivity suite (word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation) as well as other useful applications such as a PDF reader, mail client, media player, a nice PIM suite, and the best web browser I have used on any handheld platform. For those interested in push email, the E62 supports a wide variety of options including the popular Blackberry service. The only applications that would have like seen included is a password safe and a better currency converter that auto loads exchange rates from the Internet. Though, both of these problems can be solved with third party software. As far as the availability of third party software, users who have been using Palm or Windows Mobile devices will notice that their is not as much software available for the platform (though that's not to say that there is not plenty of quality software available). One thing to note with the Symbian platform is that free or open source software is almost nonexistent, so be prepared to lay down some cash for any add-on software you may want.

Overall the E62 is a great device and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a convergence device. The E62's extremely low price point ($99 from Cingular with a 2 year contract) combined with its excellent functionality make it an excellent choice new and seasoned smart phone users alike. For those that are interested the E62, I do strongly recommend getting an unlimited data plan as it is very easy to run up quite a bit of throughput while using the device. Unfortunately the E62 is currently only available from Cingular (sorry T-Mobile subscribers). For being a well rounded, full featured device with a bargain basement price point I give the Nokia E62 4 out of 5 G's.

Geek In Gear Rating:

Nokia E62 Product Page
reviews, mobile phones, Nokia E62