One of Nokia's latest additions to the business-orientated ESeries, the E65 has rightly been styled to attract a more polished user class. Don't let looks alone fool you, though, for this quad-band slider in a sexy shell packs 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity with business features galore. For a phone this size, don't expect any onboard QWERTY keyboard. But if it's a compact handset you're looking for with the ability to read Office documents and check emails, the E65 might be a worth choice.
Appearance and design105 x 49 x 15.5 mm;
weight: 115g.
The E65 has a sliding front fascia and the soft leather backing is reminiscent of a premium economy airline seat. This outer styling is combined with a mere 115g weight, 105x49x15.5mm dimensions and a QVGA resolution display. All these combined meant it slipped easily and unobtrusively inside a jacket pocket. The phone comes included with a velvety carrying pouch, which is astonishing. But the trim is not the only thing highlighting unconventional style of the E65 – turning the handset around reveals leather-like surface of the battery cover. The plastic quality is good, in some places the finishing is something between soft touch and standard plastic coating. However the surface proves to be prone to mechanical effects, specifically the area next to the “pencil” key wore off due to the phone being put in one pocket with keys once. At the same time, while not in such extreme conditions, the E65 won’t expose these scratches. The chassis is painted into the same color.
Keypad
In hand, the E65's sliding mechanism feels solid. Sliding up the top lid reveals the 3-by-4 keypad array beneath which is a comfortable size for one-hand typing, although hitting the bottom row requires a little stretching of the thumb.
Numeric keys are pretty soft to press and bulky, which makes handling them a breeze. All keys are evenly lit in white. The Backlighting is not particularly very bright but rather comfortable. What I didn't fancy were the Left/Right selection, Menu and Clear keys which are a little too thin horizontally, making it hard to feel for the buttons. I also mistook on many occasions the Conference key for the Left selection button and the My Own key for Menu, which only added to the frustration. The back cover exposes no gap, removing it you will find a hot-swappable microSD memory expansion slot on the right.
Additional buttons
Aim at voice services has called to life 4 special keys around the navigation pad, using these while at the standby screen or calling, allows one-touch access to the phonebook, merging active calls into a conference and starting it. During a call you can disable the microphone with a flick of a dedicated button. The last button found on the casing is called My Own, which means you can assign it to any feature or application. On the right spine is a dedicated sound recorder button, volume rocker and Edit key. The power button is located on the top end of the E65.
Sizes, Ports and Slots
The E65 uses a Pop-port, located at the bottom of the device; I would have preferred to see a mini-USB port, but the necessary (mono) headset and PC cable will be provided in the box so the majority of business users will be not be too concerned.
Display
TFT, 240х320, 16.7 million colors
The handset utilizes QVGA display (240x320 pixels, 2.2 inches, 34x45 mm), capable of 16 mln. colors (TFT). Much like other Nokia’s offerings, theE65 comes installed with a mirror layer for the display, making its usage in the sun a bit more like a breeze, and keeping the picture perfectly legible, which is especially vital for navigation mode. Also the handset carries ambient light sensor, which adjusts backlighting level basing on current light conditions.
Camera
2Mpx, Video, ZOOm,
Just like many S60-powered devices, the E65 houses a 2 Mpix CMOS-camera manufactured by Toshiba.
Using the settings you can pick one of the following image resolutions – 1600x1200, 1152x764, 640x480 and 320x240 pixels. The pictures quality varies from High to Basic, with Normal as a happy medium. The Sepia, Black&White, Negative overlays help you to alter color settings. Digital Zoom can be activated by leaning the navigation key, but in the end you won’t be happy with it, as the bundled editor gives you an opportunity to zoom in the picture in the view mode with the better quality of image.
Video is recorded in quite mediocre quality. The 320x240, 176x144 and 128x96 pixels resolutions at 15 FPS are available, the E65 saves all clips in .3GP files, and some of them may have the sound turned off – it’s up to you to decide. As for the time limit, they are non-existent now, except the MMS-mode.
Menu
Powering the E65 is the Series 60 3rd edition operating system, with various business and collaborative software such as Quickoffice and Team Suite preinstalled. What the Nokia Team Suite does is manage a group of people, or contacts, into "teams". For example, you can select some of your colleagues to form a team and you can then call either the whole team or to selected team members.
The E65 is not entirely without multimedia goodies. The installed RealPlayer plays your MP4 files while the onboard Music player croons your MP3/AAC tracks. Disappointingly, there's no FM radio. There is also a Flash application and Gallery where you can browse through all your media files using a tabbed interface. If you're up for it, there are several other trial programs which you can download via Nokia Catalogs, such as Digitizer, F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus, Psiloc Wireless Presenter and Wayfinder Navigator.
Messaging is a key selling point of the Eseries range of devices and the E65 is no exception. The phone supports push email services from Nokia (Intellisync), Microsoft (Exchange), Blackberry (Blackberry Connect), Good (Mobile Messaging) Visto, and more. Clearly, with the absence of a QWERTY keyboard the E65 becomes more of a read only email device, although short replies are possible using the number keypad.
Imaging
2 Megapixel camera
Digital Zoom
Multi Shot
Camera Settings
Video Recorder
Video Player
Video Streaming
Video Calling
Wallpapers
Screensavers
Caller Identification with Image
Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
MMS Distribution List
SMS Distribution List
Email (POP, IMAP, SMTP & IMAP4)
Email with Attachment
Instant Messaging
Predictive Text
Sound
Music Player (MP3 & AAC)
Audio Streaming
MP3 & MIDI Ringtones
Talking Ringtones
Voice Recording
Voice Commands
Voice Dialling
Vibrating Alert
Volume Control
Entertainment
Java™ Games
Downloadable Games
Embedded Games
Organiser
Calendar (Weekly View)
Phone Book
Notepad
Alarm Clock
To Do List
Calculator
Timer
Converter
Nokia Team Suite
Symbian Operating System
S60 3rd Edition Software
One Touch Access Keys (Mute, Contacts & Conference Call)
Conference Call
Internet Call over WLAN
Handsfree Speaker
Connectivity
3G
Pop-Port™
USB
Infra Red
Bluetooth™
WCDMA
WLAN
Network
Quad Band (GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)
WCDMA 2100
Internet
HTML Nokia Browser
XHTML
Memory & Talk Time
50 Mbytes Memory plus MicroSD™ Card
6 Hours Talk Time
265 Hours Standby
Weight & Size
115 g
105 x 49 x 15.5 mm
Pluses
Wonderful screen
Numerous connectivity options
Office applications
Good battery life
Minuses
No camera flash
No FM radio
Only 2MP Camera
No camera flash
Conclusion
The E65 may not have the glamour of the E90 or the popularity of the E61i, but it should not be underestimated. It is a reasonably well specified, but competitively priced enterprise focused device, which is ideal for office workers looking for strong voice features and a read only mobile email solution. Outside of the enterprise focus, the multimedia features are mediocre in comparison to Nseries phones, but they're still better than much of the competition. Thus the E65 may also appeal to general consumers as its size and design will attract those looking for a little extra from their day to day phone.
