So a few weeks ago (Oct. 21st to be exact) I attended the Engadget's reader meeting in NYC held at the very cool Espace. It had been a while since I went to a technology related event (o where have you gone digitallife). Nonetheless, my main reason for going besides a change of pace was to possibly get my mits on some of the current gadget offerings from the likes of Samsung, Sony Entertainment and Nokia.
As expected, I spent the majority of my time by the Nokia display table/ booth, after all one of the reasons I went to the event (besides liking engadget pieces) was the hope that the Nokia N8 would be available, which is pretty exciting considering the device had been released early october. On the first attempt, I was able to squeeze a mobile carefully by someone who was standing by the table in what seemed to be a trance, which she soon snapped out of once she noticed I had taken the large orange device that was resting to the left of her. In fact she turned around as I held this large aluminum bodied device in hand. It definitely had a nice heft to it (oo that quality weight).After I was done rattling the phone, I proceeded to unlock the hibernating screen. Instantly I noticed the very deep blacks that were being presented and how they contrasted warmly with vivid shades of orange/brown, yellow - in short the image and more importantly the screen looked fantastic. I was also became entranced with the device until I looked on the back. It was a small window where a dual LED wielding camera was placed. It read 8 MP camera. And I said what? this isn't the N8, and then it dawned on me...wait a second this screen is huge, this phone is heavy hmmm. Could it be?...let me look at the sides..I started pushing at the screen sideways when surprise!! a 4 row qwerty popped out. My excitement shot through the roof because I had been holding the Nokia E7, a business centered hybrid phone that Nokia has been hailing as the next best communicator.
Now let's step back a moment, I didn't realize what I was holding till I looked at the back. But honestly the screen should have given it away, so should have the center placed menu button. To my defense the Nokia N8 and the Nokia E7 share a similar design aesthetic. Either way , the clear black technology that Nokia is now using is really something else. The 4" Amoled screen was bright (but not overwhelmingly so) and displayed warm vibrant colors ( I guess the orange background picture also got the best of me). I can say this new technology really makes a difference considering when I finally picked up the "real" Nokia N8 I saw how much better the E7's display looked. So in sum the screen was great, the only thing I felt kind of uneasy( though very minimally) about was the fact that the screen was slightly wobbly inside the aluminum body ( the Nokia N8 did not have this issue).
The non auto-focus of it all- So it was definitely weird to half-press on a camera button and not have anything happen. In short the idea of a fixed focus camera took me a second to grasp. Literally, I couldn't take a decent shot (initially due to a camera lens plastic and smudge) but somehow the Nokia representative could. So my tentative conclusion is that the camera can take good pictures, but I would want more hands on time with the phone's ideally to test out the camera in various indoor and outdoor environments.
Dual Led in video recording. Unlike the N8,the Nokia E7 has a 2 led flash that it can use during video recording. Though great for illuminating whatever item you are filming 3 feet in-front of you, leds are highly disruptive. For the most part, most people don't enjoy having a light blaring down on them while they're trying to enjoy themselves. Then again it all depends on the event and the person. Eitherway, after some thought and hands on time with the N8 , I wasn't as annoyed that it did not include an Led video light.
Symbian -After having read and watched video reviews of the improvements made in this new rendition of Symbian, I wanted to see them for myself. The first thing I noticed with the E7 (And later with the N8) was how snappy it was. I moved smoothly through the homescreens and in and out of menu items with easy. As other reviewers have noted the keyboard layout was a little trippy thanks to an alterations in the key layout and screen retail during message writing. Specifically, more of the screen retail is used for displaying the text you are writing whereas before it was a smaller region. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before people start getting use to it. I know I can get use to the auto rotation in messaging.
On a final note: I was also impressed with the dialer.There was a letter rich dial pad, no more mentally figuring out what letters go with what numbers when calling 1800- htp -izza.
My first impression on the E7 - I left the Engadget's reader event more impressed with the E7 than with the N8 which I'll explain later in more detail. As a preview, I'll say part of it had to do with the good blending of the familiar and the new the device seem to achieve. The Nokia E7's large, elegant and responsive screen (much like the competition)matched with a N97-esq form factor (which I also enjoyed), a good keyboard, a high spec camera (Xperia X2 is the only other I can recall) and a host of features that are also present in some of other new offerings (aluminum body, penta-band, wireless N, bluetooth 3.0, same CPU, GPU) from Nokia -seem to be the right blend. Though my current job doesn't require such necessities, I can see the convenience of using this business centered device to take care of quick communications via text, email and notably create, edit and view documents with easy on this reasonably sized screen. Overall the E7 makes sense. I wonder how different will the Nokia N9 be from this.
In pt. 2 I will discuss my initial impressions of the Nokia N8 and how I was able to control my gadget lust.
Note: I currently own a bordeaux Sony Ericsson Satio U1a (Sony Ericsson's 12MP camera phone running Symbian S60 5th Ed. w. Sony Ericsson's own magic sprinkled throughout) so naturally I wanted to see how the new Nokia N8 stacks up against it and in what ways could I justify purchasing an N8.
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for the next one
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