Nokia N70 > Reviews (140)

Usually once a year there comes a time when we get all excited and yet nervous, it's a bit like Christmas, will we get what we want or will it be a big disappointment and we'll have to wait til next year and start over again...yes its time to chose a new phone!! Having finally decided to go for a Nokia N70 in January this year, for reasons of versatility over my existing Nokia 6230, stylish looks, more megapixels for the camera (2 mp), it was actually really difficult to get hold of.

It's quite hard choosing a phone just from seeing a dummy one or reading the specs but this time I read a few reviews as well. At first they made me more confused - so is my review going to help anyone I ask myself?! I think they helped me when I read a good selection to get a good cross section of views. They helped me to see what bugged other people and to ascertain whether I would find the same things annoying or being able to live with them. For instance quite a few people had a big problem with the sliding panel at the back of the phone (which turns on the camera function), becoming loose and opening on its own. (I have never had this problem.)

Both my partner and I wanted to continue with O2 on contracts but this was where the problems started, O2 shops everywhere had no stock of the phone and were very unhelpful when we tried to order one. We were told they had no idea when the N70's would be coming in so we'd have to ring every week to see if they had any which isn't really good enough. Approaching other high street shops meant we'd have to pay for the phone which wasn't a good option compared to staying with O2 on an approx £45 per month contract. We started to wonder if there was actually something wrong with the handsets that did exist as the phone was much more scarce than you'd normally find. My partner was persistent however, and eventually got one after going in O2 shops as many times as he could. I didn't have the time or inclination for that so in February I ordered it (as it turned out very easily) from O2 online instead, on an 18 month contract. Im not sure if it's still difficult to obtain the phones now in May but if it is I can recommend O2 online.

The Phone
The N70 is one of the new S60 symbian devices which is like a small computer plus a mobile phone. It comes with: a 64MB Multi MediaCard, adapter for normal size MMC slots, Nokia stereo headset HS-3 (which twists itself in knots!), battery, travel charger AC-4, connectivity cable (USB), CDRom, user guide and add-on application guide.

Initial thoughts
Blimey this is a bit different from the norm but I love it!! I like the grey/silver cover, the weight is fine - not too heavy nor too light (126g). It has a nice, bigger than average sized screen for pictures and menu options (main colour display: 176x208 pixels, up to 262,144 colours). I must get a case to protect my lovely new phone!!

Using the phone
Very easy to insert the memory card (one comes with it and is now handily inserted in a compartment on the side of the phone rather than having to open it up).

Easy to start up the phone and make calls but the keypad layout is a bit different from the usual Nokia set up. It took me a while to get used to this but I admit I didn't read the manual, just wanted to get a feel of it straight away. For instance I went straight to the central button in the middle of the phone to access the menu but you actually access it from one of the top left side buttons which has a symbol on it bearing no resemblance to anything (in my mind). It also took me a bit of getting used to the texting function which is also a bit different from normal. I kept pressing the top right button to delete text mistakes but this key is the close option. It's also very easy to press a function key on the right by accident when you're texting and it whisks you away to the gallery, although you can easily get back to the text I find this annoying. However, once you get used to it it's fine and easy to use.

Menu Options:
Messaging, Contacts, Calendar, Radio, Gallery (which includes photo and mp3 access), Imaging, Clock, Web, My Own, Connect, Office, Tools. I don't think that the menu options have been particularly well thought out. As you use the phone you find there are things you cant get at quickly and options that just don't need to be in the main gallery such as the Clock which could easily be located within another option. Similarly Web could be in the same place as Connect. It just means that finding what you want to do does take a bit longer on top of the actual time the phone takes to do things which can be quite slow and frustrating. It took us a while to realise that to add a wallpaper you have to go Menu, Tools, Themes, open the theme you have installed, Edit and change the Wallpaper. Having said all this it's what the options do as much as where they're positioned and that's all good! You can do some great things on the phone and even after 3 months I'm still finding new things.

Functions:
There's a lot to cover under this section and I can't do it all justice so I am bringing attention to the features I particularly use and like and then listing others, a complete list of specifications for the phone can be found at nokia.com as well.
Imaging and Video function is great. The camera is 2 megapixel with 20x digital zoom and flash. Settings include: scenery, portrait, night, sports modes, self-timer, white balance settings and colour tones and a Movie Director for automated video production. There is a dedicated shutter key but I always tend to use the middle button instead. Im not sure if the shutter panel on the back of the phone will last the distance. You can transfer photos directly to you PC or compatible printer via Bluetooth, MultiMediaCard (MMC) or directly to PictBridge-compliant printer via USB cable. You can make two-way video calls which is handy if you know someone else who has one but I found the novelty died off a bit after the initial face pulling sessions. You can also share videos and if you get the chance download some software from Facestore.

com to give a whole new meaning to your text messages! (Very funny ways to manipulate a photo and give it a voice all of it's own). (I think it costs between £5-£10).

Messaging: All the usual functions SMS, picture messaging, video messaging and predictive text.

Music: You can download and play multimedia files (video and music.) Formats include: MP3, AAC, Real Audio, WAV, Nokia Ring Tones.

Memory: to be honest you aren't supplied with much memory and the minute you start downloading music, take photos, games etc you will need to buy a larger memory card. You can currently buy anything upto 1GB but be careful you get the exact card for the phone as many cards, even from phone shops will not work. After much searching I bought a Nokia 1 GB MMC Mobile Card MU-13 which is a reduced size, dual voltage (1.8/3.0 V) card (about £61 + p & p from http://shop.nokia.co.uk).
Visual Radio: Do occasionally listen to the radio and get good reception but apparently you can interact with radio stations as well!

Connectivity: via bluetooth and you're provided with a USB cable which I prefer to use. It can be temperamental sometimes but is quite easy to use when working and the phone comes with a CD Rom to download Nokia Suite so you can easily transfer music, pictures, files to and from the PC.

Web: WAP 2.0 XHTML/HTML multimode browser. Java enabled. I've found it easier to use than on my old 6230 but still prefer my PC. However for those who don't have everyday access to a PC it can be invaluable and there are some good sites to visit now.
Fun stuff: I like being able to download themes for my phone either via wap or go on the PC and download it from there. Themes add wallpapers and change the menu options to fit in with the theme - say for example a Lord of The Rings theme makes them sort of look all olde worlde. There are loads of games, ringtones, graphics and interesting stuff you can download. Im not going to go through it all here as I'm not into the games so much but it's all out there and quite a lot of it free. My particular recommendation as I said is the Facestore package.

Could do better:
Menu options as I noted earlier. I've noticed the phone scratches very easily and it's very annoying when this happens but you can't help it. I keep thinking my earrings will scratch it as well.

I think that Nokia should really provide a much bigger memory card as what's the point of such an intelligent phone without the memory?

I find I have to charge the phone every night which could sometimes be a problem.

And finally it can be slow even to do simple things like open the music gallery or go into the picture gallery. It doesn't annoy me too much now but I've got a feeling it will in 6 months time.

Conclusion: If this is the start of the new generation of phone I can't wait to see what comes out in the future!! I think this phone is great and it's advantages far outweigh the niggly things about it. I am very pleased and certainly not disappointed but I'm glad I did read the reviews beforehand because I felt aware of what potential problems there might be with it and have been able to perhaps accept them better as a result. A very enjoyable recreational phone.