Nokia N73

After completing my second year of graduation, I was eagerly waiting to buy this phone as it was quite popular among my friends. Two years have passed since I bought my dream phone. It has been working very perfectly as it used to work two years before. I have a wonderful experience using this phone and would like to continue with this phone as much time as possible. I bought it for £ 220.

OUT OF THE BOX

From the box I got my phone, the manual, a mains charger, a USB data cable to enable connection to a PC, PC Suite CD (software to transfer files from/to the computer), a set of ear headphones (the ear canal types with rubber ear buds that sit inside your ears) and 2 GB miniSD Memory Card.

LOOKS AND FEEL

N73 has the black shiny cover which fits easily into the hands. The front is dominated by 2.4 inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) TFT color display with up to 262,144 colors. The screen is very huge, taking almost half the face of the phone, which pays dividends while viewing Videos and photos. The keypad is black in color, but the joystick part and four buttons around it are in silver color, which gives little shiny image to the phone. One camera is present in the front which is VGA camera that can be use for video calling.
On its left, it has volume changing buttons, shortcut button for opening the gallery. Adjacent to it, the button for clicking images and making videos are present.
On its right, it has infra-red connectivity slab, which helps in exchanging the data through infra-red.
Coming to the bottom of the phone, it has SD Mini memory card slot, charging point and a jack which has dual function, it helps in connecting the Mobile with PC through data cable and works as a jack-point of ear-phones too.
At the back of the phone, lie the main 3.2 mega pixel camera which has autofocus, flash and CMOS sensor and digital zoom up to 20X with a Carl Zeiss Optics, Tessar™ lens.
The phone contains speakers on its top as well as its bottom which helps in clear listening of the songs in loudspeaker mode.
The top of the unit has the releasing mechanism for the back cover to reveal the battery and SIM card.
With the battery inserted, the phone weighs a very modest 110 grams.

Navigating of menus within the phone is made easier with a small joystick placed in the centre of the phone. It is very useful, especially while editing text messages or emails. The main plus point of having the joystick is that it takes away the aggravation of pressing one button on your phone from backspace to where you need to edit or correct an error within your text, email or document.

MEMORY

The mobile has 44 MB of internal memory. However, much part of the internal memory is already being used by the Symbian 3rd generation Operating System and other system files, because of which only 24 Mb of free memory is left in the phone to be used by the user.
I got 2 GB miniSD external Memory Card with the set which can be inserted in miniSD slot in the phone to increase the memory. And for me it is very much wanted because I use to listen songs while travelling from home to office and vice versa. Also, I use to click so many photos of my friends and family, which I doesn’t want to delete from the memory card. So for all these purpose it’s a basic requirement. But still i wanted to increase the size of my card and then I browsed many sites to check what size of external memory it supports, but everywhere it’s being written that it supports upto 2GB only but some of my friends using the same model told me that they are not having any problem with 4 GB miniSD card too. Therefore, it can support 4GB external memory as I upgraded it in my phone with no trouble till now.
You can extract the miniSD without having to switch off the phone, because the slot is outside. It is on the bottom of the phone. But always use the standard method for removing the memory card. Select the memory and press "remove external memory", and wait for the message which will indicate you that your phone is safe to remove the memory card.
I do recommend everyone to install the software in memory card, leaving the internal memory just for contacts and normal phone use and try to use the phone memory as minimum as possible because the phone gets slow down as the phone memory starts getting full or I should say, the free memory space starts decreasing.

OPERATING SYSTEM

The N73 uses the Symbian S60 3rd Generation Operating System, so only the software for this operating system will work.
The softwares that work with this operating system includes J2ME software based on Java with extension .jar or .jad, Symbian s60 3rd generation programs with extension .sis or .sisx

APPLICATIONS AND BASIC FUNCTIONS

I wanted good looking phones which do the basics well. The phone has a load of extra features, such as photo and video capability, a maps facility, a music player and FM radio, games and web browsing using the Opera application. I will touch these specific features in detail below. I bought it primarily as a telephone and for music player or radio and that's how I basically use it most of the time.

CONTACTS

You can store a lot of information for each contact, such as different mobile numbers, telephone numbers, and addresses. You can also put a different picture for each one, and a voice tag, so that if that person calls you, you can see his / her picture on the screen and the mobile will say the name if selected. Or you can select a different ringtone for each contact. You can also add information such as birthday, website, e-mail address, the company, the job, the group, etc. You can send all this information through a business card to another phone via text message. The thing I liked most in contacts is that you don’t have to give particular name to each person’s number. You can include different numbers of a particular person under one name without filing different contact details.

CALLING

Making and receiving calls is very simple with this phone. Numbers can be entered using the keypad and adding them to contacts is easy. The phone allows you to assign a photo to each contact, so not only you can read who is calling you, you can see them at a glance as well. You can also assign specific ring tones to specific contacts so you don't even have to look at the screen to know who is calling you will just get know itself. The songs saved in your phone can also be used to assign as a ring tone. The sound quality of calls is excellent and clear with good signal strength. Volume control can be adjusted while on-call (from the joystick). Also, the speakerphone function does a great job both for the speaker and the listener without any sort of distortion. The voice is clearly audible to the listener even if we are talking using the handsfree.
When you are busy, you don’t need to worry about picking the phone to say “I’ll call you later”. In fact, you can send a message automatically if you are not able to pick the phone.

TEXTING

Managing the messages with the N73 is pretty simple. And I just love texting whether it’s a joke or something to tell your friends. Text messages are very easy to type, although sometimes the buttons seem a little small, but the joystick is very easy to use and move around the phone. There is a dictionary feature too that starts working as you enable it. It starts suggesting the next word as soon as you start texting a word. This thing really irritates me that’s why I keep it disable every time. You can create folders, receive delivery reports, and save the sent messages or drafts. You can save the messages into the phone memory or the external memory, and send messages to many contacts simultaneously. There is facility of mailbox also.

MUSIC PLAYER

The multimedia of this phone is just fantastic and the sound is really very clear, quite loud even without the earphones. You can access directly by pressing the button with the music symbol (present on the extreme right of the keypad). You can view your stored songs by selecting "all" from the list, or you can view them from the categories of artist, album, genre and composer.
If you are using the earphones that come with the mobile, and you want to change song, you can do it with the help of jack that comes along with the ear-phone. The jack works as the remote control when you listen to music using ear-phones. You can use any other application like messaging, etc while listening to the music running in the background. If you are listening to music and somebody calls you, the phone automatically switches to the phone call, and when you hang up, it switches back to the song you were listening to, in the same exact point. It also reduces the volume of the song for about two seconds when you receive a text and vibrates, if you have kept ON your phone’s vibrator.
N73 is compatible with mp3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WMA music formats.
The player comes with FM radio also which has many functions like Manual tuning, playing it in the background. You can store up to 10 FM stations. You can directly access the FM by pressing the music button for some seconds (present on the extreme right of keypad).

GALLERY

You can view the videos and sounds you have recorded, the videos you have stored, pictures, presentations you have created, etc. It also allows you to create albums, edit pictures or videos.
The video compatible formats include AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, RealAudio, Real Video, mpeg 4, .3gp, .mp4.
The music compatible formats include mp3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WMA.
The pictures taken can be edited with different options available like you can change the color, crop it and can put in different frames available with some effects, etc. The picture or video you want to share can be send with a single click, via MMS / e-mail or by Bluetooth, infrared or to a printer to print it.

CAMERA

N73 ME comes with 3.2MP (2048x1536 pixels) camera which has autofocus, flash and CMOS sensor and digital zoom up to 20X and a Carl Zeiss Optics, Tessar™ lens. The camera activates automatically once the sleeve o f camera is open. If we press the joystick, the picture mode can be changed into video camera mode and vice versa. You can do any type of customization you want, like the type of scene mode, flash you want. The timer facility is also present, but it cannot extend 20 seconds. There are a few little options to play around with, including quality, light balance, scene, frames etc. There is a facility of another camera too that is the VGA in the front, to make video calling or you can use it as a mirror too. As the flash is in the back, you don't have this option with the front camera. The length of video or number of pictures to be taken depends only on the free memory you have in your memory card at the time of clicking. The digital zoom is also there which is of no use for me as it distorts the quality. So better not use it.

WEB BROWSING

The Nokia has its own Web Browser installed in it which works very fine. You can even download some stuff from the Download gallery also. You can even use its Services facility too. You can install other web browsers like Opera Mini, UC Web for net surfing. The speed of the internet, which though depends on the network you are using, is very good. You can even book-mark the sites which you want to visit again. You can also connect the phone with your PCs or laptops via cable to use its internet facility.
But I would say its better if you use internet on this phone as minimum as possible, because for surfing internet, joystick comes into use and while excessive use of the joystick makes it either loose or its breaks down. So, beware of it!!
The phone supports WAP 2.0 and is XHTML and HTML compatible. It works with 3G technology and GSM. It can select the band automatically. But it is not WLAN compatible. Its network cannot catch Wi-Fi signal.

BLUETOOTH

The Bluetooth is easy to switch on and off and has all the standard features of pairing, hidden etc. You can name your Bluetooth like in any other phone. The transferring of files is comparatively fast without any trouble. By default the files taken via Bluetooth gets saved in internal memory card but that can be change manually to keep them saved in external memory card.

TOOLS

You have the options for connecting here, the profiles, the themes, the phone settings, the file manager, the applications manager (to install and uninstall easily), Theme setting, the phone settings, profile setting, voice communicator, PPT and many more. Little icons can be placed on the screens which then act as short cuts to various tools on phone

GAMES

N73 is one of the Nokia N series phones which come without any games. However, you can download games like Sudoku from the internet. I have downloaded many games like Sudoku, Formula 1 racing, FIFA, Harry Potter and many more. It works very well. The graphics are very good too.
But again, the frequent use of joystick in the games can lead to its break down.

APPLICATIONS

The phone has other features which you would expect to see on most phones - calculator, converter, alarm clock, stopwatch, tutorial for N73, real player, life blog, as well as Nokia Maps, which is specific to the handset manufacturer. The Maps function is a useful little aid which utilizes a GPS locator to help you navigate around and locate where you are (if lost). It also has pre-installed F-Secure antivirus, which though I don’t found reliable, so I deleted it. All the software which you install, are saved in Application Menu after installation. You can move the applications to your desired menu folders using ‘Move to folder’ option.

PROPER CLOSING OF APPLICATION

Remember to close the programs completely. Sometimes, when you open a program, and then you go to another one, the previous program does not close itself, it stays in the background. To check this, press the menu key for some seconds, doing this will bring the list of programs in the background, you just need to scroll down and close the applications you are not using. By default, it appear the phone as "standby" and the mp3 player, anything else is a program if you have left running without closing it.
You can close the running program by two ways: either go to the program you are using, and close it from there or press the menu key, go to the program you want to close and click ‘C’ button (placed on the extreme right on keypad).

OFFICE

The mobile includes some inbuilt software, for example, Quick Office (just like Microsoft Office), Adobe Reader for reading PDF files, convertor, notepad, and calculator.

BATTERY

It is compatible with Battery Model BP-6M which has very good battery backup. I am using internet on mobile for last 1 and half year and I have experienced many times that it can last for 6 hours if you are surfing net on the phone or using its Bluetooth feature. And when I use the mobile for music purpose for a little time then it lasts around 11-12 hours. But if I use for basic purpose only that is for receiving or making calls then it lasts for around two–three days without charging. So carry you charger according to your need or a USB if you are out so that you can charge it via any computer.
I must say it has very good backup as far as I have experienced.

SOFTWARE UPDATE SERVICE

The phone can be updated by the user directly, by downloading Nokia Update Service Software from the Official site of Nokia. It's a process that takes up to 1 hour on a 768Kbps DSL connection (23Mb the installer, and about 70Mb the phone firmware). It can save you from the charges which Nokia Customer Care takes, if your phone is not in warranty. Even if it is in warranty, Customer Care employees keep it for at least 1 day, which is like hell for me as I can’t live for even a single day without this phone.

OTHER THINGS

There are a number of profiles you can use (general, loud, silent and many more) which allow for heavy customization. All the profiles can be used from the shortcut. Just click once on the button placed on the top of the phone, in between the top speakers. It is an ON/OFF button of the phone. You can even select the case here before removing the memory card without switching OFF the phone.

The screen shows signal strength, battery level, date, time and network, Bluetooth, 3G and hands free status. It can be customized by going into the phone settings in TOOLS menu.

The phone has the option of putting it on “OFFLINE” mode. It can be put from 2 ways: Either by changing the profile by going to TOOLS menu or by clicking once on the top of the phone which has ON/OFF button in between the speakers. This disables the RF signal which means you will not able to make or receive calls and text messages, but enables you to listen songs, take the pictures, play a game, etc. It means you can do all the other things except making and receiving calls and texts.
This feature can help you while you are in Hospital or any place where you can’t receive the call or you want nobody to disturb you.

The phone contains very good themes which looks very stylish, when applied on the phone. Once, they must be tried definitely on the phone. I like the Waveform and Stave theme most, out of the default themes. Stave theme is the default theme, which comes applied from the factory itself. You can also download the themes from internet, to make your phone look more stylish.

THE MANUAL

Nokia consistently produce intuitive, easy to read manuals and this one is no exception. It is well structured with a basic "Getting Started" guide at the beginning which walks you through customization and set up, followed by step-by-step instructions for using all of the additional functions. However, Nokia have not included any of the technical specifications in the manual, for which you can surf their website http://www.nokia.com for further required information.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE PHONE

My personal experience has been very awesome with the phone. It is very easy to use. It has no complicated functions. The 3.2 MP camera with Carl Ziess Optics gives very good clarity to the photos. Its video quality is quite fantastic as compared to other phones. It has been such a wonderful experience while clicking photos and making videos. But if I use it at night the picture gets blurred. The whole background of the image gets affected and becomes hard to identify a person in the picture clearly, I must say. As I said above that the digital zoom is not up to the mark while clicking the photos or making a video. As the zoom increases, picture gets distorted. The phone speakers are very good as I have mentioned above too. The phone is specially made for music lovers as it’s the music edition one. You can clearly and very loudly listen to the song even without using the ear-phone.
I am doing mobile internet surfing on this phone for last 2 years and it has been a wonderful experience for me. The surfing is so smooth. I have faced no problem while surfing internet on the phone, till now. Nokia web browser is good enough for surfing the websites. Even if you do not want to use Nokia Web browser, you can download Opera Mini browser from the internet.
Only once, I had to face the problem with the phone. During the last year, while transferring the data from the laptop, the virus from the laptop also got transferred to the mobile phone. Initially, I didn’t come to know about the virus attack, but as I observed that my phone has slowed down, I doubted about the virus attack. But till then, it got very late and the virus had already entered into my phone. So, it was necessary for me to update the software. Otherwise, in future, there would be the possibility, the phone can breakdown at any time. So, I upgraded my phone software right from my home by downloading the Nokia Software Updater from the Nokia website http://www.nokia.co.in. As a result, the virus got vanished, and from that time onwards, my phone is functioning perfectly.
Yes, one more thing I would like to discuss is related to the joystick. Over the time, the joystick gets loosen due to regular use of it. Even many of my friends had to change their phone’s joystick from the Customer Care as it got broken due to very frequent use of it like while playing games or while surfing internet. But, my phone’s joystick is working perfectly fine. Although, it has got loosen little bit, but I never had to panic to change it as of now. I would suggest you to use the keypad buttons more while playing games instead of joystick.
Overall, my phone has been working fine since I have bought it and I am very happy for using this phone and would like to continue with it for some more time.
Frankly speaking, in future I would never like to give away this phone. I think it is the best buy I have done in years. But even if I would have to give it because of getting so much old, I will give it with very brave heart. :(

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Nokia N73 is a complete phone, with almost everything someone who's on the go can ask. I am very much pleased and happy from this phone. I use to take pictures of my near and dear ones. It is a worthy substitute for camera during the get-together as it is very portable to use with 3.2 MP camera. Listening music on the phone is just like my daily routine. It is a great phone with lot of excellent features. The price of this phone is quiet reasonable & the look of the mobile is awesome. It is an excellent traveling companion, thanks to its awesome battery backup for listening music, playing games, clicking photos, making videos and many more. It’s well worth the price for what it can do.
I am proud to be the owner of this unique phone.