Nokia N73 ... and Nokia!

If you want an honest review of the Nokia n73, then you've come to the right place. Were looking at this from the slight stance of a professional and maybe a student. Lets get down too it, this phone is nothing new, and other "Smartphones" in its range have a lot more innovation that Nokias new competitor, really just keeping up with the game.

Weighing a mere 116g and measuring just 110 x 49 x 19mm, you could easily think the N73 is a pretty standard handset. But it is in fact brimming with features. It runs on Symbian S30 v3 and sports all that the operating system has to offer. Now, just like the 6230i, it has nearly every feature you can pack in to it for the price.

The case is large however, mainly because of a large screen but it also sports a disappointingly small keypad, although it has a nice solid feel to it, with the majority of controls limited to a slightly-extended keypad on the bottom third of the front. It has a nice solid feel to it, with the majority of controls limited to a slightly-extended keypad on the bottom third of the front. It's smart enough for the most executive boardroom, to replace the 6230i, although there are better options from competitors out there; but this is a nice addition yo Nokias Range.

Its not without typical Nokia problems or a relatively weak case, crashy software and slow boot up and menu rendering, and the Nokia Traits of running all the capabilities of the Symbian OS (Like the 6230i) with a good screen and good spec on paper with its phone, which isnt bad by todays standards.

Nokia includes the QuickOffice document readers for Word, PowerPoint and Excel as well as a PDF reader just in case you want to do some serious reading work on the 2.4-inch screen. Frankly, though, if you are interested in that kind of activity to a serious degree you should be looking at a Smartphone with a far bigger screen and maybe data editing capabilities instead of just viewing. SO not all good there, nothing innovatory, or really special.

An FM radio with Visual Radio support is present and, for the Web-minded, a browser and Nokia's Lifeblog software are here, the latter enabling you to post a blog from the handset. Add in the usual contact and diary management and supplied PC synchronisation software, all a little gimmicky, less the executive phone, more the teenage toy I think here, or maybe university computer science student!

It would probably make a good fashion accessory, with its aggressive standard and stylish red and white, looking quite stunning. Especially when you look at it like this:
"Gorgeous Becky with new N73 camera phone" - The Sun

The N73 has another ace up its sleeve, which is the photo upload service for Flickr users. Take a photo and an extra option appears to post the image to your online photo album, and for imaging, it's the cream of the crop, and Sony Ericsson will have to make sure the K800i is exceptional if it's going to win the battle of next-generation camera phones.

When you switch on the mobile it takes a long time for it to boot up. This is a major downfall of the mobile phone. Menus also take over 1.5 seconds to render, a common problem with some Nokia models, but more so on this phone. This is a downfall with the software. There are a fair number of reports out that the software crashed, more than the 6230i (incidentally of which mine crashed once). The OS is actually very unstable, with crashes regularly. It crashed when saving videos, displaying images in the gallery, and has unresponsive blue tooth on more than one occasion; running the latest firmware. The menu structuring, and key combinations are sometimes very complex and reqire a lot of learning to become fluent with controlling the device, and if you had trouble with your old Nokies manu system, you wont like this. For the professional, some functions are not that fast, with the slow software to access, although it does get pretty intuitive. It also sports everything you'd expect from a smart phone, with Quad Band technology and all the latest you'd expect with Nokias almost flagship model; The N73 is an ultra complete mobile on paper.

Nokia has thought quite hard about ease of use with the camera and for the most part has come up with the goods. The lens is protected by a large sliding cover which feels very sturdy. Pull it back and the camera software is activated. Now flip the handset into wide mode and use the mini joystick under the screen to make settings for the flash, self timer, exposure compensation, macro and other scene mode selection, white balance, ISO setting and suchlike. You just scroll down a column of icons click, scroll some more, click, and you are there.. The nokia has a media centre which allows the user to access their videos, photos and music through one interface, it also allows you to create a sideshow using your own photos and music. It is, as said a relitavely good, 3MP camera, with a carl zeiss lens.

The battery lasted very well with constant use of the camera and gallery features over two days, the expandable memory slot was hard to get open and I have read several complaints about this problem.

Overall, this phone has a lot of features, many you probably will never use. Its sturdy in some respects, but has some typical nokia flaws. Its design is quite simple and elegant, however the phone itself is not innovatory, although good on paper. The N73 is a standard-looking handset with a good range of features and a decent camera. It should appeal to those who value functions but don't need the bling, although it might even be seen as a little impractical, and not rich enough, or big enough to the smartphone cum PDA user. Maybe its trying to be the middle man that it just cant, The N73 is a nicely designed handset from a general usability point of view, with the exception of those vertical shortcut buttons which are a bit of a pain. The camera is very good, though as ever better outdoors than in. All in all, this is quite a pleasant little handset.