Overall JP loves the phone. I can’t believe what he said this about the sliding mechanism:
I’ve come across alot of sliders in my time and the only one that ever stuck out in my mind was the Nokia 8800/8801.
I find that Samsungs always come off with a cheapy feeling; even Nokia’s own 6265i, N80, 6270 and 6280 don’t feel that hot. The Nokia E65 takes it back though. Takes it back to the 8801. The slide is just perfect. You know that whatever materials, springs and ball bearings they used to make this thing were well engineered and thought out. Congrats to Nokia for getting this one right!
Is it really as good as the 8800?! Those are some strong words there. I’ll have to try it out for myself when I’m in NYC.
What concerns me however are the bugs he has been having on firmware version 1.0633.18.01:
- Classic Buggy 1st release firmware: Here’s a list of some that I’ve experienced and why I await the next firmware:
- Shutter lag: Which means that when you’re taking a picture, you have to hold the phone steady until the image shows up like it’s 2003 when camera phones were first introduced.
- Unresponsive keys: there are times when you’ll press a button and nothing happens. Then you press it again and it responds.
- Unresponsive Dedicated keys: now this is sad but true. There are times when I’ll press "MUTE" to mute the mic, "Address Book" to see it or "OWN KEY" to access my music player (my preset) and they don’t work.
- Can’t master clear: Phone doesn’t master clear when you ask it to (via *#7370# or startup sequence). Consequentially, you can’t customize the security code after trying to do this.
Hopefully the next firmware addresses these issues.
Good overall review. The gold standard for me however has always been Mobile Review: Check out their E65 review.