Camera Phones Plaza

The terminals belonging to the Nokia N Series are well known for combining the business functions with the media functions, and Nokia N73 fits this pattern perfectly. The 3 Megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, the Symbian OS, the generous screen size, plus many other innovative features, make from Nokia N73 a mobile that can face any challenges. I will now make a short presentation of the main functions in this Nokia N73 review.

Increasingly many manufacturers want to impose on the market by the challenging design of the terminals. It is not the case of Nokia, because when we talk about the mobiles belonging to the N series we refer to a simple, elegant and well-considered building to facilitate a pleasant and easy use. N73's casing comprises a shock-resistant plastic, pleasant to the touch. The dimensions of the terminal are among the lowest, but the length of 11 cm, width of 4.9 cm and 1.9 cm thick are justified by the implemented technologies. Thanks to the smart placement of the components, the terminal is balanced, so the weight of 116 grams does not create discomfort.

The name of the company and the name of the model were placed discreetly on the top front side, on the left of the video call camera, and sometimes, labeled under the display, we find the name of the distributor.

The keyboard has a rounded appearance, the number keys are well defined, easily responding to commands and are surrounded by two keys on the left side, two keys on the right side, and the joystick above. On the left, we have the key that sends us to the Symbian operating system menu, alongside the one that changes the characters and the punctuation in a text message. Nokia have hampered seriously the speed with which we can write a text by replacing the classic system, with another one that separates the types of the characters. On the right, we have the Clear key (C), which can delete files or characters, and a multimedia key that sends us to the media player, displaying the last song played. At the top, we have the classic keys to make and end a call, to enter and exit a menu, and in their center is a joystick which allows easy navigation through the mobile interface.

On the right side of the phone, we find the volume control buttons (or the zoom control buttons), the camera button (or the picture gallery button). On the other side, we see the infrared port and a clip that can attach a cord. On the top side, we find the power button and the speaker, which is covered by a perforated surface that is imitating metal. On the opposite side, we have another speaker, two sockets - one for the headphone connection and one for the data cable and the charger connection. Here we also find and miniSD card slot, which is located this time better, it is no longer necessary to open the case to get access to it.

The 3.2 Megapixel camera and the flash are covered by a flap on which we find the Nokia logo and some plastic inserts to ensure an optimal adhesion. I need to mention the annoying sound produced by the opening of the flap. The cap, along of the back casing, that hides the SIM card slot and the battery it can be removed easily by simply pressing a button, followed by a draw.

Nokia N73 is equipped with a screen that has a diagonal of more than 2 inches, 36 x 48 mm, a TFT large enough to make the using of the phone to be fun. The high quality of the displayed images and videos on N73 is due to a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. To increase the visual quality, the Finnish manufacturer has incorporated a sensor that adjusts the brightness of the display according to the ambient light. In this way, it increases the battery life by reducing the screen brightness and the keyboard illumination when those are not necessary.

The terminal offers support for 2G networks, all GSM bands - 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz. With the help of the secondary VGA camera and the 3G (UTMS Band 2100) support, Nokia N73 can host video calls. The 3G connectivity significantly reduces the life of the battery and therefore I recommend you to activate it only when you want to browse the Internet or to make / receive a video call.

The sound during the calls is satisfactory, being played clean and loud. The address book supports unlimited entries and the contacts can be organized into groups. The call log can keep the calls made / received in the last 30 days, thus missing a call, or viewing the dialed and the received calls does not constitute any problem. The messaging allows sending SMS, MMS, and last but not least an email client is present.

Nokia has chosen to use a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 1100 mAh and which promises a talk time of 6 hours and a standby mode that reaches the value of 350 hours. In reality, the values are somewhat lower, but good enough if we take account of the present functions. Of course, the battery life depends mainly on the used functions.

Because we speak of a phone that belongs to the N series, with a 3 Megapixel camera , we should expect to also have a very large storage capacity, but things are not quite like that. The internal memory is only 42 MB, which is not very much. However, this is not that bad, because the memory can be extended via the miniSD slot, and there is even a 64 MB card included in the package. The introduction or the removal of the card can be made without turning off the phone, thanks to the hotswap technology.

The ARM 9 220 MHz processor along with the 64 MB SDRAM allows a significant number of applications to run at the same time before you can notice that the device is working slower. Despite the operating system consumes about 50 MB, and the usable RAM memory is reduced to 14 MB, the speed navigation remains fairly good, but for a smartphone is definitely not the best.

The Internet browsing is made at speeds of up to 384 kbits / second, thanks to the 3G support and in places where it does not exist, the Class 11 EDGE connection secures a download up to 236.8 kbits / second. To connect various accessories, the terminal has Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP profile support. The infrared port, although outdated, is welcome, providing synchronization with older phones. The connection to the computer can be done wirelessly via Bluetooth, or through the microUSB port or by attaching a data cable. I conclude with a positive note, because Nokia N73 meets almost all needs in terms of connectivity, but it could have been better if we had a support for Wi-Fi.

Pro:
- The quality camera with many adjustments and options
- Quality display
- The included quality headset
- The 3G support
- The browser performance
Cons:
- The quite generous dimensions of the phone
- The Symbian OS processes pretty slowly
- The quality of the videos was very poor

I hope this short Nokia N73 review will be useful to you if you think about buying this phone.