The first thing to note is that physically there's almost nothing between the E72 and the E71. They look virtually identical, have the same size and weight and the keyboard feels the same. That's a pity, because whilst the QWERTY keyboard is good, it isn't quite up to the very high standards set by the Bold or Bold 9700. What a shame, because Nokia have proved that they can make brilliant keyboards - the Nokia E63 has quite probably the best phone keyboard of all time! The E72 is a lot slimmer than the Bold 9700, so if you want something slim enough to fit in a shirt pocket, the Nokia might be the one to choose.
The display on the E72 is exactly the same as the E71, which is another disappointment. We were hoping for an increase in resolution above 240 x 320 pixels. For instance, the Bold 9700 has more than double the number of pixels. Still, it's a good display with excellent clarity.
It's messaging that is the reason for buying the E72 of course, and it doesn't fail to deliver. The device is excellent for both text messaging and push email, with support for IMAP, POP and SMTP email protocols. Attachments are supported, and the Quickoffice application lets you view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The E72 is fully equipped for security, with a keypad lock, remote lock and even encryption for data stored in memory or on the memory card. Full support for Virtual Private Networks is provided.
The E72 can be used handsfree, with either a handsfree speaker or a Bluetooth wireless headset, combined with both speaker-dependent and speaker-independent voice dialling. You can set the phone to answer automatically when using a headset or a car kit.
The E72 beats the BlackBerry when it comes to media, with a very good 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and digital zoom. It also has an excellent video camera capable of recording at up to 640 x 480 pixels, and it has a secondary camera for video calling too. The E72 can handle music playback, and has the added attraction of a 3.5mm audio headphone jack. There's also an FM radio with RDS support.
The Nokia also includes integrated A-GPS satellite navigation, with the Ovi Maps application pre-installed.
You can also use the phone for web browsing. The built-in browser can handle XHTML, Javascript, stylesheets and Flash, so is able to display most websites correctly. You can use the Navi™Key very effectively to zoom in on web pages, a bit like the iPhone. The E72 features HSDPA with ultra-fast data downloads of up to 10.2 Mbps supported. That's pretty well as fast as it gets in 2010.
The E72 has excellent connectivity too, with support for Bluetooth 2.0 (with Enhanced Data Rate), micro USB and WLAN.
The internal memory has been increased to a sizeable 250 MB, and the phone supports microSD memory cards up to 16GB, twice the capability of the E71.
We're impressed by battery life too. The E72 has a monster 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery which delivers stellar performance. You'll struggle to find a phone with better battery life than the E72.
So, the E72 has many strong features, and it isn't an expensive phone either, being available free on contract at around the £25 per month level. At this price, we can ignore the fact that the screen and keyboard don't quite match those of the BlackBerry Bold 9700, and we'll remind ourselves that the Nokia is a lot slimmer than the BlackBerry and has a better camera too! if you want the best business phone possible and money is no object, then we'd choose the BlackBerry, but for everyone else, the E72 is an excellent alternative.
Features of the Nokia E72 include:
* 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and 5x digital zoom
* VGA video camera with 10x digital zoom / Secondary video camera
* Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.36 inches)
* Music Player (MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ formats)
* FM radio with RDS support
* MP3 ringtones / video ringtones
* Speakerphone
* Voice memo recording
* Integrated A-GPS with compass and Ovi Maps
* Messaging: SMS, MMS, email (POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP protocols), Instant messaging with Presence-enhanced contacts
* Attachment viewer for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel
* Symbian and Java�MIDP 2.0 applications
* Internet: Web browser, Flash Lite 3.0, WAP, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA up to 10.2 Mbps download
* Connectivity: WLAN 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, micro-USB, Infrared, data modem, 3.5 mm audio jack
* Memory: 250 Mbytes plus support for microSD cards (up to 16 GB)
* Vibration alert
* Quadband (850/900/1800/1900) plus 3G HSPA
* Size: 114 x 58 x 10 mm
* Weight: 128g
* Talktime: 5 hours (3G) - 12.5 hours (2G)
* Battery standby: 490 hours - 570 hours
