Nokia E65 review: Business beauty

Emerging voices

Speaking about voice options, let us also mention how voice commands can be used to run functions. Again, you will find pre-installed voice tags for the most frequently used programs. These tags can be modified, but it will always be the selected speaker that will pronounce them.

Basic selected functions • command menu • settings • selection of other applications

If you are too lazy to make the effort and read your SMS yourself, then make use of the installed speaker. If the message is not in English though, we do not recommend using this option; few of what the phone speaker would manage to pronounce in a language different from English will sound familiar.

Voice help: menu • codebook • context menu • watch

Inside the menu there is a special application called “Voice help” for users with sight problems. It is some kind of a menu inside a menu. “Voice help” picks up the most important phone functions and organizes them in a list. When the cursor is placed on a particular item of this list, an automatic voice reads what is being visualized on the display. This way one can browse the call register, the phonebook, dial various numbers, use the voice mailbox, or even get to know what the time is. Unlike Martin and Ellen the “Voice help” operator pronounces details in languages different from English quite successfully.

Online or offline

Let’s now go back to the phonebook. Each stored contact can be assigned a specific ringtone and an image. The latter appears in a tiny icon when its owner calls you or you dial his name. Contacts can be organized into groups, each of which can be individualized through a specific ringtone, but cannot be assigned an image. The groups may be used for call filtering within ringing profiles.

List of profiles • context menu • profile details configuration

As usual, Nokia E65 features 5 standard profiles plus an additional one for using the phone in an offline mode. More profiles can be user-configured. Within profiles options you can independently set up specific ringtones for calls, video calls, messages, and emails. Volume, vibrations, keypad sounds, and the above mentioned filters can be set up from here too. If you use the filters, Nokia E65 will only ring if calls from pre-selected numbers are coming in. In the rest of the cases it will merely blink. The profiles offer another interesting option: you can select, whether or not the phone should read with an automatic voice the name of the calling person. The only requirement here is that the caller is in the phonebook

Nearly all existing formats a mobile phone is able to support can be used as ringtones in Nokia E65. Obviously, MID files with 48-voice polyphony are the basic ones. Besides, Nokia E65 supports AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, M4A, AMR (NB-AMR), Mobile XMF, RealAudio 7,8,10, SP-MIDI file, and True tones (WB-AMR). The vibration’s small motor is quite decent, just like one would expect form a really elegant gentleman. It can be felt inside a pocket, but is not too rough.

SMS

The SMS application has undergone no modifications. The font is easy to read, the space for typing texts is the same. During the typing process Nokia E65 automatically corrects letter spacing in order to make the text look better, which is quite unusual, but yet very interesting. This extra can be considered either a dish for aesthetes, or an unnecessary load for the internal memory.

Message options • editor • modifying options • word alternatives

Sent messages are archived in a “Sent” folder, whose content is user-configurable, that is, it can be limited from the settings. The amount of sent and received SMS is limited by free memory space. MMS are easy to create; their profile is automatically set by the application “Setup manual”. The editor is simple and well organized. You can write a text, and then insert an image, an audio, or a video file. An instant messaging client is available as well.

Setup manager • email configuration • detailed settings • a folder with messages

You can create an email account using the Settings manual, just like in the case of MMS. Configuration is no more automatic. You have to enter at least the basic parameters of your mailbox. Once these have been memorized, you can continue with setting further properties or start to download from the corresponding server. Emails in HTML format open up seamlessly. The editor works with accounts through POP3 and IMAP4. You can download either entire messages, or just headers with a subsequent selection of desired/non-desired items. Nokia E65?s client manages Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel (Microsoft Office 2000/XP/2003) attachments as well as all files compatible with the applications Zip Manager and Adobe PDF.

Why so simple?

Attachments are downloaded and viewed without difficulties. If you try to edit them though, you will run into troubles. It makes little sense, but Nokia has once again equipped an office phone with a document viewer without any editing options. Someone might protest considering the smaller size of Nokia E65?s keypad, which seems rather uncomfortable for editing. Yet, we think that typing a few explanatory notes is not an impossible mission for a 12-element keypad. Work with archives is another story. While earlier Zip Manager would only read zipped files, the one installed in Nokia E65 is already able to zip files on its own.

Office • Adobe PDF • menu and... • ...Zip manager settings

Considering the corporative type of customer base Nokia E65 is meant for, it is equipped to download further management applications, if necessary. You can download compatible programs straight from Nokia official website or using the Download! application already available in the phone. The Download! application includes a regularly updated catalogue with services and products (often free of charge) compatible with your particular phone model. For work with corporate emails, in particular, Nokia offers applications like BlackBerry Connect and Mail for Exchange. In the Office Tools folder you will find a tool called “Mobile Search”.

Download!: main menu • email tools • synthesizers • application Reuters

In one of the available folders we even found alternative versions of voice synthesizer. Thirty speakers from all over the world are available. Before you download the item you have selected, a brief info box with price, size, and a short description pops out. If you want to be updated daily, sign in to receive daily news from Reuters for free. If you are a frequent traveler, you may find the application WorldMate with instant weather forecast, unit converter, and other useful functions pretty helpful. The latter is also free of charge. For those lacking entertainment the game Golf Pro Contest is available.