Nokia E50 review: Economy business class

03 October 2006
Nokia E50 is another Series 60 Symbian 9.1 smartphone from the famous Finnish manufacturer. It’s the small sizes and ergonomic shape that attract most of the attention. The new quad-band handset has connectivity features like Infrared, Bluetooth, USB, GPRS and EDGE. As it comes at a low price, it will be a phone with many fans. Packed with features in small dimensions, coming at the right price, E50 is surely a bright addition on the GSM phones’ market shelves.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • 2S@
  • 05 Mar 2007

shockingly, the review does not mention battery life.

    • v
    • vester(indo)
    • PFy
    • 05 Mar 2007

    after upgrade firmware to 6.41.3.0 the battre continues to 3day, from the before firmware only 2day. nice phone, but i can't use the BL-6c Battery :((

      • x
      • xabi14
      • RIF
      • 01 Feb 2007

      Do the employees of gsmarena.com live near a theme park?Most of their photos taken are the same,juz wondering :P

        • r
        • rgr
        • wYK
        • 02 Jan 2007

        there's a fix regarding my last post that SMS sending was way too slow... u need to install the application "sms accelarator"...

        sending SMS now is a breeze...

        Link : http://www.europe.nokia.com/A4162180

          • N
          • N K Sen
          • 2S@
          • 01 Jan 2007

          Good sleek and sturdy set with lots of office loaded features. Nice one to start as a budget Smart phone. However with goodies there are certain loop holes that may be solved by Nokia.

          Bluetooth connectivity: PC Suite(ver 6.82.22) connectivity to the phone is not possible with all the versions of Bluetooth on PC. It specifically requires 2.0.x version(as mentioned by Nokia).

          My HP/Compaq Laptop having 3.0.X version(BT by HP 3.0.1) gives an error message while trying Bluetooth connectivity.

          Video recording is very poor and frames can be easily made out while the recording is on.

          Micro SD card should have been a standard add-on at such price(if 5300/5200 can have them)

          Updates on the software for removing these problems should have been out on the website by now to enhace further sales of the product.

          Some Games should be available free for download to the registered customers for E-50 as an add on with the updates of the software for BT connectivity.

          The CD that accompanies with the phone has a speech software, but not accepted by the phone as Ellen is pre-installed. No instructions as to how it can be loaded is informed to E-50 buyers.

          Being a business class phone some Expense related software should be made available to E-50

          Battery does not hold good for even 4 hrs of talk time/ 150 hrs of stand by time with 5c.

          Software update for multiple/daily alarm facility should be provided so as to avoid setting alarm every day.

          Finally if the software is update with the minimum possible, this may over cross the sales of the ever green Sony-J70.

            • l
            • luc
            • pSX
            • 29 Dec 2006

            Nice phone. Screen definition is impressive but I don't have a very good view ! Does somebody can help me to improve the character size ?

              • r
              • rgr
              • wYK
              • 27 Dec 2006

              Been using this fone for almost a month, and comparing it to my previous nokia 6230, message sending is way too slow, you have to wait for the message to be sent before doing another task... too slow... frequently hangs.... sold it ang gone back to my old 6230... :(

                • x
                • xxxplode
                • nsF
                • 11 Dec 2006

                i wanna buy this phone but i have 2 problems:
                the phone has no flash light(blitz)
                no memory card on standard package.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • prx
                  • 08 Dec 2006

                  Reagrding the flickering on menu changes that someone mentioned below. I saw the same on my wife's N73 and was able to mitigate it by using a dark background wallpaper/theme. You may want to try it.

                    • A
                    • Andrew
                    • Sds
                    • 05 Dec 2006

                    Had the phone for a week. I do not make use of all the fancy office applications. My key requirements are based around the following:

                    - speed of UI
                    - clarity of resolution
                    - ease of use of keypad with one hand
                    - typing very quickly and being able to add punctuation / symbols easily with minimal keystrokes
                    - dealing with lots of txt messages
                    - dealing with lots of contacts

                    With that in mind, here are my thoughts:

                    - font size is fine for me, it allows me to see any entire txt message on the screen in one go
                    - keypad feels good and responsive
                    - the top set of "selection" keys are on the small side, so one ends up hitting the wrong one occasionally. my fingers may get used to this with time
                    - the nipple is annoying. it's just too slippery - and it looks horrenous compared to the rest of the styling. i'd much prefer a directional pad like the 6100 had or something like the blackberry pearl.
                    - the UI speed is annoyingly slow for some actions - such as opening a txt message. there is a lot of flickering as it attempts to redraw the screen. however, other functions seem pretty responsive. this is my biggest critisism.
                    - dealing with special characters in txt messages is a pain. i don't want to have to use the nipple to select a character every time. i much preferred the funcionality in the 6100 that let me cycle through the options with a single key press.
                    - snooze on the alarm only snoozes for 5 mins - need 10 mins! :) i can't figure out if this is configurable.
                    - the groups feature, although clever, misses the mark when it comes to potential. it's not often you want to send a txt to 10 people. however, if they're enabled you to drill down into a group when composing a txt, this would allow you to categorise contacts for easy finding. when you're dealing with a large address book, searching is not the most effective way to find someone since you generally have to type 5 of more letters to get a list that doesn't require oodles of scrolling.


                    So far, I'm pleased with the phone! :)

                      • J
                      • Julie
                      • 2SW
                      • 24 Nov 2006

                      I am finding problem with the small font size
                      Jeff Martinis (22nov06 ) has solved this prob by hiving
                      another font. Please help me to change the font in cell
                      Thanks

                        • J
                        • JEFF MARTINIS
                        • iLW
                        • 22 Nov 2006

                        hello the Nokia E50 is fine a nice solid feel and after all it is just a phone but the sun shines on the screen makes it hard to see at times and the sms font was small but i just hived another font in to the system as they are many out there you can use if you want...nice phone..will do the tasks i need it to do but just dont stray to far from a power point

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • xT$
                          • 19 Nov 2006

                          I got the E50 about a month ago. Here my thoughts on the phone so far. The E50 makes a very solid impression. Metal on the back and front instead of plastic is a nice touch. The screen is large and displays all the calendar entries of the day and the first one on the following day. The font is small to get as much onto the screen as possible. The standard font is still readable but at times a smaller sub-font is used and reading this is a challenge (and I have good eye sight). Navigation around the menues is easy and intuitive.

                          Downsides are the short battery life, which allows for max three days when used lightly or less when used more. For a business phone this is too little. Also, the phone gets uncomfortably hot after conversations of no more than 10 min. Good on a cold winter day outside but not generally confidence inspiring. The music player works but has some bugs. Listening to MP3s isn't so great with the mono-headset that comes with the phone anyway, and only Nokia headsets can be used. Finally, for some strange reason, the automatic key-lock has gone missing.

                          The only other thing to mention is the PC software that comes with the phone. I never thought much of the Nokia software and there isn't much new that would have changed my opinion on this. Most importantly the address book, calendar, etc from old Nokia phones (exported to .ncc files) cannot be imported to the E50, which is very poor.

                          Overall, a good all-round phone with some shortcomings. Would I buy it again? Maybe.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 2@e
                            • 17 Nov 2006

                            There is no font size problem with the phone.The font is easily readable.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • Pv9
                              • 17 Oct 2006

                              you could have saved some money and got the cameraless version =P

                                • e
                                • e50 luvr
                                • 4IT
                                • 08 Oct 2006

                                Just bought the phone...Had it for an hr and I'm lovin` it!!!! Great screen Resolution. Camera is decent but I always carry a camera with me. Speaker is ok..typical nokia....Great phone!!!!!!! Must buy!!!

                                  • r
                                  • robert
                                  • nFY
                                  • 06 Oct 2006

                                  I tried the phone in stire and while initially attracted was put off by the small text size when writing an SMS. I had been warned about this by some other reviews. This is pity because look, weight and size was perfect. Will probably go for E60 instead despite extra weight and size.

                                    • H
                                    • Harris
                                    • PSe
                                    • 05 Oct 2006

                                    i m da first onw wow..well cool fone,nice keypad n price is also not that muct high as other s60 fones...as its review it will rock the age..

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