The Nokia N73 is probably one of the most feature packed phones this side of a Blackberry. The only problem is that it seems to be packed with too many features for its own good.
It’s a 3G phone, with two cameras and a monstrous 240 x 320 screen. The most notable features are a three megapixel camera, Flash player, blogging features, video and MP3 player, instant messaging client, office tools and an anti-virus program. It all runs on Symbian OS version 9.1.
On the connectivity side of things, it supports full-blown POP3 email, Bluetooth, infra-red, and ships with a connector cable that ends in USB. When you use this, the phone will ask you to pick a specific mode: PC suite mode (which uses the synchronisation software), PictBridge mode (for printing directly to printers with that technology and a USB port); Media mode (which transfers music through the proprietary software) and a mass storage mode (which accesses the contents of the Mini SD card in the base of the phone like an external drive).
The only problem is that shoehorning all this into the phone has lead to a lot of slowdown in the menus. It’s tolerable, but annoying and feels badly implemented. It’s a problem even when the phone grows on you, and detracts from the well laid out menus.
There are a multitude of assignable hotkeys, but the buttons all feel a little on the small side. SMS fiends will get used to this, but nonetheless the keypad could use some more tactile feedback.
Although the camera can deliver some beautiful and vivid pictures in good light, the low light performance isn’t anywhere near as good as the Sony Ericsson K800i, which uses a xenon flash. The N71 sticks to traditional -- and very bright -- LED illumination, which delivers usable images in the dark from a meter or less away from your subject. One gripe we had is that the options are represented by icons, and the text description takes a while to be displayed if you forget what they represent.
The music player does the job, but the menus are hard to navigate and there’s not enough visual feedback. Everything takes an extra button press, and when combined with the slow interface, seems too ungainly. You don’t get a 3.5mm output either, constricting you to the realm of the included and fairly good wired headset and earphones, an A2DP enabled Bluetooth headset or, god forbid, the inbuilt speaker.
If you can live with the slow menu system and need (also acceptable: want) an all-singing, all-dancing phone, shortlist this one. While you’re at it, shortlist the Sony Ericsson K800i too.
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