Customer Reviews

Nokia E63-2 Unlocked Phone with 2 MP Camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, Media Player, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Ultramarine Blue)

5 star:		(125)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I purchased this phone (blue E63-2) three weeks ago. Overall, I am very happy with this phone. $200 for this unlocked smartphone is a great deal.

I add my application background first in the following. Because I think a review will only be fair with certain application background. For example, for the email application, Blackberry is more powerful for the business user, it can have more functions or better performance when it is hooked up with your company exchange server. Also for data service performance in wireless network, I only use it in T-mobile network; I don't know how it performs in ATT's 3G network, so I don't comment on this.

My service provider: T-mobile
My service package: voice + 100MB/month data service
My application: personal use

Pro:
1. Full Q keyboard. Yes, a lot of smartphones have the full Q-keyboard. But the keyboard of E63 has the better design, the shape of each key enables you to type with less error-stroking.
2. WI-FI: 802.11g compatible. The setup is very easy, it supports WEP/WPA/WPA2 wireless security features. And the link speed is very good. This enable me to go to internet and download applications at home (or hot-spot) without using the 100MB data-service bandwidth.
3. When the "bluetooth" and the "WLAN scanning" are turned off, the battery life is GOOD; thanks to the physical size of the battery. When the "WLAN scanning" is off, you still can use the WLANs that have already been setup in the phone; it just won't search for the new WLAN. But for the "bluetooth", you will have to turn it on in order to use it; and the "bluetooth" seems draining more power than WIFI.
4. Email service: I am using Nokia's free (for now) mail push service; it pushes my yahoo mails and the other mails to my E63, it notifies me when there is a new mail. Most time, it worked very quickly in T-mobile network (but my emails are more text oriented, HTML contents require additional download time). This is a great feature, I don't have to go to the internet to fetch the mails manually. One can download this email setup software from Nokia website. This is only available for BlackBerry and iPhone before, with a more expensive data service. (I don't know when Nokia will start to charge this service.)
5. Completed PDA functions and reliable sync with PC (Syncing with PC by bluetooth is great!)
6. Compare with the Nokia E71, I like this one better. The reasons are: lower-price and thicker body with plastic finishing. Although the body of E63 is plastic, but the texture feels very good and not easy to get the finger-prints. The thicker body has the acoustic advantage, the speaker performances well even when you are listening music. Of course, the lower price comes with the trade-offs: comparing with E71, the E63 does not have integrated GPS and the resolution of the camera is lower (3mp via 2mp)
7. Music function: E63 has the 3.5 mm standard connector, which means you can use your favorite headset to listen to music. Although, the headset comes with the phone is stereo, and it has an in-line microphone; but the frequency response is not good enough to listen to music (if you are serious about listening). By using a standard headset, you still can make calls or receive calls, but you will have to speak to the microphone in the phone.

Con:
1. Image quality of camera. I can live with the 2MP resolution, but the noise of the camera is too obvious; even the pictures taken outdoor.
2. Micro-USB cable is not included: This phone uses the Micro-USB interface, which is smaller than the mini-USB. I am sure most people have one or more mini-USB cables, which is widely used. But a lot of people don't have the micro-USB cable, at least I don't. So I have to go to a local shop to buy one ($15), and it is not easy to found one too. Very unfortunate, Nokia did not throw one in the box. Sometimes, it is very useful, such as when you want to copy a hundred songs to your phone's memory card; bluetooth is simply too slow to do this task.

Update:

Here is the update after three month use.

(A) Don't put this phone into a case that is too tight; especially: preventing the keyboard to be touched when it is in the case. I found out if the keyboard is being touched, the phone will not go into the sleep mode and the battery runs out really fast.
(B) The IP phone function(aka Internet phone) is great for the international long distant call (you must sign-up the "Gizemo" first), you can use it whenever you have the WIFI access; it cost much less than your wireless service provider's international plan. But after you finish a call, you should disconnect the phone from the WIFI completely; otherwise the battery goes down real quick. The reason is: as soon as you connect the IP phone service, it will contact the WIFI access point (such as your wireless router) periodically even when you are not making calls, this activity will use a lot of power.
(C) The "Remote lock" is a great feature, and it is very easy to setup. First, you need to setup the "lock code" of this phone (after setup, write it down). Then enable the "Allow Remote lock" feature, it will ask a lock code again; it can be the same code in the FIRST step or a different one. If you lost your phone or simply forget your phone in the office; just grab another phone and send a text message to your phone, the message is the lock code. The message must contain the exactly same lock code, case must be matched and no extra space. Use another phone to send a text message is the best way to do it; some computer programs can send a text message to a wireless phone, but it tends to add some extra text in the message automatically, this will fail to lock the phone.

I want to start off saying that after using multiple phones over the years, I find this to be one of my top phones I have ever used.

By being unlocked from the start, the phone is completely umbranded, meaning you don't have all of the cute AT&T or T-Mobile logos everywhere, and have complete access to all of the settings that most providers will restrict you from changing. You also have 110MB of space free on the phone (a ton) for basic apps, and of course you can buy a MicroSD card for even more memory.

The phone itself looks great. The blue color is actually an extremely dark navy, and can look black in most cases. As for the thickness compared to the e71, I think it actually feels better in your hand, and isn't that noticeable. The headphone jack is a great touch, allowing you to use any headphone set you want.

As for the software, it uses the Symbian 9.2 Feature Pack 1, and includes software you can use to open and edit Word and Excel documents on the go. The built in music player is decent, and set up like an Ipod with its ability to have playlists, genre searches etc. You can even download the free Divx player and watch movies to go! Then theres the Nokia Ovi store. Sort of like the App Store for the iPone, you can download apps directly from Nokia, although at the moment due to its recent launch, there aren't that many things (especially free) being offered.

The WiFi was the deal sealer for me. Living on a college campus which has wireless internet all over, I didn't want to have to pay to have internet and email on my phone. Its fast (compared to a friend's iPone, about the same speed)and it is great for surfing, along with using the build-in YouTube application.

There is a ton of great free software on the web for the phone if you look for it, things like weather applications, instant messaging, mapping software (requires either a WiFi or a data plan to use) etc.

I find the speakerphone loud and clear, and good enough to play music over.

The keyboard is absolutely amazing. I haven't experience many misspellings while using it, compared to my past palm treo I had. The keys are comfortable and easy to press down.

Battery life is great on this. I was able to get 5 days out of a charge with light usage (30 texts per day, maybe 20 minutes on the phone per day and 10-15 minutes per day surfing using the WiFi)


The cons I've found:
Nokia still hasn't set up a threaded text messaging system as default (IM style chats). My Windows Mobile phone from 4 years ago has this feature, and Nokia has their own application which does this, but you cannot set it as the default Txt messaging.

Weak vibration feature. I can barley feel it. My previous Nokia was weak as well though.

The Operating System (Symbian) does not assume or remember any connection settings. If you open your web browser, each time it will ask you what connection you want to use. It can get annoying if you are constantly in the same place.

Other Tips I've found
If you don't have a data plan, go into the Network settings and change it to be GSM Only (NOT UMTS). UMTS is 3G, and you will get better battery life using GSM only with no downsides if not using the data plan.

To change volume with internet radio, press the function key, and then the up and down keys change the volume.

In media player, you can start typing the name of a song or artist using the keyboard and it will show up.

I've had the E63-2 (North American Version) for a few days now, and am really loving this phone so far. It's my first Symbian (S60) phone, so I was a little hesitant about the learning curve. And to be honest -- it's not anywhere near as intuitive as the iPhone or Android. But if you're a little bit tech savvy, it won't be a problem at all.

The phone feels great in hand. I've held the E63's big brother, the E71, and I prefer this one better. The rubberized plastic doesn't feel cheap at all, offers a superior grip, and maybe best of all, doesn't get all smudged up with fingerprints. It's still relatively slim, though not as sleek as the E71. But again, I prefer it -- it's just easier to hold.

The QWERTY is nicely designed, and the keys feel great to push. Numerically, the "0" is to the right of the "9" instead of underneath the "8," which is kind of jarring at first, but I got used to it. Another design annoyance is the lack of a volume rocker on the side... you have to use the D-Pad, which means taking the phone away from your ear mid-conversation. No dedicated camera button either, but that didn't bother me much at all -- you can take a picture in two button clicks away from the home screen.

Voice quality is crystal-clear, rivaling any land-line I've ever used. The ringer's nice and loud, though getting to the Sound settings themselves require a series of button pushes, instead of being "right there."

The default mail client is decent, though I've run into some problems connecting to my ISP's POP3 mail server. I downloaded Nokia's new mail client, which is a lot more graceful.

There are lots of apps available on the internet for this operating system, but they're scattered all over the place and they're hard to find unless you really know what you're looking for. However, that's going to change very soon, as Nokia's "Ovi Store" is set to open next month (May 2009). Looks very promising -- and even appears to have the elusive S60 Facebook app that's been conspicuous in its absence.

Anyway, great UNLOCKED smartphone for the price. Might be lacking in some minor areas (no GPS, average camera quality, no volume rocker), but it makes up for it in others (WiFi, stable operating system, app store coming soon).

Strong recommendation from me.

I wanted to "upgrade" from my old N95 (had it 2 or 3 years)and get a phone with full qwerty keyboard. Using Nokia's "Switch" utility, all my contacts were transfered to my new E63 within minutes... It was effortless... Thank you Nokia!

TV SCREEN: The E63 screen is brighter, wider and better proportioned than the N95. Great for watching TV - yes, there's a $15 TV application that gives you CNN and about 100 other channels - Google "Spb TV"

SPEED: It's much faster and more streamlined than the N95 - maybe the E63 has a faster processor?

FAST CAMERA: REALLY FAST! It boots up in about one second so it's much easier to point and shoot than the N95. 2.0 Megapixels isn't a problem - I prefer the lower resolution because it's much easier to email and share the pics on the net.

PRIUS BLUETOOTH INTEGRATION: Bluetooth transfered ALL my 170 contacts to the Toyota's Address Book in one shot. The N95 couldn't do that!

INTERNET MODEM: Works flawlessly... Nokia PC Suite allows me to connect my notebook to the internet anytime by just plugging the phone into its USB port and clicking a button. T-Mobile gives me unlimited access to the Internet for just $20/month.

BATTERY: E63's battery is huge - about twice the size of the N95's - without making the phone more bulky - amazing. The E63 easily lasts far longer than the N95 without re-charging.

VOLUME CONTROL: There's no physical volume control buttons on the E63. Instead, you use the central cursor control (during a call) and it works just fine. Honestly, who actually alters the volume of each call? I set the volume once and it normally stays at that level for all my calls - I don't miss having a separate volume control. Good job NOKIA!

GMAIL: Nokia's combined email/message application works better than Google's own separate Gmail application. Setup was easy and Nokia integrates a Gmail inbox alert into the phone's main screen.

BLUETOOTH TIP: Quickly turn on/off Bluetooth by pressing and holding the asterisk key * for a couple of seconds (from the main screen). Great for when you're in the car with passengers but don't want them listening to your "hands free" conversations.

PRICE: You just can't beat it - there's NOTHING that comes close. You'll also need to order a Nokia USB cable (about $2 on Amazon) and why not treat yourself to an 8GB Micro SDHC card? (about $20).

NOKIA E63 ROCKS!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!!!!!

People, people...this is an amazing opportunity; move on it. This phone is an EU phone that is being offered here in the US to gain market share and put the phone in the hands of the more casual user. Go ahead, go to CNET and PCworld and check out the reviews; the E63 is typically compared with units costing 2-3 times as much. So, it falls a bit short in some areas (camera, headphones, et al) so, it's not perfect. For under $200, who cares? Come on. All current phones are obsolete in three years anyway, (or after the first drop on the airport floor)!

The E63's got a vivid screen, great speaker, gets FM radio, a decent app store @ NOKIA.com, MicroSD slot, easy to sync up, great build quality and offers clear reception for TMobile, ATT and international travel, whenever we decide to do that again. QKeyboard, ability to netsurf in hotspots w/o dataplan, US WARRANTY and by the way, currently less than $150 beans with rebate. And no two-year contract. Yankee Blue or Sox Red, they easily stand out among the Crackberry drones. Wake up and smell the symbian, Baby...getting a great deal is the hot trend.

Unlike the E71-2 which supports "HSDPA class 6, maximum speed 3.6 Mbps/384 kbps (DL/UL)" this (the E63-2) supports "WCDMA 900/2100 or 850/1900 or 850/2100, maximum speed 384/384 kbps". So, if you have ATT HSDPA in your area you will not be able to take advantage of it, max download speeds 90% lower than the E71-2.
I respectfully suggest getting the specs directly from the Nokia web site for any phone of interest, rather than relying on the marketing dept.'s ad copy. Cheers.

I was originally planning to purchase an iPhone. However, after seeing this phone on Amazon, along with many positive reviews and an excellent price ($150 after rebate), this phone looked to have the right price and features for my needs. In particular, I wanted strong messaging capabilities, WiFi, a few games, and reasonably capable web browsing to check the news, my RSS feeds, weather, stocks, etc. However, I really don't need (or want to pay for) the more advanced iPhone capabilities.

I've had the phone for just over 2 days now, and my experience has been consistent with many of the other reviewers. For example, I really like the keyboard and overall construction and form-factor. The core applications like email, web browsing, calendar, and address book also meet or exceed my expectations. However, I found parts of the setup and configuration to be counter-intuitive and the software and handset as a whole to be less "seamlessly integrated" than I would have hoped for.

The above being said, now that I've fully configured this phone, and I'm further along the Symbian learning curve, I believe for as long as I own this phone, it will prove to be an excellent value; i.e., it has excellent features, capabilities, and performance for the price.

A few specific pros and cons include:

* "Virtual GPS" with Google maps - If you purchase this phone, I'd definitely download Google Maps. Having done so, I was pleasantly surprised to find Google Maps used the cell-tower method to give a "virtual GPS" location within 200 meters (at least for me on AT&T), and fully integrated this information with its other capabilities.

* Software and handset capabilities not seamlessly integrated - For example, I purchased a 4GB mini-SD card, and proceeded to fill it with hundreds of photos in numerous folders. By default, the built in photo browser doesn't include the folder structure on the SD card, but instead lists all the photos as one big flat list. There is a work-around to organize the pictures into a second set of "folders" on the phone, but why is this duplicate organization necessary? There are also 3rd party photo browsers you can download/purchase. As another example, I configured the start-up screen to show some contact information to call if someone finds my lost phone, but also configured the phone with a lock code; however, the phone only displays the startup splash screen *after* the lock code has been successfully entered, sort of defeating the value of my "if found" splash screen. In general, many of the features and capabilities on this phone work very well individually, but there's room for improvement to make all these features integrate more smoothly with respect to the likely workflow of a person using the phone.

* Email setup was a snap - When I started using the phone, it prompted me with a step-by-step (wizard based) configuration of email. In a few steps, the phone was properly configured for my gmail account. However, in the future, using email as a representative example, I'd suggest Nokia put more effort to simplify/automate common tasks in the initial setup process, such as pairing with my bluetooth headset, or specifying predictive or non-predictive text entry.

* Awkward Connection Management - Most of the built in applications have a choice to always connect to a specific WiFi/3G/Edge connection, or to always choose a connection during startup - Wouldn't it have been simpler to specify a prioritized list of connections to try, such as your home WiFi first, then 3G?

* Lots of keyboard shortcuts - I'm still learning many of the keyboard shortcuts, such as pressing and holding the "Home" button to display a list of open applications, pressing and holding the email button to start a new email, or pressing and holding the calendar button to enter a new meeting. While there's a learning curve, I'm appreciating the added efficiency of these shortcuts.

* Works well with iSync - Being a Mac user, I downloaded the iSync plugin. So far, I've found iSync does a job synchronizing the phone with my local iCal calendar and Mac address book.

6 Month Review - Update (12/21/09)

I've had this phone for just about 6 mos now and now I'm ready to write a final review.

There are plenty of comprehensive reviews already on the internet for this phone, so I am going to give a short and sweet real-life review of this phone about things care about the most:

Reception: My old phone had 0-3 bars throughout my house with frequent dropped calls. This phone has 4-5 bars constantly and never drops a call (both with same carrier). Nokia phones are rightfully famous for having the best reception and you will not have reception problems as long as coverage is available in your area. AT&T doesn't have the best reception everywhere and don't blame the phone but the carrier if you aren't getting reception. AT&T suffers badly underground, between lots of tall buildings and in many rural areas.

Battery Life: If you are playing music, watching movies, using data/bluetooth, and other battery draining tasks...don't expect for it to last more than 3-4 hours. But if you do some data, some multimedia, some texting and about an hour of voice a day...the battery can last about 3 days. If you are a casual user, it can last you a week. Spare batteries are about $15 on ebay, just buy an extra one and swap out when needed. Additional travel and car chargers are awfully cheap too...around $5. Even though the battery cell is made in china, it is high quality.

Software: Symbian S60 interface isn't the best, but it's powerful and you have good multi-tasking capabilities, unlike many other smartphones. There are lots of apps out there, although not may too many good free ones. Nokia's Ovi App Store is live now and this phone connects to it just fine. Recently a Facebook app became available (a lot worse than iphone version), still no Yelp app, and no official Twitter app (but the freeware TweetS60 and other not-free apps like Twibble are nice). It comes with just Tiger Woods Golf for gaming but many Soduku, Bejeweled, Chess, etc games are available.

The built-in browser leaves a lot of features to be desired (but it is a full web browser) but pages that don't work so well, works fine in Opera Mini or Mobile. A limited version of Flash is included.

Keyboard/Features: The keyboard (also found on the E71) is the best among all smartphones IMO. I've used the Blackberry Curve 8900, and this Nokia phone is much easier to type on. It's predictive text feature makes sending e-mails a cinch and the Push e-mail works well with gmail and hotmail. This phone lacks GPS, but A-GPS through Google Maps is adequate for most.

Screen: Not quite as good as the Blackberry Curve 8900, but still great. Display is crisp for all uses and Youtube videos come out respectfully. Hopefully Nokia soon offers OLED models.

Etc: Wi-Fi works great (far better wi-fi reception than the Curve 8900), this phone supports AT&T 3G (Curve 8900 only supports EDGE) and downloads are speedy on both. It does not support 3.5G that the Nokia E71x and Blackberry Bold supports.

What is Bad?: Phone occasionally crashes and reboots (largely fixed with newer firmware), built-in camera is lousy in quality but functional, no side volume control button, Lack of free apps available on Nokia Ovi Store. Lot of people have said Nokia tech support sucks, but I have never needed to call or write them.

This phone is A-Okay!

The recently available 4.0 firmware upgrade adds a brand new version of Nokia Mail (which makes it much more comparable to blackberry e-mail), and comes with Chat (which allows you to use Google Chat, Ovi Chat, MSN Messaging and Yahoo IM (but no AOL Instant Messenger). Push e-mail can be spotty at times (but mostly due to AT&T Packet Data dying from time to time). This firmware has also resolved most issues with phone freezing or rebooting by itself and works faster. Recent updates to Google Maps and Opera Mini will enhance the device's capabilities. Nokia is good about upgrading firmware periodically. Unlike iPhone, upgrading the firmware will delete your entire phone, so you do need to do a complete back-up.

I've had this phone for almost two weeks now, and I'm loving it! I came from an iPhone 3G, then a Moto Q9h, and now to this. So far it gives me what I really want from a phone, VERSATILITY! I mean, I love to customize my phone to work FOR me, not the other way around.
I loved my iPhone, but the lack of multi-tasking hampered me, and the data plan from my carrier was $30/mo. The Moto Q9h has all the features, but WM 6.1 is what it is, Windows Mobile. It tended to freeze and require at least one or two soft resets a day.
This isn't my first Symbian phone, so I knew what I was walking into with the OS. What amazed me was the speed. This has got to be one of the most responsive OS UI's ever implemented, especially for a Nokia! All the features just come together nicely, and you can easily customize the phone to your liking.

Quick examples:

HARDWARE
- 8gb Class 6 Transcend MicroSD
- OtterBox Impact Case

SOFTWARE
- Opera Mini (Web Browser)
- Photo Browser (Nokia Beta Labs)
- Fring (Instant Messenger)
- Google Maps
- ThreadSMS (Threaded Text Messaging)
- Mail For Exchange (Nokia)
- ProfiMail (HTML Email Client)

Sounds like a lot of personalizing there, but it's more like you're starting with a blank slate for the phone, and you're just adding what you really need.
As for the rest of the phone, the thing feels rock solid. The keyboard takes a few days to get used to. The keyboard shortcuts are great, and I really dig that this model has a dedicated "Ctrl" key. The preset buttons for Calendar, Contacts, and Messaging can be remapped to what you want them to do. The screen had me worried because I didn't know if it was made of a scratch-resistant material. The OtterBox case comes with a thick screen protector, so that solves that.
In a nutshell... Snappy performance, fully customizable, mp3 and video ringtones (not kidding), good signal, doesn't need the more expensive data plan from At&t, when a program were to freeze just hold the home key (task manager) and close it from there (doesn't usually happen), and it's great for multitasking!

I have AT&T, and I did not want the $30/month data plan forced with an iPhone purchase. I am a first time smart phone buyer and looked at them all. I really liked the e71x, but I am not up for plan renewal and didn't want to pay over $200. I also didn't want a phone with a lot of crap-ware on it, and I liked some of the feature that AT&T took out of the e71 (like the Internet Radio, modes for home and work, etc) Looking at the e63, it's a great value. A little bigger than the e71, but it has the same features and they all work! The 3G is great, call quality is crystal clear, email downloads are fantastic. I would recommend this phone.