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Monday, May 21, 2007
Hitesh Raj Bhagat
This attractive candy-bar phone has all the features a power user would look for, barring Wi-Fi. While the N73 was introduced a while back, this is a special edition – part of the Music range of devices, designed to ho head-to-head with the Sony Ericsson Walkmans.
There are a few key differences between the N73 Music Edition (ME) and the regular N73. First off, the ME is only available in an exclusive, all-black color. N73 is available in silver/plum and white/brown colors. Secondly, the ME includes a 2GB MiniSD card while the regular N73 only includes 128MB in the sales package. Thirdly, the one-touch multimedia key of the N73 has been replaced by a Music key.
The first thing you notice about the phone is the wonderfully sharp and bright screen. It dominates the front of the phone, and has a particularly wide viewing angle. The camera is the highlight of this phone. With a mechanical shutter, loads of customization and good low-light shooting abilities, you can get good shots in most conditions. The images are sharp, with natural color reproduction and qualities rivaling a basic, standalone digital camera.
The bundled stereo handsfree has an inline remote, complete with volume rocker, audio controls and an answer/end button. The supplied earphones plug into the remote using the standard 3.5mm port. The remote works even if the phone keypad is locked – it has its own hold switch. I didn't much care for the supplied set of earphones. All music sounded a bit flat, and no amount of equalization helped. I plugged in a pair of Sennheisers CX-300 earphones and the improvement was drastic. The on-board speakers are surprisingly loud and clear (even marginally louder than the regular N73). It has two sets of speakers on the top and bottom of the phone.
I could find a few faults. The music application is 'always on' and running in the background. It starts up when powering on the phone and has no exit key. This is presumably done to allow minimal lag for playing audio tracks. There is a little (undocumented) trick to exit the app. Just go to equalization from the 'Now Playing' screen and you'll see exit in the options dialog. The device doesn't use the conventional Nokia charger. It has a different pin connector, shared with other N series devices. This instantly takes away the advantage of finding a Nokia charger wherever you go. And strangely, the white balance setting in the camera cannot be changed. This little bug is shared with the N73, and we're hoping it'll be solved after a simple firmware upgrade. Overall, this device is one of the best combinations of music player, camera and phone available today. The only comparable device is the Sony Ericsson K790i, but it loses out because it's not a true smartphone and is not 3G ready.
Nokia N73 Music Edition
Rs 21,500 |
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Pros
Great screen, camera and loud stereo speakers
Cons
Slightly slow, when compared to the SE K790i
Verdict 
Sold by
Nokia India
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Specs
Quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 Mhz) with UMTS, Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd edition, 3.2 MP (2048x1536 pixels) camera with Carl Zeiss optics and LED flash, 2.4” TFT LCD (240x320 pixels) with 262k color and ambient light sensor, 42MB shared memory, MiniSD slot, Stereo FM with Visual Radio, Bluetooth 2.0, IrDA, 1100 mAh Li-ion battery, 116grams |
Source: Living Digital
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