Got a Nokia E63 last week for FREE, as part of Smart's Retention Program to its subscribers. I think it currently retails for about P12,000 pesos. I was really eager to get this phone since I was hoping this could merge two devices I am using: a cellphone for my calls/texts and a Palm Tungsten for PIM (Personal Information Management). For starters, I like the ease by which I got used to the phone. Simplicity of interface is still one of Nokia's winning features. The only thing that sort of complicated things is the obvious effort to delineate between office and personal life. Hence, a dedicated section for Office now carries items that I would normally find somewhere else in the phone, like the Clock which I use to set up my daily alarms.
Making and receiving calls is pretty much straightforward and has not varied with the way I do it in my previous phones, Nokia or otherwise. As for texting, the qwerty keyboard pretty much decided that a no-look texting is highly unlikely. Texting using qwerty gave me headaches the first few days of adjustment, but eventually it turned out to be quite as easy as texting on a standard cellphone. So, for the hassle of not being able to do my texting under the table on a meeting, I need be compensated for the other features, especially on the PIM side.
PIM in the E63 allows me primarily to set up appointments and to-do list, which is what my Palm is usually used for. Aside from that, it's quite a surprise not to find additional applications developed for the unit. For example, I can just surf the Web and find myself a bunch of free and quite good software for personal finance and budgeting for my Palm. I can even get readers like those for the Bible that are more interactive than standard pdfs. And since the phone has been around for a while, I am not optimistic for more enthusiasm from budding programmers. However, having to refer to a single device for my PIM and connectivity really simplified things for me.
Also, I have yet to consider other aspects of the phone. It's got a built-in radio and music player with a loudspeaker, Bluetooth capability for easy file transfers (plus the wired options), option to use the unit as a modem for a computer, among others. Minus the prohibitive costs of keeping my internet always online, the phone has the capability of allowing me to be connected to my mail and the Net 24/7 (not that I see much use for that).
All in all, I'm happy with the way the E63 is slowly easing me into the era of smartphones that can take the job of two or more separate devices (of course, at a cost in performance here and there). It still feels a bit clunky, but not as much as having to refer to two (or more) devices most of the time. Hopefully things will improve in time for my next free phone :)
Making and receiving calls is pretty much straightforward and has not varied with the way I do it in my previous phones, Nokia or otherwise. As for texting, the qwerty keyboard pretty much decided that a no-look texting is highly unlikely. Texting using qwerty gave me headaches the first few days of adjustment, but eventually it turned out to be quite as easy as texting on a standard cellphone. So, for the hassle of not being able to do my texting under the table on a meeting, I need be compensated for the other features, especially on the PIM side.
PIM in the E63 allows me primarily to set up appointments and to-do list, which is what my Palm is usually used for. Aside from that, it's quite a surprise not to find additional applications developed for the unit. For example, I can just surf the Web and find myself a bunch of free and quite good software for personal finance and budgeting for my Palm. I can even get readers like those for the Bible that are more interactive than standard pdfs. And since the phone has been around for a while, I am not optimistic for more enthusiasm from budding programmers. However, having to refer to a single device for my PIM and connectivity really simplified things for me.
Also, I have yet to consider other aspects of the phone. It's got a built-in radio and music player with a loudspeaker, Bluetooth capability for easy file transfers (plus the wired options), option to use the unit as a modem for a computer, among others. Minus the prohibitive costs of keeping my internet always online, the phone has the capability of allowing me to be connected to my mail and the Net 24/7 (not that I see much use for that).
All in all, I'm happy with the way the E63 is slowly easing me into the era of smartphones that can take the job of two or more separate devices (of course, at a cost in performance here and there). It still feels a bit clunky, but not as much as having to refer to two (or more) devices most of the time. Hopefully things will improve in time for my next free phone :)
2 Comments:
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August 29, 2009 at 11:25 AM
wow! congrats! how much was your original plan? tapos na din kasi plan ko sa smart, though, i don't think my plan can afford this. free! grabe. =)August 30, 2009 at 9:25 AMI'm on plan 1,200 :)
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