The Nokia E52 is here to replace the Nokia E51 with a longer battery life, improved feature set and even easier to use keypad. We’ve been using it for the last few days and feel that it may even be about to rival the Nokia E71 in many users affections. Check out our Nokia E52 review and find out for yourself…
The Nokia E52 is part of the Nokia E Series class of smartphones aimed at those users who need to stay connected and deal with messages all day. After all, the E stands for Email, which gives you a good indication of what’s it’s best used for. The first thing that struck us about the Nokia E52 is how good-looking it is. Sure, it’s a tall and gangly kind of good looking but the aluminium casing feels really solid to the touch.
Check out our Nokia E52 Unboxing for the box contents
Surprisingly, it also feels nice and light, which at 98g makes it one of the lighter Nokia messengers out there. On the top of the phone you’ll find the power switch and 3.5mm audio jack, while on the left-hand side there is just the mini-USB connector is used for hooking up and syncing with your laptop, as well as for charging the Nokia E52.
There are no ports on the base of the Nokia E52, while on the right-hand side you’ll find the camera Capture button, the standard volume/zoom controls, while nestled between them a Nokia Speak and Play button for voice activating apps and files. The phone itself is build around a 2.4-inch screen with standard 240 x 320-pixel resolution. We like the screen, as it’s amazingly crisp and bright. Images look great and getting around the screen using the D-pad is easy.
Powered by a 600MHz ARM 11 processor, you’ll find the Nokia E52 runs the Symbian S60 3rd Edition OS and we found that it responded well, with screens loading quickly and apps running smoothly.
Check out the full tech spec of the Nokia E52
The main keys are all individually mounted and have a really good size to them. Once you start to use them you realise why this is a tall smartphone, as Nokia has left plenty of space for the keys rather than trying to cram them into as tight a space as possible. The keyboard is backlit and easy to read even in low-light conditions. We found the keyboard responded well and was a pleasure to use. One problem we found, though, is that the Home and Mailbox keys sit higher than the menu and call buttons above and below, so using these keys can be a little awkward.
With HSDPA, HSUPA and Wi–Fi all built in as standard, this is very much a phone for the heavy data user. What’s more, getting your email accounts up and running are incredibly easy too. Adding your Gmail account, for example, is as simply a case of entering your username and password, while getting your corporate account needs a little more effort, Nokia has made it a fairly pain-free experience.
One of the main reasons it has taken us a few days to get a review of this phone up has been that we wanted to full test out the battery. Nokia is claiming over eight hours of talk-time and up to 23 days of standby time. So far, we’ve managed to get a good six days of regular use before having to think about a re-charge. Even then, the battery indicator was still only on a quarter. If battery life is key, then the Nokia E52 is for you.
We’ll be looking at the camera in a separate review but the 3.2-Megapixel camera comes with a single flash. While image quality from the test shots we’ve run have looked fine, so far there seems to be no auto-focus controls when you half-press the Capture button, which is a little frustrating.
The Nokia E52 may not be the most glamorous of smartphone and anyone looking for a device with a similar spec but full QWERTY keyboard may wish to check out the Nokia E75. However, anyone with a Nokia E51 pondering an upgrade will be more than impressed with what is on offer here – the look and feel and still great but the beefed-up spec list makes this an essential upgrade!
Check out our Nokia E52 review image gallery:
