Nokia E90 Communicator

Great build quality Sturdy Fully functional front display Large and clear internal display

No TV out 2.5mm earphone socket Sound quality from provided earphones is bad No business card reader Camera quality is not too great

Enter, the Big Daddy of all phones! The E90 may look like and perhaps feel like any other communicator, but is it really? The answer is a resounding NO! The previous models, although still quite popular in many arenas has nothing on this baby. With a combination of elegance, style and a sturdy demeanor, the new addition to the business i.e. "E" class of Nokia phones has promised to overshadow its predecessors. But whether or not it can actually live up to that is what we’re here to find out. So let's get to it.

Form Factor
Although the design is quite like any Communicators of yore, this one has a few upgrades. For example this is the first to have a fully functional ‘External Phone’ with a 16million color display and a resolution of 240x320 pixels. The reason I refer to it as an ‘External Phone’ is simply because it pretty much looks like any other Nokia phone inside some sort of shell. Whatever a normal S60 phone can do, the outer phone can do as well. No exceptions this time. This may also be the first time Nokia has placed the power switch on the side of the screen rather than on top.

The rear houses the 3.2 megapixel, Auto-Focus camera with a flash and the speakers. At the very bottom you'll notice a little flap, which is where the microSD card can be inserted. All you have to do is slide it open and insert the card. The bottom is where you’ll find the mini USB (2.0), charger pin and a 2.5mm earphone socket. What’s most noticeable are the two steel hinges. This is another factor that sets the E90 apart from the previous models. The steel hinges make the phone a lot sturdier and add a certain rugged appeal to it. On the side are 2 keys. The one on the top is a dedicated voice recorder key, and the one at the bottom just below the infrared sensor, is the shutter release key for the camera. However, it's not a dedicated key to activate it which is quite odd.

Flip it open and this is where all the magic happens. The large internal screen is what this phone is all about with a crystal clear resolution of 800x352 pixels and 16 million colors. On the sides of this fabulous screen are 2 pairs of keys. On the right just underneath the secondary camera is a set of call take and end keys and on the other side of the screen is a set of soft keys. But I don’t like the positioning too much as they’re a bit too far from the nav-pad, so you end up having to adjust your hold every now and again when selecting options.

The Full QWERTY keypad makes the E90 look like a miniaturized laptop. At the very top of the keypad Nokia has graciously provided us with direct shortcut keys to various functions and one key to call your own (Open key). There’s also a separate key to switch on the keypad light when it's dark and on the other side of the keypad is a five way Nave-Pad. So that’s it for the design of this big boy. Let's see what he’s capable of doing.