The candybar phone with Qwerty keyboard comes with a stainless steel battery cover. The design is compact, feels comfortable to grip in your palm and comes with control buttons and keys for easy manoeuvring with one hand.
The switchable homescreen makes it easier to switch from business to pleasure modes. There´s a combination of shortcuts with each choice of homescreen. You can also set personalised shortcuts to the central navigator.
The Qwerty keyboard feels a bit cramped and awkward to use at first. But after a bit of getting used to, it´s quite easy and comfortable to the touch. Moreover, each key has a protruding centre, so it is easy to spot and apply pressure on the right one.
The best surprise feature of the E5 is the flashlight that can be utilised by pressing down the space bar. Very handy for situations such as finding your seat in the cinema when the lights are switched off. There are also several more well-thought out buttons for accessing the Menu and items such as Messages.
Feature-wise, the E5 can be an efficient social-networking phone. With pre-installed social networking service (SNS) clients including Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Friendster as well as direct e-mail access, keeping abreast with your friends is only a tap away. You can switch to the networking homescreen to get live updates from your contacts.
The 2.36-inch screen seems a bit cramped for viewing videos and rich web pages. But for surfing websites, you can always zoom in and out using the * and # buttons. The screen remains clear and sharp even under bright sunlight.
With 5.0-megapixel built-in camera, the E5 can take decent pictures. It has LED flashlight, self-timer, panorama and burst modes for more photography action. There´s also the regular effects application to edit your pictures.
This phone comes with the Xpress Music feature to play impressive range of files, such as MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA. Integrated with an Equalizer function, you can set the audio to your liking to make music listening an enjoyable experience.cThe phone has a built-in FM radio. You can also access the Internet radio.
With built-in Wi-Fi, you can get connected in cafes and mamak stalls anytime. The phone also offers applications such as Nokia Maps, Ovi Chats, World clock and Stopwatch. I find the Nokia Maps feature to be fast and practical enough for finding your way around Klang Valley´s new haunts.
The battery is also a plus point. It can lasts for a few days without charging. If you are a heavy data user and constantly looking for Wi-Fi signal to get on Internet, it should be good for a couple of days. But mobile gaming and using video features will drain the battery quicker.
As a conclusion, the E5 is a solid phone physically and in performance ability. Its affordable price tag also makes it a tempting package. To those who wants to experience using smartphone but have a tight budget, this is your time.
