Nokia E65 review

Using Nokia's PC Suite software, you can synchronise your calendar, to-do items, contacts and notes from Outlook or Lotus Notes. Unlike Microsoft's ActiveSync, however, which works with Windows Mobile handsets, you can't synchronise your emails.

Via Bluetooth, you can also display documents and pictures on a compatible projector. The E65 supports a variety of file formats including PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

It also supports third-party satellite navigation software such as Route 66 or Navicore (compatible versions of the software will be available soon) that you can use in conjunction with a separate Bluetooth GPS receiver.

You can store all your work, pictures and music on the 50MB of internal memory and on a microSD card. The E65 will take up to a 2GB microSD card, allowing you to store around 480 songs that you can listen to on the E65's music player.

The music player supports MP3 and AAC files and lets you play tracks in shuffle mode. You can search for songs by artist name, album and genre, and adjust the equaliser.

Unfortunately you can only use the proprietary headphones to listen to music, which are okay but we'd have preferred it if there was support for a pair of stereo Bluetooth headphones or a 3.5mm adaptor.

On the back there's a 2-megapixel camera but we're disappointed that there's no autofocus or flash

The E65 also comes with a 2-megapixel camera that shoots still photographs and video. It's pretty basic -- there's no autofocus or flash -- but it's acceptable for MMS messages and mementos.

One feature we particularly like is the text message reader that reads out your messages.

Performance
We were really impressed with the Wi-Fi connectivity, which was fast and easy to set up. We tested it out in the office and at home and it found more wireless routers than some laptops.

The audio quality during calls was good and we didn't notice any distortions or muffling during calls. The loudspeaker worked as expected. The quality of the music from the MP3 player was acceptable, but we would have preferred to be able to use our own headphones.

The picture quality from the camera was unimpressive and most shots came out blurry due to the lack of autofocus. The lack of a flash also meant that low light shots didn't come out very well.

Battery life was better than expected. With moderate use of all the features including the Wi-Fi connectivity, the battery lasted for about three to four days, which is much better than other phones with similar features.

Conclusion
For a phone that's just 16mm thick, it's very impressive how much Nokia has managed to cram into it. The Wi-Fi connectivity is fast and easy to set up, the keypad is well designed and the office features are useful.

The BlackBerry Pearl remains the best way to get your work emails on the go, while the HTC S710 has the better synching software and a Qwerty keyboard.

If, however, you're more interested in the phone's other features and aren't put off by the lacklustre camera, the E65 is one of the better smart phones available at the moment.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield