I used to have an E71-2 as my everyday device, I think in 2008-2009, and this E71-2 is still around as a backup to the backup. Compared to the E71, the E5 is snappier with almost every operation. It's generally a joy to use, although obviously a very different device and far behind my usual device, an iPhone 4.
For some reason, I have had trouble getting the Ovi Store to install applications to a 32 GB Class 4 SD card. Not sure why. The same card worked fine in the E71 (with latest firmware, of course). So the phone memory is great, but I'm eating into it a little bit because some mission critical items like Advanced Call Manager will have to run from the phone memory. Given the choice, maybe I'd have put Advanced Call Manager into phone memory anyway, in order for it to run a little faster. I think I was running it from the phone memory on the E71, too.
The screen is a little disappointing, I find, after using it a few days. I guess that after using an iPhone 4, there's no screen that's going to compare favourably. But the E5-00.2 does not compare well to the E71-2. The difference is visible and there are times the E5's screen is just...lacklustre or even ugly. You can make up for the colour depth a little bit by removing colour depth as a part of your everyday equation: If you set to a black theme, much of what slaps you in the face every time you look at the E5 isn't relevant any longer.
The Nokia applications for synchronising to Macs are a little long in the tooth, too. I get the feeling they haven't been worked on since I was using the E71, and they seemed a little old even back then.
Now that I've mentioned the Nokia applications, I realise that there is more evidence that the SD card might have a problem. Every time I have tried to move my iTunes library with Nokia Multimedia Transfer, it has ended up corrupted. I have an 8 GB Class 4 card around here somewhere, and I'll give that a try to see for sure if it's the card causing the Ovi Store and music problems.
I am sure that I will go back to the iPhone 4 very soon. I'm one of those folks who has a full range of Apple products because they just seem to work and work well, even if they are expensive at a given hardware capability. Voice calls sound better in both directions on the iPhone 4, and audio recordings sent as MMS sound better on the iPhone 4. It's absolutely just leagues ahead of the cheap Nokia, and of course the E5 isn't intended to compete with it.
But I've always had a weakness for Nokia unlocked devices.
Although they're not viewed this way in Europe or the UK, in the USA it's as if Nokia is just thumbing its nose at the establishment. Still putting out unimproved Symbian devices in 2011?
Still turning down agreements with both Verizon and AT&T over little niggling contractual problems? Still keeping prices low enough that you wonder about their margin?
This E5-00.2 is hardly top of class, but it's still nice, and it's nice that you can still buy something this cheap (it was $150) that appears to work wonderfully well and connect to a modern car's Bluetooth with absolute reliability.
If you're looking for a cheap unlocked device that works excellently for texting and email, I think this is a pretty neat device to have, especially for the money.
