Nokia E63 review: E for Economy

Nokia E63 is the next QWERTY messenger by Nokia, set on the glorious path of the E71. Only this time it slips off the high heels to walk it in plain straight and simple boots instead. Nokia E63 is undoubtedly a trimmed-down version of the E71 and almost a return to the E61i roots - with a 2 megapixel camera and no built-in GPS receiver.

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM support
• 3G support
• Landscape 2.36" 16M-color display of QVGA resolution
• Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1 (sprinkled with some FP2)
• 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
• Wi-Fi
• 2 megapixel fixed focus camera with LED flash
• 120 MB of internal memory, microSD expansion
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support
• microUSB v2.0
• FM radio
• Comfortable full QWERTY keypad
• Convenient shortcut keys
• Provider-independent VoIP support
• Office document editor
• Nokia Maps
• User-friendly Mode Switch for swapping two homescreen setups
• Great battery life
• Remote Lock and Wipe feature
• One-year free subscription for Files on Ovi

Main disadvantages:

• Poor camera performance
• Video recording maxes out at QVGA@15fps
• No GPS
• No RDS in the FM radio
• 3.5mm jack protective bud is not attached to the body
• No USB cable in the retail package
• No preinstalled games at all

Nokia 3600 slide review: Smooth glider

Nokia 3600 slide is one of those handsets which no one seems to covet, love and lust but everybody ends up buying or having. It's a straightforward guess that a S40 handset of subdued but comfortable styling and sufficient skill will simply go around. The neat and compact Nokia slider has all the basics duly covered and strives to deliver beyond its price in terms of imaging. A 3.2 megapixel camera, VGA video and TV out should be enough of an identity booster.

Nokia-3600 Slide 
Rs 8,800/- 
This slider phone comes with an inbuilt memory of 30 MB, which is upgradeable upto 4 GB using a microSD card. It comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom, flash and video recoder. It comes with connectivity options like bluetooth, USB connector, EDGE, GPRS and email client support. The phone also has fm radio, games and a music player supporting MP3, AAC, eAAC+, AAC+ and WMA audio formats. The phone is JAVA enabled and comes in Black and Red colour.

Main disadvantages:
No 3G support 
Average camera image quality 
Very rigid shutter key 
Rigid battery cover latch 
Memory card slot under the hard-to-remove rear cover 
The battery falls off immediately when the rear cover is removed 
The bottom row of keys gets scratched by the sliding action

Nokia N96 review: King's new clothes

Being a successor of the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N96 has some king-size spec sheet to top. There's FP2, double the built-in storage and DVB-H.

Nokia-N96
Rs 32,700/-
This 125 grams slider phone has a Lithium Ion battery, which provides talk time of 220 minutes and standby time of 220 hours. It has added features like 16m coloured TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 320, Quadband, 5 megapixel auto focus camera with flash and video recorder. It comes with 18.8GB inbuilt memory, Wi-fi, EDGE, Bluetooth, Infrared and USB connector. The mobile comes with a Music Player which supports MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA music formats and supports email client with POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP types of Email accounts. Built-in GPS, 3.5 mm audio output jack, TV out, Office document viewer are the unique features of this mobile phone. 

Main disadvantages:

  * Inadequate battery life
  * No camera lens protection
  * The N81-inspired design
  * No office document editing out of the box
  * Doesn't charge via the USB port
  * Dreadful camera key
  * Cheap looking keypad
  * Unreasonably hefty price tag 

Nokia N96 comes to top the Nokia multimedia portfolio, packing almost every single feature you can think of. It extends the functionality of its predecessor - Nokia N95 8GB with 16GB of internal memory, DVB-H TV receiver, and the latest version of the Symbian OS. There are also some more minor upgrades including music keys on the front panel, a kickstand for more comfortable video watching, Navi wheel and dual-LED flash. On the negative side, the CPU has been tripped up.