Nokia E52 is the latest Nokia latest E-series smartphone that launched recently. This handset is the follower of the successful E51 that released on 2007. Nokia take 2 years to upgrading and renewing the phone into speedier, more durable and more organized handset that we see today. Read the review after the jumps.
Design
Instead a full Qwerty business phone that we used to see, the Nokia E52 is candy bar style phone that only has a ordinary numeric keypad. Many people think that a business phone must have a Qwerty keypad, but actually the keypad is not a problem for a business phone and Nokia E51 have already prove it two years ago. With the dimensions of 9.9 x 4.9 x 116mm, the E52 is a very hand comfortable sleek designed phone. In fact, it is also one of the slimmest smartphone in the market. The display screen is a 2.4 inches with 16 million colours and 240 x 320 pixels. Below the screen you will see a navigation pad that surrounded by few keys. There are two soft keys, an End key, a call key and the new added rocker switch button that at the same level as the navigation pad. The rocker is a one-touch keys that let user access to some important application like message key and calender key. However, these keys are too close to the navigation pad, and when you press on the right or left directions of the navi pad, you are inclined to push the switch by mistake. But the numeric keypad that at the bottom part is very thumb-friendly – well spaced and good tactile feedback. the Nokia E52 is available in two metal finishes (metal grey and golden aluminum), which is a very classy feel.
Features
E52 is installed with a 600 Mhz processor and 256mb memory to support the Symbian S60 OS. The navigation and browsing is lag-free and very little noticeable lag in access some apps. we don’t talk to much about this OS, but we still have to touch a little about the business related features – the Mobile VPN and Ovi Files features. The Mobile VPN is a feature that let you easy, safe and reliable way to link up to your company´s intranet system. This mean you can connect to your company’s intranet at everywhere in your office area. Besides of that, you also can connect the mobile to corporate phone systems with the Call Connect support. You can even have a single number and single voicemail box for that corporate phone. Ovi Files, in the other hand is remote, Gdrive-like system that let you access Office documents as well as photos, music and PDF files. Unfortunately, the Ovi files is only a 60-day trial version. You will have to spent some money to decide to continue with the service. There handset have a GPS receiver with A-GPS navigation (assisted GPS). It can be use with Nokia mini Maps. Other features of the phone including , 3G with HSDPA 10.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and microUSB.
Music and Video
The included music player supports MP3, AAC+, AAC, AMR NB and WMA formats while the video player can play MP4, RealVideo and WMV files on the phone. Audio quality is acceptable, if you not satisfied with the speaker, there is a 3.5mm headset jack on the top of the phone for you to plug in your favorite headset. However, watching video on the phone is not enjoyable enough because of the small 2.4″ display.
Camera
The Nokia E52 is spot a 3.2MP camera that has LED flash but no autofocus which is a letdown. However it has a enhanced fixed focus. It can take pictures up to 2048×1536 pixels and also able to record VGA video at 15 frame per second. Quality of the camera is good enough to satisfy the moderate user. But don’t think it can replace your digicam. Since the phone support 3G network, thus there is a videocall camera to for you to talk to your friend face to face.
Battery
The battery is the most remarkable selling point of Nokia E52. It has a very long lasting battery life that have an 8 hours of talktime or 23 days of standby time! This is the longest battery life handset in the market.
Conclusion
Actually the Nokia E52 is not exactly a business centric phone. The lack of Qwerty keypad has somehow not so convenient for those businessmen that have to emailing all the day. However, it is still an amazing phone with it fast response, rich feature, affordable price and long life battery capabilities. If you okay with that Qwerty keypad, this phone can take a look.
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Daniel, a very interesting post thanks for writing it!
Recently my beloved Nokia 6267 got stolen hier in Zürich (seems to be a rash of that of late). I had really gotten used to that unit’s ease of use, and anyone who’s been through this knows you’re suddenly confronted with all these decisions: do I move ‘up’? ‘Down’ (to something simpler..), to an iPhone, or one of its clones?
trouble is, the symbol list – sort of a ’symbol cache’ – on the E52 is DYNAMIC. So (for a simple example) if I use a divisor sign, equals, ampersand, +, *, @ and a few other symbols, the 
are pushed off the ‘cache list’ and I have to – you guessed it – tap more keys to get find them & get them back. DUMB – the symbol function was great on the 6267… You trigger the camera, and there are all these %&+§$ KEYSTROKES to DO THE OBVIOUS: TAKE AND SEND THE PIC
Well in order to try to approach the 6267’s great combination of biggish screen and large keys (i.e. not designed for a 12 year old girl’s fingers), I got an E52.
I’m astonished.
This phone is the worst piece of over-engineered, user-hostile piece of junk I ever saw from Nokia. Compared to the 6267 (or the 6131, 6310i. or venerable 6150…!), it’s hard to believe it’s a Nokia. First off, the most obvious and clear advantages of a folding phone:
1. you can get a big screen and a big keyboard into a compact package
2. both screen and keyboard are protected, by default (see below re: ‘unlocking’)
3. when open, earpiece and microphone are comfortably near ear & mouth, respectively..
I should say at the outset that I worked in mobile engineering (GSM & 3G) for 7 years, in engineering, but also that I see a mobile telephone basically as a tool for making calls and texting, it’s the mobility that attracts me, not the bells and whistles.
Most of my gripes with the E52 have to do with texting (SMS).
A BASIC, OBVIOUS FUNCTION: you can’t ‘use detail’ on an incoming SMS, i.e. someone texts you a telephone number, you have to WRITE IT DOWN, you can’t just ‘use number’ and call it, store it, etc. THIS IS ASTONISHINGLY STUPID. When you receive and sms, the stupid phone asks how you want to reply, instead of just defaulting to sms (the obvious and logical choice). WHY WOULD I WANT TO RESPOND BY EMAIL TO AN SMS? Maybe there’s a reason, I don’t know it, but the default should be…sms. DUMB. You can’t delete all sms in the Inbox, you have to step through menus to mark them and then delete them. DUMB – the 6267 was super easy in that regard. While typing, you want to insert an emoticon (smiley face): THE E52 DOESN’T HAVE THEM. ‘Business phone’? well, I send lots of ‘business’ sms, sometimes a smiley face is useful to tailor a message or adjust the tone. Not to mention private use. Not having them is a needless step backwards. DUMB. Which leads to the next issue: symbols. If I want a smiley face now,
I have to type it
TO SOMEONE. The reason to have a camera in a mobile phone is to make it EASY to send someone a photo of something RIGHT NOW…I don’t want a Windows experience when I try to do that. Or better: a DOS experience (for those old enough to remember..) I could taylor the 6267 ‘top left button’ to list all kinds of functions I use every day (in box, missed calls, alarm, etc) In the highly Advanced Sophisticated E52, I have to step thru stupid complex menus to find this stuff, and there’s no means to set up a pre-set list similar to the 6267. And along with all this, it seems like all I do is unlock the g#dd#m keypad – the stupid thing shuts
off in SECONDS. This was something else that was great with the 6267 – you flip it open and OPEN that sms! Invariably the stupid E52 has reverted to the menu list and to answer an incoming sms, you have to 1) press the upper left-hand key, 2) press the upper right-hand key (to get the keyboard unlocked…), 3) press the sms icon (if you’re lucky enough that the phone has reverted to that, else you have to tap around to it) 4) tap down to the Inbox icon… In this time I would have already been answering the sms, or had already sent it, with the 6267! The list goes on and on, but I want to cap it off with one of the most irritating of all: the beloved old
standard Nokia ring tone has been replaced by a sappy ‘mood music’ version, a fitting theme indeed. Meanwhile, try to find a used 6267. Talking to people in phone stores confirmed my suspicions: the 6267 was well-liked and sold out immediately after production ceased.
WAKE UP, NOKIA!
thanks for posting. Sounds like all will suffer the same problem. I’m not getting a Nokia anymore.
I don’t trust glen_b’s review because I’ve seen the same post in several websites. It looks like a Samsung campaign or something. This phone is great!
i can understand glen_b’s frustrations. Symbian is not user friendly, but it is so damn powerful if you know how to use it, i guess that’s why its made for nokia’s business phone series. It needs a lot of apps to be able to do what Glen_b wants and basically all is readily available. I pity his lack of knowledge which led to the frustration, and hopes he and others can benefit from this below.
1. To access numbers or email add from sms, you need to turn on ‘automatic find on’ feature, then u’ll be able to ‘use number’ without having to write it down. turn it off once u’re done to view the msg faster.
2. option for replying to other msgs annoys me at first but now seems useful enough
3. smileys is a really missed option in the sms. problem is, all symbian phones loses this feature. only workaround for this is an app called A-SMS animated sms
4. option to select or mark several messages in inbox is by holding ‘#’ and pressing up/down to select the msgs. there is an app called free i-sms which allows smses to be viewed in bubble forms and the received/sent smses shown under same window – alike to iphone sms, how cool is symbian now?
5. symbols are irrelevant once u no longer need to use smileys or if u used A-SMS. the character key is not that hard to find anyway.
6. shortcut lists are accessible via a wonderful app called JBAK Taskman.
7. you can also set other shortcuts by using an app called Magickey.
Well, this is just in reply to glen_b’s comment, explore the phone and symbian more and you’d understand why these phones are most favourable. E52 is by far the best symbian phone when it comes to the battery life, at least.
i have e52, i buy it last day, the cancel button of my phone is so soft touch, is that a default?