Nokia N73

The quality of camera phones has come a long way since their inception, and we think it's fair to say that Nokia has been one of the manufacturers leading the charge. The company's entire N series of "multimedia computers" is proof, as they offer high-quality lenses and vast imaging features. The latest model we've seen is the Nokia N73. As the successor to the N70, the N73 ups the ante with an excellent 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder and more internal memory. It also offers music playback, integrated Bluetooth, and a number of productivity tools based on the Symbian OS platform. Unfortunately, our initial love faded somewhat as the N73 suffered from sluggish performance in our tests--nothing show-stopping but brief delays here and there added up to some Sony Ericsson K800i Cyber Shot. As of this writing, no U.S. carriers offer the Nokia N73, so you will have to pay a hefty $600 or so for an unlocked version of the phone.

The Design

The Nokia N73 sports an attractive candy bar-style design that's available in two stylish color schemes: silver/deep plum and frost white/metallic red. (We reviewed the former.) It's the same size (4.3 by 1.9 by 0.7 inches; 4/1 ounces) as the Sony Ericsson K800i, which is to say that it's not the most compact phone we've seen, but it's still fairly sleek. The camera lens cover on the back of the phone also adds a bit of extra bulk, but nothing too overwhelming. Plus, the N73 has a solid construction and is comfortable to hold to the ear while talking on the phone.

The N73 boasts a beautiful 2.4-inch (diagonal) QVGA screen that displays 262,144 hues at a 240x320-pixel resolution. That translates to bright colors and sharp text and images. It's also readable in direct sunlight. You can change the display's theme and backlight time, but there's no way to increase font size, which may cause some problems for users with impaired eyesight.

The numerical keypad and navigation controls sit below the screen. There are two soft keys, Talk and End buttons, and a five-way joystick for scrolling through the menu; pressing the joysticks causes it to act as a select key. Along the perimeter of the number keys are four more controls: shortcuts to the Menu and Edit function are on the left side, while the Multimedia button and Clear key are on the right side (see image above). With the exception of this last set of buttons, the keys and layout are a bit small and cramped. That's particularly disappointing since there's about 1/4-inch of extra space between the screen and the navigation keypad that could have been used for roomier keys. Instead, we suffered several misdials and launched unwanted apps. On the upside, the backlighting is nice and bright.

On the right spine, you will find the camera capture key, a review button to view the last saved image or video clip, and a zoom in/out rocker that also doubles as a volume controller. To store all your multimedia files, there's a miniSD expansion slot on the bottom of the N73. It's protected by an attached cover, which we certainly appreciate, but it's really difficult to remove--having longer nails helps. That said, we're glad Nokia placed the expansion slot on the exterior of the phone rather than behind the battery like it does with some of its other models.

The camera lens is located on the back, and it too is protected by a cover. To activate the camera, just slide the cover downward. The screen goes into landscape mode automatically and acts as a viewfinder. As a result, you're naturally inclined to turn the phone horizontally to take photos. Now, with the camera capture key and zoom keys at the top, the N73 looks and feels like a standalone digital camera. Admittedly, it's a little awkward to take vertical snapshots this way, but you get the hang of it after a few tries. While there's no self-portrait mirror, the Nokia N73 offers you something better--a second camera. It's located just above the screen in the upper right corner.

Nokia packages the N73 with most of the basic accessories, including an AC adapter, a USB cable, a stereo headset, a wrist strap, a wipe cloth, Nokia PC Suite software, and reference material. The only thing we'd add to our wish list is a miniSD card.



Features

Like its N-series siblings, the N80 and the N93, the Nokia N73's imaging capabilities is what makes it a multimedia computer (as Nokia calls it), but we don't forget that it is first and foremost a phone. As such, we'll start with those capabilities. The address book is limited only by the available memory (42MB) and the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. There's room in each entry for multiple phone numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail addresses, birthday, and more vitals. For caller ID, you can assign each contact to a photo, one of 30 ring tones, or a group ID. The N73 also has speed dial, voice command support, a vibrate mode (called Pager profile on this phone), a speakerphone, and text and multimedia messaging.

The N73 is equipped with Bluetooth 2.0 for wireless headsets and car kits. You can also use the device as a modem to send or receive e-mail, or to connect to the Web with a compatible PC. Unfortunately, unlike the N80, the N73 does not have Wi-Fi. While this is disappointing, we were still able surf the Net using a GPRS or EDGE connection, so you're not completely left in the cold.

The N73 runs Symbian OS 9.1 so you get the basic PIM capabilities and more. There's a calendar, a to-do list, notes, a calculator, a voice recorder, a currency converter, and an HTML/XHTML Web browser. An app called Quickoffice lets you view (but not edit) Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files; plus, Adobe Reader is there for PDFs. The N73 is also equipped to handle e-mail capabilities. The phone supports SMTP, IMAP4, and POP3 accounts with full attachment viewing and mobile VPN support for corporate users. Finally, the Nokia PC Suite helps you synchronize your N73 with your PC (using the included USB cable) to manage appointments, music, device memory, and more.

The Nokia N73 boasts a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, a flash, and 20X digital zoom.

Now, without further ado: the multimedia show. The Nokia N73 ups the ante slightly compared to the Nokia N80 by offering a 3.2-megapixel camera versus a 3-megapixel camera. It features a Carl Zeiss Optics lens, an autofocus function, and 20X digital zoom. Once again, we're blown away by the vast array of photo customization and editing options available on the N73. You can choose from eight scene modes, ranging from portrait to sports to night portrait; four image qualities (large, medium, small, and multimedia messages); and five resolutions (2,048 by 1,536, 1,600 by 1,200, 1,280 by 960, and 800 by 600, 640 by 480). You can tweak the brightness, contrast, white balance, color tone, and exposure value. There's also a self-timer, sequence mode for up to six pictures in a row, and flash with red-eye reduction as one of the options. As we mentioned earlier, there's a second camera, which is of VGA quality and features a 2X digital zoom. The N73's camera captures video with sound in MP4 or 3GP formats with up to 4X zoom. You get a choice of two shooting modes (auto and night) and three quality settings (high, normal, and sharing). In addition, there are white balance and color tone controls.

Once you're done with your photos and videos, you can touch them up with the preloaded editors. For photos, you can add clip art or text, resize the image, reduce red eye, and more. For videos, your editing options include changing sound, trimming clips for multimedia messages, and more. You have several methods of sharing your masterpieces with others. In addition to being able to e-mail or save your images, you can use some of Nokia's Xpress Solutions to print photos, upload them to the Web, or transfer them to other devices. There's also a slideshow gallery and we really like that you can add music to play in the background. Overall, we thought the N73 took excellent snapshots for a camera phone. Colors popped from the images and lines were clearly defined. Video quality could use a bit of improvement, though, as clips were a bit washed out and grainy.

For more entertainment, the N73 comes with an integrated music player that supports MP3, AAC, WMA, m4a, and eAAC+ files. To get tracks onto your handset, you simply drag and drop files from your PC to the N73 via the included USB cable. The mobile has an equalizer and you can loop songs or play them at random. There's also an FM radio, but you must use the included stereo headset to take advantage of this feature since the tuner is built into the headset. RealPlayer is also available with 3GPP and MPEG4 video streaming support.


Performance

We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; WCDMA 2100) Nokia N73 in San Francisco using Cingular service and in general, call quality was good. On our end, callers sounded a bit hollow, but we were able to carry on with the phone call. Our friends said they could hear us loud and clear and couldn't even tell we were using a cell phone. Activating the speakerphone diminished the audio quality just slightly, as an echo plagued both ends of the conversation.

Unfortunately, as we've experienced with some other Nokia phones, the N73 suffered from sluggish performance when switching between apps or performing its multimedia capabilities. There was a noticeable lag when we called up different menus and activated the camera or music player. In fact, the phone completely froze on us one time as we tried to switch to video mode. Though the delays are relatively short, it still gets annoying and frustrating over time. Music playback was decent, although the included set of uncomfortable earbuds leave much to be desired.

The Nokia N73 is rated for 4.1 hours of talk time and up to 14.6 days of standby time. In our tests, the N73 blew the rated talk time out of the water by clocking in 9.5 hours--good news for all you chatty Cathys out there.