(Nokia E63) First Impressions – Bought on Dec 13 2008

Purchasing experience:
I just got my ruby-red Nokia E63 last Saturday, December 13, 2008 at Fone Style Acessories store at Cyberzone at SM North, Manila, Philippines (for those who are not from the Philippines) for the price of PHP 12,500 (USD 263.324).  I surveyed the prices from the other competing stores at Cyberzone. Prices vary from PHP 14,000, 13,700, and 13,000.  However, the Nokia Store and Care Center at Cyberzone doesn’t have the unit yet.  I asked the Nokia sales lady about it and she is completely unfamiliar with the unit. She doesn’t even know that it exist!

 I checked the contents of the package which contains the following:
~ Nokia E63 unit
~ 1GB microSD memory card
~ charger
~ headphones
~ user manuals

Next, I checked the authenticity of the unit. I saw the Nokia holographic logo on the battery. I saw the IMEI serial number inside the unit and compared it with the IMEI via *#06#. They matched.  I also saw the NTC certification label inside the unit.

I contacted by phone the Nokia hotline (on Dec 16, 2008 because of a memory corrupted problem) and asked why their store at Cyberzone doesn’t have the E63 yet. The agent told me that third party dealers and Nokia stores have different delivery dates.  The agent asked the IMEI of my unit. She verified and concluded that my unit is valid (I was then advised to bring my unit to the Nokia Care Center at Cyberzone). The unit is not fake.  It’s original and it’s made from Finland.

Probably, I may be one of those fortunate people who got this E63 after the official release date (Dec 11, 2008).  Cyberzone got their E63 on Dec 13, 2008 which is also the day that I bought mine. I paid cash, however.

Usage review:
Let’s start with the weaknessess:

1. The camera in the unit is mediocre. It’s not bad but not also the best. The camera tends to perform bad at indoors where lighting is insufficient. The pictures tend to produce greeny, grainy spots on the image. However, sufficiently lighted indoors such as work office tends to produce good and acceptable images.  Outdoor shots look even better but only when there is sun. When it’s dark, the greeny, grainy spots tend to appear again.  Oddly, I discovered that if you put the quality on Normal mode and resolution at 640×480 the pictures tend to produce less greeny, grainy spots than on High mode and maximum resolution. Zoom the pictures at 100% and you will see the difference.

2. Media player is too simplistic. The included player is basic. You cannot add themes. Modifying the playlist is tedious. There is also no Visualization. However, when it comes to playing quality, the sounds are excellent.

3. No stopwatch application! I was wondering why there is no bundled stopwatch application. This is supposed to be a productivity, business fitted unit. If there’s one thing that matters most to business, that would be time (besides money of course).

4. Radio player needs a microphone to play. Why in the world it needs a microphone first to activate the radio player? Why can’t it be directly activated? So here’s what I did, I looked for an old microphone. Took out it’s jack and use that as a switch. So I can use the loudspeakers on the unit to play the radio without the annoying cables from the microphone.

5. No USB cable included on the package. This could be a negative depending if you like to transfer files. In my case, I’m fond of transferring files back and forth from the unit to my computer. It’s tedious to remove the card and insert it on a memory card reader and back to the unit. 

However, for all those weaknessess and cons, I must say that the E63 is good and an excellent purchase. Here are the strengths that I found on the unit:

1. They keyboard is easy to use. I haven’t use an E71 yet but comparing the keyboard spacing, I must say the E63 is much, much better.

2. The Video recorder captures good quality movies. Surprisingly, the built-in camera takes mediocre photos but it does an excellent job when it comes to recording movies. Usually, it’s the opposite.

3. The interface and the OS are quick and responsive. No hanging application. No slowdowns yet.

4. Messaging is easy (though I still need to set-up the MMS on this unit. Apparently, Globe doesn’t have a predefined set-up for the E63 yet, though it’s exactly similar with the E71).

5. Voice call quality is clear though I find that the unit seems to heat faster than normal (or maybe that is normal?)

6. Many people think that the unit looks cheap because it’s made of plastic but actually if you hold the unit, it doesn’t feel like plastic. It feels very much metallic. It doesn’t feel cheap.

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