Nokia N73 review roundup

by Chris Ziegler, posted Sep 5th 2006 at 2:07PM

What's better than a review of Nokia's king-of-the-hill candybar, the 3.2-megapixel N73 with virtually every desirable feature under the sun? How about three reviews? Early reports suggest some discontent with the N73's build quality and processor speed, not to mention that the lack of WiFi leaves us wanting -- but viewing the phone as the N70's heir apparent puts everything into perspective for us. We'd normally refrain from teasing our US readers so incessantly with gorgeous equipment they can't have, but in this case, quad-band GSM is virtually a written invitation for the S60 lovers among us to get their import on.

Read - phoneArena
Read - CNET
Read - All About Symbian

Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS

Tags: candybar, megapixel, n73, nokia, nseries, review

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

Pat Cavit @ Sep 5th 2006 3:50PM

I got my import on with the n73 and couldn't be happier. The build quality on mine is great, the only creaking is when pushing in on the sliding camera cover. While it makes a small amount of noise, the lens remains protected and the cover doesn't touch it.

The keypad is on the small size but very usable even with my large hands.

Highly Ranked

Matt @ Sep 5th 2006 5:38PM

Ahh, let us not forget the always-entertaining russian-to-english translated reviews from our pals over at mobile-review, who consistently throw up more photos than any other site, but who oftentimes favor sony-ericcson devices over just about everything else:

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-n73-en.shtml

...and a seperate review of the camera, which of course isn't as good as the K800/K790's

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-n73-cam-en.shtml

Highly Ranked

Marshall Culpepper @ Sep 5th 2006 8:08PM

I got my N73 about 3-4 days after the official shipment announcement, and I've found very little to dislike about this phone. I was a pretty big SE fanboy for a while, as I had a K750i as my main phone for a good year and change.

Things to really love about the N73:

- The screen is huge and gorgeous. I've never seen a phone screen this crisp.. and there is plenty of room here too.

- Series 60 3rd edition is beautiful.. Nokia has paid a lot of attention to details here... The icons, colors, and layout of the default theme have kept me aesthetically pleased which I've never been able to say for any phone.

- Boot time, menu loading, installing apps, etc.. is all very snappy with Series 60 3rd edition. I had a 3650 back in the day and let me tell you what a horrificly slow interface that was...

- Nokia's new browser is really fast, and can scale a webpage down to 50% making it very readable on 320x240 with little or no horizontal scroll (I read engadget frequently at 50% with no scroll). Also it comes bundled with a free RSS reader, which is really nifty.

- Still images are really good for a cell phone. You're not gonna replace a standalone digital camera, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's been following the cell phone market for the past few years. I found the photos to contain much more color and detail than the photos my k750 was capable of.

- CIF video (352x288)@15fps is pretty dang good (again being an old SE fanboy i've been used to QCIF)

- I've heard a lot of complaints about the joystick on the N73, but in comparison to the K750 (which sold me on the idea of joysticks), it is actually better, believe it or not. The up/down/left/right movement of the stick feels very solid, and you are almost never "in the dark" about which state the joystick is in.

Things that could be better:

- The buttons on the right side of the phone manage to clicked a lot whether in my pocket or just normally handling the phone... I highly recommend getting a software auto-locker to help here.

- The small keypad can be a problem sometimes, but i'd say about 85-90% of the time it is fine for my needs (I write about 3-4 text messages per day, and do late nate RSS / web browsing).

- There is a dedicated button for an animated graphical menu that will take you to one of a few high level tasks (i.e. Media, Internet..). I wish there was a way to disable only this button as sometimes I accidentally press it instead of the "C" button.

- The USB/PopPort cable doesn't actually charge the phone. This is a pretty minor thing, but I had grown accustomed to just plugging my usb cable from my K750 into any available USB port for charging.. hopefully Nokia will fix this in other phones down the road.

Highly Ranked

elfguy @ Sep 5th 2006 10:40PM

It is, hands down, the best smartphone out there currently. That being said, it is not perfect. Mainly, there are still several software bugs that cause restarts or out of memory messages.

Neutral

Kappy @ Sep 6th 2006 1:46AM

I have imported this phone as well. I highly recommend it. I came from and HTC Tornado, and simple things like reception and call quality just blow away every other phone I have had (with the exception of a Nokia 6010). The s60 3rd edition is nice, the PIM is not quite as good as WM5 but it does everything I need it to and more. The camera and gallery app are really great (I don't have a stand alone digital camera becuase I would be unlikely to carry it with me anywhere), the stereo speakers, while quite tinny when playing music, are louder than the external speakers on any other phone I have used. I like the keypad, its quite a bit better than the HTC Tornado keypad I was used to. The phone could use a bit more memory, the multi-tasking goes to waste when you can only have 3 or so of the major (camera, gallery, real player, radio, music player) apps open at any one time. You can have the PIM and various editors and settings apps open at the same time with no problems. Anyhow thats my mini review, I highly recommend this phone.

-Kap

Neutral

Jim Hughes @ Sep 6th 2006 6:33AM

I've got another 6-8 links to N73 reviews on my wiki too, the N73 looks like a great phone, probably the best of the bunch for a general purpose S60 phone right now.

Nokia N73 reviews and specs - http://feetup.org/wiki/NokiaN73

Neutral

John @ Jan 13th 2007 6:24PM

Nice phone - but definitely flawed. Camera takes really nice pictures during the day but forget night shots as the flash is poor.
My last phone was a mid range 6230 which served me well for 2yrs but the time came for an upgrade so i paid O2 £100 for the N73. Great features, some of which i will not use, but as spelled out by many others, the fiddly joystick, small keypad and slow laggy software hold this phone back. Ive not had the phone crash on me but i have had it tell me "memory low, close some applications" when trying to zoom in on previously taken photos. The N73's flash memory is sadly lacking, and the fact that some applications do not close but instead continue to run in the background mean you can sometimes run into problems like i have just described.
There is loads of handy software such as Tomtom Navigator etc that can be downloaded (for free if you know where to look) and it is really nice having a tiny pc wherever you go. However the attention to detail just isnt there - omissions such as a text message counter (essential, once you get used to it on another phone) just arent acceptable.
The gallery for viewing photos is poorly executed as well - it just pulls up any image on the phone or memory card and presents them in the order they were saved - meaning i am risking showing ahem, risque shall we say, pictures of my bird to my mates accidentally when trying to locate another photo! And they are all mixed in with images used by Tomtom, such as road signs - the gallery is a joke. There are workarounds using different software that can be downloaded free, i mean PURCHASED - but thats not the point, it shouldve been done right in the first place.
For all those criticising the menu being too complicated - get in the real world, its a computer not a toaster, if you cant handle it then get a more basic phone, In any case, the menu can be customised and everything moved wherever you want it, so if you spend a few minutes then you can have all the things you use regularly easily to hand anyway.
The camera is SLOW, takes 6 seconds on my phone from opening the shutter to getting ot a state where you can actually take a picture - hardly any use for those spur of the moment shots. And the pictures, although very pretty, are too colour saturated and not true to life. Your decision if that makes good photos or not - i think it does. Having said that, im only a novice with the camera and find it is slow to take pictures as well - youre looking at 2 or 3 second from when you push the button to when the picture is actually taken (unless using sports mode) - this means sometimes poses go out the window and you end up with someone who has moved in the middle of the shot because the flash has gone off but the shutter hasnt closed.
The web browser is pretty good but id advise downloading Opera Mini for free, as it saves your download bill by going through Opera servers which strip out all the rubbish you dont need and compressing web pages to a smaller size - do some research on google about this, its worth it.
The body seems cheaply constructed and "creaky" but thats no biggie to me.
Speaker phone is next to useless - and call volume not very loud when using pressed to your ear.
It sounds like im really slagging the N73 off, but i do actually like my phone - it just couldve been so much better. At the end of the day its on a 12mth contract so hopefully Nokia will have sorted out the issues it has when they release their next smartphone and im ready to upgrade again.
Oh and get a latex screen protector off Ebay for £3 - means you dont worry about scratching the huge screen any more - this will also help the resale value when you upgrade and get rid of it. At the end of the day ill easily get £100 if not more for it next year, so really the phone wont have cost me anything.
I dont know if the Sony equivalent is any better, and i wont ever touch another Samsung - admittedly i am a Nokia fan, for the ease of use, so make what you will of what ive written!

Neutral

audrey chin @ Jan 26th 2007 9:13PM

i had this N73 phone a couple of months ago. it is classic and beautiful. eveything seems so fine but one thing i dont like about this phone is it's too lacking when i sent my sms out to my friends.it took about 1 min plus for the msg to be sent out. it is way too long and thee phone always hang. does anyone has any idea of letting the phone not to be so lack and hang easily? i have already tried to save eveything inside my memory card and has deleted mang things. but this problem of lacking is still not resolved yet. :'(

Highly Ranked

john @ Feb 6th 2007 12:04PM

To the poster having probs with text messages taking ages to send - you have two options:
1. Visit the Nokia site and download the sms accelerator update
2. Update your phone to the latest firmware at the Nokia site
Regarding this - i was unable to update my firmware because O2 havent approved any later firmware than i was using, so although Nokia have released several bugfixes, im apparently not allowed to have them! There is a way round this, by using Nemesis Service Suite to change your handsets product code, to a generic brand-free one, not restricted to a certain firmware. I recommend doing this - i managed it, and im no technical wizard. However....

Neutral

john @ Feb 6th 2007 12:44PM

...be warned - you CAN brick your fone if you interfere with it or the cable when the firmware is downloading/updating, and you WILL invalidate your warranty with your service provider (and possibly Nokia) if you change your product code. Having said that, i went ahead and did it anyway, and my menus are a lot more snappy now - its a shame the new firmware (v3.0649.0.0.1) didnt fix my slow camera problem... Ah well, heres hoping the next firmware upgrade will address that issue - ARE YOU LISTENING NOKIA?
Before you decide to use NSS to change your product code, make sure you do your research first - do NOT attempt it unless you are 100% (well 75%) confident you understand what you are doing.

Neutral

Cristiano @ Mar 24th 2007 8:15AM

Hey everyone,

ive just got the nokia n73 and its a great fone. actually ive had it for a couple months now and ive got loats of applications on it. limewire and others seem 2 be an okayplace to download from but ive seen Tomtom Navigator on some nokia n73 fones.

the person said a few posts ago that u can get free Tomtom Navigator if "u know where to look" , could anyone please tell me where i can look for this software and what websites to download from ?

thanks

Highest Ranked

vikas singh @ Mar 29th 2007 9:14AM

demand software _1: cell track
nokia n73 2: spy call recoder
3: nature theem

Highly Ranked

hamid @ May 5th 2007 6:37AM

I have one Nokia n73 .I need mobile cell tracking for my handset phone . What can I load it free ?

Highest Ranked

zhengyang89 @ May 11th 2007 3:38PM

I have a problem here. My N73 will suddenly show that my hp memory are full, & call me to delete some data, when that time i cant do anything even have a call. After i check my hp memory, i only use for around 1 MB but it show that the hp memory just have 160kb suddenly. Please help about this problem, thanks alot.

Highly Ranked

lily @ Jun 4th 2007 6:20AM

Hey there, does anyone know if there is any way of getting a message counter for Nokia N73? After running up a large phone bill due to not being able to keep track of texts, my mother is not best pleased with me!

Thanks

Neutral

dratsub @ Jun 6th 2007 4:11AM

i've got the same problem as zhengyang89.does anyone know how to fix it??

Highly Ranked

Melvin Rice @ Jul 25th 2007 1:17AM

i felt good with it
and i bought few utilities from explorepda.com which helps great working with this device

Neutral

sachin @ Nov 28th 2007 8:15AM

seems to be a nice phone. although im not a mobile freak :-) i used 6610 earlier (for 4 yrs) and still using it.
here are some things which seems to be a problem for me:
1) i can't put "repeat" actions to to-do/meeting items.
2) can't insert name/contact details directly into sms.
3) there is no "birthday event". anniversary can be used for it. but it doesn't show the current age/anniversary year
4) i can't set any mp3/aac file as a ringtone to individual!? only to the groups.
5) there is a builtin mp3 ringtone converter software but it can only convert mp3 files encoded at 128 kbps.

Neutral

Jamie @ Mar 8th 2008 4:14PM

my joystick is stuck on this phone whats goin on? i can't scroll left right and up. HELP ME PLEASE

Neutral

adil @ Feb 6th 2009 3:18PM

Hmm very nice phone with great features

Hey i ve found a blog which have great n73 games ...

http://mobilegamesarena.blogspot.com

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