If you work in an organization with no image capturing equipment policy, look here! The HTC Touch2 non-camera phone was released recently, adding itself to the list of non-camera smart phones (Nokia E51, Sony Ericsson G700, HTC Snap, Gigabyte Gsmart S1200, etc).

But is the HTC Touch2 non-camera the phone you are waiting for? Or you are hoping that Apple releases iPhone non-camera? Well, while you are waiting for Steve Job to announce it (if iPhone non-camera even exists) and you don’t mind a WinMo (Windows Mobile) phone, probably you can give the HTC Touch2 a try.

Bought the HTC Touch2 non-camera just a while back and been using it for perhaps 2 weeks or so. Let me jot down my review of this phone.

Key Features

• 2.8″ 65K-color QVGA display
• Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS with TouchFLO
• Qualcomm MSM7225 528MHz CPU and 256MB RAM
• Quad-band GSM support
• 3G with HSDPA 7.2Mbps
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microSD card slot
• Touch-sensitive zoom bar
• Standard miniUSB port and Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Opera 9.5 web browser
• YouTube client, Facebook integration

Some not so good points

• Low-end display resolution
• No accelerometer sensor
• Poor screen sunlight legibility
• No handwriting recognition

Nokia handphone user interface is pretty much the same nowadays. The only difference is the ability to customize what you want or don’t want on the screen. Symbian “desktop” (or rather the main screen) have options for you to keep it clean or have a quick launch area for applications.

I found it to be more productive by keeping frequently accessed applications on the “desktop” rather than navigating through the menus to launch them. E51 already came with one-touch keys and the standby applications just makes launching applications easier. One-touch keys are physical keys on the keypad where you can configure them to launch applications. Pretty niffy eh?

It is my first E-Series phone from Nokia. My previous handphones were from the N-Series. Missed call and new messages alerts are a little bit different from the N-Series. Instead of having a alert box at the bottom of the screen, these alerts are elegantly placed on the “desktop”.

I found these method of displaying alerts better than the N-Series as display of an alert box is pretty irritating at times. They just pop up suddenly while you are doing some stuffs on the handphone.

Ah, I like my handphone!

Comparing N81 and E51 side by side, the N81 looks like a meaner machine as it comes with N-Gage features as well as better multimedia features (camera, music player, image gallery, etc) than the E51.

Came across X-Plore from LonelyCatGames. One of the functions is showing of the device information. Most of us would have guessed that N81 would pack better specifications than the E51 due to the better features. So let the pictures do the talking.

It is quite unexpected that the software report that the Nokia E51 have a higher CPU speed than the N81. Well, CPU speed isn’t everything, the CPU architecture determines which few calculations are optimized. Perhaps the N81′s CPU is optimized for drawing 3D objects while E51′s CPU is optimized for raw crunching power?

Removing memory card from the Nokia E51 could be a daunting task. Why is it so? Firstly, the eject mechanism doesn’t eject the memory card enough for users to remove. Secondly, there is not enough clearance for users to have a good grip on the memory card to pull it out. I faced this problem as well and started to surf forums for answers – some of them suggested using a pen knife to lift the card up so that you can pull it out. Well, I certainly don’t wish to scratch my phone accidentally in the process of doing so.

I do understand that users won’t remove their memory card frequently but what if you have the need to? Especially if you are outside without a pen knife? For me I sticked some scotchtape to the end of the memory card so that I can use that to pull the memory card out after ejecting the memory card.

Tools

1. Scotchtape
2. microSD memory card

What I did
I cut out a small piece of tape and sticked it to the end of the memory card like those 3M’s file labels. If you don’t know, make the tape in to a “V” shape with the sticky side facing in, place the edge of your memory card between the two ends of the “V” shape and stick it. Make sure that it sticks tightly to your memory card.

And you would probably end up with something like this.

Now insert back your memory card and you would realize that you have something to grip on the next time you eject your memory card.

Yay! No more problems in removing memory card from E51

Just gotten my hands on Nokia E51! Always been wanting to change my handphone. Switched from N80 to N81 (8GB) and then now over to E51. I simply love the slimness of the phone!

The user interface is as fast as the N81. Wireless wise, both are pretty on par but I feel that E51 has a better range though. The shortcut keys on the keypad made my life a whole lot easier! I no longer have to arrange commonly access applications on my standby screen. I simply assign them to the one touch buttons! Hurray!

Busy installing softwares onto my new E51.