Right this second
Theo Boshoff
The Nokia E72 smartphone, the upgrade to the much loved E71, is now available in South Africa from various service providers across the nation, retailing for about
R5 000.

One of the E72’s highlights is its new desktop-type e-mailing function that integrates your existing e-mail at work seamlessly with your E72 phone.

For those who do not know how the E71 phone works, on which the E72’s form factor is based, here is a short explanation. It is a QWERTY keyboard phone with no slide-out bits and pieces, so think BlackBerry, but thinner and sleeker and - dare we say it? - sexier. Yes, the E72 is a sexy phone, although not as slim and sexy as its predecessor (the E71).

The E72 also features easier and more user-friendly instant messaging (IM) with quick launch straight from the phone’s home screen, using services like Windows Life Messenger or gtalk to stay in touch by texting in real time.

The phone also supports the new version of Nokia’s Ovi Maps application, with voice navigation. All for free.

The E72 further sports an A-GPS and a compass, together with a touch-sensitive optical navigation key for fast scrolling. It also has a built-in five-megapixel camera. The camera, however, is not the best we have seen and images appear dull and underlit, even if the night photography function is selected and the flash is used.

The phone’s processing power is rather fast and multitasking is not too shabby. Play music while you surf the net or send an e-mail.

The retail price of R5 000 is a bit steep, but it really is a nice phone. Hope your cellphone contract upgrade is soon. It might be an option to get the E72 that way.