The phone Previously available in white and silver, Nokia has released a sleek, black Internet Edition of the N73. This 3G smartphone works on quad-band GSM and dual-band WCDMA. It has Bluetooth 2.0 and a slot for miniSD storage cards. While it packs an amazing number of features, the phone is pocket friendly at just 110mm x 49mm x 49mm and weighing 116 grams. The Symbian Series 60 operating system is robust and stable, although it does not have as many third-party applications as other phone operating systems. As with other recent Nokia smartphones, the PC Suite software is a breeze to install and synchronisation with Microsoft Outlook is fast and efficient. First and foremost a phone should be a phone - and the N73 is an excellent phone. In my house, I'm lucky if the signal registers one bar on my Dopod 838Pro. With the Nokia N73, I seemed to have full coverage everywhere. Despite its name, the phone's internet capabilities seem the same as Nokia's other Symbian-based phones. The camera: One of the strongest features of the Nokia N73 is its 3.2-megapixel camera, featuring a Carl Zeiss optical lens, autofocus and a light-emitting diode flash. Slide the rear cover open and the camera is ready for still or video photography with a wide variety of options and settings, including multiple scene modes. The phone contains basic software for still and video editing and the package includes a starter edition of Adobe Photoshop Album and Ulead Video Toolbox. Videos are captured at 352x288, 15-frames per second resolution in MPEG4. It took several minutes, however, for the phone to save a 25-second video to the memory card. A great camera phone needs a great screen and the N73's 2.4-inch Quarter Video Graphics Array 262k colour screen is up to the task. The autofocus feature means the camera takes half a second to focus before capturing an image. This is not suited to action shots, but for snapshots of friends and scenery it produces reasonable pictures. The music: You can listen to music in MP3, AAC and WMA formats and tune into internet radio stations. While the iPod has nothing to fear from this device, the N73 does allow you to create and edit playlists on the run and the sound quality is adequate. The biggest drawback is that you must use Nokia stereo ear buds since the headphones connect through a proprietary nine-pin port. Otherwise, the N73 combines a strong phone, a good camera and most smartphone functions we've come to expect in a good-looking design.
