Display & Audio
4.7
The 2" high resolution screen on the E70 is amazing. I've written similar things about other phones displays before, but the technology just keeps improving. Nokia has gone above and beyond to make the E70 function as much like a computer as a phone, and the 352 x 416, 16 million color display is at the heart of it all.
The display automatically rotates between portrait and landscape orientations when the keyboard is flipped open. While users of early edition E70s reported serious lags between opening/closing the flip and screen rotation, I experienced no such problems. The display rotated back and forth within a second or less of opening and closing the keyboard.
The innovative Web browser featured on the E70 simply wouldn't be possible without such a brilliant screen. Somehow the display's crispness and clarity makes viewing large chunks of Web pages in a 2" window a pleasant experience. I'm used to working on a laptop tethered to an external 19" LCD panel, and still I found myself browsing - and reading! - standard Web pages on the E70 while in line at the store or waiting for a friend to arrive at a restaurant. The display is simply amazing, and Nokia's made good use of it in the software that makes the E70 tick.
Call quality on the E70 was excellent. The tri-band 850/1800/1900 MHz GSM radio performed well on T-Mobile's network, pulling in reception on par with other quad-band phones I've tried on the same network here in the San Francisco bay area. Voices were generally clear and loud and callers reported no trouble hearing me on the other end. Be aware that only the E70-2 (reviewed here) supports the US-specific 850 band. The European release E70 (version 1) is 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM only.
Quality was also good using the built-in speakerphone and included (wired) mono headset. The headset connects via Nokia's Pop-Port system, and adapters are available if you wish to connect 3.5mm stereo headphones to the phone.
One odd thing is that there's no dedicated volume control to be found on the E70. Instead of a rocker switch on the side panel like many phones have, in-call volume on the E70 is adjusted using the joystick on the center of the phone's front panel.
I also tried the phone with a Bluetooth headset. The E70 easily paired with the headset, and audio quality over Bluetooth was good. Bluetooth on the E70 is version 1.2, and A2DP stereo is not supported
