Mobile Phones

Date: 05/12/2006
The Nokia N73 is a good lightweight 3G and SmartPhone. It is a straight design weighing just 116g and has the dimensions of 110 x 49 x 19 mm. The keypad has a fiddly joystick and is quite small so it can be quite difficult to use.
It has an excellent camera with 3.2 megapixels, autofocus and video capabilities. Having autofocus enables the camera to automatically focus on a subject rather then using a fixed focus distance. The camera also has a flash allowing it to perform in poor lighting. It also has a second camera which is used for making video calls.
The display is TFT meaning that it can be seen even in bright sunshine. It has 262k colours and a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels making it amongst the best screens within the SmartPhones.
The music player supports a stereo MP3 sound as well as other formats such as WMA and AAC; it also has an FM radio player. The radio has a Visual Radio function which displays information of the artist and sound on the screen. With 40MB of internal memory and the option for an external memory card to be inserted, storage space for songs is plentiful.
The connectivity is also very good with Bluetooth, USB and infrared. The phone can wirelessly connect to another Bluetooth device up to 10 meters apart, whilst connecting to a PC can be done with a USB cable.
The N73 is also a 3G phone and can connect to the internet via a 3G connection enabling a 384 kbps data transfer. This is the fastest connection available as 3G is similar to a broadband connection.
It has a very good battery life considering that it is a 3G SmartPhone, with 350 hours of standby life. The operating frequency is quad band meaning that the phone can work in Europe, America and Japan.
One of the problems with this phone is that it is slow due to the software, causing the phone to crash on start up and when browsing menus. It has the Symbian S60 (3rd edition) application which can be installed on the phone using the Nokia PC Suite software, which is included with the phone.
Overall we would not recommend this as being the best SmartPhone to get as although in theory the features are very good, it is let down by the number of complaints made about the phone freezing up and crashing.

Features of the Nokia N73 include:

3G
Smartphone: S60 software on Symbian OS
Camera: 3.2 megapixel camera (2048 x 1536 pixels) with up to 20x digital zoom
Video Camera: Video capture: 352x288 (CIF) at up to 15 fps MPEG-4
Display: Large bright 2.4 inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) TFT color display with up to 262,144 colours
Music Player: Supports MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA, FM radio
Media Player: RealPlayer, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, RealAudio, RealVideo, H.263, MPEG-4
Java Games: MIDP2.0
Connectivity: Bluetooth, Infrared, USB
Memory: Up to 42 MB internal dynamic memory, miniSD memory card
Messaging: SMS, MMS< Email
Internet: XHTML, HTML, EGPR
Talk Time: Up to 226 minutes
Standby: Up to 370 hours
Operating Frequency: WCDMA2100/EGSM850/900/1800/1900
Size: 110 x 49 x 19 mm
Weight: 116 g

Expert Reviews from other websites (1 review)

Nokia N73 Review at Mobile Phones UK (1 September 2006)

Nokia N73 Consumer Reviews (828 reviews)

Write a review of the Nokia N73! Please share your experiences to help other people choose the product that's best for them. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising! Displaying reviews 801 - 828 of 828 (displayed in order of date):

Reviewed by poop avid on 28/12/2006
jus rubish slows down wen have memory card alarm ave 2 keep settin camera myte b 3.2 megapixel but on dis fone its rubish but da best tings iz selling it 2 an idiot 4 more than u bought it 4 sold if 4 �1,000 n i bought it 4 �20
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Reviewed by saleh on 23/12/2006
best phone
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Reviewed by Boucher on 22/12/2006
This is my latest phone,it cost me �350 on pay as you go and im not happy.First of all the phone dosen't charge properly and switches off regulary, it also has a very very tiny keypad,now i have big hands so it makes thing worse,The new menu stlye drives me mad its complicated and takes time to load,the phone it self could have been a little more smaller.Good things-its got a 3mp camera with a amazing 20x zoom plus a flash, it also is a 3G hand set and also has a vga camera for face to face calls,its memory is big-ish but for this type of phone it needs to be bigger E.G.64mb or 128mb if your looking to buy this make sure you can put up with the keypad and other than that if it dosen't switch off its top.
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Reviewed by Andy on 22/12/2006
Received this phone as an upgrade on three, and within half an hour I was regretting my decision. THIS PHONE IS SLOW! Slow to start but more importantly slow when navigating the functions. For example, from selecting contacts to seeing them displayed takes 15 seconds - totally unacceptable! In fact any function or item selected either through the general menu item of the shortcut keys, takes far too long. Simple tasks like sending a text are so difficult! Too many times did I access a function, such as Profiles which I mapped to the up direction on the joystick, did it simply not open up! Many times I have had to shut the phone down ad restart the thing! I've just rang three and told them I'll be returning it. I think I'll stick with my 6280 for a little while yet while I investigate the other options (and bearing in mind how poor my 6280 has been for the last 10 months, that is saying something!) In summary - it's pants. Don't do it!
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Reviewed by Steve on 20/12/2006
Please dont under any circumstance buy this phone! It is a complete heap of junk! I have always used Nokia phones and never had a problem but the N73 is hopeless it keeps freezing midway through a call. Whats the point of a good camera and a good mp3 player if the phone is useless at making phone calls?!?! My phone froze twice midway through a call on the day I received it brand new! I have now sent mine back after trying to persevere with it for a week and in that time only making a few sucessfull calls, and guess what my service provider say they have not heard of anyone having problems with the N73 before!!! bunch of liars!! just look at the reviews on this website with the same problem repeated.
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Reviewed by Phones 4 U on 20/12/2006
This phone is simply outstanding because the features are fantastic and i just love it and if anyone says it isn't it's because they are running too many programmes at one time
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Reviewed by fone freak on 20/12/2006
I love this phone because it has outstanding features and it's right up my street and it will be right your strret to if you are a gadget type person. If you look at some websites it compares the pics from this phone and similar phones (e.g samsung d900,sony ericcson k800i) and even though the cameras on the phones are stated to be the same megapixels the N73 has actually got the best quility. The only complaint i would have with this phone would be it doesn't really load fast but soon a software update will be availadble
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Reviewed by paul mole on 18/12/2006
If you are impatient like me avoid this phone, its so slow and i find it irritating. The camera and music is good, but i just cant put up with the slow speed,and it tends to crash, now im stuck with it for a year.... NICE!
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Reviewed by Rob on 12/12/2006
I had my intial doubts about this phone after researching it, and i still choose it. A week later i regretted it, the phone was very slow to operate, picture taking was terrible and the phone kept hanging and freezing, the memory card kept comming out of the phone. I sent the phone back to o2, and ive chosen the james bond k800i edition!!!
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Reviewed by venkat kodali on 12/12/2006
worst of its kind
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Reviewed by Johnboy on 12/12/2006
returned it after 2 weeks when the joystick refused to work properly. Orange replaced it with a K800i which I have to say is 100% better built - even if it isnt quite as sexy looking. I couldnt have another N73 as organge techy told me Nokia had stopped supplying pending a firmware update as they have so software issues.
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Reviewed by taahir mohammed on 11/12/2006
i have had this phone now 4 over 2 months and not experienced any problems with it what so ever, i think that giving this phone 3 stars is ridiculous and is disrespecting nokia !!! in my opinion it is the best phone out at the moment
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Reviewed by Chris on 10/12/2006
I expected to hate this phone, I am not a lover of Nokia but to my surprise it seems a lovely phone. Although I am waiting for my 3rd one in 3 weeks, sounds bad I know. My first was a dream but because not all items were in the box 3 insisted on a door stop exchange which ment everything. I would rarther they just forwarded the missing items. My second one has a dodgy camera cover and has crashed several times. This tends to be when the battery power signal drops a bar. Just like my old 6280. When this happens the phone needs to be rebooted by removale and replacment of the battery. Annoying. As I had such a wonderful first one I am hopeing that this was a one off and my next will be wonderful. I was slightly put off at first by the blue flashing power save light but within mins worked out how to stop it; turn off power save! How can flashing a light be saving power? Or am I dim? Features I love, camera, a little slow but worth it, plus the phone is a PC. I love the security, set to auto lock which requires the use of a password to allow use of phone, sim card password incase of sim change, each great. I love the multi open programm windows, accessed by holding the menu keys down like the alt tab on the pc, the more open the slower the phone will work, common sense, not a problem just shut them when you finish. The classics like how to organise the contacts and how even the ring tone of each contact can be indevidualised. The music player is fine also. There is the doc viewer and many many more great stuff. With my work the most imortant criteria to meet is security, diary, contacts and camera. This is a far better smart phone than the 6600, which had me swear off nokias, even though I ended with a 6280 last upgrade due to a limit of 3 phones that full filled my high expectations, I had previously a wonderful LG but didn't like the bulky upgrades. So unless I get a dodgy replacment I'm one happy girl. If the phone comes dodgy I'll just get back onto 3.
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Reviewed by nicola on 05/12/2006
I've had this fone for 1 month now the fone is great has everything u need in a fone overlook the other reviews on this site i have had no probs with the fone. highly recommended
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Reviewed by Chezzaboy on 05/12/2006
Incredibly slow, Keeps freezing and re-starting, the gallery menu keeps sending you back to standby mode if you don't wait more than 5 seconds until you scroll to the next picture, Ringtones that automatically default to "Nokia Theme" every time it has crashed (again), this is the third replacement handset I have had from Carphone Warehouse and by far the one to work best! What does that say! AVOID THIS PHONE at all costs- what should have been a nice experience with a nice new phone, has become a constant battle. As per usual, Nokia have no interest whatsoever in any aftersales, choose Sony or Samsung instead- at least they make acceptable handsets!
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Reviewed by Julie on 05/12/2006
I am very impressed with the phone, the camera is excellent and mobile tv with vodaphone is great fun ! It is easy for me to use and I would have given it a 5 but yesterday it started crashing on me. I was in the middle of a long txt msg and the screen went blank and I lost the msg. It has done it a couple of times since while using it but is fine and has not switched itself off while in keylock mode. I am going to connect it to computer later and try for any firmware updates and see if problem occurs again before sending it back. I still am very pleased with N73 and would recommend despite recent hickup.
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Reviewed by islam altaf on 04/12/2006
i would just like to say that giving this phone 3 starsis absurd, i have had this phone 4 over a month now and i have not experienced any faults or problems. it is a fantastic symbian phone and the camera quality is excellent maybe not as good as the camera's from sony ericsson but still great, sound quality is very crisp and very very loud,the screen is of great quality too. overall in my opinion i think it is one of the best phones out at the moment if not the best, A MUST GET !!!
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Reviewed by Richard Fell on 04/12/2006
Here's my experience: 1. This arrived after a disastrous experience with the Nokia E70. 2. It was also disastrous. 3. Actually, it was worse: the E70 may have proved incapable of handling keyboard inputs properly but this managed to go a step further by freezing repeatedly, cutting off calls made and received mid-way through, and taking so lo-o-o-nn-gg to actually do anything that one began to crave the return of the old GPO Telegrams Service. 4. It went back to the supplier. Even with its loveable blue keys and pretty shining side lights.
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Reviewed by McGee79 on 01/12/2006
What can I say. Nokia what a dissappointment! This is my forth N73 within a month and Guess what it still does not work! It switches its self off when making and recieving calls it does things you dont ask it to. It freezers up and you cant do anything with it and its soooooooooo slow.Plus it likes to contect itself to the internet when it pleases which cost me money everytime it does! Its the worse phone I have ever had. Please whatever you do dont risk buying it.
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Reviewed by Simon Wilkins on 01/12/2006
Its currently offered by most providers as one of, if not the top of the range pay monthly phones. Its a great gadget. Excellent camera with flash and picture edit functions... screen is bigger than a DSLR! Should be good as an MP3 player (will find out when I get my memory card). Also has some basic office applications... bare bones word, excel, powerpoint etc. Not quite an iPAC but is a good idea nonetheless. Phone does lock up a bit... you get used to that with smart phones i guess and the keypad is a little creaky. Not sure if it will be as robust as my old faithfull 6230i but it is a really cool gadget... that also makes calls;�) Free on a pay monthly contract is probably best bet.
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Reviewed by Faz on 30/11/2006
One of the best smartphones out in the market. I can't believe people are complaining about slow start-up time! Do you people constantly switch off your phone??? and Battery Life seems very good to me compared to N70 (which gave up in a day) but this is giving up after 3 days of CONSTANT use. Its crashed once in the week that Ive had it but thats because I was running too many applications and the web browser stopped loading and etc etc etc. However, if you want a decent phone, this is definitely a good buy. The screen is absolutely brilliant and the stereo sound is just LOUD! 5 Stars from me :)
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Reviewed by GRS on 30/11/2006
Well it seems you love or loath this phone and I fall into the not so happy group. For me it has been 3 faulty phones with the blue photo bug, memory errors and random crashes when using the camera. Great screen, cramped keypad, lot of .jpg compression for 3M camera, good shots in day, poor at night, can't handle large .pdfs. Overall not impressed.
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Reviewed by ??? on 29/11/2006
OMG!!!!!!!!This is the best phone i've ever used the features best man...steady..confirm nice lo...must use or die!!!The phone got 4 speakers....loud like hell lo
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Reviewed by taylop on 29/11/2006
This is the worst ohone i have ever had. After two days had to send it back. Sure looks nice but thats it. Menu is very slow, camera hangs and even freezes. One image is taken was unable to zoom in on it. Kept getting error memory full even with 1gig card. my advixe go for samsung d900 or sony k800i. You been told.
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Reviewed by Laura on 28/11/2006
I've had this month for about a month now & I'm really not overally impressed. Although the phone looks good and is of good quality, I almost think there's too much for it to do...When sending a text it takes absolutely ages to come back to life again so you just have to stare at it until it shows some signs of life, so you can lock it and put it back in your pocket. It's generally very slow has on occasion decided it's had enough of life and turns itself off for a quick nap. Excellent camera and some good fuctions but if you're even slightly inpatient DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE! Would only recommend for people who want a good camera but don't use the phone that often. Getting the SE W850i tomorrow so fingers crossed for that one
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Reviewed by Crezzy on 26/11/2006
Clunky bricklike phone. Slow user-face. Constantly saying memory is full, turned itself off as well. Quite hard to txt on. I'm sending it back.
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Reviewed by Paul in Manchester on 07/10/2006
On paper this phone looks amazing, but in practice, it's awful and should not have been released. I upgraded my contract at the end of August 2006 and picked the N73. Big mistake. 6 weeks later, I am on phone number 5, all of the previous ones have had the same faults. When you press the green answer key, the phone turns itself off and then back on again a few minutes later, which means having to call people back constantly. The software is extremely slow and the phone just crashes for no reason. The number keys freeze but the navigation keys can still be used. Network provider 3 said that I am the only person to have a problem. Somehow I think they're not telling me the truth. 2 colleagues have the same phone and are experiencing the same problems as I am. I have been so frustrated with this phone, my 5th one is going back to 3 and I have opted for the Nokia N90. I just hope that this model performs better. My recommendation is to avoid this phone like the plague until later versions are released and all of the software problems are sorted out.
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Reviewed by Anthony on 04/09/2006
Best of the Nseries smartphones. Does everything.
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