Hi, Maemo community.

My E7-00 has arrived a few days ago and I'd like to share my experience with it from my point of view - an honest, hands-on approach.

First, a general feel of E7. The device is sleek (And I mean sleek, watch it it's gonna slip from your hands at a moment's notice), sturdy, has a nice feel to it but it is a bit on the heavy side.

As opposed to N900, the E7 immediately gives the user a sense of owning a phone. Phone app no longer "starts", but has most of it cached and is quite quick and readily available, in spite of missing red/green buttons. The phone is polished, with instant search, voice commands that actually work in a different language, defaults and has little to now slowdowns.

It does, however, feel like a phone. there's a menu that is fixed, with an "app" icon, much like the old N900 had, but icons are larger and easier to see, both because of resolution and because of capacitive screen. If you missed phone functionality in N900, well, that's well implemented.

The downside, however, of being built like a phone is the lower degree of freedom. Much like Android, desktop is set in segments, no longer allowing custom "creative" desktops. On the plus side, they rotate effortlessly.

So that's if for first feel. N900 feels plastic, thick, but has nice grip. E7 is smooth, metallic, but slips.

---------That being said, let us compare----------

* Screen

Well, my first disappointment when I had to take on an E7 was the resolution. They call it nHD, which is polite for "damn small". 640 × 360, versus 800x480. Math is deceiving, however, as N900 has 380KPx, and E7 has 240Kpx. While good on paper, N900 has way too many pixels. One has to look at it very, very closely to see a pixel, and most of us no longer focus like we used to.

E7 is an AMOLED screen, which means that black is sun-swallowing clear, while whites are clear, crisp and well defined. Versus the N900 LCD, there is no comparison. N900 has 16 bit colors, meaning 5 bits per channel, or 32 shades. How much of that is displayed is another story. In contrast, E7 has full gamut, with stunning color and depth, by far the best screen.

And while viewed from 5 cm away one can see the pixels, at any usable distance the screen is clear and visible.

In the sun, E7 is miles ahead. I thought that N900's transreflective TFT would win, because it doesn't have to fight light, like E7 does. And while theoretically it is so, E7 is well equipped to work outside, in 37-40 degrees C summer, full sun. Side by side, E7 is better.

Size kind of matters as well, the 4" AMOLED gives a feel of generosity, deep color, no-bleed, no-spots with video being very clear and downright impressive. Images and video look better by far on E7, even if text is a bit pixelated for small fonts.

Winner: E7 by a mile.

* Touchscreen

Here is the twitchy part. N900 can do stylus, E7 can't. (Don't give me that "stylus for capacitive mumbo-jumbo, I bought one from Nokia and it's worse than the finger).

We all know the story. One does stylus, other does multitouch. And opinions are split down the middle, with no definitive winner.

So it's down to mitigation. What does N900 do to mitigate its downsides? Well, little to none. What does E7 do to mitigate its downsides? Something. Not a whole lot, but more that the opponent.

First, it's very sensitive, which means easy touching and it's quite precise. The OS is built for capacitive from the ground up, apps included, so there is very little that feels awkward. Larger screen realestate means bigger controls, less hassle. There are no IceWeasel-like menus here.

But what strikes is the E7's capacity for precision. On a normal, unzoomed, page I can hit the little links 9/10, which is surprising, seeing how on LG's Optimus One I had 1/10. Zooming is natural, smooth, and with a different grip from N900 (thinner) it's not hard to pinch.

Is it precise enough to write? Barely. It's sluggish, you tend to not see what you do, but with a capacitive stylus you CAN. It's a poor excuse, but it can be done, which is more than anyone can say about N900.

And then there are the other advantages that come with capacitive: No loss from digitizer, no scratching, no matte, etc.

I can't stress how incredibly precise the screen has been made in E7. Ported games that have 10x10 buttons can be hit with a little training.

Sorry folks, but the little issues are not enough to sway the bigger issue: better visibility, no scratches, tougher.

Winner: E7, because save for outside cases the TS is better, software-assisted.

* Keyboard

E7 has a larger keyboard, with better spacing. Also, it has buttons for "?" which is useful in messaging, "@", it has press-hold, swype, predictive input (what's hardware with no support?) and, because it's heavier and flat (yes, flat, no protruding camera), it's a breeze to type. Elevated screen is also more comfortable to watch while typing.

On the downside, the buttons are rubber, not plastic, and I washed the plastic away. I expect the keys to lose their shine soon. Also, rubber has less of a clicky feel.

Still, one can't really argues with bigger keyboard, better spacing, more stability.

Winner: E7

* Camera

Well, you know where this is going. E7 sports an 8MPx sensor with nice optics. Pictures are better, there is no doubt about it. Movies are 720p, which is nice even if screen can't display.

Also, because it's a no-focus camera, there's is no downtime in focusing, no camera issues, no sensitivity. It's a well built, sturdy, fast thing to have.

On the downside, E7 can't see very close, opting for fixed focus. Macro suffers. N900 is better. Also, camera is unprotected (save for it being embossed a little, so it doesn't scratch on tables). I don't expect it to look as good in 1-2 years.

E7 also sports a dual LED flash that is better than N900's, natively works in flashlight mode (hold lock key), and seems to be doing slightly better in the dark (with flash).

Does worse in dark (no flash).

Overall, better clarity is nice to have, movies are impressive when viewed on screen and on PC, no drops or hickups (again, hardware and software) and it can be hacked into doing 30p versus native 25p. Personally don't see the point.

Winner: E7. Really. have you seen what the camera can do? Google it.

* Speed

I had my N900 clocked to 900 MHz because at 600 it's a snail plagued by seizures. So I'm not going to even try the 600, I'll consider N900 clocked at 900.

Well, E7 is at 700 MHz (680), but it's sportier. No longer carrying a Linux kernel and the baggage associated with a ported OS, Symbian has been designed with VERY limited resources in mind. Themes are a bit more limited (the ones I tried, apparently there are some more powerful/animated), but the UI is fast. Real fast. And smooth.

Apps start OK, there is little swapping, if any, though Symbian doesn't sport N900's impressive multitasking.

As opposed to N900, it can do video while downloading in background, can navigate with ease while playing music, and is generally better at not taking it out on the user.

At lower speed, E7 is faster. On long, demanding tasks, like editing video, editing images, etc, the E7 kind of feels the hit. To be fair, N900 doesn't do either, so it's hard to compare.

But, at a lower resolution, optimized drivers (there is no tearing in E7!), E7 flies through the UI, rotates effortlessly, has no tearing, no stuttering, and handles games like a console.

Winner: E7

* UI

N900 has a nice UI, with well defined windows, large windows, and an intuitive design that allows stacked windows. E7's Symbian is all over the place.

E7 has virtually no concept of "back". Not choosing "exit" leaves apps running, entering an app while another is running and then exiting returns to desktop, it's a mess. It is mitigated by habit, at some point the user no longer expects order, still, it's bad.

Update: Apparently, Nokia agrees. The new guidelines are out, making Symbian a lot more N900-like.

Winner: N900, by about a mile.

* Connectivity

I'll be straight. I don't think anyone CAN beat Maemo's approach to connectivity. The status menu with switchers is lovely, fallback is beyond reproach, Telepathy is a chatter's dream. [s]There is no equivalent on E7/Symbian, each chat app is standalone and must be left in background.[/s]

A similar concept has been implemented by Nokia in "IM by Nokia" application. Far from the impressive list Telepathy boasts, Chat app by Nokia only allows live chat for Google, MSN, Ovi, Yahoo and MySpace IM, with Facebook Chat still a separate app. The app also has a desktop widget, that allows setting of status, opening the app (left in background) and live notifications.

Symbian 3 mitigates some of its limitations by adding a priority thing for connections, but it has side effects. Also, it has that click on battery thing that helps the lack of the status menu.

Also, there are some widgets that allow easy swapping of networks, and BT on/off, which makes it not hell. It's not bad, but it's miles behind M5.

Winner: N900, by a mile and a half.

* GPS

Both GPSs work about the same, both work indoors in the same locations, both don't at same locations. E7 seems a bit faster.

But, again, what is hardware without software? E7 sports better options, Nokia Maps 3 that has self-updating maps, offline maps and searching, is faster, and, say what you will, when handling maps pinch-to-zoom is a godsend.

Also, it has voice, routing like a champion, in-car, on-foot routing, an actual routing in 3D view (iGo-like), buildings, the works. Couple it with the ability to be seen in the sun and it actually has a shot at being useful.

Plus, check in with about 10 services, report map issues, places, POI, saves favorites, "go home" button, and is faster (again, Symbian is slimmer, better drivers, lower resolution)

Winner: E7 (by software, by a mile)

* Other sensors and hardware

Has accelerometer, and by its 3-degree offset I'm guessing the same deal. Zero difference. E7 has compass, the kind that doesn't get sidetracked by slow rotation. Coupled with GPS, accelerometer, it makes a neat package.

Both have FM radio, E7 lacks emitter. OTOH, E7 sports video out AND HDMI out, which is kind of cool.

Both have camera, volume buttons, but E7 has a menu button. By habit, I look for menu on screen, rather than physical button, but one can add a shortcut and be done with it.

So, FM transmitter versus HDMI, compass, an extra button.

BUT. E7 has phones on top, charger on top, HDMI on top, making it less awkward. Also, the lock button is natural when held portrait, and decent when landscape. N900 is semi-awkward both ways.

When something is attached to it, one is natural and the other is like a fish on a bicycle. Additionally, USB is larger ever so slightly, allowing for better shock resistance when handled while charging.

Both sport light sensor, proximity (E7's doesn't blink like N900 when in-call). Additionally, the software thing. E7 has built-in options to switch call to speaker on slide, open menu or other app on slide, etc.

Also, no IR. Also, BT 3.0.

Winner: E7 (but not by much)

* Browser

Browser on S^3 is quite different, similar to the browsers on older Symbians. Different from N900, with bigger, blockier fonts (no AA when zoomed out), but better readability.

As a plus over N900, the WebKit Symbian browser sports Flash lite 4 (Implementation of Flash 10), Java, and a few feel enhancements - such as faster scrolling, virtually no gray square patters (Symbian prefers to stay a little longer in rendering and render page completely), fast kinetic scrolling capable of going through pages in a few flicks, as opposed to N900 where one would spend 20 seconds scrolling like a lunatic.

Also as a plus over N900, browser has higher readability, is faster, sports pinch zoom and tap zoom at high framerate, and renders a credible desktop browser incarnation of common pages. Not all pages, but then again N900 didn't do all pages either.

Downsides of E7/S^3 browsers include worse "feel" of the page (N900 feels like a desktop page resized down, E7 feels like a page that has been zoomed up - text is larger than images), however, page is realistic enough.

E7 lacks keyboard control and gesture control of browser - backspace key does nothing, e.g. Also lacking is right-clicking, holding a button does nothing in E7. It does, however, has a "show all images" menu bar that allows review, clicking, saving and viewing of images, which mitigates the lack of right-click.

Back is implemented as one of the buttons that appears when exiting full screen, as is Stop. While a downside, full screen doesn't work like N900. It has an anchor, but pressing it calls all buttons and returning to page re-enters full screen seamlessly. Also, enter-exit full screen puts buttons OVER page, not besides, resizing and thus enter-exit doesn't call a re-render like in N900.

Mouse-only operation (swipe from left in N900) is handled by an arrow controlled by keys. To mitigate this, arrow jumps to hot spots (links, bars, etc) instead of just blindly ticking around. Pretty fast, too.

Also implemented is navigation field-to-field, by keyboard. E7 also has a history system, like desktop browsers. Pressing Enter in Google pops a history of typed queries, allowing reuse.

The browser seems to lack addon ability, and is in general less customizable, but in return offers more raw power, in faster rendering, better animation and the ability to play flash video with no effort or stutters.

While the N900 browser is slower and (because of flash) slightly outdated, it offers way more options, gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and a generally more professional, polished feel. E7 offers better speed and a bare minimum interface, but it is a lot easier to add a keyboard shortcuts to E7 than it is to make N900 twice as fast. Until that happens, however, N900 trumps E7 because not enough content relies on Flash 10 to make N900 old.

Winner: N900 (by a small margin)

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Rev 1.1 - Added browser, as suggested, and native apps. Added some bolding to increase readability. Fixed a few typos.

Rev 1.2 - Added better battery review, added screens in a post down the thread.

Rev 1.3 - Corrected info about S^3 - Telepathy. Added link to AR (Sensors section). Added link in UI section.

The post has become too large, and has been split. Follow link to read the second part.