As ever Nokia has packed the E7 with connectivity and buttons. Straight away we applaud the move to place the main menu button on the front in the middle rather than off to the side as on the N8, but elsewhere it's a mixed bag. The power button on the top is tiny and recessed so is rather difficult to reach, while the slider switch on the left edge that locks and unlocks the screen feels superfluous. Yes, we appreciate some people find it useful but other buttons combine to perform the same function so it really isn't necessary. Conversely we do rather like the volume slider on the right edge and greatly appreciate the dedicated button for the camera that's also found here.
For watching video on the phone itself, the superb, bright and colourful AMOLED screen works wonders. Colours just leap from it while blacks really are black. It's not quite perfect in that there's a lot of blue colour shift when viewed from an angle but for general multimedia it's a delight. For more precise work, however, like browsing the web or writing emails, the lower-than-average 360 x 640 resolution makes it a bit harder to see what's going on.
All in all though, it's a pretty good show so far. However, it's when we come to the software that things break down.
Also to be found on the right edge is the SIM slot, which uses an, again beautifully made, metal tray to house the SIM. Finally up top are sockets for headphones, microUSB (for data transfer and charging) and HDMI, for piping video straight out to your TV. - not something we'd do all that often but useful nonetheless.
Slide the screen up to reveal the keyboard and this impression isn't dull for a moment thanks to a strong slide mechanism and beautifully crafted and laid-out keyboard.
