Nostaltech: Nokia N73

In 2006, the Nokia N73 was one of Nokia's best-selling mobile phones. It was the successor of the Nokia N70 and focused on multimedia aspects while maintaining a relatively low price. It is still considered one of the best-selling devices of all time. Despite being a refurbished unit bought off eBay, the Nokia N73's design was a standout feature. The entire phone was made of plastic but was compact and visually appealing.

The front of the phone featured a 2.4-inch QVGA display with a VGA camera for video calls, a joystick to navigate through menus, and a Nokia N73 logo. The candy bar format keys were clicky, and the music edition had a music key instead of a navigation key. The right side housed the volume rocker keys, multimedia key, and two-stage camera shutter key, while the left side had the infrared port and lanyard hole.

The top of the phone had the power key and one of the two dual speakers, and the bottom had the mini SD slot and the Pop Port, which helped connect the phone to a PC. The second loudspeaker and Nokia's pinhole charging port were also located at the bottom. The back of the phone had a camera cover that could slide open to reveal the 3.2-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics camera, which was capable of capturing high-quality images for its time.

The N73's operating system was Symbian 9.1 S60 3rd Edition, which was feature-packed, powerful, energy-efficient, and had a fantastic web browser. You could even sideload third-party applications on it, and it had an office suite, Quick Office Converter, Adobe PDF, and a music player and gallery. Symbian's multimedia aspects were a highlight of the phone's experience.

Some of the issues with the N73 were that the standard edition didn't come with a memory card, so one needed to be purchased to utilize the multimedia features. The joystick was slippery, and the phone did not support Wi-Fi, which meant relying on a network provider for internet use. Finally, the dual speakers were not of high quality.

In conclusion, the Nokia N73 was a powerful phone that wasn't too expensive, had an excellent camera, a sleek design, and a user-friendly software experience. It was an affordable flagship in many ways and became incredibly popular. Even though it was released in 2006, the N73's design and features could still teach phone manufacturers some lessons today.