Between the N85 and the E72, I tried out the Blackberry 9700, which was lovely, as much as a Blackberry can be, but lacked some of the features I liked, such as a working SIP stack, and especially the ability to tell when my data is moving through the corporate network/BES, vs. WLAN, vs. carrier data that’s not via the BES – I found that utterly impossible on the BB 9700.  Otherwise, a nice phone.  But again, back to the topic at hand.

First, I’ll start with the physical attributes of the E72.  The E72 is a tiny bit wider than the E71, but is the tiniest bit lighter than the E71.  The E72 trades in a good bit of the metal housing for plastic, but gets new & improved features like a 3.5mm headphone jack, instead of the 2.5mm mess that’s on the E71.  Radios are mostly equivalent to the E71.  Mine is the US variant, the E72-2, so it’s a quad-band GSM/EDGE device, with works on UMTS 850/1900/2100 Mhz bands.  The 2100 Mhz band is a nice addition to the device, for users who travel abroad, as is the support for HSPA 7.2 Mbps.  The WLAN in the E72 is essentially the same as the E71 – 802.11b/g. The camera is a nice bump in the E72 as well – a 5MP cam, a step above the E71′s 3.2 MP cam, with a single LED flash.

My favorite part about the phone?  The messaging experience.  At work, one of our options is Exchange ActiveSync, so I’ve been a Mail for Exchange user for quite a while now, even with its deficiencies, like the lack of ability to sync folders other than the Inbox, HTML support, and lack of ability to create a meeting request from the phone.  The device works with Nokia’s Messaging service, which I’m not using at this time.  For my personal mail (hosted by Google Apps), I use the Google Gmail app, which works just as well on the E72 as it did on the E71.

Overall, the E72 is a worthy successor to the E71.  Right now, Amazon’s got it for $369.  If you’re going to buy, please consider using my link to it.