E71-if only all E numbers were this good! (Nokia E71 with Contract)

Member Name: icetsunami

Product:	Nokia E71 with Contract
Date:	05/11/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gorgeous, Wifi, GPS, IM & Email client

Disadvantages: Keyboard may be cramped for some?

Nokia seem to have been around forever. And they have. The were at the forefront of emerging technology and continue to be market leaders today. I put this down to two things. Firstly, most people associate Nokia with mobile phones, it's just a given. Secondly their user interface has always been simple and logical in the way it has been implemented. After a long run of Nokia handsets, followed by a foray into the wilderness, I am now back with the Finnish giants of tech.

So to the E71. A phone that by rights should be in a grey area, in that it's right on the point of convergence between business orientated smartphones and the traditonal social phone. So whilst HTC and the RIM's Blackberry series dominate the business market along comes Nokia with a handset that truly is universally viable.

First Impressions:

To me this phone is truly a thing of beauty. The handset is shallow in depth and just wide enough for a full QWERTY keypad. Considering this, the E71 still manages to incorporate a large screen with excellent resolution. Now as if this isn't good enough, the whole thing is encased in a gorgeous polished steel finish that gives the phone 5 star aesthetics. In the hand it a bit of a TARDIS. It seems to be a large fully featured phone but yet doesn't cover your hand to the point of awkwardness. I would say that it is just, and I mean just, the business side of normal phone dimensions.

Technical Specification:

Series 60, Symbian 9.2 SmartPhone
3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and 4x digital zoom
Video camera with digital zoom
Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.36 inches)
Music Player (MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ formats)
FM radio
MP3 ringtones / video ringtones
Speakerphone
Voice memo recording
Messaging: SMS, MMS, email (POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP protocols),
Instant messaging with Presence-enhanced contacts
Attachment viewer for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel
Symbian and Java applications
Internet: xHTML web browser, Flash Lite 3.0, WAP, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA
Connectivity: WLAN 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, micro-USB, Infrared, data modem, 2.5 mm Nokia AV connector
Memory: 110 Mbytes plus support for microSD cards (up to 8 Gbytes)
Vibration alert
Quadband (850/900/1800/1900) plus 3G HSDPA
Size: 114 x 57 x 10 mm
Weight: 127g
Talktime: 4.5 hours (3G) - 10.5 hours (2G)
Battery standby: 400 hours (166 hours using WLAN)

Usability:

This phone is so feature packed that it serves as a mobile office and as a method of simple communication. The 320*240 screen can be customised for two different modes and utilises short cuts and plug-ins. Rather than feature a slide out keypad the E71 opts for a full QWERTY on the front which has been designed for one handed use and the phone also features enhanced auto-correction for efficiency.

All basic requirements such as home, contacts and email are assigned hot keys for quick access. The menu is navigated by use of a five way joypad which sits centrally. The menu is again intuitive and features a stack of practical applications including a file manager, PDF reader, Quick Office suite, IM and a proprietary email client. A nice little touch is the voice translation of text messages. It's a little weird but very gratifying to have your phone read your texts back to you!

All functions seem to move quickly, sped along by an ARM processor and a tasty 128mb although although only about 85% is free to use, the rest powering the phone structure. Internal memory is limited to just 110mb but this is bolstered by Micro-SD support for cards up to 8gb. I am unaware if larger cards will be supported with a future firmware update though I imagine 8gb will satisfy all but the most hungry power of users.

Imaging and 3G are handled by two nice cameras. The main one on the rear of the phone is a 3.2mp and features auto-focus and flash. A lot of phones these days offer cameras of at least 5mp and upwards but interestingly the powerhouse smartphones stick to around the 3mp mark. Even the iPhone 3GS upgraded its revised handset to just 3mp. Surprisingly though the E71 takes nice pictures, capturing colours and vibrancy well at a resolution of up to 2048*1536. The front facing camera is basic but adequate for video conferencing but this service is more reliant on bandwidth and signal strength anyway.

Connectivity:

Internet is on tap via WAP, GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA which is usually enough to give a relatively smooth, if not lightening fast, web connection. No need to worry though as WLAN is available for when you are in a hotspot or perhaps your home/work network. The WLAN is simple to set up requiring just the WEP key. The browser is fully HTML compliant and can run dynamic pages or mobile optimised ones. The phone can also be used as a data modem and supports Bluetooth 2.0.

Users will be pleased to see the inclusion of GPS and an excellent map package from Nokia themselves. It is not a voice driven turn by turn system but is still a powerful apllication.

Contract:

Shopping around is the order of the day here. Expect to pay between £15 and £20 per month with the handset free. Unlimited data bundles are available but this is operator dependent.

Summary:

Whilst I could rant on for ages about the useful features this phone has it is better to stay simple. The phone sells itself in that it is truly gorgeous, has a high level of funtionality and aims at both the business and personal market. I would say it is equal to the Blackberry series even though RIM are the dominant brand for power users. The full spec keyboard has broad spectrum appeal for texters and the availabilty of Wifi and GPS is just the icing on the cake.

The only negative thing I can think of is that perhaps some may find the QWERTY pad a little cramped though I think this is just a case of getting used to your new phone.

This is an awesome and powerful phone that should not be ignored. Exceptional for business and exceptional for fun. Seems like Nokia have gone and done it again. Well done!

Summary: Tour de force 5*. Very highly reccomended.