------------- Nokia E61i ------------- This review has come in the making because my brother decided that he wanted a new phone and as I am the “Whizz Kid” so to speak in the family he came running to me. I started off telling him about some of the more basic phones and telling him what they could actually do and then he just wanted more and more until things that he wanted the phone to do just simply weren’t going to happen, like the washing for example. So after doing much tiring research and also my brother looking at some of the new styles of phones in the shop we came to the conclusion that this phone was the one for him. The general phone was called the Nokia E61 and the company wanting more and learning from the feedback decided that they were going to upgrade it and then added the “i” as they do with most of the upgraded phones.
So below are some of the main/key features of the phone: - Rich connectivity options - UMTS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, Infrared - Outstanding battery life - 2 megapixel camera - Messenger form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard - Really large 2.8” TFT display - Solid, metallic body - Symbian OS 9.1 S60 3rd Edition UI - microSD memory card slot
As with everything in this glorious world that we live in there are also disadvantages which are listed below: - Hefty weight - No HSDPA support - No secondary camera for video calls - S60 UI doesn’t come with Feature Pack 1
From the day that Nokia E61 phone was released it has been a huge hit with the customers and Nokia lovers, and has made what seems to be a fan club for the phone, and quite simply not having a camera was ok for these guys as they don’t seem to mind about it. But for the main reason is because in pl aces where information is strictly guarded for secret purposes these phones are at the top of the list of things that are not allowed to be used. So the Nokia industry decided that they were to upgrade this particular phone and name it the E61i making it into the top branch of the mobile phone industry.
Well there are a few questions that I would like to answer in this review and they are basically. Is this phone actually worth buying?, is it worth upgrading from the original E61? And why would you want this phone? So as well as writing a information packed review I will also try and answer these questions at the same time. The upgrade of the E61 is slightly thinner and also has a better build over the downgrade to the phone. The keyboard on the phone has definitely been upgraded now with extra features. The navigation joystick has been replaced with a D-Pad which I thought was an excellent idea as it just makes the whole thing easier to use. Also on the upgrade there are now two navigation keys that are placed on the phone which are for the use of the phonebook and “My own key” which is basically a button that you are able to apply your own shortcut, this enables you to apply your most used function if you find you are having to travel through menus to get to it quite frequently.
The keyboard that is on the phone is a standard QWERTY keyboard. For those who do not know have a look at the top row of letter on your keyboard starting from the right hand side and it will occur to you why it is called a QWERTY keyboard. From the previous phone the keyboard has slightly decreased in size but I thought that it was better to use as it reacted a lot quicker and you see all of the letters that you type on the screen a lot quicker. On this phone there are several different applications which are available for you to use. They are WLAN wizard, the search application and the team suit. The WLAN wizard is a Wi-Fi network scanner, search is a global search engine for your handset contents and finally the team suit is a more specific application which allows for creating what is called a “Team” so that you are able to make mass communication with your colleagues a lot easier. As well as these few applications the phone now comes with better internet calling and dialing settings making using the internet better than ever before. Yet more features, as with most of the phones that are being created these days you are able to connect to MSN messenger and use this application and talk to people who could otherwise be using a computer.
I’m going to start right at the beginning, the packaging that the phone comes in is not all that eye-catching and there is nothing special inside if you’re not counting the phone. That basic things in the packaging are the phone of course, Nokia headset, an instruction manual and also a data cable. Nothing more than that but after all, this phone is designed for the businesses of the world. So upon opening the box and taking the phone out you will be expected to see it of size approximately 117 x 70 x 13.9 and weighing in at 150g, which for the phones these days is quite big and bulky. So starting to go into detail about what the phone actually looks like in the top left hand corner of the front panel you will expect to find a small LED(light emitting diode)/Sensor, which is quite a handy feature as it is used for optimization of the power from the better. the sensor detects how much light is falling on the phone and makes decisions as to what the settings should be on the phone, for example if you are in a dark room then the settings will change so that the screen is brighter and the backlight will be displayed and quite the opposite for if you are in a very well lit area. Positioned the top/centre of the phone you will see the built in speaker where all of the calls are diverted to and where you ringtone will play from. Upon my first usage of this phone I often found it quite hard to actually find the speaker when I was taking a call because the phone is so wide I kept missing the speaker and to this day my brother is still having this problem, I have to frequently remind him that if he cannot hear me properly then he would have to move the phone slightly to one side so that the in-call speaker was actually position over his ear.
I must say that the keyboard has to be the best thing that is on the phone as it is a very good design feature, not only that but it also looks exceptional. The left side of the phone shows a volume key and the voice key. If you would like to make a voice recording, then all you would have to do is press the voice key. The button is quite inset into the phone which means that you will not be able to press the button in your pocket whilst walking around etc. next to those there is a loudspeaker grill which produces pretty good sound. One of the best things about the loudspeaker which is positioned pretty good because the sound does not get muffled when you have it on the table etc which happens quite a lot as most phones now have the loudspeaker on the back of the phone. As for the bottom part of the phone it consists of the charger port and also a port for the data cable and also the headset. Also on the bottom of the phone there is an Infrared port that can be used for sending information from phone to device. The charger that it used with this phone is one of the newer types which means that you will not be able to use some of the old chargers that have worked on all of the phones for the last ten or so years. The other sides of the phone do not have any features accommodated to them.
Turning over the phone and looking at the back of it there is not really very much to look at other than the exceptional 2Megapixel camera, to make the lens even better it is covered and protected by a glamorous looking silver ring. Most of the back of the phone is taken by a fully metallic battery cover. Removing the cover from the phone is done with a sliding technique as you would normally put it on. When putting the cover back on you will find that you have to insert the cover into the tracks that are set into the phone which makes putting the cover on a bit harder, but I have noticed that it has to be one of the safest covers that I have ever used.
On removal of the cover a Nokia BP-4L Li-Polymer battery is revealed which is quite big since it covers most of the back of the phone. The battery that is used has a capacity of 1500mAh and the spec says that it will last for 400 hours in standby mode and also for 9 hours of talk time. Upon using the phone quite frequently as well as my brother using it, the phone managed to last almost six days on a single charge. When I say frequently use, I meant that it was pretty much never untouched as there was always someone touching it and having a look at the phone. Which really is a great step forward for mankind for Nokia? As for the size of the Nokia E61i which is quite big it still manages to feel quite comfortable in the palm of anyone hand, well especially mine anyway. There is a slight disadvantage to the phone being quite hard and that is the fact that it is quite hard for the user to stretch all of the way across the keypad which means that unless you have quite large hands then you will have to use both hands to send messages and otherwise use the excellent looking keyboard.
As for the screen on the phone we have a very large 16million colour TFT screen with a QVGA (320x240 pixel) resolution. The TFT screen measures at a healthy 2.8” in diagonal length which is pretty much the same size as a small hand held PDA. The main thing that the Nokia has taken into account this time is the screen and how it presents itself. Under bright light the screen still manages to make users see perfectly across the screen with all of its features beaming. I quite often think that the screen looks like it is going to break very easily as it is so big.
As the main thing that most people would like to know about, is the reception quality and signal. Depending on what network you are on then that depends on what network you are on, but nine times out of ten you will have excellent signal because of the new technology that is now taking place in the newer phones like this. The volumes of the ringtones and message tones that can be played on the phone when the phone is ringing etc are quite loud and you are able to hear them even in the most crowded places. As well as the phone having quite a loud speaker it also has quite a strong vibrate which means that you are able to feel your phone in the pocket of most items of clothing. The operating system is quite good for the phone and I have seen no considerable amount more speed using the phone when it has been performing tasks etc. Also on the phone there is a task manager where you are able to end tasks and start new ones from the use of this application. This is a very good feature and it allows for a lot more functionality. On the standby screen there are several things that can be of use and also give some useful information such as network coverage, battery status, date, time, and operator name. The phone also has something called offline mode, which means that you are able to use the phone whilst you do not have a sim card in the phone, this allows you to use the phone for things such as taking images and videos etc. this is very good for the user and makes using the phone better.
The general style of the menu looks quite good with all of the little animated icons. The main look of the menu is in a matrix of 4 x 3 icons which is quite good looking. There is the option to change the way that you actually look at the menu, and you are able to view them in the form of a list which is not quite effective looking. The Nokia E61i has 60MB internal memory and the microSD memory card slot; this is quite a lot considering the memory that phones have these days. Within the package you do not get a memory card in the packaging and you will find that you will have to buy your own and therefore you will be able to store more songs or images etc. what I found was really great about this phone is that you are able to control the phone by the use of your voice, in other words voice recognition. You are able to start applications and also dial contacts the use of voice recognition.
The themes that are pre-installed on the phone are not all that good but there are about six different themes but they do not really seem to make much difference to the actual interface. The things that I have only noticed changed were the wallpaper and also the colour scheme but they are the only thing that changes, that’s in my opinion anyway. Here is another great thing about the Nokia E61i and that is that you are able to store as many contacts as you like on the phone, until the memory runs out that is. The contacts are stored on the internal memory of the phone meaning that you are able to store many thousands of contacts although I am very sure that nobody has that many friends. The contacts that are stored on the phone can be sorted by forename and also the surname, this can be very effective if you most frequently use a contact of name beginning with “Z” etc. As usual you are able to find your contacts very quickly by typing in the first letter of the name or indeed the whole name. There is a dedicated button on the keyboard that allows for you to open the phonebook but you are able to open it as usual by the use of the menu. When you are adding a contact you are able to assign things to each contact for example assigning a picture and separate ringtones but I have not been able to assign a video clip to each contact which would be a very good idea.
When creating a message you will find that it is easier than ever before now that you can use the keyboard that has been integrated into the phone. When you have been creating a message then you will find that you are able to see how many characters that you have left on that particular message. As with all phones you are able to write a message that is actually longer than 1 message and it will automatically send it in separate bits. You are able to see how many messages that you are going to send at once. On the screen you are able to view six lines of the text message at once when writing. If you would like then you are able to have the delivery reports on and therefore tells you when the message has been delivered. Also on the phone you are able to send emails and MMS messages when you are using the phone and able to send attachments.
The music player is a very nice feature of the phone which you are able to use an equaliser to change some of the things such as bass etc. this is quite good as you may like to change the way that your music sounds. Another great feature about the music player is that you are able to make and play the play lists of songs that you are free to create. The phone manages to play the following music files formats of MP3, AAC, m4a, eAAC+ and WMA. Also with most of the phones these days the music player is able to work in the background of the phone. Which means you are able to do other things such as send text messages whilst you are listening to your music. Also because you are able to view videos you have Real player and a Flash player installed which means that you are able to play the video. Also if you would like to view the video as the whole screen then all you have to so is press the number “2” and you can watch it full screen.
As for the photo gallery you can view all of the images individually but there is not much difference from the usual photo galleries that are in the newer Nokia series. As with the videos you are able to view the images in landscape mode and also view them in a full screen mode. When you have chosen the picture that you would like to view then you are able to zoom in on the image with up to 8 times which shows the image in immense detail since the image is taken with the 2 mega pixel camera. The functionality of the file manager is also quite good because you are able to send images and videos and you are also able to send multiple images and videos at once. There is a application that is a huge advantage to the phone and it is called search. This enables you to search for anything on the phone by the use of the name. Once you have started to fill your phone up with lots of information and files you are able to search instead of you personally searching through all of the files on the phone. This application makes it a lot easier to find files and also makes it a very lot quicker and more efficient. Not only are you able to search your files you are also able to search your contacts and also the tasks that you have stored on your phone. This also makes finding things a lot easier and faster.
What I think is the best thing about the phone has to be the two mega pixel camera allowing you to take excellent quality images no matter what weather conditions you are in. I have noticed that wherever I have ever took images using this phone and also whenever my brother has been taking images the camera has always performed at it optimum and creating very good images that look incredible. The resolution of the images that you are able to take is 1600 x 1200 pixels. There are not many settings that you are able to change which means that you are not really able to make the images any better than the default settings of the phone. The settings that are available are night mode, sequence, self-release, white balance and the colour effects. When you have taken an image with the phone the file will be saved as a .JPEG image. I found quite a confusing thing about the camera and that is that when you are taking a picture with the camera on the phone then you hear what is believed to be the shutter noise, but this does not means that the image has been took. Well not on this phone anyway, you have to keep the phone still until the image appears on the screen not when the sound is heard.
The maximum resolution for taking a video is 352 x 288 pixels and the videos get recorded as 15 FPS (frames per second) in the MPEG-4 video format. The great thing about the video recorder is that you are able to zoom whilst you are recording and this is done very smoothly unlike some of the other models that I have seen.
The connectivity of the phone is to a very excellent standard and here are all of the connections that can be made: GPRS, EDGE, Wi-FI, UMTS, USB, Bluetooth and infrared. This allows for connections being made and are able to send files in any of these methods. USB 2.0 is supported with the USB cable supplied in the retail box. When connected to a PC, one of three modes can be chosen for the handset: “Mass storage” - memory card is available as a removable USB drive, no drivers are required; “PC Suite” - standard mode; “Picture Bridge” - direct access to printer, which supports PictBridge. Fast data transfers can be achieved via GPRS, EDGE or 3G UMTS. You can also try the Wi-Fi connectivity, in which case you have to be near a Wi-Fi hotspot. And while you are at it, feel free to use the available Internet telephony. The Nokia E61i has the latest support for SIP-based services. You can set Internet calling (VoIP) as the default calling method when a SIP service is available which makes internet calls that much easier. This E61i comes with a built-in WLAN scanner – something we’ve missed in previous Nokia WLAN-enabled smartphones. Now such an application along with an Active standby screen plug-in is available as an official download for all previous models.
A thing that has become the norm for phones these days is the internet. Again this is one of those phones which has access to the internet. The web browser makes even the best and most complicated of web pages fit on the screen perfectly and displays the page as if you were viewing on a normal computer. With the use of the keyboard you are able to use the directional keypad which acts a mouse; this is a very effective way to find your way around the pages. You are also able to zoom in and out of the pages that you view on then internet. Also when browsing the internet you are able to find that all of the objects on the screen load and even all of the flash objects and videos etc.
As with the application “search” there are other applications such as an organiser. The organiser consists of a calendar where you are able to make notes, meetings, anniversaries and memos, where you can view all of the different things such as the notes in a monthly view or a weekly view. This can be very useful. When it comes to all of the applications that can be used there are also things such as the calculator, recorder, PDF viewer, Zip manager and also some printer applications. All of the applications that have just been mentioned are pretty much obvious other than the Zip manager which allows you to compress files making them smaller and not taking much space. All of the applications are very easy to use and therefore anyone can use them.
One of the main applications that can be used on the phone is called the “Quickoffice”. This is quite good because you are able to edit some of the files which are created by MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint. They can be viewed seamlessly. Zooming, Scrolling, Resizing are supported as well. The PDF viewer works quicker than most other similar application we’ve seen around. There is also a Data Transfer application in the Tools submenu. It is used to transfer contacts and organizer items from one Nokia phone to another. So coming to the end of the review about all of the different features of the phone, its time to start on my opinion of the phone. Well really this is a very good phone and I have not had any problems with it and nor has my brother. There is nothing more that I could want from a phone like this. There are a few things that could be improved on the phone such as the camera and maybe the size or weight of the phone. The phone is very effective and I am sure that it will have a big effect on the market for the business as they are very good and could be used to huge success for them.
Well should you swap your mobile phone for this one? Well unless you have a really rubbish phone and you would like an upgrade then this could be the one for you, although you may find it hard to use if you are used to the older phones. The phone is generally good and I would recommend it to most people. But do not expect the phone to be cheap as it is quite new and therefore will be quite expensive. You can expect to be paying around £150.00 which is quite expensive for a phone of this spec. You will expect to find the phone in most good phone stores and you will also be able to get the phone for a cheaper price if you manage to get the phone on the internet from places such as www.ebay.co.uk and also places such as www.thecarphonewarehouse.co.uk. As for a rating on this phone then I would have to give it a 7/10. This is because it has many good and bad things. The good being the big screen and some of the applications that are on the phone and also being able to browse the internet effectively.
So that concludes the review about the phone, I hope that it has helped you in your decision to buying this product. Thank you for reading this review and I hope to be hearing from you soon.
More details
Ease of use
Satisfactory
Battery talktime
Excellent
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platform 3rd Edition 9.1a Network GSM quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz EDGE/WCDMA Memory60 MB of internal user memory Wireless Technologies Bluetooth/WLAN(IEEE 802.11g/e/i) Display2.8? 16 million colour QVGA Expansion SlotMicroSD Dimensions117mm x 70mm x 13.9mm Camera2MP camera Nokia E61i, designed specifically for extensive mobile email usage, provides advanced attachment handling with on-the-device document editing The new full keyboard design with Navi and One Touch keys offers an unbeatable mobile user experience in the palm of your hand. The Nokia E61i supports corporate mobile email solutions such as Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email, Good Mobile Messaging, Mail for Exchange, Seven Mobile Mail, and BlackBerry Connect and most popular consumer email solutions. The device also features a high quality 2MP camera, a music player and a video player. In the box: - Nokia E61i - Nokia Battery BP-4L - Nokia Travel Charger AC-4 - Nokia Headset HS-5 - Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-53
