The Nokia E71 is a Symbian-based Smartphone, with a full QWERTY keyboard. I've had this for three months now, which I feel is a sensible amount of time to be able to give a full informed opinion on how easy the phone is to live with.
I got this on contract with Orange through an online retailer (http://www.mobiles.co.uk), on a 24-month contract with £250 automatic cashback, for £40 per month, which gave me 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB data per month on Orange.
Well, that's the package, but what about the phone itself?
First of all, personally I think it's a fantastic looking phone. The buttons are all neatly laid out (which is a must, with so many of them!), and despite the keypad buttons being small, it's easy to use, and even with sausage fingers like I have, I don't often hit a wrong key. The finish oozes quality as well, with a chrome-like finish which looks good. The only downside to this finish is that the back is quite prone to fingermarks, but these are easily wiped away. The materials are also quite tough, as I managed to drop it outside, and whilst this caused minor marks, no damage other than slight cosmetic damage was caused (the phone still works absolutely fine).
The phone includes internal memory of 120MB, which is about average for handsets these days, but not enough if you're planning on keeping lots of music and pictures on your phone. However, the memory can be increased by using a Micro SD memory card. My phone came with a 2GB card in the box, but I don't know if this is standard, or just a nice extra
thrown in by the retailer.
OK, so onto the features. I'll keep this as brief as possible, but enough to help you know what I think.
First of all, there are all the features you expect on a phone these days. To summarise:-
Calling - Good quality earpiece, so it's easy to hear who you're speaking to.
Texting - If you're familiar with a normal QWERTY keyboard, then you'll be familiar with the keypad layout. This keypad makes messaging an absolute doddle. Numbers are typed either by holding the relevant key, or by pressing the bottom-left corner key, then pressing the relevant key (as the number keys are shared with the letter keys in the middle of the keypad).
Camera - 3.2MP camera. Sounds reasonable, but doesn't produce good quality photos if you're going to be printing them, but fine if you're posting them on sites like facebook. The video capture however is decent.
Media player - Plays music files in a variety of formats, including MP3 and WAV. Well laid out, you can search by artist, album or a variety of other ways, which is very handy if you keep a lot of music on your phone. Decent quality speakers as well, which means that music is both loud and clear.
FM Radio - Requires you to use the included headset. Reception is good and sound quality is fantastic. Works very well.
Games - the phone has a wide range of games available. Most can be bought through mobile websites or through your network operator.
Calender - self explanatory, but able to do things such as enter appointments, which will in turn display reminders on the home screen.
There are other little features as well, like calculator and unit converter (such as inches to centimetres), which are all self-explanatory and easy to use.
Now onto the more 'business features', as this is a smartphone aimed at business users.
EMAIL - Easy to set up, requires a POP3 or IMAP email account. I got a free POP3 account through Googlemail. It was easy to set up, and works brilliantly. You can even send and receive attachments, which is very useful.
QUICKOFFICE - This is a software package which allows you to create and edit office documents, such as word documents and spreadsheets. Very useful, but will never replace a full PC package. But the ability to edit and save such documents will undoubtedly prove very useful to various people.
GPS - I won't comment on the feature, as I the only way I've used it was to play and see if it worked - it accurately found where I was, but I haven't used the navigation feature.
INTERNET - Well, it wouldn't be a business smartphone without web browsing capabilities. The phone is an HSDPA phone, which means you can browse the internet at super-fast speeds if you're in an HSDPA area (shown on the display as 3.5g in the top left corner). 3G and GPRS connections are also used, depending on network availability. Also, if you're in range of a wi-fi network, then you can connect via that, as the phone has wi-fi connectivity. This does drain the battery, however.
CONNECTIVITY - Full range of connectivity options, for connecting your phone to a PC. Bluetooth, Infrared and USB are all present here, and a USB lead is included.
ZIP files - This phone has software to open zip files. Which is useful as it means you can receive compressed ZIP files via email (which are smaller so use less bandwidth) and then open them.
BARCODE READER - Mobile barcodes can be used to send information to a phone (for example, web addresses to save you typing them in). And this phone has reader software, utilising the camera. Do an internet search for mobile barcodes, and this will explain it in more detail. Standard barcodes, like those used in shops, don't work.
So, I've summarised over the features. There's a lot there, and more still.
Overall, this is an excellent phone. Whether you're a business type, or a gadget freak there is plenty here to keep you occupied. It's also surprisingly easy to use for such a complex and powerful device. Thanks partially to the keypad, but also the Symbian Operating System it uses.
It's very customisable, for example, you can program different 'modes', for example, one for when you're working and one for when you're at home. Each mode has its own home screen. And as you can amend the home screen to display shortcuts to your favourite or most used features, so you can program it to suit you, for when you're in work or at home.
Also, I should also point out the battert life - it is fantastic. Considering the power of the device and the huge screen, it does the job splendidly. I can go for two whole days without needing to charge (and I use the phone a lot, for calling, texting and browsing the internet). Compared to my previous phone, the LG Viewty, which I needed to charge every night.
So, to summarise, I love this phone. The keypad is brilliant, the features are great, and it's so easy to use. Also, as it is a Symbian based phone, there's a lot of other software packages you can get for it, for all kinds of purposes. For example, there is a Youtube program (downloaded for free through the youtube website), on which you can watch videos for Youtube, which works brilliantly as long as you're in a fast connection area (3G or better required).
The only downsides I can think of are the camera (which really isn't up to the job of producing decent prints), and the phone does occasionally reboot itself without warning - however, this is far less prevelant than with older Symbian phones, and is nothing more than a mild annoyance. And I suppose if you're not too confident with phones, then the sheer amount of buttons and features could be a little daunting!
I would absolutely recommend this phone. I love it.
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Top notch review - covers all points. I'm pleased to hear about the sensible keypad buttons - I often suffer from "sausage finger syndrome". All the best, Mike.
Advantages: Great for the Internet and organising your calendar and great on price. Disadvantages: May not be worth the savings if you like the Nokia E71.
longhurst797 06.07.2009 ·
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