Nokia E71
Overview:
The E71 comes in as Nokia’s business phone. A great looking piece of kit with tons of functionality all rolled into a nice little package. The real question is how well does it hold up against some of the bigger players?
Construction and Build:
One thing you have to credit Nokia for is they sure know how to make a good looking phone. The E71 is a decent size and feels as though it could really take a bash. The metallic finish is a lovely touch and really shows off the sleek design. All in all I really cant fault the build of the handset!
The only let down is the ghastly red power button on the top of the handset that really stands out and adds a certain cheapness. Shame. Apart from this however, I’m more than happy with the build.
UI and OS:
Symbian S60 comes loaded on the E71. Nokia’s flagship smartphone software and I’m sure many already know, you either love it or hate it. To be honest I’m neither here nor there. When using the E71 I found it to be quite responsive and load times were decent enough unlike other Symbian based devices.
My biggest disappointment when using the E71 was how bland the display looked. Everything about the theme and user interface bored me to no end. It seemed I was slugging through folder after folder to get the applications I wanted which was a massive put off. Granted it’s all very efficient and laid out nicely but it just seemed there was something missing that I just can’t place.
Organiser functions are great to use. The calendar displays well with entries displayed on the right of the screen and the calendar on the left making it much easier to browse through the days and see what you have planned. Also at any point whiles you are using your handset if you receive a message it’s non disruptive, showing a small icon to indicate you have new mail.
There is a large variety of email support such as Microsoft Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email solution and Nokia have even done away with Blackberry Connect, offering their own push email. A bold move, but will it pay off in the long run?
Camera:
Unfortunately this is one of the main let downs of the E71. Granted if you’re in the market for this handset I doubt this will be on the top of your priorities however let me warn you the performance really is below average.
You can get some decent snaps but they really aren’t anything special considering Nokia often boast about the quality of their lenses. Also the video capture comes in at 15FPS QVGA which again is a massive disappointment.
Conclusion:
I know the review was short and sweet but in all honesty I didn’t get as much time with the E71 as I would have liked but I wasn’t really gripped by it either so I was happy to let it go.
It certainly looks the part but when I look at the competition out there when it comes to smart phones this really is one of the underdogs. Everything about it, the only exception being the build quality, screams second place.
This might be the phone for you if you’re a de hard Nokia fan and find anything else next to impossible to use but if you don’t fall into that category and you’re serious about a business phone then look elsewhere.
Advantages:
- Quad-band
- 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps support
- Landscape 2.36" 16M color display of QVGA resolution
- Full QWERTY keypad
- Convenient business-minded shortcut keys
- Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1
- 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
- Wi-Fi
- Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS
- 3.15 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash
- 110 MB of internal memory
- Expandable memory
- Stainless steel casing
- Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support
- microUSB v2.0
- FM radio
- Remote Wipe
- Infrared port
- Great battery life
- Office document editor
Disadvantages
- Below average camera performance
- Video recording maxes out at QVGA@15fps
- No dedicated camera key
- Cheap-looking power key
- No RDS for the FM radio
- Standard 2.5mm audio jack