Ravi Varma Polakonda

My new mobile Nokia E71 - initial thoughts

July 22, 2008 at 10:34 pm · Filed under E71, Mobile, Nokia, Reviews

I bought a new mobile last week - the Nokia E71 - and eversince I’ve been smitten or is it bowled over or perhaps head over heels in love with this new toy. I can’t stop exploring and using its features, showing it off and talking about it to whosoever will lend me a ear.

The plan was to do a detailed review, but time not permitting, here are my initial thoughts.

Pros:

Form factor: A full metal body makes the Nokia E71 sturdy and sleek. Lookswise, it’s lean and well-toned.
Built for business: From every conceivable angle, this phone is made for the man on the move. It has all the productivity features that one could ever wish for in a business phone. I wonder how Nokia could fit so many features in a compact 10 mm thin body!
Features / Applications: Multiple mail boxes, Full Outlook sync, Push Email client, WLAN, QWERTY keyboard and a excellent browser. This device runs on Symbian S60 (3rd edition) - install applications and extend its capabilities as much as you want. I am really enjoying playing with this toy!
Multimedia: It has decent (not great) multimedia features for a business phone and comes with FlashLite 3.0 player. Apart from regular audio and video stuff, you can also watch YouTube videos online or playback FlashVideo (.flv) files from your memory card.
Blue-ribbon basics: As with any Nokia phone, the reception quality is very good and so is the battery life. I make and receive phone calls frequently and yet the battery charge last for 2-3 days.
Stallion-like speed: Talk about speed and the Nokia E71 just flies sans wings. I’ve been using it for almost 10 days now, have installed around 15 applications but see no difference (read slowdown) in performace. Did I mention that I never had to reboot even once?

Cons:

No Carl Zeiss here. So, don’t expect much from its 3.2 MP camera. Picture and video quality is mobile-ish, if I may say so.
No touch screen or Accelerometer in this phone. I personally wish it had an accelerometer, so that I could play around more with it.
The QWERTY keyboard is a little too small - had it been a wee bit wider it would have been better. Or perhaps it’s about getting used.
Expensive.
2.5 mm headphone jack.

Btw, I made this blog post from this phone. Not as comfortable as posting from desktop and had to do some editing later!

Permalink

Sekar nair said,

July 24, 2008 @ 6:43 pm

Hi…. How do u do..
I read ur review,
i have my own view about this so called business phones bought out by nokia which are to say the least is pathetic..

and about this e 71i,
Camera may not good, i knew for i use e61i , not only that the camera may be unusable even for fun photos, the 3 mp is probably hogwash, for the resslution may actually be 640*320 pixels

no music player worth the name, and dont tell me about add on applications, they cost lot of money that too in euros or dollers which we in india cannot pay even if we want to buy them……

cant save surfing web pages in memory card ( one can do that in sonyericsson and motorola phones )

cant update firmware direct from phone ( one can do that in SE phones )

and yes probably no pure white theme, you may have to pay for it euros or dollers , now what i mean is is white should be basic theme available in phone ( but in nokia it is blue )

after a rew months of use one may find the paints peelings off even during normal use…

iam not satisfied with nokia or its policies of fleecing with sub+grade products.

and iam extremely unhappy that the browser does not have the smart fit..

finally, i have typed this from my e61i phone with operamini 4.1 which i use as my default browser…
( i do not use default browser , ever, as it is no match for operamini )

any way thanks for reading this……..
My good wishes to u

Kenji said,

July 29, 2008 @ 11:18 am

@sekar nair (previous poster)

Honestly, what on earth does a good camera, a music player and not being available in white have to do with a business?

If these are your points for calling the E71 a “pathetic” business phone you either fail at business or are running a lemonade stand. the only thing you accomplished here is detracting from a solid and simple review of this product.

@ the reviewer

Great to-the-point review, no antics, no useless banter. Great for those of us actually doing business.

Beni said,

July 29, 2008 @ 11:27 pm

The phone was only announced in India in July. It is still July. How can he have used it for several months? Sounds a bit suspicious…

Suraj said,

August 1, 2008 @ 9:34 pm

Hi Ravi,
wud like to have a piece of advice.thinking of buying the e51 or the e71.i am not in business but wudnt mind a classy one just for the sake.
how is the sound quality comparitively between the e51 and the e71
thanks
suraj

Ravi Varma Polakonda said,

August 2, 2008 @ 2:53 am

@Sekhar: Most of your views, I guess, were based on your usage of E61i. I haven’t used E61i, hence I cannot really comment on that. But what I heard and read about, E61i is one of the best business phones.

To me, business phone means something which will let me stay connected and communicate even when I am away from my desk. I could be in the car, or in a meeting room in my office or away from my city. Apart from the basic phone features, all I would expect from it is the ability to receive and reply to emails, get reminders from Outlook, browse / search internet for that little info that I cannot wait until I get back to my desk. Nokia E71 does all the above tasks perfectly and I don’t have to worry about missing an email while I am on the move.

The multimedia features that the phone has to offer are decent enough, camera quality is average but its still usable. If I want any better quality photos of a planned event, I would rather use my Digital Camera which is way too better than any of the mobile phone cameras. The audio on this phone is very decent. It may not be the best in terms of audio quality, but its crisp and clear. It has no distortion (that I could make out) and its volume is loud enough.

@Kenji: Thanks for the comments.

@Suraj: I haven’t used the E51 phone. So I can’t really compare both of them. Nokia E71 is definitely one of the best phones I have ever used.

Manjit Singh said,

August 10, 2008 @ 9:05 am

Hello all there, I want to share my option about Nokia E71 and E66, Last week I bought these two phone one for me and another for my Dad. I really like these phone and my Dad too. there stylish look and sleek design awesome. We need business phone so there is no need of music if it is there its just a good piece of work. I don’t know why people don’t like if they want ot enjoy music they should go for sony or else,but for realiablilty Nokia is Best

Jake said,

August 17, 2008 @ 10:33 am

w/c is better this or e66???
I have e66 but want also to get e71..^_^

pls reply! tnx!

tejvir said,

August 18, 2008 @ 11:22 am

hi ravi bhai,
i am new to buisness phones..can u please explane, can we brouse net real time ..i mean can we go to any site ???if yes ,the connection can be through operator or wi fi???please explane..
thx

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