Tracy and Matt's Blog

This week I was asked to review the Nokia E71, and as soon as I was asked if I would like to review it my eyes lit up. I have been trying to get hold of one of the Nokia E Series phones for a while so I was very excited to review it.

The Nokia E71

The E71 is one of Nokia's most attractive smartphones to date. Many phones with QWERTY keypads lack a certain finesse, but the E71 wouldn't look out of place in an Aston Martin. Not only does it look good, its attractive metal casing feels very classy and it's not too heavy or bulky.

What’s in the box?

• Nokia E71
• Battery (BP-4L)
• Stereo Headset (HS-47)
• Data Cable (CA-101)
• Lanyard
• Pouch
• Memory Card
• Mains Charger (AC-5)
• Quick Start Guide
• 2GB MicroSD Card

Don't forget to check out Matt's Nokia E71 unboxing video for more details.

Nokia E71 Specification:

• Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 v3.1 UI
• 2.36” TFT, 320 x 240 pixels, 16M colours
• Built-in Assisted GPS
• Integrated Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Tri Band HSPDA
• WiFi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth V2.0
• UMTS (3G)/HSDPA Connectivity
• ARM 11 369 MHz
• ROM : 110 MB internal memory  RAM: 128 MB SDRAM Memory
• 3 Megapixel Camera
• MicroSD Slot
• Standard battery, Li-Po 1500 mAh (BP-4L)
• 114 x 57 x 10 mm
• 127 g

General

A 10mm thick profile ensures it fits inside a pocket comfortably, even though it's wider than your average handset. The screen and Qwerty keypad are well laid-out, a series of shortcut keys below the screen make it easy to access your emails, calendar and contacts.

Nokia E71 front view

Although the keys are small, they're very usable, because each is raised, making it easy to distinguish between them. In fact, the E71's keypad is one of the best QWERTY keypads I have ever laid my fingers on.

Nokia E71 Keyboard

The left side has an iRDA port at the top followed by the microSD card slot and the USB sync socket under their respective rubber covers.

Nokia E71 left side

On the right we can find the headphone/headset socket at the top then below up/down buttons for volume control and scrolling with a menu button between the two.

Nokia E71 right side

The top of the E71 has a power button (in red) and a loudspeaker grille. Great idea having this on the top of the unit as it makes it easier to hear in your pocket.

Nokia E71 top view

There's not much to be found on the bottom of the E71, just a small connector for the charger.

Nokia E71 bottom view

On the back of the E71 you'll find the 3.2 Mega pixel digital camera complete with mobile LED light and a mirror for self portraits. The back has a shiny metalic finish which certainly attracts the finger prints as you'll see below.

Nokia E71 back view
 

Highlights

• Ruggedness
• Very Responsive
• Email push (When used with Exchange)
• GPS (Used With Nokia Maps)

Lowlights

• Headphone socket on the wrong side for me
• metal casing Finger print magnet

Review

Email-centric, business-oriented phones can be dull as ditch water, but the E71 isn't lacking exciting features. Like the Nokia E90, this smart phone boasts more features than your average Nokia.

Having said that, it gets the basics right first. I can happily say that setting up your personal email, such as Gmail or Yahoo, is really easy, All you have to do is put in your email address and password, The E71 also supports Microsoft Exchange, although it's a little harder to set that up, so you might want to get some help from your office IT guy, depending on your phone skills.

Connecting to the Internet to receive emails and browse Web sites is possible almost everywhere you go, via HSDPA (3.5G) or Wi-Fi. Using the built-in Wi-Fi scanner, it's easy to find a hotspot and connect to it. To save battery life, you should turn off Wi-Fi scanning when you're not using it.

Surfing the Net is better than with most built-in browsers. Pages are displayed in full and, interestingly, the E71's browser supports Flash and lets you watch YouTube videos, although it's fairly sluggish -- audio streams faster than video.

Software

Because it runs on the S60 operating system, you can download a variety of programs, including my favourite mobile apps, Opera Mini , Google Maps and Garmin, though I must say I would have liked to have seen the same OS as the Nokia N95 on this phone, it would have been the cherry on the cake!!!. The E71 packs GPS, so you can use Google Maps' sat-nav feature to accurately track your location and get directions.

You can also use the pre-installed Nokia Maps for navigating around town. It does everything that Google Maps Mobile does, but with a few extras, including being able to save a screenshot and voice navigation, but you will have to pay for the latter.

Email on the E71 is a dream. Accounts are easy to configure and you can have multiple POP3 and IMAP4 accounts on the handset. If you use Microsoft Exchange that too is easy to configure and gives you full push email support in much the same way as Windows Mobile.

A small but noteworthy feature is the E71's start page. It cleverly lets you display emails, apps and other features, but that's not all. You can set up one start page for home and one for work, flicking between the two depending on what you're up to. It's useful if you like to keep certain aspects of your life separate, such as work and personal emails.

The only feature that left me very disappointed was the 3.2-megapixel camera. Its shutter speed was slow and it took blurry photos. I hope the next model in the E series offers a better camera such as the 5 Mega Pixel camera on the Nokia N95.

For a phone with so many features, I was really impressed with how long it could last on one charge. In a real-world test, I have been using GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA regularly throughout the day, and I managed to squeeze two days out of the battery before it needed recharging. If you want to expand battery life even further, switching off all non-essential connections, such as Wi-Fi and HSDPA, helps significantly.

Conclusion

Most business phones leave you yearning for something a little more refined, something that will get the job done but also work well as a phone for home. The Nokia E71 is the business phone we've (Mostly me!!) been waiting for.

It looks gorgeous, it works well and most importantly it packs enough features to deal with a smorgasbord of situations. I was disappointed with its camera, but I think this is one of the best Nokia email phones to date, and highly recommend it if you're looking for a phone with a Qwerty keypad.

Review by: Phillip