Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…
After some last-minute prodding from a few different people, I made my way to a local shop this past Saturday and picked myself up a shiny new Nokia E61i. After less than 48 hours with this little beauty I already know that it was the right thing to do. I am very impressed with this device so far in many ways and it is exactly what I needed to forget about all of the problems I’ve been having with my N80 recently.
I’m not going to post an unboxing video or a bunch of pictures of the device because I know that you’ve all already seen it a hundred times. What I am going to do it post my initial impressions - both positive and negative - after just a short while with this device. Over the coming weeks I will post periodic insights into various aspects of this device but for now I’ll try not to get too caught up on any one thing.
THE GOOD:
- Build - This device is literally as solid as a rock. As you know the majority of the case is metal and this makes for an incredible look and feel. It has a very good weight to it - not too heavy but not too light to be ‘cheap’ feeling. When you hold the E61i you know that you’re holding a high-end device. The buttons and keypad on the face of the phone are excellent as well. They are very pleasant to the touch and do not feel “plasticky” and cheap at all. The keys require good (but not an uncomfortable amount of) force to push and when you press one button the surrounding buttons don’t move at all. Beyond that, I’ve forgotten to lock my keypad on several occasions and I have yet to have accidental button pushes in my pocket. Truth be told, this is the most solid-feeling phone that I have ever held.
- Form - The E61i is most definitely the Kate Moss of the Eseries. It is very skinny and sexy - 13.9 mm at the base, which is actually the same thickness as the RAZR V3 when folded. The width of the phone is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be either. When holding the E61i in one hand I can easily reach every button on the face of the device with my thumb.
- Display - I have very mixed feelings as far as the display is concerned but I decided to list it under “the good” because had I not been coming from the N80 (one of the best displays available) I’m sure I would be much happier with it. The 16M colors get lost in the QVGA resolution of the screen and it is nowhere near as crisp as the hi-rez N80. In terms of size though, how could I possibly complain? The 2.8″ screen takes up about 40% of the face of the E61i and it makes tasks like reading emails and web browsing a real joy. If only I didn’t have to reset the browser zoom to 75% each time I open it. The screen is so big that I actually like to zoom out to make the pics and text smaller! I can’t imagine doing that on the N80.
- Active Standby - I can’t tell you how happy I am that I can finally configure the items displayed on the Active Standby. Things like new emails and new SMS/MMS/VM/missed call notifications can now be shown in Active Standby and organizer items, to-do notes and the WLAN Wizard (and the others I mentioned above like emails and SMS etc) can be hidden when desired. Marvelous.
- RAM - Available RAM is a HUGE improvement over the N80. I have just about all of my “core” apps installed now and I typically have over 20MB free on standby after a fresh boot! Woo hoo! System SEVEN brings that down a bit but it’s worth it…
- Internal Memory - The additional internal memory is very nice to have. Most of my apps are now installed and I still have almost 40MB free!
- Earpiece Speaker - One of the biggest problems that I had with my N80 since day one was the earpiece speaker volume. IT IS TOO LOW! I have pretty good hearing but the N80 speaker is ridiculous. At 100% I could barely hear the caller in normal social situations and I didn’t even bother answering calls while walking on a street in Manhattan or riding in a car on a highway. While the audio quality on the E61i is a bit reduced compared to the N80, it is LOUD. 100% is actually too loud for me in most situations and I keep it at 50% or so, whereas I kept my N80 at 90% and ended up upping it to 100% in most calls anyway.
- UI Speed - So far it’s definitely more responsive than my N80 in most areas. There are certain seemingly random things that tend to be delayed but all in all it seems pretty quick for S60 3rd.
- Battery Life - The Holy Grail of S60 3rd and one of the most common complaints among many, many Symbian devices. So far I am very impressed to say the least! Only time will tell but so far I have really given this 1500 mAh beast quite a beating and it has taken it in stride. Bluetooth, GSM voice calls, WLAN, push email with an open EDGE connection, streaming internet radio, plenty of background process and apps running at all times… The E61i gobbles it all up and laughs.
THE BAD:
- Preinstalled Apps - I despise the fact that I cannot uninstall the included apps that I won’t be using. Ridiculous! Every user is different, Nokia, and if I don’t want Quickoffice, or the Zip utility, or any other app why shouldn’t I be able to free up that memory?
- New SMS - I haven’t had time to really investigate this but when I create a new SMS the default entry method in the recipient field is “abc”. This is really pissing me off! SMS messages go to numbers, not words (lol)! It is much quicker for me to type in memorized numbers than to go into Contacts if I don’t have to, so the entry method should be digits. I know that it’s simple enough to press the bottom-left key a few times but I really hope that this is configurable somewhere that I’m not looking. If anyone has any comments on this, please do share.
- Voice Key - It’s a bit awkward to press under the side volume keys. More importantly I’d like to see a short-press of this key be configurable! Like most people I would guess, I never use the integrated voice recorder because it’s terrible. It would be nice to configure this key just as the “Own Key” can be configured.
- Volume Keys - It’s great that there are dedicated volume keys on the the side of the device but why don’t they scroll a page at a time while viewing the web, an email, a document, etc? Seems like common sense to me!
- Loudspeaker - Not the worst I’ve heard but certainly not the best. The volume is a bit low and my ringtone volume in my General profile is set on 7-8 whereas on my N80 it was set on 5. The audio quality is nowhere near the loudspeaker on the N80.
- Micro SD - Eh, I’d rather have a Mini SD slot. High speed 2GB micro SD cards aren’t widely available yet so I had to settle for a regular old Sandisk 2GB. The response time isn’t bad at all but faster is better…
- Lack of Sleep Mode - I definitely don’t miss the annoying blink of my N80’s status light but I do wish that the E61i had a sleep mode. While the battery life is quite good so far, why not do everything we can to make it even better?
- Camera - I’m listing the camera under “the bad” but the truth is that I really don’t care. The picture quality is ’so-so’ at best and it is a bit grainy. To be fair though, I have yet to come across a phone with a camera that I would consider good as opposed to just “good for a camera in a phone”. The E61i also has no flash as you know, but deep down you also know that an LED flash is about as useful as a “poopy-flavored lollipop” (two points if you know what that’s from ;) ).
It is very safe to say that I am having absolutely no buyer’s remorse at this point. Historically I have shied away from qwerty devices and the E61i was the perfect phone to convert me. I doubt I’ll be carrying my N80 for a while but I’m sure I’ll miss it eventually. In the meantime I’ll be waiting for a good autolock app for the E61i to come along. I’d like it to have a configurable lock shortcut (I use [pen/shift] + [ok]) as well as a time-based lock function that is bypassed in select apps (all by default). I’ve tried a few but haven’t found one with both features yet. I suppose Best Keylocker came the closest but I really need that configurable lock shortcut (Best Keylocker only has an unlock shortcut). For the time being I’m sticking with Handy Keylock unless anyone has any suggestions.
So thanks to everyone who has given me their input with regards to the E61i! The consensus was “GET IT!” and I’m glad I listened! More on the E61i to come…
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One thing you didn't mention as a con is that the "snooze" function is not configurable - 5 minutes or nothing. I haven't seen any add-on programs to change this. On my Treo or Windows Mobile phones I can set the snooze intervals to be anything I want.
You are right about the build quality. When I pick up my Treo 680 it feels like a child's toy after handling the E61i. I don't think I will be going back to it- especially given its poor battery life.
As long as we're talking about batteries, the battery in my unit is marked as a BP-4L. I just noticed that the Nokia USA site is now selling the batteries for the unit and they are marked as a BP-5L.
My unlocked unit seems to have come from Asia and maybe they use a different designation over there. I probably will order one soon and hope that it is really the same.
I've used a lot of smartphones, both Palm and Windows Mobile, and there is no question that this one has got them all beat!
One piece of software you might want to look into is BestProfiles.
www.smartphoneware.com
This little app not only turns different profiles on and off given the time, but you can set it to change a profile based on a text string in a calendar or meeting event. I have it set so whenever I have a meeting of the Board of Adjustment it picks up the word "Board" from the calendar and changes the profile to "silent" for the duration of the meeting. Very neat.
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Thanks for the comment Paul. My E61i came from the Asian region as well and I have the BP-4L battery. It's rated at 1500 mAh just like the BP-5L so no need to order one I think unless you're looking for an extra.
The snooze is a good point, but the OS 9.1 alarm is trash to begin with. I use Handy Clock but same situation there with the snooze, only it's set at 4 minutes instead of 5.
As for your last suggestion, Best Profiles is most definitely one of the most essential apps for S60 3rd devices and I'm so glad that it's finally available. I reviewed here when it was released and to summarize - I love it! :)
@STanevski
Very cool, thanks for the tip. I had no idea that you could enter just the first few letters of a contact and it would pop-up a list of options! I was typing in the full first or last name and then selecting the appropriate number from the pop-up.
I think I will surely get used to it but there are only 10 or 12 core people I commonly send SMS to and I have their numbers all memorized. For me, it's easier to pop in that number than to go through the two or three extra steps. Still, it's a pretty cool that I wasn't aware of so thanks!
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The poop-flavored lollipop is from Dodgeball, my friend.
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One thing I forgot to mention in my original post: Can someone tell me why the hell I have two App. Manager entries in my menus? What sense could that possibly make? lol
Everyone else finding the same?
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I agree that having the ability to uninstall some preinstalled apps would be great. I never use half of them.
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I'd like to share this little app with you because one of the first things I missed was a keyboard autolock option.
Visit: http://fuse.stc.cx/autolock
Try it. I bet you'll like it.
Cheers
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So having looked around at phones 2day as I am looking to get a new one - the best deal I have found is probably with Orange (As I have been on O2 and 3 most recently I don't know if they are any good). I've looked at the Vario - as I really wanted the T-mobile Sidekick just not on T-Mobile as I was going to have to pay like £100 just for the handset.
This one took my fancy because it has the Nokia interface crossed with the look of a blackberry and the wi-fi so i can internet surf at home (how annoying i just bought a new PDA and now I'm looking at phones that would have done the job!!!!!) anyhoo! So would you reccomend this phone? I would be going from a Nokia 6280 to it.
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Seriously though, I've owned many phones and the E61i is easily at the top of my list. It's amazingly solid and beautiful, it runs S60 3rd so it's amazingly versatile, and the price is quite reasonable consider the hoards of lesser phones selling for much more.
Definitely have a play with it - you will be impressed. :)
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1. I have a office wlan called office. I also have a wlan at home called office. The WEP keys are the same so I can rove with my laptop. This works with the laptop, but did not work with the E61i until I had unhidden the WLAN at home.
2. When I synch my Exchange mail it works fine thru WLAN. But when I select the web browser icon it insists on using 3G. Why does it not use the active connection?
3. Pressing the EMAIL key takes me to the Nokia default page even though I have configured this key as Mail for Exchange.
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Jay
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1. I can't really comment on this as I've never tried multiple WLANs with the same name, but under Settings -> Connection -> Access point groups you can configure groups that will be accessible by certain apps such as email. You can change the name of one of your WLANs, and then define a group with both your Work and Home WLANs. Apps that can use this new AP group will search for the first AP and if it isn't present it will connect via the second AP.
So for example, I have a group configured with WLAN1, WLAN2, then EDGE. So when my email tries to connect it looks for each of the two WLAN APs and if they're not found it connects via EDGE.
2. Different apps will connect using their own APs as defined in each app's settings. The browser works like this as well, unless you access it by first using the WLAN wizard to scan for wireless networks. Then once you find a network you can choose 'Start browsing' and the browser will open using the found WLAN as the connection.
I set my browser AP as my EDGE connection so that will be the default connection. I also have the WLAN Wizard standby plugin enabled (Settings -> Phone -> Standby mode -> Active standby plug-ins) so whenever I want to connect to a WLAN to browse I just search with the wizard plug-in (takes less than a second) and choose Start browsing.
3. This is a very odd one! Do you mean the Nokia web page? I don't use exchange so I've never tried to assign the email key to an exchange account but I have never had any problems with my assignments. I think the best idea is to contact Nokia customer care or maybe post on s60.howardforums.com.
In the meantime, if you don't already have your email standby plugin enabled then you should give that a try. It will display your last two email on your standby screen and by clicking on them you will open your inbox (just like the Email key should when it's working).
Also a nifty shortcut to note, once your email key is working a 'long press' of this key will open a new email that will be sent via the account assigned to the key.
I hope that some of this helps!
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Anyway, keep up the great work...your blog has really been a source of inspiration for me!
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I'm just keeping it for the Wifi so I can read my email in Europe
Chris
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Do you have a carrier-branded unit?
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About the java issues...there's a pretty decent resource online at www.jbenchmark.com for all cellphones. You might want to have a look at their result database for nokia phones under jbenchmark pro.
Without any surprises, the N93 and N95 lead the pack in terms of java performance, followed by a bunch of S40 devices. Interesting thing to note is that the E50 certainly seems faster than the E61i...although I'm not sure if I can vouch for the accuracy of these results.
But in any case, I don't think it matters much...since Java apps are a thing of the past, atleast in my books :)
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This is also one of the main reasons that I don't even bat an eye at all this talk of S40 multitasking forthcoming. I would never step backwards like that...
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Does the Symbian version of the SlingMedia player work on it yet? Is it smart enough to use the WiFi if present? I've heard that the player froze after a couple of seconds.
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Do you like the address book, or does it frustrate you? How is searching for names in the address book? Can you start typing and have it filter by either first or last name?
How is the podcast support? mp3 and aac? Does it support enhanced podcasts (the ones with pictures embedded in the music, like CBC Radio 3?)
Have you had a chance to try the VPN? Does it work with all the Cisco VPN servers?
Thanks again, any feedback appreciated.
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I'll try to answer your questions as best I can but there are some that I haven't tested myself so I'm not sure.
For streaming video, there are a few options out there but the most popular is certainly Orb. I haven't tried in on my E61i but I've heard that it works fine.
In terms of the address book, I love it with a full keyboard and wouldn't even think of installing a third-party contact manager. Yes, as you type it will search any word in the first or last name fields.
I don't do anything with podcasts on my E61i but I have used the Nokia Podcasting app and it has always worked well for me. I'm not sure about enhanced podcast support but if you post that question on series60.howardforums.com I'm sure someone will be able to help you.
Lastly regarding the VPN question, I'm afraid I can't help you there either as my company doesn't allow VPN connections from mobiles. That's another good question for HoFo.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help this round! :)
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You'll certainly enjoy this device and wait until you see how solidly it's built. It has great weight and doesn't feel toy-like at all like most other mobiles. Let us know how you get on!
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