Symbian in Motion

Moving very unsteadily along from my previous post - Nokia E71 - the Lowdown, I’ll highlight some of the features on the E71 that don’t either make sense or just aren’t good enough, yes this is the E71’s letdowns. I’ll start by warning that some of these features I haven’t exhausted in testing them out myself (in particular the Mail for Exchange feature.)

Let’s take a look at that 3.2 Megapixel camera - even tho it’s a 3.2 Megapixel camera I was expecting at least relatively half decent pictures, especially as it’s got auto focus and flash it looks promising on paper in reality although it’s rather poor. Comparing it with a Sony Ericsson K800’s which also has a 3.2 Megapixel camera it’s clear to see the difference in the quality of the picture. Both pictures were taken with the settings for close up activated, that’s “close up”for the E71 and “Macro Mode” for the K800.

The Nokia E71 fails to focus on the letters on the keyboard, how it’s supposed to use the autofocus I’m not sure, as there isn’t a dedicated touch sensitive camera button. So we get a picture captured as seen below:
EDIT: replaced picture with focused version.

The Sony Ericsson K800 with it’s Cybershot technology and dedicated camera button makes easy work on focusing on those keyboard letters.

Essentially what we’ve got here on the E71 is inferior hardware and software to have the ability to capture any decent pictures. My question is why is it here? I don’t see how it can be any use and think it’s there more for marketing reasons than anything else. The 3.2 Megapixel camera could be there for the pure purpose of sales, it’s one of those features that get ticked on “features required” when going to purchase a handset from your local Carphone Warehouse or any other mobile retailer. This just goes to show features and specifications can be the same on paper, but in reality it’s very different.

Moving swiftly on to the 2.5mm headphone jack. Yes it’s a 2.5mm headphone jack why? Yes I’m puzzled yet again! Now I know it comes with a pair of 2.5mm headphones, but these are from Nokia and something I’ve found most of the time is they’re headphones suck! Compare the £16 Sennheiser CX300 and the Sony Ericsson HPM-75 both of these give out great bass and response and are very cheap. The Sony Ericsson one’s come bundled with their Walkman range, but can be bought for around £15, the point here being they’re both 3.5mm (the Sony Ericsson’s also come with their propriety connector) and won’t fit into this 2.5mm jack. If you follow me on Last.fm, you’ll see that I’ve had minimal updates on what music I’m listening to, this is due to my utter refusal to use Nokia Headphones, quality of music appeals to me and thus I won’t listen to anything with a pair of rubbish headphones, it doesn’t do the artist justice. So I’m still trying to figure out why the 2.5mm headphone jack is still there, and my music to listen to pile is growing.

Moving onto the Mail for Exchange support and the lack of Blackberry Connect. This main complaint is based on a comment by Nicky PNicky P on my previous post on the Nokia E71. He mentions the inefficiency on the E71’s part using Mail for Exchange and data leaks which are mounting up huge bills. I suspect this is more on the software side than the E71, but yet he does state the E61i did a much better job on that front. Now I’m wondering (yet again) this is an E Series device aimed at the professional which I would assume is Nokia’s main target audience but yet they have messed up one of the Main features on this device and are lacking another Enterprise feature in not having support for Blackberry Connect. There are a lot of companies out there that still use Blackberry connect and haven’t made the move from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Office and Exchange, mainly due to the fact the old system works and they can’t afford to move over yet. My opinion is that most companies who do move over and use Mail for Exchange on a Nokia E Series device and rack up huge bills are going to quickly move over to a Blackberry device.
The professional industry is still stuck in Blackberry mode, their opinion of a Blackberry is not the fact it’s a Blackberry device, no it’s one of a function. If a device with a qwerty keypad is seen in public, the first question is “Is that a Blackberry? I didn’t know Nokia’s made Blackberrys! Where is the rollerball?” These are the questions I almost always faced when showing off the E71. This goes to show the professional does not care about brand, they need a device which will do one thing and that’s get them their e-mail to them whenever wherever, the fact that everything is referred to as a Blackberry shows the image Blackberry have built up over time with their monopolising of the market. If Nokia is to make any grounds on eating this share up and changing the conception they will have to get the basics right first. Nokia needs to figure out what the E series stands for, who are they aiming at and what that audience wants. I know many Nokia enthusiasts would love to see an N Series hybrid with E Series functionality, but is that where the E Series is going? From the looks of it, it seems Nokia has blurred the lines between E and N series and is aiming at two targets with on bullet.
My feeling is that it should look at the E Series and aim for that sector, one that will compete with the Blackberry market and stick to that. Sure add features to the N Series for the mass market and enthusiasts but keep that to the N Series. An ideal device between E and N series is not in Nokia’s interests. They need two different models for two different markets.

Looks like that last point is more of a rant than anything else! But it’s one I have to make I think. Overall I would still urge anyone to get the E71 it’s by far the best hybrid device available, mixing some of the N Series features with E is a great mix for those non professionals who want a bit of both worlds. It won’t replace your Blackberry nor your N95 etc… But it will replace your current E Series device easily. Beware if you hate fingerprints or are scared of putting dents on your devices it’s shiny and the fingerprints and scratches are easily noticeable!

In typical Nokia fashion, it looks like the E71 has quietly started to hit the shelves here in the US. According to the E71blog, the Nokia Flagship Store in Chicago has already received its first shipment of E71s and has already begun contacting those on the waiting list. Apparently only the gray version is currently in stock and there’s no word on when the white version might be available. To clarify, we are indeed talking about the US version of the E71, aka E71 NAM aka E71-2, with AT&T-compatible dual band WCDMA (850/1900MHz). US 3G indeed! We gave a call over to the NYC to see what their story was and we were informed that there would be a “launch party” on Thursday evening. Basically, if you’re on the list you’ll get a call and you can head over to the store on Thursday to wait in line for your new handset. There’s also a second list for the next shipment but we assume that any no-shows will become available to people on list number two as well. So congrats if you’re on the list; $480 and you’re on your way with one of the hottest handsets that will come out this year. Everyone else should expect other retailers to start getting shipments in the next couple of weeks.

Read

(from my post on BGR)

Odds are pretty good that you’ve already read about one Nokia’s latest mysterious dedicated sites. You might have even experienced it for yourself. If not however, it’s high time you head over and Face the Task.

Face the Task is a site dedicated to the upcoming Nokia N96. Billed as Nokia’s latest multimedia computer, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you of the specs on this beast. With its Face the Task campaign, Nokia is giving everyone the opportunity to be among the first in the world to own the N96 (a numbered limited edition no less). So how can you get your hands on one?

Click through to the website and watch the six videos. These six video, by the way, are incrdibly well made to say the least. Once each video has been watched, the link at the bottom center of the page will be unlocked. You will be given two choices:

1. Enter to win: Answer one question and fill in your details to enter. Hope you paid attention dring the videos!
2. Donate to the WWF: By donating €759 ($1,208 at today’s exchange rate) to the World Wildlife Fund to benefit Red Pandas in Nepal, you will receive a special limited edition N96.

There’s a catch to number two above however. Since these special N96 handsets are limited in quantity, you’ll have to hit the site at just the right time in order to pick one up. The next opportunity is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 13:33 UTC. Benefit a good cause, be one of the first to own Nokia’s new flagship phone… Win, win.

I just got off the phone with my sister and I have a great story that had to be shared. I think you’ll appreciate it…

So my sister goes to an AT&T store in Manhattan around 1:30 pm and waits in line to buy an iPhone 3G. As it turns out (and as has been reported), by the time she got inside they were no longer selling iPhones. They have plenty left but they cannot sell them due to activation issues. Whoops! So she gives her info to a rep and has them order one to be picked up in a few days.

During the course of this process, the AT&T rep happens to notice my sister’s current phone; an N95 that I gave her a while back. “Is that an N95,” the rep queries. “You know that phone is much better than the iPhone, right?”

Too funny. Here this guy is working for AT&T and he is supposed to be pushing AT&T inventory, obviously. The iPhone 3G is the hottest phone that AT&T will offer this year and he tells a potential customer that her N95 is ‘better’ than the phone she is trying to purchase! Of course he is allowed to have his opinion and in the grand scheme of things neither phone is ‘better’, but it’s still kind of funny.

My sister agreed with him and explained that she wanted the iPhone anyway. So what was his next question? “Umm, you want to sell me that N95?”

Here my sister is trying to buy a phone that AT&T can’t even sell to her due to technical difficulties, and instead she has an AT&T store rep trying to buy her N95 from her! After some preliminary negotiation they both agreed to think about it and discuss things further in a few days when her iPhone comes in.

Who knew AT&T was in the barter game? :)

Now I’ve had a play with the Nokia E71 and integrated it with my daily routine I think I have enough to give it a proper run down on the pros and cons. Hopefully I can try to wrap the physical design and usage in one post. I won’t be going over much of the OS and menus etc, as I think many of the other bloggers have done a pretty great job on these issues already.

So to get this started, let’s look at the physical build:

The handset is made from a blend of metal and plastics with some rubber components to cover up some of the connectivity ports, mainly the Micro-USB and Micro-SDHC (yes it supports SDHC cards, I have my 6GB card in there now) ports. Again I’m not happy about having the Micro-USB port on the left hand side of the device (the Micro-SDHC port is adjacent to it) as when plugged in with the USB cable it is on the wrong side, but I guess it’s one situation where you can win and lose because not everyone has their USB cables on the left or the right. I would still prefer it on the top or bottom but only if it comes with some sort of connectivity stand. This would make life easier. Looking around the rest of the device, you’ll notice there is a lot of shiny metal and loely curved edges which are very ergonomic and pleasing to both the hand and eye.

 Screen and Keyboard

There are two main aspects of this device which are key here - the keyboard and the screen. Both of these will either make or break the device, they are one of the most essential  aspects. Taking a look at the screen first, in comparison to the E61i’s (2.8″) is physically smaller on the E71 (2.4″). Although the screen is smaller it’s not what I noticed as it doesn’t make that much of a difference to me. The size of the font and screen icons were what attracted my attention as they are slightly harder to see than on the E61i, this is most likely directly down to the screen being smaller and still keeping to the same 320×240 resolution.  The difference will be the same as users of the N95 and the N95 8GB may have experienced. Also the change of the icons is also another gripe, I still can’t get used to these new icon sets, they look washed out and very retro, come candy would have been well appreciated. Other than these few gripes the screen is satisfactory, users of the other E Series devices will be happy with it.

The keyboard on the other hand will be very dependant on personal choice, as the device is smaller than the E61i and less wide, there is no space in between the keys, something which I usually use to type, a little gap would have made it perfect. Users with big thumbs will take longer to get used to it, as they will end up pressing multiple keys initially. Looking at the actual physical key’s laid out and accessible, you will realise some keys are now on the keyboard and not in the characters menu, which is a positive in my opinion. One significant improvement for me is the fact the device will display the numbers on the main screen when pressed, which something I’m sure the E61i didn’t do (unless I’m mistaken), this is common sense as most likely you will be dialling a number on the standby screen rather than typing words. Typing anything on the home screen now will initiate the phone book and list the relevant entries, this is great.

Speed and Battery Life

Some of you guys have asked about the speed of the device when handling multiple background processes and if there is any sluggishness, the quick answer is no (well I haven’t noticed any). The overall speed and response is a huge improvement over the E61i’s, and looking at the hardware specs it’s no wonder why? Whilst the E61i’s sported an ARM 9 processor running at 220Mhz with 23Mb of RAM available to the user, the E71 improvements on this significantly with an ARM 11 processor running at 369Mhz and 71Mb of RAM available. With specs like these, running multiple applications is a breeze!

The one single thing that has impressed me is the huge battery on this device, it is absolutely awesome! Using every feature possible full on (Wi-Fi, HSDPA, Bluetooth, Max Brightness, push e-mail on updating every 30 mins via 3G, browser running in the background constantly, Jaiku S60 client on up-to-date mode) and it didn’t even break a sweat! I could have squeezed 2 full days of usage with this baby, it just keeps on going and going!

So far I’ve used the E71 for 2-3 days now and I’ve been impressed with this device all the way, it’s becoming something that I will miss seriously when it’s gone, rest assured I will get this device when it’s available as everyone that has played with it (and one that dropped it, sorry WOMWorld guys) all had positive things to say about it. Blackberry users are asking their IT departments when they can get one! If you are already on a E Series device and are thinking of purchasing one, I wouldn’t even hesitate, this will be a great replacement / upgrade to any E Series out there right now! If you have questions about the camera, then this device is not for you, this device is designed for professionals who need their e-mail on the go, and users who need to stay connected to their e-mails at all times, this device gives the user a piece of mind, where one doesn’t need to worry about battery life, has their e-mails to hand, the web at their fingertips and wants to make an impression with their handset. It’s sexy, it’s sleek, it’s shiny and it will get you laid! (Well maybe not! :P)

I’ll try to give more details regarding the usage and my gripes on some of the other features it lacks and disappoints in, which are not major but could do with improvements, but that’s next issue, so don’t forget to tune in.