Nokia E71 - The Lowdown
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.
Nokia E71 Initial Thoughts
The lovely guys at WOMWorld have kindly sent me this totally awesome Nokia E71 to get my hands on. Ever since the announcement I’ve been eager to get my hands on it and get an impression for myself, as I always say it’s always better to make your own impression of any devices with a hands on approach.
Opening up the box reveals this lovely curvy, mix of metal and plastic that oozes style, sophistication and slenderness, size zero models eat your heart out!
I recently wrestled with the E61i in the wild (only pictures here, didn’t have time to put my views through, apologies) and was thoroughly impressed with the slim design and ergonomics of it all. But I did find it slightly wide. TheE71 doesn’t suffer form any of this, it’s no wider than your average handset, and slimmer than most others. Encased with great metallic edges it slides across your hands, and in and out of pockets with ease, be careful not to drop it!
More in depth views of this very promising handset will be coming as I have only had it for around 8 hours, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and requests (Zach you’ve had your go).
Before I leave this post to go and play with it more, feel free to go through my Flickr feed of more pictures of the E71.
AT&T 2H 2008 Roadmap Leaked; No N95 NAM, No E71
How amazingly disappointing. The AT&T roadmap for the second half of this year was leaked today and the N95 NAM is nowhere to be found. Rumors have made the rounds several times with regards to AT&T picking up the N95 NAM but if it isn’t happening in 2008 then my guess: It isn’t happening.
To be honest, I’m upset. I had heard from several AT&T employees of varying rank that the N95 was in the process of being added to AT&T’s lineup this year. Maybe they were all lying or maybe they were all coincidentally mistaken. Assuming the leaked roadmap was complete, odds are something went wrong with the deal. I was really gunning for Nokia on this one - making a flagship S60 handset available through the biggest carrier in the US would be a huge accomplishment for our Finnish friends. In a nutshell, it would give Nokia’s high end more exposure in the US than it has ever had before.
There have also been rumors that the E71 would be making its way to AT&T. While it was absent from the roadmap as well, if this rumor does have any substance 1H 2009 would be the likely target. We shall see…
Anyone Care for a Free Nokia N78 NAM?
I tried to convince him to just give it to me but he went a different route. ;)
My loss is your gain! So how do you enter for a chance to win the US version of Nokia’s FP2 gem?
- Hit this link
- Fill out a 2-minute survey
- Post a comment on BGR
- Win! (hopefully)
Best of luck SiMo readers, make me proud. And hey, if the winner lives outside of the US we can even talk about swapping it for my Euro model. ;)
T9nav, a New SkyQuiKey Competitor
It’s no mystery that SkyeQuiKey is one of my favorite S60 apps - I’ve mentioned it plenty of times here on SiMo. Long story short, it’s a contact / application / game / bookmark / new message launcher that allows you to type directly from your Active Standby screen to pull up and launch your desired item. Thanks to a post from Stefan on Jaiku I’ve learned of a new SQK competitor that is currently available as a free beta. The following are my thoughts on T9nav as found in Stefan’s thread.
It’s a nice attempt at a competitor IMO but it has some big flaws… Here’s how they match up in my eyes:
T9nav Wins…
- Less RAM consumption: ~265KB (T9nav) vs. ~965KB (SQK) [of course in modern S60 phones the impact is minuscule]
- Ability to save a number to contacts: This is important and it’s basic functionality that SQK should have had from day 1.
T9nav Loses…
- No history: SkyeQuiKey maintains a history. For example, because I visit my ESPN bookmark often, when I press 3 for “E” SQK places ESPN at the top of the list.
- Slooooow to launch: Indexing media files was a horrible idea. Who launches a track but clicking on it in a menu? The first time I launch T9nav it takes over 2 minutes before my search results are shown. Fail. They should add settings to choose which categories should be indexed.
- Slooooow to use: While keying in digits and navigating around, there are a lot of pauses and jumps.
- Tabs: In one respect, separating categories into tabs is nice because the app indexes so many things. On the other hand, it eliminates the possibility of dpad shortcuts. I prefer shortcuts - ie: with SQK I can press left with a contact highlighted to open a new SMS to the contact or right to open a new email.
In my eyes, SQK wins by a long shot. It’s infinitely faster and much smarter. T9nav is five times better than digging through menus and apps, but SQK is 10 times better. The app is still in beta though so it is likely being actively developed. Looking forward to future versions…
To check out T9nav for yourself click here
