Having been using the Nokia E71 for a little while now, Steve Litchfield delivers his verdict - what's new compared to its predecessor, the E61i? And how close does the E71 get to being the perfect smartphone for the modern professional? With predictive text and a wealth of other tweaks to S60, the E71 certainly delivers more than you'd think at first sight.

Read on in the full article (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/7483_Steve_Reviews_the_newly_announ.php).

Great review Steve!

Interesting on the word completion feature, there's something similar on the Nokia tablets and I did wonder if they'd ever use it on the phones.

Also fascinating that they've upped the multimedia features by including such a good camera, and compatibility with things like podcasts. Most interestingly, as the N71 has Nokia Music Store built in along with several games, I can't see any reason for it to be excluded from the N-Gage platform, as that's just as much pure entertainment as a music store.

"The Messaging application itself is largely unchanged from earlier devices which is something of a dissapointment "

FAIL.

Next, please.

Holy noise and purple Batman!
I was SO looking forward to this phone since with all those features it would have been a near perfect device for blogging my upcoming half year trip around the world. But then I clicked on the camera samples and .... WTF?! Hey Nokia, 2001 called, they want their crappycam back.

Am I the only one constantly puzzled about all companies' incompetence when it comes down to produce a no-crap device? Seems like some random (yet for my purposes essential) feature is messed up on each phone these days. So now I can choose tween going windows mobile or doing mobile blogging without qwerty. Sheesh, thanks Nokia.

It's strange that this uses FP1 whilst the N78, launched earlier, uses FP2. The multimedia stuff is a little disappointing too, I was hoping it'd be an all-rounder to replace my N82 and Blackberry with :(

It's strange that this uses FP1 whilst the N78, launched earlier, uses FP2

The version they use depends on when product development starts, not when it ends.

If Nokia started work on the N71 a long time before the N78, it would make sense that the N71 is based around an earlier version of S60v3.

I'm a long-time Nokia user, for better or worse.

I upgraded from E61 to N95 8GB because I wanted HSPA and and a less sluggish device -- that has worked well enough -- but I just cant get along with only 9-key number pad anymore... it's so painful to input text, and how often do we really dial numbers manually anymore?

So I need a small qwerty with HSPA. E71 looks a good from that perspective.

Thanks for the great review! Despite some really good things - such as the calendar tweak, modes, home-screen quick contact search, installed podcasting and share on-line apps - it is no home-run for me. Particularly, the multimedia part is slightly disappointing.

I realise that my wishlist is odd, and have to congratulate Nokia on a really good all-round device!

More of the same boring screen resolution... I´m tired of that! None evolution at all, phone after phone:mad:

Seems like a perfect replacement for my battered E61.

Battered because I stupidly did not zip my pocket whilst on a large roller coaster on Part Aventura leading to it flying out.

Surprised because someone handed it in.

Even more surprised that the only damage was chunks missing out of the aluminium cover and my memory card was missing. It works perfectly. Tough things these Nokias!

It´s a nice device but I prefer the E90. The E71 is very interesting in the most areas but the camera department is a dissapointment. I like the E90s abilities in this sector so I thought the E71 would be identical.

The software additions (contacts etc) is good but they could have used the E90 style in more apps.

A question: what is the theme used in the reviewed E71? It looks like the good old 6600 and S60v1.

"For video recording, capture is at the new 'phone' standard of QVGA at 15 frames per second"hmm,gsmarena spec sheet says that it has VGA video recording @ 22fps.Any comment on this.

Sounds like there are several potential customers for a consumer/Nseries qwerty handset among the commenters already. From the live feed: "why no consumer qwerty? Consumers are using qwerty more, but geo specific. More products. Yes. No specifics."

Maybe they could approach it from the blogging angle, huh.

http://europe.nokia.com/A41146123
it states clearly "640 x 480 at 22 fps"

Any chance we'll see some of these innovations on the e90? I quite like the idea of predictive text on the E90, and VPN would be a dream come true, albeit 3 days too late (don't ask...).

Steve, I used to me Nokia E61i keypad and I type with both hands. But in new E71 there's no space between buttons and the device itself is not so wide to use it with two hands. Is it much less comfortable for both hands operating or not?

More of the same boring screen resolution... I´m tired of that! None evolution at all, phone after phone:mad:

They've made a few 352x416 devices like N80. I have E60 myself, which is like N80 without a camera - or so I thought when buying it. Too bad about not getting some of the Nseries software...

352x416 has been left alone for a while. They probably decided to standardize on 240x320 and 320x240 so that their own UI designers and 3rd party app/game developers would have an easier time. I can tell you that at 352x416 and 247.7 dpi (2.2" screen) some applications use too small fonts or images to be comfortable. Mostly I'm happy though, and for the sake of web browsing I'm very reluctant to move to a smaller resolution.

Top Nseries handsets have 2.8" screens right now. I think QVGA is getting pretty limiting and would expect Nokia to use some bigger resolution within half a year to a year. It'll be interesting if they decide to continue with 352x416 once more or go for something like 320x480 which scales much nicer from QVGA. iPhone also uses 320x480 (at 164.8 dpi, 3.5" screen) and I might get one just for browsing - would have to also carry a Nokia for several other things though.

For that screen size I would expect 640x480 and nothing less. Still a rather nice hardware, despite the outdated resolution.

Steve's attending the launch event today, so he's not around, hence his normal replies on phone issues isn't as fast today. Rest assured when he's back I'm sure that he'll address them as best he can.

in the meantime, the screen resolution is always a strange one - I do remember feeling a bit depressed when the jump from 176x208 to QVGA didn;t give me more info on the screen, just nicer fonts thanks to more pixels - the pixel density may be bigger but the physical screen sie is still the limit IMO. I think when it comes the next jump will give more clarity in pictures and video, but not ness. in the contents displayed on the screen.

There's no word on firmware updates to the E90, or what could be included, so anything written wouuld be speculation. It would be nice, but then getting XXXX on YYYY device is always nice

If it gets BlackBerry Connect, I'm in... sounds like there's no agreement over this yet though :(

Nokia clearly decided not to compete with Apple on the visual appeal of the GUI. These icons look like Windows 3.1 vintage designs (or Windows 2000, at the most).

Yes, interaction design is hard, but icon design is easy because you can plop any graphic into that slot of the UI. Furthermore it's cheap to, e.g., outsource icon design to a great Russian artist. Do you know if the screen offers limited color depth? It doesn't seem so from the appearance of photos, which seem to have at least 16-bit color depth and thus should allow for beautiful icons.

Well I'd began to think this would never get released, and just when I'd almost decided to get an iPhone, but sod that. It the E71 for me :)

(and I like the nice simple icons and theme)

Great review.

I see you posted it should be available now. Does anyone know where you can order one now in the US? Nokia's site states it is coming soon, and is not taking pre-orders.

Does anybody know what colours are would be available? I like my silver E51 with black keys. I not so sure about the silver/white keys....

zomg 4cm macro! Is it automatic (like no need to select anything after opening the camera), or do you have to still go select macro mode when you're taking a picture from 4cm distance?

Is the voip functionality the same as on E51?

I'm very tempted by the E71 but will E-Series ever have categories support??
This is why I currently use my M600i over n95.
Ok so there is no sync but at least on the device I can see things by category.

Nokia clearly decided not to compete with Apple on the visual appeal of the GUI. These icons look like Windows 3.1 vintage designs (or Windows 2000, at the most).

Yes, interaction design is hard, but icon design is easy because you can plop any graphic into that slot of the UI. Furthermore it's cheap to, e.g., outsource icon design to a great Russian artist. Do you know if the screen offers limited color depth? It doesn't seem so from the appearance of photos, which seem to have at least 16-bit color depth and thus should allow for beautiful icons.

Perhaps it's worth more to them to have the icons recognizable for people coming from their S40 feature phones? The smartphone percentage out of total mobile phone market is still fairly small after all. Just a thought.

Worst would be to have fancy icons that don't convey any meaning and are thus hard to memorize. It's possible to strike a good balance/combination of course.

Steve - it's FP2 so why no mention of the new calendar app or smooth screen transitions?

"Nokia clearly decided not to compete with Apple on the visual appeal of the GUI. These icons look like Windows 3.1 vintage designs (or Windows 2000, at the most). "

Icons can be changed through custom themes. Personally I love the retro icons. Reminds me a lot of BeOS. If someone can back port the E71's default theme and release it as an SIS package, I will not hesitate to install it on my E51.

Great review, Steve.

Can you tell me what the USB transfer speed is like?

Did I read the specifications correctly that said the E71 had, of all archaic things, *Dynamic RAM*???

If this is so, if the battery goes belly-up, so does your data. Can anyone say Palm Tungsten T through T3?

Non-Volatile Memory, folks! Non-Volatile Memory!

--Firefishe

Can now finally search contacts by the Company field? A big dealbreaker, as I don't always remember the name...
Does smart search also include company names?

Is there threaded sms?

Excellent detailed review! And that is also within hours of the phone's release! Great job. But I am sad the phone is not that great. The multimedea side is inferior to the expectation. And whatever nokia officials might say about its earlier making time, the FP1 at this mid 2008 in a business phone is unpardonable! Thinking of waiting for the next upgraded version beloved E51!

Excellent detailed review! And that is also within hours of the phone's release! Great job.

Eh? Hours? I had it up one MINUTE after the official announcement. 8-)

BTW, everybody, Rafe and I are working on Q & A article to address all the questions in this thread. Watch the front page mid morning Tuesday

Steve

This was my dream device until...

Nokia deliberately crippled the video capture, camera and video playback. It has a powerful ARM-11 369Mhz CPU but can't playback video smoothly! Same goes for flash 3!

I wish Nokia would stop this nonsense! It’s so obvious what they’re doing. You can either have the N-series or E-series! Business users want some media rich features too!

Nokia my loyalty is wavering.

Hi!
Please, I'd like to know if there's a radio into the E71.

And, also, I've a N70: is a picture taken with E71 comparable with a picture of N70? Worse? Better? Thanks...

I've been using Sony P1i for about 7 mnths now. Having gotten used to the toggle keyboard, it's pretty good predictive text mssging, powerful txt mssging options, snappy applns response after the 3rd or so firmware updates, and unflinching stability regardless of many simult. open apps, I get the feeling S60 is jst catching up with UIQ. Yet, the e71i is such a beaut and P1i an ugly duckling right next to it. I can't help but stare at the e71i for a very long time. I'm tempted to dump my P1i for the pleasure of having a nicer-looking smartphone. It's my eyes doing the talking, and I'm afraid those eyes will prevail over common (or money) sense.

Has an accelerometer like N95 ??

I am going to buy a new device in July 2008...and have narrowed it down to the BlackBerry 9000 Bold, the Apple 3G iPhone...and the Nokia E71. All three will serve my purposes as a personal/business data device...and your review has given me some much needed information...except for the absolute dealbreaker...

How LOUD is the earpiece speaker volume on the E71?

I have had several Nokia E-series and N-series phones in the past, and one of my pet gripes is the too-low earpiece volume compared to most other devices on the market...namely BlackBerry.

So...how LOUD is it, compared to say the N95?

E71 is good.... but it would be nice to have a N Series phone that has all features in N82 with E61i SIZE and SHAPE with a full QWERTY keyboard and a good battery

Screen of E71 is SMALL.... Keyboard layout (both in E61i and E71) is not good ... the keys QAZ are straight below each other, a slightly indented and a Shift key before Z key would have been nice.

With 2.8 screen size, I would be looking at 640 x 480 screen. A VGA secondary camera or 1.3 MP secondary camera would be a desirable plus.... as against the existing QCIF secondary camera.

Here are my QWERTY N-Series Specifications
1) Size & Shape - E61i -- Keyboard, laid in natural keyboard format (as against the existing QAZ keys in line left aligned)
2) Battery - E61i (1500 mAH of pure power) A batter battery would be even nicer...
3) 2.8 or 3 inch 640 x 480 VGA Screen with 16 M Colors.
4) A Scroll Wheel (mouse like) (similar to BB 8310)
5) 64/32 GB internal memory with 2 additional MicroSD card slots (watchful iPhone 2)
6) existing camera of N82 with flash is SUPERB, but 7 or 8 MP with optical zoom will be a dream.
7) This is basically over and above what all is offered by N82 .. so what ever N82 has... is already included in.

One Phone for ALL... sure.. it's Possible

Volume on the speaker? About 2/3rds that of the N95, I'd say. But hard to measure.

Hi Steve and a very nice detailed write up.

I live in France, and I think that when the phone will be available here, it would have an AZERTY keyboard (like the E61s). Since I prefer QWERTY keyboards disposition, I think I would purchase an E71 in the UK on a future trip. My question is: can the UK unit deal with accented characters (read messages with accented characters without replacing those by squares and bizard characters and type characters with accents)
Thanks a lot
MM

regardless of what Nokia has under the sleeve for new generation phones, people like you are never happy and seem to pretend that's difficult to undertsand that the ESeries are meant to be different from the NSeries. Business wise, camera and media comes in second. A good contact list support, e-mail, network connection options and web-browsing is what it takes to make it topgun. And it does, thank you.
Stop the criticism. If it's bigger - it's bulky, if it's smaller - it's too small and difficult to hold. If it's shiny - fingerprints. If it's all black - cheap plastic.
Be happy!!! Nokia rules!

Does anyone know if the E71 will work with GoodLink like the E61 and 61i did? There's no mention of it anywhere in Nokia's specs.

@Steve,

Does it charge over USB?

@Steve,

Does it charge over USB?

No afraid not.

Hi Steve and a very nice detailed write up.

I live in France, and I think that when the phone will be available here, it would have an AZERTY keyboard (like the E61s). Since I prefer QWERTY keyboards disposition, I think I would purchase an E71 in the UK on a future trip. My question is: can the UK unit deal with accented characters (read messages with accented characters without replacing those by squares and bizard characters and type characters with accents)
Thanks a lot
MM

Yes it can. You can also type such characters using Chr+letter. Se Chr+e cycles through the four accented e characters.

Does anyone know if the E71 will work with GoodLink like the E61 and 61i did? There's no mention of it anywhere in Nokia's specs.

Probably not, but Goodlink could provide a software update.

Seems great! Only down side is that camera, but it's the iriating way of Nokia to separate N series from E series(E66 vs E78 for example). Probally going to get E66.

Will this supplant my Treo 650?

Seems great! Only down side is that camera, but it's the iriating way of Nokia to separate N series from E series(E66 vs E78 for example). Probally going to get E66.

I know what you mean, but the camera limitation is really down to the thickness of the device (that tends to be the limitation on thickness in both N and the new Eseries devices. Personally I'd choose a thinner phone in this form factor.

The E/Nseries differentiation is now much more about which bits gets compromised in the hardware design... i.e. do you put business or multimedia / personl stuff first. This applies to hardware functions / build quality / materials used etc etc. The trouble of course is that not everyone personal compomise decisions fit with a Nokia device.

Will this supplant my Treo 650?

I honestly think it has a good chance given the extra functionality. Bear in mind StyleTap are due to bring out their emulator soon so you should be able to run legacy Palm OS applications soon.

The caveat is, of course, that you will lose some things. The questions is whether it will be an acceptable trade for you.

Hi,

Thanks for that very good review.
I would like to know if the E71 you have has multiple language interface, meaning:
One can change the phone interface language as well as the writing language (as for other "regular phones") or are these country specific and one has to download language modules according to his need.
Many thanks in advance

Thanks so much for this indepth review. I've been frothing for an e71 ever since the leaked shots back in January. I've had the gamet of nokia devices, including over the last few years an e61, e65, 9500, 7280 and currently an e90 and a n82 for when the e90 is just too freaking big. So, obviously... I am stupid and spend a lot on phones ;) With that being said, I was so excited for the e71. It seemed like the perfect blend of e-series features in a smaller e61 style form-factor. I'm a little disappointed, now though... While I still believe the e61 is my favorite Nokia device to date... and the removial of the pop-port and inclusion of GPS are two huge improvements I've really wanted in that device... the drastically smaller screen (I didn't know it was that much smaller) and more nimble keyboard has me cautious, even not mentioning the poor media capabilities of the device (which, to be fair, are on par with the e61... but under the e90?). I think your review has helped me patiently take a seat on the fence for a bit on this device.

Oh... one more thing. You say the D-Pad is great. Really great. How would you compare it to other Nokia devices. For example, the e90 has amazing buttons and a great D-Pad on the front (even if it is a bit stiff at times), but the n82 is a piece of junk with a fimbly and weak d-pad that squeaks when pressed. I swear I thought I was going to break it more than a few times just playing Snake. Are all of the buttons solid and of quality like an e90/e65 or sort of cheap and plasticky like an n82?

Great review Steve !

Is it possible to see screenshots of the weekview and dayview of the revamped calender application?

I'm really looking foreward to the E66, but I guess that the new calender is the same, on the two devices, besides the orientation.

Thanks.

check out http://www.forum.nokia.com/devices/E71 which shows that the front camera (meant for video calls i guess) only does 15fps, but the main camera does VGA @ 22fps

the E90 has a lower resolution video camera, but can do VGA @ 30fps (at least according to the specs at Forum.nokia http://www.forum.nokia.com/devices/E90_Communicator.

Also, looking at these, you can see how *REALLY* close the E71 is in terms of hardware capabilities to the E90 (and if i had not grown to love the giant internal screen, and spent my own money on the device, i would be in line to buy an E71 right now!)

Great review. Could you elaborate on the following part of the review?

The Messaging application itself is largely unchanged from earlier devices which is something of a dissapointment given that this is a key area of the E71, especially in the light of tweaks to the Contacts and Calendar applications. While the breadth of support for different push external email solutions (Nokia Intellisync, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Visto Mobile, and Seven Always on Mail) and its plug-in architecture is a definite plus, this will not be a factor in day to day usage. Instead the fiddly set-up, limited folder handling, and relatively poor support for sorting, search, attachment handling and multiple email accounts may disappoint users switching from other systems.

In particular your concerns about multiple email accounts and attachment handling. I've been told that S60 can handle multiple email accounts and attachments...what aspect were you concerned about?

Thanks.

Great review. Could you elaborate on the following part of the review?

The Messaging application itself is largely unchanged from earlier devices which is something of a dissapointment given that this is a key area of the E71, especially in the light of tweaks to the Contacts and Calendar applications. While the breadth of support for different push external email solutions (Nokia Intellisync, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Visto Mobile, and Seven Always on Mail) and its plug-in architecture is a definite plus, this will not be a factor in day to day usage. Instead the fiddly set-up, limited folder handling, and relatively poor support for sorting, search, attachment handling and multiple email accounts may disappoint users switching from other systems.

In particular your concerns about multiple email accounts and attachment handling. I've been told that S60 can handle multiple email accounts and attachments...what aspect were you concerned about?

Thanks.

...cut the data connection when a voice call comes through? IMAP support (with IMAP-idle) was all well and good with my E62, but who cares if it keeps loosing the connection when someone calls me?


Stupid me, found my answer: http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/TSS000758_-_List_of_S60_devices_supporting_GRPS_Class_A_(Dual _Transfer_Mode) + http://www.forum.nokia.com/devices/E71 means joy!

While I prefer Nokia to most other brands I find the font sizes used on my E50 and 6120 classic are too small for me to read. I am ok with the fonts on my E61i, but just barely (have a difficult time reading the numbers on the key pad). Are the fonts on the E71 the same size as the 61i even though the screen is smaller?

To all those who somehow complain about no device ever having the perfect mix of the best available components (already found in other products of the same company, any company), you probably haven't realized that it's all a matter 'evil' marketing.

Most companies want to keep people on a 'subscription' mindset. You must keep buying a new device every so often (different for each user, but not more than a couple of years or so for most). We're in the era of "subscription hardware", just like subscription software (virus detection software, etc.) that requires you to pay a fee to keep the program running.

With hardware, you have to keep paying for a new device which gives some advantage to lure you but never enough to stop you from ever buying another one or at least until the old one dies of natural causes.

Laws have passed in Europe and elsewhere about recycling to supposedly protect the environment. But what good are recycling laws if they do not impose a limit on unnecessary production in the first place, ie., production for the sake of 'subscription', and not for true innovation. The point is not to recycle the huge amounts of garbage, but to prevent it from becoming garbage in the first place.

In my view, companies should not be allowed to obsolete their current product line without a significant advance in the underlying technology. Software upgrades (other than to fix bugs) could be charged to keep companies' revenues to a point where they can survive. Then, there wouldn't so many new models coming out, and to keep a customer one would have to have a great product that will be great for the foreseeable future, not only six months!

I know most of you don't care for all this, but I got if off my chest.

I just bought E71 but cannot get "smart dialling" work. How to activate it? Thanks.

where did you buy this and how much? I am visiting the states for 2 days at the end of the month and want to buy one. I don't think i can buy online since i will be only for 2 days and therefore would need the shipping to be instant.

this review was very helpful.
i'm seriously about 50/50 between this and iPhone2 for my next phone.
I currently have an e61, so obviously it's time to replace.
2 things were answered that make me lean toward the e71:
mp4 playback (i watch tv show videos on my device a lot) and tethering (tmobile makes it incredibly cheap and convenient and gets around the wifi-in-the-cafe issue nicely).
don't care about keyboard size, i have really little skinny fingers.

the one question still not answered is processor speed vs. iphone. I heard somehwere that e71 processor is a lot slower than iphone though faster than previous eseries. Has anyone done speed tests between e71 and iPhone with web browsing (using 3g, EDGE, WiFi)? if the e71 is noticeably slower that might be the deciding factor.
if anyone has the answer, much appreciated.
thanks!

I have the E61 and have been very happy with this phone. Now that the E71 is out, I wonder if the N96 is worth the wait. Or the Nokia Tube that I have been hearing so much about as well. ANyone have any thoughts about this?

I'm an avid E61i user using Good Mobile Messaging, and before then had a Blackberry for a number of years. I work in financial serices.

Over the last couple weeks, as a dry-run for what owning the E71 might be like, I installed Nokia Exchange and then Dataviz. These are slow, unreliable (compared to the rock-solid Good and Bberry messaging), feature-short (sub-folders, Sent messages sync, text-replacement, keyboard shortcuts), ... When I re-installed Good today, I was startled at how much I'd missed.

Without either Good or at least BBerry Connect, none of the other great features are enough to make this a compelling device for the typical Blackberry user.

Hi, I wonder if Nokia meanwhile overcome the .ics issue. For sure you know that even the E90 is not able to handle invites that come in iCal format.
Any *good* news?
Thanks.
Tom

I've been investigating the E71 and Goodlink issue.

See http://www.andrewgrill.com/blog/index.php/2008/07/goodlink-and-nokia-e71/ following a trip to the Nokia store today and a chat to the Good Tech team in the UK.

Short answer is it WILL work once Goodlink update the Nokia client.

If everyone posts something here or on my blog at http://www.andrewgrill.com/blog?p=151 then we can apply some pressure to Good to fast track the patch and get all the Good Hosted companies like Fasthost to enable the E71 in their security policy files.

Andrew Grill
London Calling » the mobile advertising blog
www.london-calling.org.uk

Bla bla bla, but what's it like as a phone?

Both E51 and E71 use same OS. And both are great phones. Please make a comparative analysis between the two, SOFTWARE-WISE, and Useablity-wise! Will it be a worthy upgrade to go for E71 from E51?

very nice review steve! i handed my e61i to my sister and i'll get this e71 as replacement and to complement my E90 (i use for web surfing) and my N82 (i use for picture-taking).

Just got this and pretty happy with it except that the smart dial that was mentioned in the review does not seem to work? Is there some settings that I need to activate or is this feature available only in certain markets? I am in Singapore.

Steve, great review.

However, I'm testing the E71 and the camera is not semi automatic focusing. Instead, you have to press "2" and the usual red or green rectangle will appear. If it's green press the selector key. :)
I don't get Nokia who made it pretty complicated.

The set that I bought came with English and 3 Asian languages. I need to download Hebrew and haven't found a way to do it till now. Any ideas?

I don't understand. Nokia is the first producer of mobile phones and E71 is a business phone.
Then how comes it lacks important functions?
1. A birthday set in 'Contacts' does not automatically shows up in 'Calendar' too. You can only set a birthday in 'Calendar'. Suppose you want to find out Mr. Smith's birthday. You have to either set it up manually in 'Contacts' too, or Search the 'Calendar'. In the first case it takes precious time to do that each time you make an entry in 'Contacts' and in the second you simply cannot do it, because Nokia E71 does not provide a 'Search' function in 'Calendar'.
2. 'Calendar' does not have a 'Find' function. You want to call Mr. Smith but before that you want to know when was the last time you met him. You simply cannot.
2.1. When you want to move a 'Reminder' in 'Calendar' you cannot see the calendar, to prevent moving a reminder in a weekend day. You can move a reminder only by changing the digits of the day, month and year.

Is there a chance of E71 having all these functions and I couldn't find them?

These are the reasons I am not upgrading from my SE P1i yet.
Because, yes, my slow P1i does all that.

Does anyone know if Windows Live services (mail and IM) are available in the download section of the E71 ?

how would you rate the GPS performance / sensitivity (out of 10) compared to other devices you've used (10 being the best). ie. are lock-ons quick and painless, generally, under a variety of conditions?

On Nokia specs, it said "WCDMA 900/2100 or 850/1900 or 850/2100" Does it mean E71 supports all 900, 850, 1900, 2100 WCDMA bands?

i have a big problem.. when i select 'home screen > basic' i would like to set up the 'selection key' to go straight to my 'inbox' (right now i can only select 'messeging' which is okay but why not inbox)

how do i do that? any app i can download that lets me do that?

can anyone help??????

One of the biggest complaints I've had with all my S60 Nokia phones so far is the lack of a search in the Notes applications. I mean a search for any word inside the note. I have hundreds of notes (as I believe any business user would have) and trying to find what I need only by title (when many similar items exist) is a pain.

Also, is it possible to not-save accidental changes in notes when exiting?

Am I asking for the obvious? After all these years of improving the same basic applications, one can only hope they will eventually get it right. If not, they should buy the cheapest Palm they can find and play with it for a day or two, just to get some ideas!

does anyone know when or where I can purchase the E71 in the white steel color?? Thanks...

From the design, to the specs, to the size, the feel — it has the entire package. It’s not for everyone, though. Some people prefer a straight up phone like a flip phone, but in terms of a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard, this takes the cake. It is just striking compared to the shit device the E61 was.

One of the biggest complaints I've had with all my S60 Nokia phones so far is the lack of a search in the Notes applications. I mean a search for any word inside the note. I have hundreds of notes (as I believe any business user would have) and trying to find what I need only by title (when many similar items exist) is a pain.

Also, is it possible to not-save accidental changes in notes when exiting?

Am I asking for the obvious? After all these years of improving the same basic applications, one can only hope they will eventually get it right. If not, they should buy the cheapest Palm they can find and play with it for a day or two, just to get some ideas!

Have you tried the built in search? I works for me when ever I need t find a note.

I'm antsy too. When I called PC connection just now, they said middle of September. The Nokia retail store in NY said the end of this month or the beginning of next, but that they didn't ship. I'm not sure when it will be available on the website.

Have you tried the built in search? I works for me when ever I need t find a note.

Well, I don't have a E71 yet. That's why I was asking if there is a search option with E71. That extra feature alone will certainly make me consider getting one. None of the other S60 Nokia's I've owned have one (unless I've been missing out all these years on a well-kept secret), at least I can't find it.

Will this phone work on the 3G in the USA or only outside USA?

Press Fn key once (you don't have to keep it pressed), and you are in Ctrl mode of Chr/Ctrl key. Take your time and press Ctrl-C to copy.
Same goes for cutting or pasting.

Moral: you don't need to press three keys at once.

>>>>>
I'm fine with most of the keyboard layout, but have to take issue with 'Ctrl', whose use I get the impression Nokia are trying to deprecate. It's now a 'Fn' keypress (above 'Chr'), so to do 'Ctrl-X', for example, you actually have to press three keys at once, really tricky on something so small. Disappointing.
>>>>>

My 2 questions:

How good is the VoIP client?
How long does the battery last with 3G always-on?

That's because I want to have my VoIP phone line always in my pocket to receive and make cheaper calls. :)

E71 don't have touch screen, that is disappoint

Does the e71 support T-Mobile's UMA wifi VOIP service as does their NOKIA 6301 model?

Nokia has been extremely lazy about updating its support and software sites for the E71. I am based out of India and recently bought the Nokia E71. I was very happy with it till I got on the Nokia site to download the map applications. To my horror I found that the E71 is not mentioned in the supported model list. Further - when I went to search for other application software for E71 - again a blank. Regards, Prabhat (prabhat.agarwal@gmail.com)

Very strange. It seems that you CANNOT see hebrew fonts on asian models...

Why is this like this ?

Some extra info if I could:
1) did you use assisted or unassisted GPS in this review?
2) does unassisted GPS take a long time to lock on (by unassisted I mean nothing but the GPS satellites being used).

Does the e71 support T-Mobile's UMA wifi VOIP service as does their NOKIA 6301 model?

I don't believe so. UMA requires specific software support beyond on SIP (which the E71 does have).

Some extra info if I could:
1) did you use assisted or unassisted GPS in this review?
2) does unassisted GPS take a long time to lock on (by unassisted I mean nothing but the GPS satellites being used).

1. Assisted
2. It does take longer but it depends on the circumstances (cold start etc etc). If you leave it sitting with a good view on the sky it does well and holds a lock quite well. A-GPS uses very little data BTW.

Hm, my last posting regarding this seemed to be vanished. I try again:

How does the camera of the E71 compare to the one from the E51, apart from the spec? Is it the same (low) quality, just in higher resolution?

I understand the E71 comes in three versions: E71-1 WCDMA 900/2100 HSDPA ; E71-2 WCDMA 850/1900 HSDPA and E71-3 WCDMA 850/2100 HSDPA. The E71-2 is designed for the US market. Does anyone know if any, or all, of these versions will work on Korean and Japanese 3G networks, which typically require WCDMA 2100? Thanks. BTW, my E61i works in Korea and Japan.

Hi, great review.

I have the E71 and agree the keyboard is great (except the need to use the Chr key for certain caharacters which shud be ON the keyboard in the first place!).

I have an HTC Touch so thought it worth putting some comments about what I 'miss out of the box' coming from Windows Mobile...

touch screen or keyboard - personal taste - I don't mind either

Email - E71 can not sync my Outlook emails stored on my PC - this IS annoying to me but I arranged Outlook to forward emails to another account which the E71 accesses - still it is a PAIN not having that feature. I was able to store for example the last 'weeks' worth of emails which can be handy.

When saving email attachments to memory card the E71 immediately saves the file to a folder called 'Other', there is no option to save in a folder of choice.

Podcasting! On the E71 this is NOT as straight forward as you may imagine in terms of playing video podcasts. While downloading Podcasts and saving them is not an issue, the inbuilt player seems to handle only 320x240 videos, anything bigger and it will only play the audio.

For media handling get the E90 - no question!

Where the E71 does win out over my Win Mobile experience is it's speed and ability to handle several applications at once with ease.

Ok, so I have maybe been a bit harsh by not being happy with my use of the unit 'out of the box' but I know there are some great free applications out there to add on and yes, there IS a learning curve which will pay off if you are willing to persevere!

Enjoy!

http://europe.nokia.com/A41146123
it states clearly "640 x 480 at 22 fps"

Hm, following the link you posted, I just found:

Video

* Main camera
* 320 x 240 (QVGA) up to 15 fps

Hm, my last posting regarding this seemed to be vanished. I try again:

How does the camera of the E71 compare to the one from the E51, apart from the spec? Is it the same (low) quality, just in higher resolution?

The auto focus does make a difference on the E71 (access by pressing t). The E51 has a 2.0 megaixel camera so the the E71 should capture more detail. I've not done a direct comparison though. But yes I'd say its fairly low quality. i.e. nowhere near the 3.2 megapixels of N78.

I can't seem to find any difference between the E71 and the E66 other than the full keyboard and candybar. What other differences are there?

The E71 display is actually smaller than the E66, according to the Nokia web site, though both has the same amount of addressability and pixels. This is surprising. I thought a phone meant for business emails should have a bigger screen and more pixels.

The E66 has an accelerometer, the E71 does not. Other than that yes the major difference is in the physical attributes.

Can anyone help me to transfer my contacts and data from the old Palm Treo 750 Mobile 6.0 to my new E71 Symbian. I have never used Microsoft Outlook, and only used Active Sync to transfer and store details on the laptop. I have all the details from the Treo backed up and have no way to restore onto a new platform.

Steve, i would like to ask one thing about E71 since u have got ur hands on it..
does the silver chrome part at the bottom of the phone and at the top, where u took a picture of it and it reflects ur image, will that part get scratch all over easily? i mean it does kinda look like the N76's silver chrome..i'm afraid the same case will happen again..
thanks for reviewing this phone =)

I went from Siemens to Nokia a few years ago (presently N93) and have found the menus terrible on Nokia compared to Siemens - and this in spite of hearing how great the menus were supposed to be on a Nokia!
So I am considering switching to Blackberry like everyone else I know is doing. Now that I see this new model, my question is: how many keys do you have to touch on this new model to (a) place a call to a contact, (b) sens an sms to a contact?
I could not care less about possibilities used once in a blue moon if that means I have to go through several multiple choice menus before being able to do the very basic things a phone is supposed to do!
Thanks for checking this out in your reviews.
JP

Steve, i would like to ask one thing about E71 since u have got ur hands on it..
does the silver chrome part at the bottom of the phone and at the top, where u took a picture of it and it reflects ur image, will that part get scratch all over easily? i mean it does kinda look like the N76's silver chrome..i'm afraid the same case will happen again..
thanks for reviewing this phone =)

Mine hasn't yet, but then its been spending its free-time in the slip case that comes with the device.

Dear Steve & Nokia Gurus,

I need some help on a problem with my E71 that seems to get overlooked during the review process: media. Protected media.

I've got a new E71-1 and the Nokia-supplied 2GB SD card seems to somehow be *special* in that it will store licenses for DRM-protected songs. I've tried both purchasing them from the Nokia Music Store and transferring them over using WMP 11 and the "media transfer" mode.

If I however plug in my Sandisk 8GB SD card, I cannot re-license the purchased songs, I cannot purchase new songs (both get a strange MSD error) and I cannot sync protected music from WMP.

I've contacted Nokia (their first response was that NMS is not supported on the E71 -- silly!) and now I need some more experienced help.

Any ideas?

I've tried on Noka Discussions (http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=communicators&thread.id=23284) and the email support but no luck yet...

Dane

i am late in my comments but honestly, when you actually see it, the keypad is seriously seriously small. You often wonder that the well spaced t9 would rather be a much better option.

For someone, who is always banging in messages on the go, in the train, in the car, in the mall or in a restaurant, i still feel this is not the right piece! E51 would be a much better option (and i am not joking) using t9 to bang in messages if you cannot afford e90.

I am a power e mail user and i have n 82. I use seven and get my work mails, personal mails everything on a real push system. I use my t9 to type in and am pretty satisfied.

I am not shooting from the dark. I had my friends e71 for full 7 days but got sick of it. Its not aspirational for me for sure.

And steve, i beg to differ. E61i had a much better typing speed than e71, again personal experience.

finally got my hands on the e71. definitely liking it so far. keyboard is firm and pretty fast. I've banged out several emails before my bud with his iPhone can send his first. form factor is slinky - Nokia have finally caught up with Blackberry on this one. had some decent results using Nokia maps for both car and walking nav (after some practice and setup). overall a great new offering from Nokia,

Thanks for a very detailed review, you should take a rest now after that! Viewer from Ireland

Steve's review covers a lot of topics and makes this phone sound very attractive, but my IT department advises that we must use phones compatable with MS Exchange and Windows Mobile. Can anyone advise the OS system for this and if it runs on Windows Mobile with compatability with MS Outlook?

well, kudos to nokia for the portability idea, but the new innovation should be able to support video call with which you dont need to turn the phone the other side to achieve that, thats the only thing i think is missing in nokia e61i, and in e71..its still missing..nokia do something.

it is shame none of the nokia phone till date does not have a full browser for web
Ironically I can't get to see nokia web site full version on e71 properly. Only iphone has browser capabilities minus flash videos. I wonder why these big companies lie about thier products . I have decided not to buy a another phone for next 5 years that's when I can see full phone

it is shame none of the nokia phone till date does not have a full browser for web
Ironically I can't get to see nokia web site full version on e71 properly. Only iphone has browser capabilities minus flash videos. I wonder why these big companies lie about thier products . I have decided not to buy a another phone for next 5 years that's when I can see full phone

I understand you... Some times I feel the same. And it´s a phone after another always the same, without any innovation at all... the same boring screen resolution, the same browser, even the same calculator! Try an UMPC instead. I know, it´s not a phone, but runs a full OS, with IExplorer or Firefox, a real great Internet experience, and even, more cheap then a Nokia NSeries / ESeries phone.

Hi,

Like many, I too had been eagerly awaiting the release and tracking the progress of the Nokia E71 with more than baited breath. Now, despite the fact that its launched, I'm still in a quandary. You see, I had just about made up my mind to go in for the "White Steel" variant of the E71, when I discovered that it wasn't yet easily available "Off the Shelf" in Mumbai, but had to be ordered through a Nokia Priority Dealer. When I did contact one such dealer to place my order, he immediately informed me that most all of the customers he had sold the White Steel variant too, had come back within a month to complain that the letters printed on the keypad had rubbed off !!! Further, he also told me that Nokia didn't cover this abnormality in their warranty and it wouldn't be until a further month or so, until a replacement key board would be available with Nokia ! That too it'd most probably only be the black keyboard not white !!!

I subsequently also wrote to Nokia, to confront them about this claim, which was also supported by almost every other Nokia dealer I contacted to verify this. Ofcourse, Nokia being Nokia, I only got the following diplomatic reply quoted hereafter

"Kindly be assured that Nokia manufactures mobile phones and accessories on the basis of reliability in optimal performance and user friendliness. It is always our sincere and diligent effort to recommend our customers to take the requisite care in the usage and maintenance of your Nokia product to ensure the desired performance as that of an electronic product. As the mobile phone is a product of high usage a greater degree of wear and tear is associated with it."

Given that in a world / time where one would still like to change over to a phone which stayed relevant, reasonable state-of-the-art for atleast a year before becoming redundant in today's context. I would request if you could let me know if this specific claim / complaint could be in any way true / has been experienced ?

I still intend to go in for the E71, but if these issues and certain other issues as covered in the review can hope to be corrected in a subsequent variant, I'd much rather wait for that much time.

Alistair.

I ve been using Nokia E71 since last month and i found this phone realy good .. its WLAN and Connectivity is excellent, good sound quality , nice keyboard and everything.. but i am disappointed by its camera performance.. on mobile screen it looks good but on computer its not that good.. i found one problem with E71 it is not connecting with my sony ericsson bluetooth handsfree.. otherwise it is a great phone.

Im sorry to burst the bubble on this facsinating phone,
but unfortunately, like many E51's, E71 also has the same problem.

It does not connect through WLAN.

I always end up getting "No gateway reply" message.
Is it only ME :( :( :(

"No gateway reply"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Im sorry to burst the bubble on this facsinating phone,
but unfortunately, like many E51's, E71 also has the same problem.

It does not connect through WLAN.

I always end up getting "No gateway reply" message.
Is it only ME :( :( :(

Will this supplant my Treo 650?

I am working on a in-depth comparision between the Treo 680 (my last device) and the E71 (my actual device). I will post it as soon as it is completed. In short:
- The E71 is absolutely superior in connectivity features
- Though the weakest part, the E71 camera is far better than the Treo's
- The organizer features of the Treo are still far better than the E71's, but the E71 is just good enough exept for the missing calendar categories (Though the calendar DB of Symbian _does_ support calendar categories. It is just the S60 calendar)
- The usability of Palm OS is IMHO by far superior. Many actions, that can be done with just one touch of the screen on the Treo requires deeply navigation in S60's menus. Beeing used to the Zen of Palm, where everything is designed for exterme usability, switching to S60 is a little like switching to Windows. It is always fiddling in multi-level menus.

But if you need better connectivity than the Treo 650/680 offer, than you have no other choice than switching away Palm OS. I would not consider Windows mobile as an alternative, so after all: Yes, the E71 is a possible replacement for a Treo.

I just bought E71 but cannot get "smart dialling" work. How to activate it? Thanks.

What is happening, when you start typing at the standby screen?

Though the build quality of my E71 is nearly perfect, there is one issue. The volume keys do make a sound as if they where a little loose. Dropping my E71 on the table always gives a little vibrating sound. Is it just just mine, or does anyone else have noticed this?

may i know what screenshot software used to capture the screen on E71? hoping to use E71 for blogging and currently use Scribe to post to wordpress, but can't directly upload image from the application.

Very useful review. Thanks.

Hi,
I own a Palm Treo 650 device and despite is lack of new features, I couldn't find any new smart phone that is as easy to use as the treo and palm OS interface.
Considering replacing my 4 years old treo that I love I was wondering if this smart phone is easy to use for the common functionality such as contact search, dialing a number, voice mail and text messaging.
If anyone had use both phones I would love to view a comparison in term of functionality.
Thanks,
Palm user

ill wait for the E71i to come out...


marlomagd---

I'm on my SECOND Nokia E71, after returning the first one. Why did I return it? Well, I had an E51 prior to this, which worked perfectly, and I expected a similar level of performance from the E71. But the middle four way navigation key has an issue. Whatever direction you click it, it should give solid, clear, crisp beeps. Even if you hold the key in one direction, the rapid beeping should be clear and consistent. But on the new E71, every few beeps, instead of a clear sound, you get what sounds like a beep with a crackling noise, as if the speaker is bad, or there is a short in the nav key.

So, Im wondering if anyone else has had this problem? Should I return the second one now? Im very disappointed, and have resorted to turning off the keypad beeps, just so I dont here that noise and get irritated over and over again.