Nokia
Thanks to my pal Errol , I got to play around with an E71 yesterday. While it isnt an N82 by any means , it does excel in some parts that leaves the N82 behind.
The Nokia E71 is one of the best-equipped Nokia smartphones to-date.The UI is quick and responsive and it has a huge feature load for its compact size. Connectivity is at its highest with the Nokia E71 boasting every single connectivity option that is currently available, including IR. Alongwith the GPS receiver and the slim sexay metallic design and you’ve got yourself a smartphone that walks the walk and can definately talk the talk.
Read on for my review.
Lets begin with the E71 specs. I’d list them out here but the list is really long ! You can find them at this specs page over at Nokia’s official website.
The main features are :
All the pictures in this review have been taken in high resolution. You can view the high res images by clicking on the image, which will take you to the Share on Ovi site, where you can click on the image again there to see the full high res version.
First up , the E71 vs N82 pictures :-
Front view :
Back view :
The back of the E71 has the 3 megapixel autofocus camera lens, with a single LED flash and a small self-portrait mirror.The dot-patterned stainless steel battery cover looks amazing. That is untill you happen to put your grimy fingerprints all over it. Its a deffo fingerprint magnet.
The bottom view :
All that is present at the bottom of the E71 is the lanyard eyelet and the charger plug.
Right side view :
On the right side of the E71, we find the 2.5 mm standard audio jack and the two volume controls. Between that is the voice command key. In most other non-Eseries Nokia phones, the right selection key is used for that purpose, the Nokia 6630 being the only exception I can think of.
Top view :
The top of the E71 has the loudspeaker and the red power key, which like other Nokia Symbian phones, can also be used to change profiles. I dont know why they choose that particular shade of red for it though. Honestly , it looks so out of place !
Left side view :
The left side of the E71 contains the infrared port (does anyone really use IR anymore ?), the microSD card slot and the microUSB port. Both of which are covered with plastic/rubber covers to keep off dirt and dust. In my experience, these dont really last very long but judging from the quality of the other parts of the E71, it just may.
As you can see from the images above, the E71 is about the same size and the N82 , but even slimmer ! I
ts a little wider, granted but for the features it boasts, that size is insane ! All that in stainless steel goodness.
The Box :
Very standard E-series box. Nothing great to see here. The image on the box makes the E71 look a lot bigger than it actually is, though.
Including in the box :
The charger , a Nokia leather Lanyard , a leather pouch for the E71 and the headset. The Headset is one piece, which means you cannot use the hands-free remote with another set of earphones. The contents are all very business-y. The lanyard and the pouch make for nice extras though. Also included in the box is the CD with the needed PC sync software and a 2GB microSD card.
The E71 does not support TV-out hence there is no TV-out cable. I for one , think that a business user would love to connect his/her phone to a TV to show presentations. Maybe in an upcoming model ?
One more picture of the leather pouch :
With “Nokia Eseries” proudly branded on it.
The Battery :
The E71 has a very different method of removing the battery compartment. There are two removal-knobs on the lower left and lower right of the device that you have to push, for the cover to pop up, and slide it out.
The E71 also uses a ” BP-4L ” 1500 mAh battery that is very very slim. I’m guessing its new and specially made for the E71 (and upcoming slimer devices) because I dont recall seeing it on any other device before. It is supposed to provide 410 hours of stand-by time and 10 and a half hours of talk time. Which means you can make it through three days of some really heavy usage. That is crazy considering how my N95 barely managed to scrape through one day.
Some close ups of the E71 :
Most people wondered how the E71 felt, holding it in one hand. I felt that it was almost identical to the N82. Its only marginally wider but fits in your hand very well.
My E71 device was on firmware version 100.07.76 , which is the latest available for it at the moment. I found it funny that the E-series device firmware had already jumped ahead to triple digits when the N82 is still on v20.
The Camera :
The E71 has a very basic 3.2 Megapixel , auto focus camera. While the results are not stellar , it gets the job done. If you compare its pictures to an N95 or N82 , in terms of picture quality the latter will blow the E71 away. There is also no dedicated camera key, something which has become a standard feature on N-series phones.Also, video recording maxes out at just 15fps at QVGA resolution.
But then, the E71 is not trying to be a camera oriented phone. It doesnt even give you the impression that it is. The camera is merely something Nokia just threw in there for the sake of having a camera.
The camera application is similar to the one on the N-series phones like the N95. Even the autofocus is present. The autofocus is a little bit harder to use than conventionally because you have to press the T key on the keyboard and keep it pressed for few seconds.Once the camera focuses properly, the visible frame will change from white into green, and the phone beeps.Then you have to press the center key and the Camera takes the picture. The T key is used to compensate the lack of dedicated camera button like on the N82 where you can half press to focus and the fully depress the button to capture. Like I said, its not very conventional but thats the way it is.
The E-Series Symbian UI :-
The E71 uses Symbian Os 9.2 Feature pack 1 like the Nokia N95, N81 and N82 . However, while many things remain the same between the E71 and its N-series counterparts, the E71 does get a couple of bonus extra features (possibly from Feature Pack 2) that have yet to make an appearance on any N-series device on FP1.
The active standby home screen :
I have to say this. The E71 UI is the fastest I’ve used on any Symbian device so far. Everything is quick and snappy and I like it.
You can also have an email shortcut as one of the active standby plugins on the screen. One thing N-series users have wanted for a long time now, is the ability to choose which plugins to display on the screen (N-series devices only allow you to either hide all the shortcuts completely or display them all). Its a standard feature for E-series devices, and is hence in the E71 too.
Because my Nokia E71 was on an Asian Firmware edition, it did not have the smart contacts search feature that most other E71 firmware’s have, which was very disappointing.The smart dialing feature helps you quickly find a contact straight from the standby screen. All you have to do is type a few letters on the home screen and all contacts with names (first or last) containing them get displayed.For example for “CJ” you’d have to type “25“.
There is also an automatic key lock on the E71. It gets activated upon a user-defined interval ranging from 5 seconds to about an hour. You can also disable this feature if you choose to.
One feature that I’d love to see on more devices in the future. is the “Switch Mode” feature on the E71 :
By default, it can be found under the “Modes” application in the Tools folder of the E71. What the Modes utility allows you to do, is to be able to change your active standby screen between business mode and personal mode just by selecting the “Switch mode” button :
The grey theme in Business mode :
The blue theme in Personal mode :
A video of the how it works :
That might come in really useful to people who prefer to have one seperate bunch of shortcuts on their screen for business mode and another set for personal mode. I cant see myself using this feature, if I had it, but I’m guess there are many others who would.
The Menu :
The menu of the E71 is pretty much the basic E-series icons and menu style. Its feature pack 1 so there arnt any “pretty” transitions when you go from folder to folder, but it does the job well enough. No complaints here.
Internet browsing :
One thing of the many things that the E71 does well, is Internet browsing. There’s Flash Lite 3 onboard which means you can view youtube and other videos online with no hassle. The E71 uses its screen real estate beautifully for this task.
Browser in normal view :
Browser in full screen view :
Messaging :
Messaging and typing in general is a breeze on the E71. The keyboard might appear cramped but each button is easily distinguished and easy to press with very good feedback.
I love the predictive text input method that the E71 sports. But I just can’t compare which is faster between typing text messages on a qwerty keypad device like the one, or using a conventional keypad. The predictive text input gets me a lot further in total words, with less keystrokes using my thumbs.
Also, another application that uses the E71‘s screen real estate beautifully, is the messaging application. Each received message has the sender’s name and a short summary along with the time the messaged was received at. Unread messages are marked in red in the default grey theme.
The E71 also has a builtin message reader for those busy moments when you’d prefer to listen to your received message than read it.
The Calender :
Okay I loved the calender apllication on the E71. Its almost the same as the calendar application on other s60 feature pack 1 devices but its majorly improved. It now has a seperate section where the date is listed and on the right side, tells you what your appointment or to do list for the day is.I believe the only other device that has this, is the E90.
Contacts :
Also improved, is the Contacts application.
A video of the transition :
The Search application is pretty much the same as other devices :
GPS :
The E71 has builtin GPS. When tested with my N82, the lock on time was pretty much the same. The Maps application looks glorious on the E71 screen.
Music :
There is nothing new in the nokia music player experience here. Its pretty much the same as the N-series music player. The lack of dedicated music keys is easily overcome by the D-pad control.Audio formats supported include MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA. M3U playlists are also detected.
Themes :
Again, very much the same as other S60 devices. One thing it did have that my N82 didnt, was a “Now playing“. Its missing the “Text” screensaver that the N82 has but has the “Animation” screensaver.
Apart from the above:
The E71 also has an advanced call manager for filtering incoming calls and a new feature called “Remote Wipe“,where if your Nokia E71 was stolen or lost, all you have to do is send a coded SMS message to it and it gets locked down. After three unsuccessful attempts of unlocking it, it wipes itself clean of all personal or sensitive info. You might not get your Nokia E71 back but atleast this way noone will get your personal data either. The E71′s Wifi is as fast and easy to setup as on my N82.
The Conclusion :
At 10mm thickness, the Nokia E71 is one of the slimmest full QWERTY devices on the market. It is also the slimmest smartphone to-date. The screen is large, bright and crisp.I wish the E71 had an accelerometer so people could use the flip-to-silent or tap-to-silent features from the E66. But that and the camera is pretty much the only gripe I could find with it. The phone is so feature rich, that its almost up to the N95 standard. I should also mention that I found no cellular network reception issues with it.
If you’re a business user, someone who likes sexay-looking phones or a person who already has a good digital camera I’d highly recommend the E71.
As for me, I’m still happy with my N82 because I do not have another camera to carry around with me all the time. But if I did, I’d love to have the E71.
All the images from the review can be found on my Share on Ovi account below :
The Pictures :
The Screenshots :
The Videos :
-Teh Cj
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile things.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
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Follow @clintonjeff
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Comments (34)
i purchased new E71 ystrdy i found a small dot of red color i dont know wht to do i even try to switch off and on still it remains.....
Santhosh
I purchased new E71 yesterday i found a small dot of red color once it goes to screen saver mode i don’t know what to do i even try to switch off and on still it remains.....
every thing fine...but my problem is,while the incoming call coming i can't see the name,only number i can see.....how to solve this problem....if anybody knows please inform me in following mail id......sajeshlukelukose@gmail.com
thanks
every thing fine...but my problem is,while the incoming call coming i can't see the name,only number i can see.....how to solve this problem....if anybody knows please inform me in following mail id......sajeshlukelukose@gmail.com
thanks