I recently bought the Nokia E71 and wanted to share my experience with the phone.
With all the hype about the iPhone I was waiting to buy it. After checking it out a Optus store in Adelaide I was very impressed. The only thing stopping me was that it was not yet available with my network provider of choice – 3. 3 is fantastic in many ways as I explain below. 3 is also important as I get free 3-3 network minutes every month and I have my wife and friends on 3.
The main issue was that apart from the phone, the plans were not promising at all. Optus was the best but everybody were bundling the Voice, Data and Handset cost together. It was not easy to increase only Voice or Only Data. Kind of dumb.
After waiting for a month (and with the hype decreasing) I checked out other phones. To get this started I strated making a list of my most used apps that I would prefer on the phone.
With the founding of my new company, I was sure that e-mail was on the top of the list. Web browsing was fine but nothing as important as e-mail. Next came VOIP solutions and after that Skype.
I checked out the Blackberry Bold again at a Optus Store and it was good looking, amazing screen and very easy for e-mail. It is a Blackberry, so it has to be. Again, waiting for it to come on 3.
As I was checking through the All Phones store in Rundle Mall, I came across Nokia E71 from 3. It was free on the $49 Cap or the $69 Cap with X-Series bundle of 1GB data and other goodies like Skype.
Since I was on a 24 month contract and finished 18 month out of it, I wanted to know if I was eligible for a free upgrade. I was and I went with the $69 cap. I recently changed my cap to $69 (more calls for the business etc) and it was perfect.
This plan gives me $650 worth of calls to any phone, including $100 worth for international calls or local. 500 minutes to 3 phones. 4000 Skype minutes. 1 GB of data. Unlimited use of Planet 3 News, Weather and Sports info including Videos.
I added the Mobile TV pack for $10 a month which gives me unlimited use of 14 TV channels including CNN, BBC, SBS, South Park, MTV etc.
I went back and did my research.
The E71 has Symbia S60 3rd edition. A mature platform with a lot of apps.
Since E-Mail was top priority, the Qwerty keyboard on the Nokia was fantastic. Small but useful and you can type fast enough. It has its own messaging app but no Push. Nokia is launching a new email Push service (Video) called Intellisync which should take care of it.
It has Quickoffice for viewing and editing MS Office files. Great.
The 3 plan has 4000 minutes of Skype-to-Skype free. Easily talk to family in India and friends here in Australia.
It has Adobe PDF reader. Wifi, A-GPS – So that was good. Coming to the battery, the online reviews gave that the best of almost any smartphone on the market. That was important.
And of all the things, it looks great, is slim with a stainless steel back.
The iPhone on the contrary cannot do Skype, has multiple issues in terms of a walled garden approach and I found it very tough to type on the touchscreen. Worst part, it does not come with a good data plan and 3 does not carry the iPhone for some reason.
I went ahead and bought it.
Frankly, after a week of use I am totally impressed with this.
Design: Looks good. Slim. Keyboard is good and is useful.
Battery: This is good however, with the testing, installing and other stuff I am doing, I have to recharge almost everyday. But still good.
E-Mail: Multiple options. In-built App. This works well but is not push. Even connected to my Google Apps for your Domain email easily.
Then there is Seven Push Email which you can download. Push is fantastic, but has no contact support for Google Apps for your Domain. This may be paid in the future.
There is Emoze which I am trying.
There is Profimail (paid). This has the easiest way to read the e-mail on the phone with the way they have changed the fonts etc. Shows data usage while updating and the size of each e-mail before you download the body.
And Google App for Symbian. This works as advertised. However, no push.
Still looking for the best solution. However, will decide on one of these soon.
The best part is the multiple options available.
VOIP: Skype works like a treat. Fring works very well. However, the best part is the built in VOIP functionality.
You can enter the SIP details of any VOIP account you have. I use My Net Fone. Once that is done, then you can easily select the option of making a normal Voice call or Internet Call for all contacts. Just fantastic.
For My Net Fone, the local calls is working but the international calls are an issue. Working on that.
QuickOffice: Very good one. All apps work well.
Customizability: You can select Apps, shortcuts and what to see on the home screen.
Search: From the home screen you can search for documents, applications, notes, emails or the internet. Works very well. Almost like Spotlight for E71.
Wifi-3G: Both work well. Good speeds. One issue is access points management.
However, the best solution is to buy the Psiloc Connect App and it does everything. If you select the Access point as Psiloc Connect then it will determine to use Wifi or 3G depending on the availability.
Cost $15 but worth it.
In Adelaide CBD, there are a lot of Wifi free options mainly from Internode.
Calender: It works well. The two pane outlook type design is good.
Need to Sync with Google Calender. I will be trying out some apps for that.
GPS: Did not try much of the GPS yet. Google Maps work very well again.
Video: Video plays well. With a inbuilt flash player you tube is fine too.
Music: Music is good too. I have not used it much though.
Browsing: In built browser is good but Opera Mini is best.
Other Apps: I am trying Scribe for WordPress blogging.
For some strange reason, I am unable to figure out how to scan for devices in bluetooth but apart from that just very happy with the phone.
Multi-tasking: The phone can easily handle multiple open apps. You can switch between easily too.
There are lots more apps but more functionality. Good 3.2 MP camera, FM Radio, Voice Recorder, Active notes, Bar code scanner etc. However, these are the main things for me.
I have added some bookmarks on Diigo and created a E71 group if anyone is interested.
My suggestion is that if you want a business smart phone, then this is the one to go.
For other reviews that have helped me, check the links below.
- Joel Spolsky.
- Boy genius report and video walkthrough
- CNet Review
- E71 Fanatics - great resource site.
