NOKIA E71 – The bold, unbiased, no bull-sh*t review! (UPDATED!)

It has the same dimensions as the ‘legendary’ iPHONE, yet is one hella’ different device. It is everything a man would need in a phone, and more. I’m not talking about some high-end Rs. 40,000+ mobile… standing just affordable at half the price with double the… well.. lets just say everything.

Here’s how I rate my brand new possession, the NOKIA E71:

Looks and appeal: X X X x / 5

Performance: X X X X x / 5

Features: X X X x / 5

Build quality: X X X X X / 5

OVERALL: 4 / 5

Lets dig a bit deeper, shall we?

I have time and again stated the importance of having a bling-bling mobile phone in your pocket. People who call them modest would feel outraged with my statement but this is true. Let me tell you how…

Before I got my own E71, I had a Nokia 6600, and then a MotoRazr V3i. I was always happy to keep them because they were so ‘hip’ in their times. I mean Razr V3i was one of the best looking phones that we had seen  and when I had lost two of the latter, I got myself a really cheap mobile phone ($75 – Rs. 3000) as a compensation for my guilt of loosing two phones back-to-back. Of the one and a half years that I carried that cheaper phone, I have seen so many people getting unimpressed by it. I mean, a 75$ phone isn’t exactly a chick-magnet right? Anyways, it did the basic work of a mobile phone (making and recieving calls… remember?) and hence I was ok with it.

But ever since I got my new E71, things have changed and how! People look at it and simply go crazy. They ask, have a look, get a feel, then ask again. Some even get jealous and I’m not exagerrating here. E71 is seriously sexy-looking phone, and it’s really easy to fall in love with. To top it all, it has everything in sync with modern tech of high-end phones: camera, gps, high memory capacity*, Wi-fi, 3G, quad-band operation and a lot more. I don’t think I could really ask for something more than this at the price of the E71.

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The list of features is almost endless. But when it comes to the practical stuff, I can type a whole e-mail of 100 words in less than 5 mins on the phone. SMS is child’s play with a full-blown QWERTY keyboard at your service. The keys are a bit small for the regular typing and my suggestion is that if you a typing-fanatic with a daily need of 5000 words or more, go for a Blackberry instead beacause the keys on E71 are tad-bit smaller for comfort. But against the bulk and unsurmountable ugliness of a Blackberry, I’d still take E71 thousand times over.

The GPS is a bit slow as compared to dedicated navigation systems and other phones like the N95 or Nokia Navigator. But it shouldn’t be a problem since the difference is only seen when it starts and after the first time, the aGPS kicks in to deliver faster localization in under 1 min. The maps are detailed and I have had very little problem finding streets in New-Delhi, INDIA. The only drawback is that the default app for GPS is the NOKIA MAPS which charges the customer for annual package of assisted navigation. If you want, you can always use Google maps instead, which does the job almost as well or even better.

The softwares, themes, wallpapers, screensavers, games for E71 are available as easily as potato in your supermarket. Most softwares are free or cost very less. As E71 is based on Symbian version 3, almost all apps are compatible with it. The only thing to look out for is the resolution which happens to be 320 x 240. With a theme mod software called FSWP (Full-screen wallpaper) you can make your E71 look even sexier.

The music player does a good job of organizing your library. With shortcuts on the home screen for almost anything you want, Music Player can be fired with just the touch of a button. The sound quality is decent, but not as good as an iPOD. The default headphones that come with E71 are ok for an average listener but PATHETIC for an audiophile (like me). There is also an inbuilt radio. There is a small built-in memory but most memory is in the Micro-SD card (I got 2gb with mine, but make sure you check before buying) which is expandable to 8gb. Sleek huh?

Camera is 3.2 megapixels. It works ok in daylight, but pathetic in low-light. Too much noise and the processor gives a blurred (softened) image for some reason. There are a lot of customization settings in camera mode which is a good effort by Nokia. Bottomline: DON’T BUY E71 FOR THE CAMERA… IT SUCKS!

Wifi works well and detects most networks. It connects really fast and keeps holding on despite occassional low signals. It is cool to browse net on E71 because of its widescreen but the low resolution really lets it down. Anyways, to browse internet on E71, USE OPERA MINI. It rocks!

3G and Quad-band are a real life-saver for international travellers. E71 is designed to work in all countries round the globe without a hitch. If bought from India, 3G would not work with certain US-based providers eg AT&T due to localization and band-specifications. That could change in a couple of years however.

There are a few let downs:

• Small screen (2.4″) with a low resolution of 320 x 240.
• Prone to smudges and the entire phone is a dust and finger-print magnet.
• Camera could have been better.
• 2.5 mm Audio jack – come on Nokia, what were you thinking?

But overall, E71 is an amazing phone paked with features to keep you happy. If you are confused over what to buy in the E71 price range, just go for it. You would not regret the decision.

Arpit

[P.S. If you feel that the view of the author is biased, make sure you let everyone reading this know by commenting below. Any criticism would be welcome. If you think that this review has really helped you, make sure you spread the word and bookmark the page on social networking sites]

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